No luck

It's been a long road, and it appears as though this is the end. I have tried my hardest to contact someone at Blogger. But with Google buying Blogger, all contact with Blogger has been removed. This is Google's MO. They do not allow contact with the staff. Instead they offer a help forum which is for all intents and purposes is useless. They claim that staff members do peruse the forums and help out. In all my dealings with Google, this has never happened, and I do not expect any help from Blogger.

This is a huge lesson for me, and I am ashamed to say that as an IT professional, I never backed up the blog, or hosted our pictures on our own.

I could begin a painstakingly long process of clicking on each blank photo in the blog, and recording the image name and make a map of which images went with which dated post.

Then upload the photos to photobucket and then re-upload to the blog. This way, the photos would be hosted off site and I would have better control.

I feel so bad for Deanna who has spent much time in front of our computer posting updates of our Lainey bug. She really is quite depressed over this whole thing. And I am just furious with Blogger for not allowing contact.

I can not believe they would not have a backup of their own. After all, they can restore lost blogs!

I really do not want this little joy for Deanna to end. So I think I will begin to map the photos and replace the images.

Wish me luck, and above all, PATIENCE :)

Testing image. This is what the size and format looks like. Hopefully this solves the problem.

IS THIS THE END OF MY BLOGGING DAYS?

I have no idea what happened!  But my blog is missing all photos that I have uploaded since the beginning of time except for my most recent post below. We have posted the problem to blogger but are still awaiting a response.  If my blog cannot be fixed and all of those pictures are gone forever, well I think I am going to shut down Halainah's blog.  It takes a lot of time to post and add pictures.  I cannot even express the amount of time lost.  It just wouldn't be worth it to me to continue.  Perhaps someone out there in blog world has encountered the same problem and could help us out, I would so appreciate it!

SUNNY DAYS CHASING THE CLOUDS AWAY

Random thoughts:

1. My daughter needs me...it breaks my heart that one day very soon I will not be able to spend my days with her.

2. Where will I even look...what will I ever find?

3. Warm weather arrived...a little too warm.

4. Weekends are too short to accomplish everything that needs to be done.

5. Why is it that there is never any milk in the house when I am always buying it?

6. I miss my mom!

7. I never got a chance to share mother daughter weekends at the lake with my daughter and my mom.

8. I don't want Halainah to lose another grandparent.

9. Cancer sucks!

10. This economy sucks!

11. Route 23 construction sucks!

12. Who the hell needs a 7-11!

13. I wish my brother lived closer!

14. I wish I had the financial means to adopt again and again and again!

15. Thank God for Family!

16. Halainah is walking all the time!

17. I miss my old co-workers!

18. I love my daughter!

19. I love the way my husband loves my daughter!

20. I love the way Lainey's godparents and our family loves my daughter!

21. A beautiful sunny day, a baby pool, and 1 beautiful China doll = forgetting about random thoughts at least for the weekend!

Ok...done rambling for now. Although I have a ton on my mind, I will spare all of you.

Trying to stay cool in my own little house

Yeah I'm cool...I know it!

Going out to grab a hamburger cause it was that kind of day!
Outside in the garden...
having fun playing in the dirt...
Yuck, dirt tastes horrible!
REALLY HORRIBLE!
Playing in the pool for the first time...she likes it...hence her saying, "o00000hhhh"
Just chillin' with my shades!
Ice pop time, what a mess!
I'm so cute, even with drool spilling out of my mouth!
We call Lainey Frankenstein when she walks...do you really need to ask me why!

OUR BEAUTIFUL CHI-TALIAN DOLL

Halainah and I went out to lunch today with Opa. We had a great time as usual. Lainey lights up when she sees her Opa and right away she puts her hands up for Opa to pick her up. He brought a whole bunch of stuffed animals over for her today. She loves stuffed animals but still hates baby dolls. Funny since her referral paperwork said her favorite toy was a baby doll. But then again it also said that she loved baths and hates strangers. Which was and is the complete opposite of her. If you followed our journey in China you will remember that we had one heck of a time with baths. She HATED the bath...thank goodness she loves them now. And she was never afraid of strangers and is now the biggest ham when we are out. Her favorite word now is "hi". So while out at lunch and running a few errands today she waved to everyone she saw and said "hi" a million times...such a cutie!

Daddy, Halainah and I watched American Idol's results show this evening. Last night we went to Aunt Bonnie's for our usual Tuesday dinner. She had a blast as usual. She laughed and laughed the entire evening. Uncle Mario played with her for hours. Once we got home we had a heck of a time winding her down...but that's ok. We love to see her so happy. During the results show tonight Halainah danced and clapped and sang. She is just way too funny to watch. She was destined to be in this family in so many ways. And she already loves American Idol. Uncle Mario, Aunt Bonnie, daddy and mama joke and call her Chi-talian. She is definitely growing fond of all of our Italian traditions. And she most certainly loved Aunt Bonnie's FettuciniAlfredo.

Lainey and her typical smile

waving at Opa and saying "hi"
Lainey still waving with all of her stuffed animals in the background
Halainah and Opa are always smiling when they are together...it's pure LOVE
Lainey at the front door...she is always ready to go out...that's my girl
Come on Mama...let's go already
Lainey saying..."oooohhhhh"
She loves balls...can't wait to play on the beach with a beach ball
Silly girl...talking to grandma on the phone (banana)
Lainey got so excited when American Idol came on...she began to dance
And she danced some more!

MY HEART IS FULL

My heart is full...for this child is my world.

We had a great weekend full of family time. On Friday, we took my father out for dinner to a Brazilian grill. We haven't gone out to dinner with my father in a really long time. So it was a really nice evening. Halainah wore a pretty dress for her Opa. Our waiter was in love with Halainah and I loved the way he said her name with his accent. We were joking with each other saying, "oh he's really working his tip." He must have told us that Halainah is so cute a bazillion times but hey we are used to it by now so no complaints there.

Halainah washing up for Opa's birthday dinner playing with her monkey bath buddy from Jiu Jiu and Crystal!

She loves that darn monkey!

Halainah dressed all pretty for Opa!

Playing Peek A Boo with daddy!
Daddy taking some good shots of our China Doll!

On Saturday, our little family of 3 set outside to enjoy the 80 degree weather. We opened our fish pond which consisted of draining it, scraping all of the algae off of the sides and trying to remove as many leaves and junk off of the bottom of the pond. We noticed that our little fish family is now a rather large fish family. I guess during a long winter little fishies need to have fun too!

Halainah had a lot of fun with 2 rocks. Who would have known that 2 rocks could keep a 16 month old happy for 2 hours. But she started to grow restless after a little while so we took her to Toys R Us and bought her a new toy. It is an outside play sink that has a real running faucet. It also came with a bunch of play water toys and of course we bought some more to go with it. Well, Lainey had the time of her life. She kept saying, "ooohhhhhhh" while she was playing. WAY TOO CUTE! So we were able to get a few things done in the garden but we still have a long way to go.

That bright orange thing is the coolest invention. On one end is an ice pop holder, on the other is an ice cream cone holder. And all of the drippings go inside.

Halainah licking her lips...the ice pop must have been good!
Halainah saying, "Oooohhhhh" when she saw her new toy!
But still stopping to eat her ice pop!
She played for hours!


Still saying, "Oooohhhhh"

On Sunday, we went to church which was fabulous. And afterwards we went to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mario's for Easter dinner. It was so wonderful to spend time with family. I feel like for some reason I haven't seen them in forever. We have been traveling to Staten Island every weekend to get in as much Grandpa time as possible so it's been hard to see the other half of our family. It was beautiful outside and Halainah had the time of her life playing with her cousins. I love watching my daughter interact with family. I love the fact that she will go to anyone and let her little spunky personality shine. She makes us laugh constantly.

Halainah looked so beautiful in her special Easter dress from her Godmother, Aunt Bonnie!

Smelling a weed, I mean a flower!

Laughing at daddy!
Mommy and Daddy love this picture. Halainah is looking at Jesus on the cross!
Trampoline fun with her cousins, Norman and CJ!
Stop talking to me daddy, I am having fun right now!
Happy Girl!
Playing with the ball on the trampoline!
Playing with Uncle Mario and CJ!
Come on, Let's Jump!