LIFE with LEXIE

I feel so bad that I haven't posted anything on this blog basically since I got back home with Lexie. It has been just a wonderful, exhausting and crazy time adjusting to her in my life. I really can't remember what it was like without her. She is doing so well in every way that I can't begin to express how grateful I am for this sweet, funny, smart, charming little girl.

She just turned 18 months and we celebrated our 6 months of knowing each other on Oct 25. For all the challenges that were involved in the trip to Aktau to get her, it now seems like it wasn't so bad (maybe I need to read the blog again to refresh my memory) and it seems like a very long time ago. Of course, we have only been home a little less than 4 months so I guess it hasn't been all that long. She has really just blossomed and watching her become more confident in herself (and her choices) has just been amazing. The hardest thing for me has been going back to work. I really don't want to go and I try to do as much as possible from home. Then I get distracted by her and don't get much done. Luckily she still takes two 2 hour naps a day and doesn't get up until around 9am and goes to bed around 9-9:30 at night, so there are a several hours a day I can work while she sleeps. So life is VERY good.

Physically, she finally cut her first two front teeth in Sept on the bottom and her top two front teeth just at the beginning of Nov. They are still coming in but the two on either side of her top teeth just broke through this last week. Hopefully she'll have a mouth full by her second birthday. She drools like crazy but doesn't really get very fussy. Again, I am so lucky. Now she also runs not walks whenever she can and loves stairs and is amazingly fast on the way up (much to my fear.) I have gotten her to slow down and go down on her tummy but I won't be comfortable around stairs for several more years I'm sure.

She weighs 22.5 lbs, which is about 5 more than when I meet her and is at least 1 inch taller. I'll have to measure her to find out if she's grown more since our last check up. Both her IA & regular pediatrician say she's doing just great and I couldn't agree more.

She helped me celebrate my birthday - the 29th again of course. That's her in the yellow bib with chocolate all over her face. She was hands down the best present I've ever received! Lexie also went to her first Blackberry Festival - that's the pictures of us in front of the shooting water fountain in the post before this one. She still loves water and has no fear of it what so ever. She actually fears very little. We also go to the park as much as possible and you can see her on her first slide and swing (also in the previous post.) She's all about speed so the slide is her favorite. And as you can see her hair is growing like crazy. I've had to cut the bangs twice but the rest just gets longer and curlier. I hope she keeps the curl in her hair as it keeps growing since it looks so cute.

We went back to Houston for the birth of my nephew, Blake Colton Wells, on Oct 2. He weighed 9 lbs 11 oz at birth and now at 8 weeks he weighs 14 1/2 lbs. Yes, he is one big baby. You can see him proudly held by his new big brother and sister. While we were there I took Lexie to her first soccer game to watch Cody & Mackenzie play. As they were playing hard so was Lexie!! It was still warm enough so we got to swim too. She truly loves the water and I had to drag her in the house after she turned into a prune. Oh my little bathing beauty.

We got back in time to take a few drumming lessons (thanks Uncle Jim for the musical instruments!) and then we worked on her Halloween outfit. She was the cutest Pink Poodle in town. She wasn't scared at all and had a great time. People would give her candy and she would give it right back. She is learning to share and thought this was another lesson. So we didn't have much candy in her bucket but she had a ball. The picture with her and the little lamb is Hannah the 7 month old baby of one of my friends at work that we went trick-or-treating with. They both completely ignored each other. I think Lexie actually just couldn't see Hannah because of her floppy ears.

Something else Miss Lexie likes is hats. They are her passion. One of her sitters knitted her a hat which she wares around the house all the time. So now she has a bit of a hat collection. As you can see she wares them well. I think the fuzzy pink pimp hat is my favorite so far.

And yes we went back to Houston for a third time in 4 months for Thanksgiving. Angie didn't want to fly with the new baby and who can blame her. Lexie has been a great little flyer so far and I hope she keeps it up for Christmas, as we'll head back down south for that as well. She really LOVES playing with her cousins and they are great with her. She helped Mackenzie bake one morning (the girls are a study in pink for this shot) and visited Cody at lunch in school one afternoon. Then Brooke got to hold her for the group picture on the couch. I've never had so much help except, of course, with the poopy diapers. Then they run as fast as they can away from her. She really knows how to clear a room and make her mommy proud!!

We also had a pre 7th birthday party for Mackenzie since we would have to miss her REAL birthday by a week. There's a picture of Lexie with the birthday fairly princess. Then Lexie really got into the cake - literally!!

Later we actually managed to get all the kids dressed up and take pictures of them in Angie's back yard. I think Angie got the best on her camera (which I don't have yet) because Lexie didn't think it was necessary to sit for so long and I was running after her more than I was taking pictures. But these aren't too bad. Then I put her in a couple of outfits I had but never got a chance to put on her in Washington because it got too cold. I love her in the sailor suit. As you can see I'm still taking a lot of pictures of her and luckily she's very photogenic. I'm not sure how much longer she'll put up with it so I'm taking advantage of it while I can.

That's about it for now. We are getting ready for Christmas which should be amazing. My mom, sisters and I had gotten some shopping done after Thanksgiving and had even gotten most of it wrapped while the kids were napping or playing outside. Once Lexie was up and exploring Angie's house in her usual fashion, I hear rrrrriiiipppp and sure enough. Lexie had opened her first present. Never mind that it wasn't for her and a month too soon. So Christmas shall be very interesting. I'm not sure if there will be any surprises left under the tree but it sure will be fun.

Thanks everyone for your interest, love and support for me and this wonderful little girl that I have the joy of calling my daughter.

Yeah whooooo!!! Mom & I are free to leave the house without masks and people crossing themselves after we walk by. It really is the little things in life that you learn to appreciate. Both the skin test and the chest x-rays came back negative so we are relieved to know that we are free of TB. Lexie has started her TB medications, so all should be well in that department. Now it's time to get on with our lives and try to figure out this whole working Mommy thing. That should be interesting and fill my days. I'll try to give updates as anything interesting happens and add pictures from time to time. I thank everyone for their interest in our story and I'm happy to say that it's just beginning and oh what a beginning it was. I hope the next few months are a little less exciting.

Here's some pictures of Lexie playing at home. I'm so lucky!!

Hi All. I still haven't had the chance to "catch you up" on all the went down after I got Lexie out of the Baby House but I will. But since we've returned to Port Orchard things have been nuts. We got home at around 2am Friday Aug 3 but didn't get to bed until 3am. Then I had to be up at 6am so I could drive Lexie to her appointment with the IA (International Adoption) physician in Seattle. Of course it was SeaFair and if anyone has been to Seattle during that weekend then you know it's crazy on the roads and wouldn't you know it, I had to pass the I-90 floating bridge which they shut down so the Blue Angles can practice flying over. Lucky me!!

Anyway, Lexie charmed everyone until they gave her 4 vaccines and a TB test, then an X-ray of her hips because one leg is shorter than the other and next they tried to take 7 tubes of blood. Three technicians and 6 tries later they only had 2 tubes but poor Lexie had had it. In two and a half months I've rarely seen her cry and even then it's very short lived and never a big deal. But drawing blood was the last straw for her and she was screaming bloody murder. I felt so bad for her and of course they made me hold her which really sucks. Why should I be the bad guy? Luckily she passed out on the way home and woke up her usual happy self.

After we got back I ended up going to see my doctor since I was itching worse than ever and the scabies seemed to have spread. She informed me that I was allergic to the cream that I had spread all over myself to help kill the scabies. GREAT!!! At least I saw her before I did the second treatment which we all were supposed to do that night. So when I put it on Lexie I put on gloves and just held her while Mom put on the cream. Since it was all over her, including her hair, hands and face, I still had some on me but at least the pills helped the itching somewhat. The problem with the pills is that it makes you VERY drowsy. In fact I sleep most of Sat and remember very little of it. Of course you can't itch if you are sleeping but it sure doesn't make for a very productive day. My doctor was also not convinced that the problem was scabies either but she wanted me to stop itching so they could tell if it is something else or not. Whatever. At least I wasn't rubbing up against the walls when I'd walk down the hall. I'm going to see a dermatologist next week to find out what's really going on. And you thought I was done with Kazakhstan and it's problems. HA! I just brought them home with me.

Unfortunately by Monday Lexie's TB test had come back positive, so Tue we went back to Seattle for chest x-rays and to finish her blood work. She does have TB but it's Latent which means she is not contagious and will just have to take some medication for 9 months then the bacteria in her lungs will be dead. Now she will always test positive for TB because the bacteria doesn't leave the body but if she's ever exposed to TB again they can take chest x-rays to see if she has ii. It sounds scary but she should be just fine. But Mom & I may have been exposed to the person that had Active TB and gave it to Lexie (remember we can't get it from her since hers is Latent) while we in Kazakhstan, so we have to be tested. They didn't tell me that until after I stopped at Baby's-R-Us on the way home and ran into a friend and her baby. Luckily I was still being careful and I never coughed around them or even touched them. What are friends for right?

When we went in to be tested on Wed, they immediately made us put on masks. Lexie thought I was playing peek-e-boo and tore mine right off. The nurse didn't think it was funny but hey she's one, what do you want from her. Since Mom and I have both had coughs for over a month, we were given chest x-rays as well as the TB test. So once again we're looking for a few more prayers and good wishes that we don't have it since I understand that we would be contagious for at least 2 weeks after we start taking the medication. I'm not thinking those negative thoughts right now, so wish us luck in the TB department.

I've been so busy running back and forth to doctors that we are barely unpacked and the house is not even close to being baby proofed yet, as Lexie continuously shows us when she grabs something she shouldn't. She is loving her room and the living room which are the only two fairly safe places in the house right now. We've taught her a couple of cute tricks (yes, I know she's not a dog but these new "skills" aren't going to change her life but they are really funny.) She will give you a high five and also clap while saying yeah - kinda. Then she'll raise her arms about her head and screech. It is the cutest thing and she is so proud of herself that she does it a lot. I will have to put the good crystal away if she gets the pitch much higher but I still crack up every time she does it. I can hardly wait to have her do it for everyone, if I can just be allowed out of the house. We have not seen anyone since we have been home a week now between the scabies and the TB. I don't understand why no one has come over! HA!!!

The pictures are with her cousins since I haven't taken any since we've been home. The one is of Jim when we left him with the kids so we could do a little shopping. What a good sleeper, I mean sitter he is. Thanks Jim!

Well that's all the "me" time I have right now. This whole Mommy thing sure takes a lot out of you and leaves very little time for anything else. I'm loving every minute of it of course and can't wait until she wakes up to help me rediscover the world as she shows me something "new."