Lexie Turns 2!!!

5/20/2008 10:49:00 PM Edit This 2 Comments »










I can't believe Lexie just turned two this weekend!! Where has the time gone. Just one year ago today I was landing in Almaty wondering who my little girl would be. Now I can't imagine not knowing that sweet little face. I've been looking over the blog and can't believe how much she has grown and changed. She really has gone from a baby that couldn't walk on her own to a full fledged toddler in what seems like a blink of an eye.

We are back in Houston to celebrate her birthday with my sister Angie, Jim and their 3 kids and my sister, Lynn and her daughter Brooke drove up from New Orleans for the party as well. And of course Grandma or as Lexie calls her GaGa. Lexie LOVES her cousins and the feeling is mutual. I have to make a schedule for who will help me with her or they argue that they didn't get their fair share of "Lexie time." They couldn't be sweeter with her and she follows them around and does whatever they are doing - much to my dismay sometimes. She certainly doesn't know that she can't do everything that 7, 8, & 9 year olds can do. We've been very busy since we landed early Friday morning. That night we went to a place called Itz which has a small indoor roller coaster and games and other rides and of course all the pizza & ice cream & cookies you can eat. Lexie just about passed out from running from game to ride to food to game and the cousins where right behind her. Then the big day, Saturday, was both Lexie's birthday and Mackenzie, my 7 year old nieces dance recital. We went to lunch to Z's favorite restaurant and then got ready for her recital. Lexie didn't understand why she couldn't get up and do her dance with the other girls so we spent most of the time at the back of the theatre with Lexie doing her own dance. Mackenzie was FABULOUS and I am so proud of her for all her hard work.


Then it was back to the house for the costume party so Lexie could wear HER ballet costume. I'm not sure what Z was but Cody was Stitch and Brooke was someone from High School Musical (Brooke is 8 going on 18.) They all had fun but Lexie had a blast diving into the cake and opening all her presents and changing clothes 3 times. Did I mention she loves SHOES and hats and dressing up. But shoes are her passion right now and Aunt Boo Boo did great getting her the purple dress and 6 pair of dress up shoes. Aunt Yin Yin got her a talking purse and brought her a bag of shoes that Brooke can't wear anymore, so Lexie was trying on shoes all night. Grandma is waiting until we get back home to give her a big surprise. I can hardly wait to see it - thanks Mom. Then it was swimming on Sunday until Lynn and Brooke headed back home since Brooke has school on Monday. So Lexie's birthday weekend was wonderful and I can't thank everyone enough for all the gifts and extra effort!!! Lexie and I are so lucky to have you as our family.


As for the Lexie two year update, well she's doing great as you can see. She's still petite but very healthy. The TB medication is done and we'll get her certificate by the end of the month. She is still loving her dance class and I just found out we will be back from visiting my brother in Mexico in time for her dance recital and I'm so excited. I can't wait to see her stand on stage looking adorable. I certainly don't expect her to do the "dance" but hey this is a group of 16-30 month old little girls so she'll be doing what all the other girls are doing - looking cute and make their families proud. She also really likes going to daycare. It's in a home with just 4-5 other kids and it's just perfect for her. Oh yeah, Lexie has more teeth - 8 all together!! She's talking more every day and filling in the blanks with sign language. She has, unfortunately, learned the dreaded two year old word of "NO!!" But she says it "No" shakes her head then "No" again and sometimes I even get the finger wag as well. Oh what fun the twos are going to be.


Next weekend is her baptism along with her 7 month old cousin Blake so we are staying in Houston until Sunday. My brother Todd is coming in from Florida for it so we're having a wonderful week of family time. I'll fill you in on that later. I just wanted to make sure and mark this big occasion. I can't believe it is almost a year since I meet Lexie. I feel so blessed and honored to be her Mom. I can hardly wait to see what next year will bring!!!

Lexie's First Ice Cream Cone

5/02/2008 12:20:00 AM Edit This 1 Comment »





So I took Lexie to the park after work today and decided that it was warm enough
(57 degrees - hey that's warm for May 1st in Washington) to get her very first ice cream cone. I tried to give it to her when we first got there but she was way to interested in the slide and swing. But once she got tired of that, I reminded her of the now melted cone and here are the results. Oh to enjoy my very first cone again.

Just wanted to share the moment. More to come.

Easter and More

4/12/2008 12:11:00 AM Edit This 0 Comments »































I keep telling myself that I'll find time to update the blog at least through our first year together but that time seems to be taken up by Miss Lexie, big surprise! So I'm going to do this by bits and pieces and hope for the best. Lexie is growing like crazy and more fun than ever. We had a great Easter complete with the city wide Easter Egg Hunt were we discovered that Lexie is very afraid of people in Easter Bunny outfits. That was strange because she doesn't seem to be afraid of much. She really had fun at the hunt once she understood that she was supposed to pick up the eggs not kick them. By the time we had our hunt on Easter morning at the house she was a pro and all the eggs were found and hidden and found again. She look adorable at Easter Service but I'm afraid she doesn't sit still for long so I got a work out at Mass. Oh well.

She is now taking ballet and tap class which is just hilarious with Lexie and 11 other 16 -30 month old little ladies and their moms pretending like they are dancing. Actually the ones that have been there since September are doing pretty well but with only about 5-6 classes under our belts the Quast girls are definitely not at the top of the class. But Lexie looks darn cute - as you can see. Believe it or not they are actually having a recital in June complete with costumes and a routine of sorts. Anyway it should be vastly entertain and Lexie will look adorable. Oh yeah, we had a breakthrough last week and she did a tippy toe turn and then a bow. What more could a Mom want!

She has also started going to an in home day care which she just loves. I call it going to see her friends since there are only 4-5 other kids. She really needed it as whenever we were out she would go up to any child she saw and would hold there hand and "talk" to them or try to dance. So Mommy to the hint and she really seems to be enjoying it.

Picture of Lexie & Mommy

1/31/2008 11:18:00 PM Edit This 1 Comment »


I've been told I needed to add a new picture of Lexie and I so here it is. And I just had to add this picture of Lexie - she's just so cute in her bunny slippers!!

Happy New Year (a Little Late!!)

1/20/2008 01:55:00 PM Edit This 1 Comment »





















So I wanted to get something posted on the blog for Christmas but....here I am in January now trying to get something posted before the end of the month while I can still call it the New Year (I'm sure even the etiquette books would agree that Jan is still the New Year - Right?} So Merry belated Christmas and Happy 2008!!!!!!

Lexie and I had a terrific if not a hectic holidays (and I'm sure we're not the only ones.) I have to say sharing "firsts" with her are just wonderful. She enjoyed her visit to see Santa right up until the time that she realized I was going to leave her sitting on the lap of a strange man with scratchy stuff on his face and had a problem with his laugh. Then she put her arms straight out and had tears streaming down her face. So the shot I've included is just seconds after I stepped away and before she realized what I had done. Nothing like waiting for over an hour for a few seconds of joy. That sounds like...never mind. So her first trip to see Santa was pretty typical and off we flew to the relatives for a lot of holiday cheer.

Lexie truly loves being with her cousins Cody, Mackenzie and Brooke. I can't honestly say she loves Blake yet because at 2 1/2 months old he didn't do a lot but the picture of her as Mrs Claus and Blake as Santa is pretty cute. That was the closest they got the whole time. She'd just as soon be playing with the older kids. We got to go to Cody and Mackenzie's holiday parties at school which she thought was way cool since there where so many kids there. Cody and Z where very proud to have her in their classrooms and showed her off to everyone they could find. Even Uncle Jim got into the act by carrying her on his shoulders (even though I think that was more to keep her out of everything but she enjoyed it.)

Then my oldest nephew, Casey, finally got to meet for the first time her since he was at college when we got home and she really LOVED him. I have about 10 pictures of him holding her. Whenever she'd see him she'd put up her arms and say "UP." How could he resist. As you can see in a couple of the pictures he had to learn it was safe to hold her a little closer since she doesn't bite. Casey was actually very sweet (sorry to use that word Casey but it's true) with her and never ran away as I'm sure he was tempted to do. Thanks Casey! She also got to meet her Uncle Todd and Aunt Lori for the first time and enjoyed them as well. They just didn't have the appeal that Casey did but she still got some quality time with all of them.

Christmas Eve Mass was interesting since she and I spent 90% of it walking around at the back of the church. The children's room was full to over flowing so we got to visit baby Jesus in the manger a lot so at least he knew that we were there.Everyone looked nice as you can see from the pictures of all the cousins in front of the tree and then Grandma with all her grandkids. It was a special night and one a long time coming for me. Of course she was the best present of all.

Christmas itself was amazing and way over the top. Everyone decided that since Lexie didn't have a Christmas the first year of her life that they should make up for it this year. So the present opening lasted all day. She actually took two naps since she was just exhausted. I think her favorite part was tearing open the wrapping paper since I'm not sure if she even knew that there were toys in the boxes. It's so hard to get the toys out of the packaging these days that I opened very few of the actual toys since it took so long. But she had a great time the whole day and everyone was incredibly generous. Thank you all.

We also celebrated our first snow fall before Christmas and it was very unusual for the part of Washington that we live. We were very fortunate to have it and she really had fun after she learned to walk around with so much gear on. I have to say she wasn't sure about the whole snow angel thing. Of course the snow only lasted a couple of days so it was perfect. We also had our first carousel ride at the Zoo when we went to Zoo Lights. She liked the ride until it went up and down and around. But we shared a great evening with Grandma looking at the lights.

When we got back we celebrated our first New Years Eve together quietly at home, which was just fine with me. She, like most kids, fell asleep before the stroke of midnight but she still looked like the angel she is when I went in to give her a New Years kiss. I am so blessed. Since then we've been just playing with her new toys. I got her a little kitchen set and she's now officially a baker. She wears her apron almost everyday and will even take your order. She really likes to rock out on her piano with the microphone and in general she goes from the minute she gets up until she goes down for her nap (thank goodness she still takes two a day.) She's learning new words all the time and really understands so much of what we tell her. I'm hoping to get her into a play group or a day care a few days of the week so she can play with other kids her age. Anytime we are out and she sees another child, she goes right up to them and starts jabbering to them.

I look forward to may more firsts in 2008 and I can't wait to share them with you. As always, thanks for your love and support. Have a wonderful new year!!
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