Three Years Ago Tonight

7/03/2010 11:49:00 PM Edit This 5 Comments »
It's hard for me to believe that three years ago tonight was the last night I sleep without the sweet little soul of Lexie down the hall (or more often than not right next to me.) Could it really be just three years since I looked into those big brown eyes and knew that I was looking into part of my soul? I really can't believe how much a part of me she is and how much I have grown with her in my life these last 3 years.
This is a picture I took of her the last time I had to visit my daughter at the baby house. It's strange to think she was my daughter except for a technicality of a few hours yet I still could only visit her. I remember when they picked Mom & I up after that visit to go back to the apartment and Flora said I could take Lexie home tomorrow (one day sooner than expected.) I was a little sad that I hadn't made it more of an occasion. But the big day was really the following day, July 4th. I was officially her mother and no one could ever change that. At the time I just wanted to get her out of there. That night Mom & I got the apartment as "Lexie safe" as we could considering......well everything! It was hard to sleep that night knowing it would be my last one without her. As I put her down tonight I couldn't help but see how much we've both grown and to feel even more blessed than I did three years ago.

Here she is last week at our state capital in Olympia. I had to drive down there to get her last post-adoption social worker approved report apostilled so we walked around the campus.
Of course, here is her more natural pose.
Or maybe this one. Clearly the child is confident in herself and curious about the world around her. She has grown in so many ways I can't believe she is the same child.
Here is something I have sung to Lexie almost every night since our first one together.

I Love you Lexie Lou
I Love little Lexie Lou
With your button nose
And your eyes so big & bright,
I love Lexie day and night.

I Love you Lexie Lou
I Love little Lexie Lou
With your dancing toes
And your silly little giggle
I love you just like a pickle

I love you Lexie Lou
I love little Lexie Lou
With your sweet kind heart
And your big smart brain
I love you in the sun and the rain.

Okay, a poet I'm not but my Mom has been bugging me to put it down in writing. I've clearly added the verses as she's gotten older and now she sings "I love Mommy" then makes up whatever she feels like that night. Those are my favorite verses. I sing (I'm using that term loosely here) this to the tune of that song Barney always sings at the end of his shows.  I also sing Bingo to her like this:

There is a mommy who has a baby
And Lexie is her name oh.
L E X I E
L E X I E
L E X I E
And Lexie is her name Oh.....

You get the idea. And the Oscar Meyer song goes like this in our house.

My Alexis has a first name, it's L E X I E,
My Alexis has a second name it's F A L E N,
Oh I love to kiss her every day
And if you ask me why I'l sayyyyyyy
Because Alexis Falen is the sweetest
Girl in the whole U S A - Hey!!

And the last song of my Lexie repertoire is to Row Row Row Your Boat:

Lexie Lexie Lexie Lou
What a funny girl.
She loves ballet
And then she'll play
Then next she'll draw a swirl.

Yes I know - it's the worst yet. But Lexie finds them all comforting and that's all that really matters - right? Plus I don't sing them in public! I have to get credit for that at least. So there you have them Mom. No one will ever forget them now. And no one will ever hire me as a song writer either.
Happy Adoption Day Lexie Lou! I can hardly wait to wake up and hear what you have to say tomorrow.

Cousin Love

6/19/2010 11:44:00 PM Edit This 1 Comment »
We've just returned from two weeks in Texas and Louisiana visiting family and Lexie had a ball as usual. She simply LOVES her cousins as well as her Grandma (or Gamme as she's calling her this week) Aunt Boo-Boo, Uncle Jim-Jim and Aunt Yin-Yin. The silly double name thing started when my nephew Cody as a baby couldn't say Aunt Lou Ann (surprise!) so he called me U-U and it stuck. Naturally everyone else had to have their own special double name. I even managed to get a picture with Lexie & BooBoo together. It doesn't seem to happen often.
Anyway, it was a pretty low key visit as my sister Angie (aka Aunt BooBoo) is 7 months pregnant with twins. That's right there will be more cousins for Lexie to play with very soon. In the mean time, you can see she has a kindred spirit in her cousin Princess Mackenzie! Have you ever seen two more adorable princesses?
Of course her cousin Cody is a very special Prince. He even found her glass slipper and placed it on her foot. Naturally it fit!
And here is her littlest cousin Blake. They had a ball together - when they weren't disagreeing over whose ball it was - haha. He's 2 1/2 and we were in his house so it was a little tough for both of them. Overall though they did just great. This was one of their sweet moments together. Thanks Z.
Here is one of the moments she shared with her Gamme.
.
They had a end of school block party the day after we arrived so Lexie got to mix it up with all the kids in the neighborhood.
They got the bouncy house out that I gave them years ago and turned it into a water slide.
Those Texans sure know how to put on a little get together. The spread was amazing and well worth the heat and bugs. Did I mention it was REALLY hot and humid and the bugs were bigger than my hand?
So of course we had to do a little swimming in their pool since Lexie thinks she can swim now. For Lexie it was all about the look!!
We brought her puppets which were a huge hit. They were so cute putting on their shows. Of course I videoed each one but I won't bore you with them. But you can take my word for it - they were Tony winners!!
Cody & Mackenzie had great report cards for the year so I got them the latest Wii game. And here they are "sharing" with the little kids. Funny thing is Blake & Lexie don't know this is a game that only 2 can play. Their controllers aren't turned on. What they don't know can't hurt them - right? And you can't tell from this picture but they actually were having fun.
Then we were off to ITZ to celebrate their great school year and Lexie's 4th birthday. Yes the family wanted to celebrate her birthday too and who am I to say no!
For those of you who don't have an ITZ in your town as Mackenzie says it's like a Chuck E Cheese for older kids. They have these indoor rides,
even an indoor mini-roller coaster that Lexie proudly road by herself so Z could ride with Blakie.
Of course they have lots of cool games you can play to win tickets (don't you love Lexie closing one eye for better aim? This is serious business you know!)
This one Z play was a jump roping one. Really fun!
They even have a free section for the younger kids with bouncy houses and a little train and plane and all kinds of things for them to do.
Then Z took the kids for a spin in a big rig. Lexie was shifting gears and Blakie was on the horn.
One of the cooler things was this machine where you can "ride" 6 different roller coasters and the laid back seats move with the show. I had to drag them off after 4 rides.
Of course the evening had to end with them turning in their tickets to get some kind of prize. Whenever we go we've always put all the tickets together and divided it by the number of kids. I am pleased to say we didn't come home with some blow up Dora or even a crown. Lexie had enough to get this lovely parasol. Way better than most of the stuff I've thrown away, I mean, that she's won.
Then we actually had her 4th and final 4th Birthday party - this one being the family party. Going to ITZ was the party and then we had cake and presents the following day. The rule is you are suppose to have a party for every year they are celebrating - right? Someone please tell me if that's not true since her 16th birthday could go on for months! Everyone was more than generous as usual and Lexie was thrilled with everything she got. Thank goodness mom had an extra suitcase I could bring home and will bring it back with me when we return for the birth of the twins - filled with stuff of them.
Blakie was obsessed with the cake. He just keep saying "cake - cake - cake" while Lexie was opening her gifts. The mischievous little guy!
Mom picked up these party favors while we where in Kaz 3 years ago. She had enough foresight to think it would be nice to have something from Kazakhstan to celebrate at Lexie's birthdays. Way to go Mom!
One of the gifts I had suggested was a doctors kit since Lexie is still playing doctor all the time at home. Well Angie & Mom went one step further and got her the full outfit. Needless to say Lexie had to put it on immediately and get to work. Here is Princess Doctor Lexie Lou working on her first patient of the day - Cody Bear. What a trooper!
Sadly the patient needs surgery so Princess Doctor Lexie Lou has suited up and is ready to go in.
So it's official. Lexie has turned 4 and will not have another birthday party.....until next year!
One of the few things I requested we do while in Texas was to head to the beach. Well Wed there was a tornado warning in our area so we waited until Friday when the weather would calm down and Jim-Jim would be home. Galveston beach was still feeling the effects as you can see by the waves. The water was very muddy and there was so much sea weed on the beaches there were bulldozers pushing the piles of sea weed off the beaches. But none of that stopped Lexie from working her outfit!
We decided if you can't beat them then join them so instead of a sand castle we made a mud fort complete with sea weed on top for decoration. Thanks Mackenzie.
Lexie was so covered in mud at one pint she wanted to go rinse off...
but I'm not sure how much good it did rinsing off in that muddy water. And BTW, there was no oil in these water. The spill is further east by Louisiana.
Here was the end results. The waves didn't beat us even if the mud actually won!
So that was our low key visit at Angie & Jim's house in Texas. The last 4 days were spent at my sister Lynn's house in Louisiana just across the lake from New Orleans on her horse farm.We went last year and Lexie got to have her first lesson with Yin-Yin so she was very excited to head back. I never did post the pictures from last year so I'm going to stop now and do a whole horse farm post later. I promises Lynn & Broke you will have your own post. In the mean time here is a little teaser.
Yes she was a princess even on the horse!

I can't end this post without noting that three years ago today the judge of Court #2 in Aktau Kazakhstan gave a "positive decision" to allow me to adopt Alexis Falen Quast. I had to wait another 14 days for the final decision but as anyone who has adopted in Kazakhstan knows, getting through court (and my day in court was anything but a formality as I was told it would be) and getting a positive decision is a big milestone in the whole adoption process. God works in mysterious ways to create families and our family is proof of that. I thank God every day for the beautiful baby girl He gave me to raise.


Handy Mommy

5/30/2010 10:39:00 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
Today Lexie played with one of her new toys from her birthday. It's one of those sand & water tables. This one has a little toy train that goes around the outside and you can fill up the cars. Lexie said: "Mommy make sure the couplings are locked or the train will come apart." I think I have Agent OSO to thank for that brilliant statement.
Then she decided to add another new toy to the mix....the bubble maker.
She was very serious about this when she started making bubble bridges and boats and in general bubble messes!

Earlier in the day I cut my hand. When Lexie saw it she took my hand and said in a very serious voice "Hello, I'm Dr Lexie. Please sit down patient and let me fix your hand. This shot won't hurt a bit. I'm very good you know. I promise." Clearly she's still re-living her time in the ER but at least she thinks the doctor is nice and that a shot won't hurt.
Here's my Dr. Lexie on her last day of school.....pre-school that is!
Then tonight I finally got to a chore I'd been putting off, replacing the toilet seat. Lexie sees me bring in tools and a toilet seat to replace the old one and says "Hi Handy Mommy. I'm Mrs Portia. I'm so glad you are here to save the day." Never let it be said that Lexie isn't a creative thinker.
Happy Memorial Day from Handy Mommy & Dr Lexie!!

I Met the Love of My Life....

5/25/2010 10:49:00 PM Edit This 6 Comments »
3 years ago today. That's right - today is the third anniversary of the day I met Lexie in that sad baby house half way around the world. I knew it would be life changing but it's often the little moments that I find so profound. The spontaneous hugs or waves across the playground. Or the silly little jokes like every time she calls me her coach driver as I buckle her into her car seat. Or when she's in the shopping cart at the store and she says hi to a busy person and it makes them stop to smile at her. Just those little moments in your child's life that you get to share with them that can help you see the world as a kinder gentler place. She has given me so many gifts these past 3 years that I can honestly say I'm a better person because of her. I want to be the best person I can be to help her keep growing into the wonderful woman I know she will become.
Interestingly enough today was also our last required post-adoption visit with the social worker. Kazakhstan requires reports from a social worker the first 3 years after adoption then from the parents every year after until they turn 18. And no, they can't take her away or in any way affect her adoption. We are a family forever!! But they have stopped allowing other families to move forward in their adoptions until adoptive families have sent in their reports. So if meeting with the social worker or sending in that annual report will mean one more child will find their family then I am more than happy to do my part. Besides, I'm very proud of my little Kazakh daughter and find it no hardship to brag about her. We actually traveled up to the social worker today who is north of Seattle. We met at a great park so Lexie could play while we talked and she observed how we interacted. Lexie got to play for a couple of hours and I got to share with someone how great Lexie is and she actually wrote it down instead of just rolled their eyes like most people. It was a wonderful way to spend our anniversary. And we took the ferry home which Lexie loved.
She's actually ridden the ferry a few times but clearly she was too young to remember.
She had to explore every part of the boat. Sit in every type of seat.
She saw a guy taking a nap so she told me she HAD to take one too.
She was so busy checking out the boat I lost track of time and we almost didn't make it back to the car in time for the docking. I would have been VERY unpopular if we had been late. If you've ever been on a ferry and someone isn't at their car when it's time to go it is NOT pretty. But we made it so no honking or booing spoiled our day.
Like I said, it's the simple pleasures of life that I am enjoying so much now. Before Lexie I would have probably sat in my car and read or gone up to sit by the window but after a momentary glace outside I would have been on my phone calling clients. Thank you Lexie for helping Mommy see the wonders of this world through new eyes. And you are the best wonder of all!
Happy Born To Me Day Lexie!!
 Mommy loves you with all my heart!
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