There and Back: Lexi's Story

Avoiding Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:47:00 +0000

Lexi has so been off of her eating schedule! We've had a hard time getting her to eat much at all. She does best when it is just her and one other person in the room. This morning I fixed her some eggs and strawberry cream oatmeal. She did everything in her power to avoid it. It was funny but she finally did eat about half of what I had fixed her.

Climbing up in the WRONG chair.
Hiding UNDER the table.
Playing Peek-a-boo!

Starting to give in.
Climbing into the right chair.

Finally deciding to eat!

Humm... not so bad Mommy!

And this outfit was NOT put together by us. Lexi demanded to wear her tutu with the wrong PJ's. At least the colors match! This girl certainly has her own ideas about things! I'm looking forward to spending some time with her this week without having Christmas preparations to do.
Right now... I guess I"m off to watch some Barney with her!

A Photo Favorite

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Perfection!

New Look!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:05:00 +0000

It seems funny to do a blog makeover with a winter theme since we get such little cold weather here but oh, well. I took these header pictures of Lexi yesterday at Mom's with my new 50 mm lens! Yea! I finally got a new lens for my camera!

And I finally changed my blog signature using the extra special gift from Melissa. For Christmas she made me a year's worth of signatures to use on the blog! I love them! (Okay... her too! LOL!)

First Christmas With Lexi

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:35:00 +0000

We had so many pictures I thought this would be the easiest way to share. We had a fabulous Christmas!

Lexi got up about 8:00. Before we got her up, we quickly mixed up Hashbrown Casserole and popped it in the oven. Then I walked her out while Geoff waited with the camera. She dove right in with no prompting! I wish he could have captured the look on her face when she discovered that TMX Elmo could move and talk. It was as if she thought he was alive for real! We got so tickled with her because she loves new clothes but not on Christmas morning! Every time she opened a box with clothes in it (as opposed to toys), she would slam the box back shut and say "back". She did the same thing with her stocking. It was not interesting enough!

When breakfast was almost done we called Mom and Dad and the came over to eat with us and see what all Santa had brought Lexi. It was such a joy to watch her on Christmas morning. At one point, she took both Mom and Dad's pointer fingers and made them go into her room to dance with her to her Christmas tree. She insisted they take off their shoes first. It was so funny. I can still see the big smile on my Dad's face as he danced with her. It was precious.

After Mom and Dad left us, we called Geoff's parents on Skype. They are in Italy with Geoff's brother and his family this year. Lexi opened a present from them, showed them some of her toys and played with her Daddy in the floor as they talked.

After talking with Geoff's parents Lexi and I went down for a 3 hour nap! I couldn't believe how exhausted we were from all the fun! I had planned to make a big Chinese dinner in honor of Lexi's culture but we only ended up making Pot Stickers and Asian Style green beans. We had fortune cookies. Being the "dipper" Lexi is, she dipped her cookie in soy sauce!

We finished Christmas with Sara, Chris and her boys yesterday afternoon. They had so much to do on Christmas day with other family that we decided to wait until the day after. I can't believe how much our family has changed since last Christmas. We've been so blessed. I can't imagine life without Lexi. Lexi loves her "sissy" and her nephews! She has just brought so much to our family and I thank God for her everyday!

Christmas Eve Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:54:00 +0000

After leaving Mom and Dad's we headed home with one little wound up child! We came home to discover new PJ's for everyone. They must have been delivered by one of Santa's Elves! We changed clothes and began with nighttime routine with a few changes for Christmas Eve. We were going to have a fire however, the weather had turned very WARM so if we were going to do that we would have had to turn the air way down! So we decided to skip the fire and the hot chocolate. We read Lexi a very simple version of The Christmas Story and then tried to read The Night Before Christmas (too long for short attention spans!) Somebody was getting tired so I rocked her to sleep. Only when I came out of her room did I remember the wrapped doll and book that I had planned to let her open! I told Geoff I was tempted to wake her up but let it wait for morning.

We began preparing for Christmas morning and finally made it to bed about 11:30. I don't know who was more excited... me or Geoff!

Christmas Eve At Mom's

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:07:00 +0000

For as long as I can remember we have opened presents from each other at Mom's on Christmas Eve. We all continued this tradition even as we grew up, got married and started our own families. This year Shirley and Chris did not make it but we did have Kelly here. All in all we had 19 family members! We always begin with a Christmas Feast and then move on to presents. This picture was taken of Lexi just before we started. You would never have known that this was her first Christmas. She took to opening presents like a pro. She even helped pass out presents to everyone. I wish I had video of her opening her first present. It was an Elmo sing-a-long toy from Carolyn's family. When Lexi saw what it was she lifted her arms and screamed "yea!". It was too cute!

We saved a few extra special presents for for Mom and Dad until the end. I made a photo book of Lexi's first 10 months with us. I began with the referral picture and then Family Day in China. The book is just precious and it was all I could do NOT to give it to Mom and Dad when it came in a few weeks ago.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Mommy's Little ... Mind Reader!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:55:00 +0000

I'm going to try to get caught up on my holiday posts today. I have TONS of pictures and so much to tell! We've had so much fun with the holidays this year. It's amazing how much Christmas spirit you can feel when watching through the eyes of a child. Of course a 3 1/2 year wait for that child and then FINALLY having her here for Christmas sure helps too!

So here's a cute story that I don't want to forget. I didn't snap a picture though!

... On Christmas Eve morning, Geoff and I were finishing up breakfast and sitting at the table talking. Lexi as usual finished in record time and was down playing. I had ONE more thing to make for Christmas Eve... a batch of sugar cookies. Mom had given me a new recipe to try and I was reading it over. It had a picture of the cookies on the page. At one point Lexi got up in Geoff's lap and must have watched me looking at the recipe because when she got down from his lap, she disappeared in the kitchen and came back with 2 handfuls of cookie cutters! It was too cute. Our little girl is "one smart cookie!"

Christmas 09

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:57:00 +0000

Blessed... precious... awesome! Couldn't have been more perfect. More details will follow but for now these three words will have to do!

Merry Christmas!

Almost Christmas Eve... but yet....

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:13:00 +0000

we embark on the Eve of the Terrible Twos! Today Lj is 23 months old! It's hard to imagine and even harder to face as I want to enjoy every baby moment I can. BUT.... B-U-T Lexi has other ideas. She is everyday showing more signs of Independence which in many cases = defiance! Ouch! Just this morning, she who wanted a bath so badly and did such a great job washing her own hair but then threw a major tantrum when I washed out the shampoo (bad mommy!), decided to throw another one when I took her out of the growing cold water.... only to insist (so unfair!) on NOT putting on a diaper and clothes! She ran from me after I managed to put on the diaper and hid in a corner as I drug her out to put on a shirt as she kicked and screamed. Putting on jeans was worse and warranted a stay in good ole "Time Out!". After just about 30 seconds she was saying, "UhhhPPPPP?" I let out up and we talked about what got there in the first place. However, lessons are hard learned around here as demonstrated tonight while we tried to put on Pj's she wound back in good ole' time out! Of course she is never there more than a few minutes and she totally understands but I have to admit in some ways it is comical. She really is a little stinker who has mastered the art of controlling Mommy and Daddy! (FYI... Daddy is more fooled than Mommy!)

I just keep saying that I CAN'T wait until she understands the concept of "You better watch out, you better not pout, you better not cry, I'm telling you why..."

Oh.... I don't really wish for those days but I sure look forward to some parent trickery! LOL!

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Lovin' Christmas Gifts!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:41:00 +0000

Yesterday a very dear friend (Angela) at school gave me not ONE but THREE outfits for Lexi for Christmas. Since two of the three were holiday outfits she wanted Lexi to have them now. So last night while Mom and Dad were over, we let her open her present. We were very surprised that she seemed to just "know" how to open the present. She ripped the paper and even the box! And when she finally got to the outfits she began to lay them down and match the tops and the bottoms. LOL! Could this be early signs of organization skills??? (I hope so!!) After she got all outfits out she tried on ONE of them for us and then she was "ALL DONE!" I happened to snap this picture at the exact moment she decided to hunch her shoulders. It was too cute. The outfits were just adorable and just what we needed for the holidays. She's all set now with Christmas dress from Mommy and Daddy... Christmas PJ's from Nana T. and 2 everyday outfits from Auntie Angela!

The holidays are so exciting for us this year! I have to admit the last week has been tiring and overwhelming as we prepared to end school for 2 weeks but today after passing out gifts and learning that my gradebook could wait until January I began to relax and I'm feeling the spirit of Christmas. I can never express how much the addition of Lexi to our family has blessed us. I can't wait to see her with the family on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day. I can't wait to teach her all about the reason of Christmas and all the traditions associated with it. I can't wait to see Christmas from the eyes of a child again and enjoy the anticipation of the holidays.

Tomorrow we plan to take her to the mall... (AH... hate the last minute crowds but ...) and we will let her ride the Christmas Train in the mall. She loves trains so it's a must do even if we have to fight the crowds to make it into Savannah.

One more quick story and then I'll stop... yesterday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and said to Geoff as we got ready for work that I couldn't believe that I still did not have a present for him. He pointed to the video monitor and said "there's my Christmas present". I feel the same way. Our life is complete at the moment with her here and no gift can surpass her presence and each morning I wake up and punch the button on the monitor that lights up the screen and I take a few minutes just looking at the sleeping Asian Beauty in her crib (what more a perfect way to begin a day!). I quickly told him that I understood BUT that "sleeping Christmas present" needed to have a gift for her Daddy on Christmas morning. So on Monday morning, we will head out to first have breakfast with the Carr's at McDonalds and then go shopping. (Can't wait to see the boys and of course their parents again!) Who knows it may end up being the perfect day and we'll have lunch "on" Daddy too!

Homemade Gifts were a Hit!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:59:00 +0000

This picture is deceiving as it looks smaller than it really is. In reality, it held an entire batch of my sugar cookies. Now Lexi and I have to make more for our family and of course Geoff's secretary. She covets my cookies every holiday season and when I make them for her she hides them from her family! LOL! I make them from a recipe that I found in a magazine when I was about 14 years old. I've had it ever sense. It's not meant to be rolled and cut out but I do it anyhow very carefully and it makes fabulous cookies! I hope this will be one of the many things I pass down to Lexi. Not only my recipe but my love for baking and more importantly the spirit of giving to others.

Cutie Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Still lovin' some hats!

Today Mom kept Lexi late for me so that I could finish making some homemade gifts for some extra special friends at work. What I could normally knock out in 2 after work days now takes much longer! I am not sure without Mom helping if I could have pulled it off. I'd post the pictures of my homemade gifts but FIRST must give them and then let everyone in on the fun.

Lexi got to open her FIRST Christmas present today from Ms. Fair! She was awesome! She totally gets the ripping of paper and loved to find what was inside! She gave her 2 Christmas outfits that she needs to wear now so she told me to give them to her. Lexi loves them! I can't wait to post pictures but tonight I'm just too tired! But certainly Lexi LOVED the new outfits especially one of them...

I promise I will update with pictures soon!

Ladybug Lexi

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:07:00 +0000

I had an extra special lunchtime visitor today! It made my day! She was sporting her brand new Converse Ladybug tennis shoes that one of Santa's elves delivered this week!

Of course I had to show her around. Everyone just is amazed at how much she has grown! She only let ONE person at school get some lovin' . . . Auntie Lissa!

As soon as she went by the cafeteria, she looked at the kids eating and said "EAT" and that was about all she said the rest of the time. She did get one of the Pretzel Wreaths that I have been making with the 2nd graders during their computer lab time. She wasn't sure what to do with it, she just wanted it! My students look at Lexi like a celebrity. They love to see her in the building and love to spot us around town. It's too cute!

Let it be known....

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:42:00 +0000

that no matter who you are, how frequently you visit, or how charming you are.... LJ is BOSS! Last Sunday night we had a few of Santas elves visit us (mostly Lexi). She received a few gifts that she loved but even more importantly had some new people to be a part of her "captive audience"!

Here's the lowdown...

Lexi decided to pull everyone's pointer finger and drag them to her room where then she pushed the "magic button" on her Christmas tree (mind you this is the button that Mommy could NOT touch last week!) and then she would proceed to dance and make her new room visitor dance as well. As soon as the melody came to a close, she promptly not very nicely ordered the visiting dancer to leave her room. Then as any good "spider" would do she would insist on her next "victim" to come dance. One by one we all danced with her and then got kicked out! Only she did finally decide I could dance with her over and over and over.... until Mommy was about to have a heart attack from dancing so much! Needless to say Mistress Lexi was NOT pleased to see me leave the room.

Lexi is head strong, strong willed and certainly one who longs to be in control! But she does have quite a personality and sense of humor. It most definitely can wear us out but it's also so very darling and cute. (I however may deny this statement in the future when she busts out in Wal Mart declaring her superiority to her parents!) Ah... the terrible twos just lurk in the shadows!!

Holiday in Motion

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I've got some back tracking to do. The weekend was super busy so I didn't get any posting done. I do however have some pictures to fool around with in PSE. I'll most likely edit this post later to include them. The important part to me is to talk about our first Christmas with Lexi.

On Friday evening Sara called and asked if she could bring the boys over for us to watch for a few hours while she got errands done and get ready for Chris' work party. I did have plans for us but quickly regrouped and said yes. I had this vision of Geoff outside decorating the house, me and Lexi baking sugar cookies in the kitchen and then later us putting up the Christmas tree. HA! Despite having the boys over, it rained and that blew decorating the house out of the question.

We had all three kids for about 4 hours and just let me say it was fun, they totally wrecked the house and I couldn't have been happier. Sara ended up letting Brennen sleep over so Lexi was in heaven! She loves him so much and they play so well together. As the day wore on I gave up on going to pick out a real tree due to the rain and put up the artificial tree only to discover that a strand of the prelit lights didn't work. Geoff worked for hours trying to find where the problem was and then we gave up and decided that the tree would wait.

So on Sunday after Brennen went home, Lexi and I took a nap while Geoff once again proved what a wonderful husband and father he is. He went out and bought the biggest, most beautiful Christmas tree I've ever had! AND he went grocery shopping for us. So after he returned we had gotten up and the decorating began.

At one point I walked out front to hold the tree while Geoff cut off some of the lower branches. Lexi was standing in the doorway barefoot waiting for us to come in. I swear I think my heart just skipped a beat as I was overcome with emotion just thinking about how grateful I am to finally have her home and to see that precious little face watching us knowing we belong to her.

Once the tree was inside, we began decorating. Lexi just went nuts when I opened box of ornaments! As we worked through them, I remembered two ornaments we had bought for her in China. We were filled with emotion as we gave them to her just knowing we had gotten them 9 months ago. Of course, she was not nearly as impressed. I also found one of the ornaments given to me during one of the exchanges that we did during the wait. (See that post: http://waitingforlexi.blogspot.com/2006/12/ornaments.html) It had Lexi's name on it. I tried to get a picture of her with it but she just wanted to throw it! LOL! Lexi really enjoyed unboxing our White House ornaments. Geoff's mom used to give us one every Christmas (we love them and miss them *hint* *hint* MIL). Thanks to Lexi, the boxes are all now mixed-matched.

We hung our stockings and Geoff cooked dinner for us. It was the perfect afternoon. We are so thankful that our Lexi is home.

Just when we thought the cheesy head-tip smile was gone...

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:19:00 +0000

it reappeared yesterday!

I never Get Enough of her...

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Even when she's cranky or just wants Daddy over Mommy, I never get enough of our sweet Lexi. My brother told me he doesn't like the picture of Lexi crying but I can't help it, some of them are too stinkin' cute! Just because she is crying doesn't mean she is truly upset, hurt, or negelected. It just means she has mastered the art of communicating to Mommy and Daddy that what is happening at that particular moment was not part of her plan. To me it is hilarious to see her turn on and off those tears and OH those SAD LOOKS! I wish I still had that ability to get my way so easily! LOL!

I took her to the PTO last night and she was perfect! She listened and was quietly coloring during the program and even sat on ONE seat the entire thing. If she does half this good once she hits school, she will be the perfect student!

I love our girl so much. I just can't get enough of her!

Can't help but reminense...

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:07:00 +0000

Look back at this post... http://waitingforlexi.blogspot.com/2005/12/lexis-first-outfit.html and see the outfit Lexi finally was able to fit into today! That was 4 years ago! Still she has no need for the sweater because it seems to get warmer and warmer here every year but the rest was cute, cute, cute! (of course in the "real world" she is totally out of style!! That was so 4 years ago!!! LOL!) Okay... well, the hat was a tad bit small for her head and she didn't have on the matching socks but the onesie and pants were a pretty good fit (12-18 months Gymboree ... my how she is growing!). As in my earlier post... we are now seasoned parents and now find practical outfits that cost a lot less and save our cash for the outfits we really think are too cute to pass up! I can always find at least one in each of Gymboree's seasonal lines. Trust me, our girl is much more fashionable than I will ever be!

Sometimes a Parent will do anything...

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:09:00 +0000

Tonight I am reminded of how much our mealtime has "changed" since returning from China. I will admit I was quite a bit in LaLa Land about how our adoption would go. I wanted instant bonding and instant family. It was a challenge to keep up with my own standards. Now in hind-sight 9 months later so much is more clear. I remember thinking since Lj was 13 months old, we could easily have a dinner routine. NOT! I remember thinking that we would NOT have one of THOSE children that act out in public restaurants and that we would just "raise her right". (LOL as I choke!! That only lasted so long!!!)

As I posted photos this week to Shutterfly and to my backup external hard drive to make sure we never lose one precious photo of Lj, I came across some of the photos we took in VA after our visit with Santa. Guess what Lj is eating???

The parent in me that is in denial would say bread and butter but the honest one will admit she is eating butter... pure butter minus the bread. It churns my stomach to just think about that but she liked it and was being calm at the time as opposed to the child that wanted to run all over the Cheesecake Factory.

I think of this tonight as we just finished dinner and Lexi had a nice dinner of roasted chicken, broccoli with cheese and mac and cheese ALONG with some ranch for dipping the chicken. Now that dinner is over we can pretty much say she had RANCH DRESSING not only for dinner but as a face and hand lotion. How this child continues to grow is beyond my comprehension! I guess a diet of butter and Ranch dressing could bring on some weight for most of us though!

As for my high expectations for mealtime and clean floors and all the other stuff... I'm now a seasoned parent and totally agree with the 3 second rule. A little dirt is good for them ... right????

I need a Weekend away from my Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Our weekend was BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! On Saturday we had Christopher Evan's birthday party at our house and then after it was over, we took Brennen and Lexi to see the Christmas Parade in Savannah. Then he spent the night for the first time since we came home. We've been reluctant to tackle a sleep over since Lexi was so unwilling to share us with any small kids. Well, she's over that now at least when it comes to her nephews and she is totally in love with Brennen. They are 6 months apart but they get along just fabulous! She calls him Bren and totally acts like a boy when he is around. She wrestles him to the floor and chases him all over. She even willingly will get her diaper changed as long as Brennen is getting changed too.

CE was quite a funny boy at his party. He loved the cake and made a wonderful little mess! We enjoyed watching him so much. And Lexi and Brennen really enjoyed the Elmo riding toy that we got CE for his birthday.

He's such a beautiful boy!

Brennen had a nice surprise for me this weekend too. His whole life we've referred to me as "Grammy". Well, he has different ideas. He began calling me Nan this weekend. It's too cute. So I guess we're Nan and Papa.

On the way to the parade we stopped by Target and picked up two Harness Buddies. We didn't have but one stroller and knew that Lexi would have nothing to do with riding in a stroller if Brennen wasn't in one. We've been talking about buying one of these anyhow because Lexi is getting more and more independent and doesn't like the riding in the stroller. She'd rather walk. We were pleasantly surprised at the positive comments that people made about how cute they were and what a great idea it was. Only one man made a rude comment about us "putting Lexi on a leash". More than once I held tight to the handle to keep her from bolting in the street. I could walk with the kids and feel that they were safer than if they were just walking and we didn't have to insist they hold our hand (which is often another battle in itself).

I can't wait to scrapbook some of the pictures we took this weekend. Life just has new meaning since we became Grandparents and parents of Lexi.

Lexi the Grinch!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Yesterday Lexi and I had a "special" Mommy and Daughter afternoon. Her daddy bought her a pink Christmas tree so when I picked her up in the afternoon I took her to WalMart and we shopped for decorations to go on it. When we got home, I called her daddy to see if he wanted me to wait to decorate it with him to help. He said to go ahead so we got to work. She was quite funny and wanted to taste all the ornaments. She had a good time making a string of Snowmen heads play "Jingle Bells" and got really engrossed in the little hangers you use to hang the ornaments. When we were finished, I grabbed the camera and switched it to video mode and asked her to turn the music from the snowmen on. I just thought it would be adorable to watch her dance to the music around her tree and I intended to catch it on video. Instead... Lexi the Grinch emerged. I couldn't help but make a video of it. The video quality is not the best as it was kind of dark in the house and it's about 8 minutes long but it's so funny! At least we thought so! Of course once again, Lexi has confirmed that she is a Daddy's girl! Mommy does all the work and Daddy gets the love!

House of Bounce Video Clips

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:45:00 +0000

I found these clips on the camera today as I downloaded some pictures from the school garden. Christopher Evan is having a Bouncy House at his party on Saturday. I'm sure Lexi will be in bouncy-heaven!

Christmas in the Park

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:14:00 +0000

The quality of these pictures are horrible but they will have to do. Our little town had the Christmas tree lighting last night as well as Santa, Rhonald McDonald, food, bouncy houses, Christmas Carolers, and reindeer in the park last night.

We wanted Lexi to see some reindeer but it was dark and I'm not the greatest photographer much less in the dark. It was a lot of fun. I just wish they had not done it on a school night. We couldn't wait out the long lines for the bouncy houses so we bypassed them much to Lexi's loud display of disappointment.

She is now pointing out Santa Clauses. It is so cute to hear her say "San-TA". This evening, I am looking forward to taking Lexi to the store to pick out some Christmas ornaments for her new pink tree that her Daddy bought her. Then we are going to decorate it. I want to put up our Christmas tree in the living room but have been waiting until after this Saturday because Christopher Evan's birthday party is going to be at our house this year. I can't believe he is one today!

This is the birthday invitation I made for him.

More Virginia Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Gran Gran and Lexi

Nicholas and Lexi

Gran Gran and Papa

Home

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda, Geoff and Lexi) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:16:00 +0000

We arrived home last night. For the first time in 6 nights Lexi slept well. We think she missed her bed and her routine. The trip we so looked forward to was hard on her. As I type this, I mean no hidden messages or ill-meanings on anyone but I feel I must share how things really are and can be with an adopted child especially one from an orphanage. We've had Lexi for 9 months now and really thought the timing was right to travel far away from home and let her meet more family. We looked forward to sharing her sweet self and beauty with everyone but it was not that easy. By the end of the week we were all ready to come home and now we have some readjusting to do. I know that not everyone who reads our blog understands. There are so many people who believe that love is the answer but those of us who have "been there and done that" realize how fragile International Adoption can be.

Today was our first entire day home. It was hard to say the least. My dear hubby let me sleep in and got up with Lexi as usual. I got up and had some hot coffee and held my appetite for left-over Thanksgiving dinner with my family. I have to say my Mom surprised us all with a pretty much "repeat" of Thanksgiving today complete with freshly cooked homemade mac'&cheese and lima beans for Geoff. She made sure there was plenty of left over homemade stuffing and gravy for me along with my favorite rutabagas (I know not really a Thanksgiving staple for all but is with our family). Lunch with Lexi was hard. She gobbled up cranberry sauce and wanted to be done. Then she sought out all the attention she could gather from everyone. We recognize this as controlling behavior and is hard to deal with. Mom was really great with her and got her to eat and then take a nap. I only wish I had such great instincts with her. I won't sell myself short by saying I have none but my Mom has so much experience with traumatized children that she just instinctively knows what to do.

I have to say without a doubt I've never felt so missed and so loved as I have this Thanksgiving. It was our idea to go to VA and felt it was a good time for Lexi. It's always a little hard to know exactly what to do. Our trip wasn't exactly what we had planned. Not that we had a plan other than visiting the zoo and spending time with family. In the end, the weather didn't cooperate and the zoo was out. Wanda wanted to get some pictures of LJ in the leaves, but the constant rain didn't allow for that to happen either. LJ's cousin was sick the first few days of the visit as well so we weren't able to spend much time out at mom and dad's as well. Just seemed that our plans weren't meant to be. But those things happen sometimes. It was nice to finally get Lexi to meet her great grand parents. That is something we have wanted to do for sometime. I think she has finally just met about everyone. It was nice to spend some time with Uncle Mike and Aunt Kelley. I don't always stay in touch as I should, but it was nice to see them and they were very good hosts. I hope we did not interrupt their routine very much.

I know I have my insecurities and I am sure that Wanda does as well. We love her very much and know that she loves us. Seeing her growing before us is amazing and a blessing. But it is a little disheartening to be in the same room with her and feel like she is not at least acknowledging your presence is not fun. It does happen from time to time, and they are getting fewer and farther between. I think we are like LJ in that we have our routines and don't always like them being upset.

Tonight she was easily agitated and cried over everything. I had to put her to bed with her boots on as she would not allow us to take them off. We've already had to repeat rocking her to sleep. I feel as if the last week has been harder than any other week since we got home.

So for now we have some readjusting to do. For now, we will just work in as much routine as possible and reinforce who is in control. Control is such an issue with International adoptive children but is such an important message that they learn to give up control and trust their parents. We want our daughter to grow up well adjusted and successful daughter. We only wish her the best in life we can ever offer and will leave the rest up to the good Lord above.