Ladybug Lexi

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....

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

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...

it reappeared yesterday!

I never Get Enough of her...

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...

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...

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!

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!

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

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

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

Gran Gran and Lexi

Nicholas and Lexi

Gran Gran and Papa

Home

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.

Thankful for . . .

our little Turkey!

P.S. More Thanksgiving details to come. We're just too tired to blog tonight.

Getting to know more family!

I did not get a chance to post last night even though I tried. We took Lexi to Aunt Neaners and Uncle Charlie's house for dinner. We had a really nice time. Geoff's parents showed up for a little while and Lexi was in adult heaven with 6 adults at her beck and call. It was fun to watch but we paid for it later on. Once we got her home, she was asleep in the car. I managed to get her to bed still asleep and then about 20 minutes later she awoke.... and I ran upstairs to her. About 2 1/2 hours later we finally had her down for the night. It never ceases to amaze me how easily we can upset her routine. I can't bare to let her cry it out in a strange place so we patiently just rocked and rocked! (Thank YOU Nanny for letting us borrow a rocking chair!!)

At Neaner's and Charlie's it was fun to watch Lexi. They really had no toys but it didn't matter. They had a box of restaurant coasters that Lexi loved playing with. Lexi reminded me of how she is with my mom with Grandpa Jake. If GP Jake will eat it so can she. And then with Uncle Charlie she reminded me of Lexi with my Dad. She cleaned out his pockets and had the best time! I really wish we could see Neaners and Charlie more often. Lexi took to them like crazy cakes. It's just ashame that it takes so little to upset her routine.


Lexi eating Grandpa Jake's Pizza!


Lexi charming Uncle Charlie!


AND Aunt Neaners!

Today we didn't do much either. We awoke with LJ and had breakfast. We found a place in Manassas called "House of Bounce". They had an open session from 10:30 until 12:00. We decided to take Lj since the only other thing planned for today was supper with Nanny and Maggie. I'll post pictures later b/c I have yet to download them. As soon as we got there a man walked over to us and told us she was too young for it. Well, he didn't know our Lexi. She loved it! She bounced and bounced with the oldest of them. She wore her mommy and daddy out! But she had a GREAT time! Once we returned home and ate lunch Lexi and I took a nap.

Then we went to Nanny and Maggies. Lexi loves them both very much and did a good job eating. Dinner was delicious and we enjoyed our visit. I'm so happy Lexi is getting to spend some time with her Great-Grandma Nanny and our dear Maggie.

We have one more night before going home. We are looking forward to getting Lexi back to her normal schedule even though we have so much enjoyed sharing our precious daughter with others.

Yesterday was Aunt Kelley's birthday. I wish I had taken a picture of them but we were all busy. We'll be sure to get one before we leave. Lexi has taken quite nicely to Uncle Mike and Aunt Kelley and they have been wonderful hosts making us feel totally at home.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We are not sure how the day will go. Geoff's nephew that is living with his parents along with Geoff's mom, dad and Sis in law and new baby have been busy with Nicholas who has had a stomach bug. If it has not passed I guess we will keep Lj away as they have done all week. He has no fever or other symptoms but the dr. says it is viral and will have to run its course. I have no idea if it is contagious or not. So we shall see what Thanksgiving holds. We have looked forward to having Thanksgiving with Lexi for the last three years. It will be disappointing if we can't go but what else can we do? We can only do what we can do. Life if life and sometimes it does not meet our expectations. However, the most important thing in OUR lives is that as of YESTERDAY (10 months ago in China) we saw our beautiful daughter's face for the first time. I remember my heart skipping a more than one beat and the overwhelming feeling that she was REAL! Not every second has been easy but I wouldn't trade it for one second of anything!

So lovable!

Last night went better than the previous two. Lexi slept better only waking once during the night. I had told Geoff I would get up with her last night since he had done it the past two nights. Our girl sure knows her mommy! LOL!

Anyhow, we hung around this morning for awhile and then got dressed and ready to go waste some time at the mall. We had planned to go to the DC zoo or a petting zoo with Lexi today but the weather had other plans. It's rainy and dreary here. This has not been the visit we had envisioned. We are on day three here and have not spent much time with family at all with the exception of Mike and Kelley. I guess that is just the way it happens. We are heading to Neaners this evening to spend some time with them. It's also Kelley's birthday so it will give them some alone time without us under foot. We did pick up Grandma Diane for a quick lunch and now we are letting Lexi nap. Speaking of naps... I think I'll go take one too. The weather's perfect for it!

Christmas Beauty

For Aunt Carolyn

Thanxs- VayK-day -part 2

Okay so after the leaves yesterday, we took off to see Nanny and Maggie (Lexi's Great Grandmother and Maggie her long time house mate who is very dear to us all!) Lexi was a bit apprehensive at first but quickly warmed. Nanny reminded me of how my Mom is with her. Before we knew it she had drank 2 half-glasses of lemonade with Nanny in the kitchen. She was moving from Nanny and to Maggie and then back to Nanny over and over giving them kisses. Of course when the camera came out our LJ became shy. It was a sweet meeting!



Lexi and her Great Grandmother Nanny

Lexi and Auntie Maggie.... wearing an outfit they bought her to make sure she stays warm. She look fabulous in lavender.

Now today everyone went to work and we were left alone. We decided to head to a mall here in VA to take Lexi to see Santa. On the way in we walked through a Macy's and couldn't resist buying a few new outfits for her. Of course the sales lady told me that she knew right away that I didn't need fleece pj's for Lexi because I was obviously from the south. (whatever!... maybe it was the flip flops too! ) But we found this adorable outfit of Lj for Christmas (nevermind that we have 2 "Christmas" dresses already!) When we got to Santa, we changed her (no matching shoes or socks mind you! much less a BOW!) and off to Santa we went!

They called us and thus begun a new adventure. Had Santa let us in on HIS plans and HIS understanding of TODDLERS things may have gone more smoothly. But alas, I learn as I go. Lexi HATED Santa! But he pulled out his Polar Express book and began to read it to ME as we ignored her. Then when she settled down, they called her name, she looked up and "CLICK!" picture taken! Who knew they would cut me out as I slipped out of the picture and walked off... leaving her to FREAK OUT!!! Ahhh... but the magic of the professionals... we got a pretty good picture of a barefooted GA China-Peach with Santa!

So the package came with 25 Christmas cards so guess what??? I just ruined many people's Christmas card surprise from us! LOL! No worries though because those who know me KNOW that this is not the end.