Trip Update

It's been hard to post. I thought I would be posting pictures daily but we are staying busy with family and Lexi so when I do get down time, I really just want to chill-out!

The airplane trip was "fun". We flew on a a small United Express plane. It was booked solid and we began the trip in separate rows but a nice gentlemen from the Georgetown Basketball team moved. The whole team was flying back after a game in Savannah. Just let me say I've never seen so many tall men in one place! The poor players had to practically bend to their waists to walk to their seats! Lexi was a bit hyper on the way up and flipped and flopped until the plane began to move and then she started to settle down. Once in the air Geoff gave her a itouch iPod and a head set and she started to watch "Elmo in Grouchland". It was so cute watching this little baby with all that technology. Often she would touch a button and loose the movie and then she was yell "Ut-oh!" really loud not realizing that the headphones muffled her hearing. Once we landed she was ready to move on!

We went to the restroom for a diaper change. As I was washing Lexi's hands, her Grandma snuck in and surprised us! Lexi was a bit leary at first of Grandma and Grandpa but it wasn't long before she started warming up. She hasn't seen them since August so it took a few minutes but Grandpa Jake is great at making her smile!

We arrived at Mike and Kelley's and started to settle in for the night. It was about 9:30 before we got here. They have a very nice 3 story home so Lexi is very curious about the stairs and she is making great friends with ANYONE who will indulge letting her climb them.
Getting Lexi to sleep wasn't too bad. Kelley borrowed a pack and play and high chair from friends so we were ready. The problem was keeping her asleep. It seemed that every time Lexi moved she realized she was not in her bed and woke up crying. We tried putting her in our bed. No such luck! Our girl is like the Tazmanian Devil flip flopping every which way. We have not had such a hard time with sleep with our girl but once since coming home from China so this was a surprise.

Last night was just a bit better but not much. I sure hope tonight will be better. We are not used to being woken up with her crying like this so much. Geoff has walked the floors with her both nights. I guess tonight is my turn.

Yesterday Geoff's Aunt Diane (Neaners) came over early to meet Lexi. She stayed several hours and Lexi took to her right away. Of course, Neaners taught her how to slide down the stairs on her bottom so now everyone is supposed to do this with her. Lexi read her Eric Carle "From Head to Toe" book to her complete with the motions. It was too cute. I've got to get this on video. Later, Grandma Diane and Grandpa Jake came over with toys! Of course Lexi loved that!

To get her down for a nap I took her for a walk in the stroller. It didn't take long so I brought her upstairs and napped with the Tazmanian Devil. She flipped and flopped from corner to corner of the bed for over two hours!

After Lexi's nap I took her outside and tried to get some leaf pictures of Lexi. Since we don't have 4 distinct seasons where we live in GA I have not found any places near us for leaf pictures. There are tons here. Of course getting a 22 month old to cooperate is a different story. I did get a few that I will scrapbook but for now here are some teasers as well as some others from our trip. I'll be redoing all of them in scrapbook form.

I'll continue our trip details later. I want to keep the blog up to date so Lexi can one day read about her first trip to VA.

Lexi and the leaves!

Lexi and Grandma Diane!

Lexi and Aunt Diane.

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

We started packing this morning for our trip to Virginia. Got to make sure we get the girl in there!



Dressed and ready to go!

We are finally making our way to Virginia with some Lj sweetness. She has not met her great grandparents so we are very excited for her! We are able to fly up rather than the 10 hour drive thanks to Grandma Diane and her frequent flyer miles! We will be staying with Geoff's sister and brother in law. We are doing our best to pack light and just take one suitcase. Packing has been reminiscent of packing for China. It's hard to believe that we have almost been home with Lexi 10 months! It's as if she has always been a part of us. We can't wait for her to meet the rest of the family. I'm sure my Mom will be in Lexi-withdrawal by this evening. We'll have to make many phone calls!

Just Had to Post These

I got an email from Kellie today and couldn't resist posting these pictures... They are too true!

Bestfriends

 

Sara took this picture in the Spring I think and sent it to me to make into black and white. I finally did it this afternoon. About time huh, Sara??

Busy Saturday

This morning I had to get up and get a move on as opposed to our usual slow start Saturday. Carolyn and I went to Christmas Made in the South in Savannah today and then Geoff and Lexi came and got me in the afternoon so that we could take Lexi to the Savannah Children's Book Festival.

Christmas Made in the South was really fun! Carolyn and I had fun looking at all the treasures. We found one really great bow booth and I picked up some new bows for Lexi.

And this really cute wall hanging that I can put Lexi's picture in. I loved this booth!

Once we got to the Book Festival, we wandered around and found the Autograph Tent. Gracious! We went especially to get Lexi's copy of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" signed. The line was long! We waited FOREVER!!! No kidding we waited a little over an hour and a half! We finally met Laura Numeroff and got the book signed and then by then it was over! So on the way back to the car we came across a woman who told us that she had just unlocked the Fragrant Garden for the Blind. I've never heard of this part of Forsythe Park. It was nice and the roses were the most fragrant I have ever smelled. Lexi liked them too.




It's amazing how a drink with a straw can do to ease an impatient child!

We certainly enjoyed our afternoon with our precious little girl!

Glance Back In Time...

This morning I was looking in files on my computer to use to help me learn a new application that I want to use with my students. I needed video, pictures and text. Well, imagine my surprise when I found this video of Lexi just a few weeks after we came home! Carolyn took it with her cell phone. I look at it and just am totally amazed! Look how tiny she was! This was a 3 months Carter's dress and she did not fill it out!

Looking at this video just makes me pause and cherish, really cherish every second with Lexi. She is growing up so fast! She is just changing before our eyes and we don't notice because we see her every day! I remember after getting our referral telling Geoff that we needed to make sure we cherished every day with her because kids grow up so fast. I feel guilty of not following my own advice.

Tonight as I talked with my mom, she remarked about how much you can love a child that is not even of your blood. It is amazing! Adoption is a beautiful, wonderful thing! I sit here tonight just cherishing our Lexi and thanking God for bringing us to her. Many people tell us that she is so lucky to have us but we feel differently... we are the lucky (BLESSED) ones.

Thanks for the bows Aunt Carolyn!

Lexi stayed with Aunt Carolyn today while I went for a new hair-do. Carolyn had a new hat for Lexi and some new bows! This one matched her outfit perfectly and of course Aunt Carolyn had some picture taking fun. I'll tell you this little sweetie is a thief of hearts!

Trying to Get a Picture...

of the cutest Turkey Bow that my sister made for Lexi. Let's just say it was not an easy task even though Lexi did enjoy running from me the whole time.




So finally I gave up and just took a picture of the bow minus Lexi! Isn't it adorable? I'm taking 4 of them to work tomorrow to see if anyone wants to buy them. She certainly is keeping Lexi in bows these days! (I have no idea why blogger is posting this picture sideways! It's annoyed the stew out of me but I give up! I guess you have to look at it sideways!)

Lexi Loves...

Elmo!

Future conversations????

As any adoptive parent knows, the future conversations with your child is an uncertainty. The first time I was struck by a kid's point of view was several months after bringing Lexi home. We were in Kroger and an African American little girl started to talk to herself asking questions like "is that little girl Chinese" and "I wonder if she speaks Chinese". The little girl was so small and intuitive that I never got offended and began to speak to her and answer some of her questions. It was actually as if she wanted to ask questions but yet knew her parents would not approve. Over the last few months I've come to wonder how to handle such situations. We are so PROUD of Lexi and at this point really don't worry about sharing our story of our journey to get her. But we also have to wonder if in the future Lexi will want to keep this to herself. After all, we don't know her family history. We just know hers with US and we hope and pray with all our being that our love and commitment will be enough to fulfill her questions.

And then a few weekends ago, we stood in line at a Food Lion behind a Mexican family. The little girl was much the same. Only this time she had "deeper" questions. She asked me if I was Lexi's sister. I told her that I was her mom which confused her very much and she even said taht she did not look like me or Geoff. Then she wanted to know more. As I told her I was Lexi's mom and that she was to live with me forever, the little girl got more confused. She wanted to know why I did not take her to her mom and dad. When I told her that she did not have a mom or dad, the little girl was even more concerned that we take her back to where she was "lost" so her mom could find her. Her father tried to explain but he knew he could not provide the answers she sought. Her older brother tried to explain what an orphanage was and that we were good for Lexi but the little girl just could not understand.

I hope our little girl will grow to understand and know that we wanted her so badly that we traveled across the world to get her. I hope she knows that we loved her from the very day we decided to adopt from China.

I keep finding myself thinking what to say to people once she is older and KNOWS exactly what we are talking about. With my brother he always knew he was adopted and it was never and will never be an issue. But what will Lexi want to know. I really believe there is a difference between cultures and situations. But in my heart I want to believe that love is all we need. This may be naive thinking but at this point, love is wonderful... love is our life... love is Lexi and our family together.

I know it is good to ponder these things. It's only in Lexi's best interest. Both Geoff and I would never want to be a source of disappointment for our beautiful daughter but yet we desperately want to be great role models as well.

Sorry for thinking so deeply but every parent does the same, it's just ours is more public.

Double Doodie?

If you follow our blog, you know we lost Patches a few months back. Every since then I've been more attentive to Sable wishing I had done more with Patches. Well, after my trip last week, mom told me that she suspected Sable was deaf after she came to let her out one day. I was shocked and in disbelief until I began to watch her more closely and now we can plainly see it. Our dog cannot hear what seems at all! She otherwise acts normal although she has been having more frequent seizures lately (she's always had these). I've been watching and she reacts to movement, not sound. People can ring the door bell, knock on the door, drive up and nothing. I know she's getting older but it's hard to watch. Mom did remind me that at least she can see. I can certainly see how lack of sight would be worse than lack of hearing. Well, Lexi just loves to play with her but now I have a new worry that she will not hear Lexi sneak up on her and will react and accidentally hurt her. I guess we'll be more diligent in looking out after both of them for now.
Lexi trying to give Sable some sugar (with prompting of course!).
Lexi putting Sable's toy out of reach! (NO Prompting!) She loves to pick on Sable!

So this afternoon when I arrived home to find Sable poop on the hardwood floor in the middle of the living room (apparently Sable had a seizure today and when she does she looses bowel control) I tried my best to just go with it. My biggest problem was keeping Lexi out of the way while cleaning it up and then as I did this Sable ran out the front door that I left open. I then realize, I can't call her. She can't hear me! So I grabbed the leash and the baby and once Sable saw us, she came to us thinking we were going on a walk (NOT). We came back inside and I began cleaning up again as Lexi played with the sanitary wipe container. She was pretty happy with this. But as I was cleaning up the mess... I heard Lexi Jayne... she was making her own poop! Thanks Lj! Just what a tired, stuffy nose (thank goodness I couldn't smell at this point!) and just ready to relax Mommy needed right? Awwww "NO-WAY", instead I got double "doodie". I cleaned the floor, then Lexi and then back to the floor to make sure it was all up and then I cleaned it again (3 times should do it right??)

So when is Daddy coming home???? And what is for dinner??? I just don't think cooking a big meal is in the cards for tonight!

Lunchtime Stress Release

Of course, taking a moment during lunch to scrapbook a quick page of my darling can relieve some stress. These are a few photos I snapped of her last Friday night after I returned home from my conference! I didn't have time to go shopping for her so I gave her "treats" from the vendors! She was very happy about them especially the keyboard!

More Halloween

My Welcome Home

I returned home on Friday anxious to see little Lexi. We played until bedtime and then after rocking her to sleep I went back to the recliner, grabbed my pillow and sat down only to keep going... and going... and going... until this...



I've noticed our recliner is showing some wear but come on! If it does this to me again, it'll be on the curb!

And of course, instead of running to my aid, Geoff ran for the camera as he hysterically laughed at me!

Mommy's still learning at the Tech Conference

This was the highlight of the day! Lexi and Geoff on Skype! I had another long day at the tech conference. I was "okay" with the first session this morning but then then things started rolling in the second and then by lunch, my head was spinning with new things I've learned. The problem is not just seeing the new stuff but learning it! I've got so many resources to pick through it is not funny! But to come back to this little face after a long day is AWESOME! She wasn't really all that interested in doing anything but pushing buttons but she would stop and sign and say "Mama" and blow me kisses from time to time. The funniest thing was when I called her a little "booger". She cracked me and Stacey (my hotel roommate) up when she VERY CLEARLY repeated it very loudly! She is certainly beginning to pick up on her speech!


So after finishing with Skype, I took one of the pictures I snapped while talking and cartoonized it on BeFunky.com just for fun. I guess you can tell by the huge banner that I used the freebie version!

Anyhow, tomorrow we leave around lunch to come home. As Stacey would say "bless our bones" we finally get to go home to some extra special loved ones!

Still Learning and Playing!

I love it when I learn something new!

Playing With Picasa at the Tech Conference

And Lexi is my favorite subject so of course I had to play with one of her pictures. I'm at the Tech Conference in Atlanta. I left my little Lj with Mama and Geoff. Geoff is getting her at night and I'm missing her. Tonight I hope to Skype and get to talk to her. Can you tell I miss her? I'm actually learning by the way as I do this. It's part of the class I'm taking right now!

Halloween Highlights

We did end up doing some of the Halloween plans we had with Lexi (runny nose and all). She is still conjested and has an awful runny nose but has been with a temperature since Wednesday. It' snow Mommy and Daddy who are fighting off sickness. We had a fun first Halloween regardless and look forward to many more. We went trick-or-treating with Sara and the boys and brought our niece Brittany along. I can't wait to do some Halloween layouts of our fun but for now here are a few tidbits!

A bee-utiful Bumble Bee...
A Bewitching Brittney...
A lazy cowboy... (who lost the hat early on and really did NOT like all those strange looking people young or old)
An adorable lion... (who was completely content with the stroller ride)

A Happy Family! (even if I was the only one who could manage to smile for the camera!)

Potty Princess??

Blogging on my lunch break...I love to upload at school because it's so quick! I actually started this layout on Monday before I realized how sick Lexi was. This picture was taken last weekend while Geoff was on the computer in the study. There was a potty in the accumulated mess there that we bought for Lexi this summer. I hate it! It's not nearly as nice as the boxed picture looked and it's too tall for her to sit on it comfortably so I've just tossed it in the study. Well, Lexi went in there and sat on it in her pj's and proceeded to go "shewwwwww". She told Geoff by saying "shhheewwwww". I walked by to find her and Geoff said, "she's stinky". She sure was!

Later in the weekend, she did it again but his time it was on her new potty that we bought at Toys R Us. We really didn't intend to potty train her until Spring or at least when she can pull her own pants down and clearly tell us she needs to go but at the same time, she is showing signs of "getting it". She even comes to us and tells us when she is wet and has had several nights of waking up dry or at least mostly dry. So we are going to start slowly with mostly putting her on the potty before her bath. Honestly though, I'm NOT ready for my baby to reach this milestone yet! We've only had her 9 months!

2nd Dr. Visit

I had to take Lj back to the dr. yesterday. Her fever went away but her other symptoms got worse. I'll never understand why it is so hard for doctors to go ahead give some antibotics these days. She had to take them when Sable accidently collided heads with her and cut Lexi's lip with her tooth but yet when I brought her in with fever, coughing, sneezing, running nose, and diahrea I was told to let it run its course. Just two days later, we had all of the above still just no fever but we had a blistered hiney and red ears and throat. Had we waited through the weekend, she would have been in bad shape! This time we got antibotics and she is already showing signs of getting better! The waiting just caused 2 co-pays and Lexi a lot of discomfort.

Today we were going to take our little Bumble Bee out to downtown and go trick or treating at an event down there and then head to the church fall festival but seeing how she is only beginning to feel better, I don't think we will spend much time outdoors at all. We will probably spend a little time during daylight hours downtown and then head home. I don't want her out in the damp night air even if it is still 85 degrees here! As far as going trick or treating with Brennen and Christopher on Saturday, we shall see how it goes.

I've totally neglected my computer at night this week which is why there are no pictures. I've been so worn down by Lj that I go to bed after she goes to bed. So hopefully, I can get some cuteness posted again soon.

I'm blogging and Lj is awake!

And why is that significant? Well, she's been sick since Monday (the first time since we got her 9 months ago). I took her to Mom's with a cough on Monday morning. I had heard her cough a few times during the night and my mommy instincts kicked in. So on the way out I grabbed the ear thermometer, Tylenol, and Zyrtec. When I got there I was showing mom how to take her temperature with the new fanged technology and found she had a 99 degree temp. Of course, I wanted to turn right back around and take her home but I knew she was in good hands. I called and checked on her. The fever was gone, she was eating, and all seemed fine. Then Mom called about 1:00. Her fever was up to 100.

So long story short... I've been home with her yesterday and today. We went to the dr. yesterday to make sure it wasn't the dreaded flu! (Thank heaven it wasn't!) But we have had one little miserable pitiful little girl on our hands. Her fever never went over 102 but it still worried her daddy like crazy. On Monday night when it was so high he couldn't stay out of her room making sure she was breathing. At one point she woke up while he was in there and then he had to do the whole walk to her sleep routine again. I was almost to the point of putting her in bed with us but I knew the way she sleeps none of us would rest.

We really didn't know what to expect from our little precious girl during sickness. We know now... she's just like ME. Pity the day Geoff has to stay home with the both of us sick. She would not let us rock her to sleep. It had to be walking. She wouldn't sit on your lap to play, read, or do anything. We had to be in the floor or walking. Let me just say it is exhausting! So even though she still has a slight fever that comes and goes today, she is doing better and is acting like herself again. She had a respiratory viral infection so there was nothing to give her but at least it's running its course and she is getting better. There's nothing worse than seeing your child in pain and not being able to do anything to help.

Last night after an afternoon of walking the floors holding her I welcomed her daddy to come help. He brought home chicken from Kroger and I fixed a few things to go with it. After dinner I was emptying the dishwasher and putting away ALL the dishes from the day since I could not do anything but help Lexi. Geoff had her in the living room and very kindly asked if I wanted him to do the dishes. I burst out laughing... NOT A CHANCE BUSTER! LOL! Normally, I hate emptying the dishwasher... but my back needed a Lj break!

Now I'm off to see if I can get the little sweetie to nap. Wonder if it will be walking or rocking???