On the 12 th day of Christmas..

So I think Christmas is finally over here. It has been a full week of non-stop presents for Alex. Last Sunday we went to a party where we played Dirty Santa. I brought along a present that a friend had sent for Alex so she would have something to open. Then on Monday we came home to a box of presents from Dan's sister and her family. Thanks so much guys, Alex loved everything including the picture of her cousins.

On Tuesday we packed up and drove to Mississippi to be with my family on Christmas. Our family usually has our get together on Christmas Eve. Alex was inundated with presents from everyone in the family. The big hit of the night was the Dora doll that you can take in the bath tub.

Last night, we went to the Zoo Light Safari. Alex got to ride the carousel, and the train. She even touched a snake.

We didn't actually get the snake touching on film, mainly because we would have needed one of those photo finish cameras to see it, but we did get the reaction after touching it.

Alex begged to go on the train, unfortunately, it took almost 30 minutes of waiting in line to get on the train. The ride was exactly 6 minutes and 20 secs. Alex wanted to get off the train almost as soon as it started and announced when we got off that she didn't like the ride.

Dan's mom came into town last night, so there was yet another round of presents from everyone. Alex of course, loves everything and woke up bright an early to play with the toys today.

She also found the bag of hair bows that were given to her. She never wears them, but today she had me put 3 in her hair. They lasted about 5 minutes.

Finally, her is Alex playing with the much asked for gift from Santa. Her Choo Choo train. I'm not sure what she likes best, playing with the train or setting up the tracks.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I for one, and ready for 2009.

Some random Alex quotes

Almost daily I come in to work and have a cute story to tell about Alex. Usually it is something she says because she is 100 lbs of attitude in a 23 lb body. I thought some of you might enjoy a laugh as well so here goes:

Several weeks ago Dan thought it might be nice to surprise me by taking Alex to see Santa while I was at work and have pictures taken. That night when I came home, Alex was really excited. I knew they had gone to the mall that day, but I wasn't sure why. She jumped out of Dan's lap and immediately ran up to me shouting " I not suppose to tell you we took pictures!" I laughed so hard I cried. One because Dan really thought a 3 year old could keep a secret and two because when Dan asked her did she tell Mama their secret she kept saying "No, I not suppose to tell her we took pictures"

The night before Dan left for Korea, we decided to go out to dinner. Steak is a rare and expensive thing over there, so Dan wanted a good steak. When I came home from work, Alex was excited to see me as usual. I picked her up and started asking her about her day. Dan then asked her if she was ready to go. She looked her Baba and in the same tone of voice I use to talk to her she said "I need to get my purse and my wawa (baby doll)".

Yesterday, Alex was apparently feeling rather contrary. At some point during the day, just minutes prior to her nap, she decided to fire our friend, Leslie, who watches her everyday.
She started by telling her "You're driving me crazy" She then proceeded to tell her "You can't be in my house anymore" and "I'm going to drive you home". At which point Leslie laugh and told her they would just discuss this with Mama. Alex immediately laid down and took a nap.

I think Dan and I may be in trouble as Alex gets older if she has this much attitude at 3 years old.

Long over due update

I know it has been a while since I've blogged, but in all fairness, it has been very busy around here. I can hardly believe it has been 5 months since our forever family day. Most days it seems like Alex has always been with us. She is doing great and really has latched on to the idea of Christmas. She even got pictures taken with Santa, although I need to scan those in order to post them here. Here are just a few pictures I've taken over the past 2 weeks.








We put up the Christmas tree, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Alex really enjoyed helping hang the ornaments. I even showed her all the special ones we have acquired during the wait for her.








Since Dan will not be home for Christmas, we gave Alex our present to her early. Don't worry, Santa is still scheduled to visit Alex at Grandma's house on Christmas. As you can see, it is a cute little kitchen. Ever since then, she has been cooking her little heart out. I don't know how many pretend meals of bacon and eggs, grits and pasta we have eaten.

Today, we baked sugar cookies and the decorated them. Other than a premature opening of the sprinkles, which resulted in a sprinkle shower, Alex was a big help. After we finished the cookies, we took some to neighbors next door.

Finally, this is one of about 25 different pictures I tried to take today for our Christmas card. As you can see, I still haven't got a decent shot. Alex doesn't sit still for long, so half the pictures were blurs or the "odd" face after the actual smile.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully I'll have some decent pictures to post of Alex's first Christmas.

Alex's first Thanksgiving and her sister Alley!!!

Well, Alex finally got to meet her older sister Alley.

They are like two peas in a pod.....

And Alex got to experience her first Thanksgiving. We kinda related it to the story of Pocahontas so she'd understand it a little bit.....

We're Home!!!!!!!

We finally left the hospital at 2pm today, after being told we were being discharged at 8:30 am. Alex is doing great. At this point I haven't decided which is harder:

Being in China with a 3 year old that doesn't speak English, eating unfamiliar food and sleeping on those rock hard beds

OR

Being confined to a hospital room with a 3 year old who DOES speak English and can't get up to play, eating horrible cafeteria food, and sleeping on a chair/sofa with nurses coming in every 4 hours to check on your child

OR

Returning home with said 3 year old who now thinks that life should be a 24 hour chocolate milk, Popsicle buffet, with Mom toting her everywhere even though she is suppose to be walking now.

I'll let you know when I decide.

sleeping thru

Alex has finally started sleeping all the way thru the night after her surgery. Assuming Baba can catch the nurses before they come in and wake her.....

Guess who else got to sleep thru the night???

Here ia our little angel post op in her room.
The surgery went fine and she is now resting and we will see about keeping her prone face down on her tummy for 3 to 4 days now.......

Update

No pictures in this post, just a quick surgery update. On Friday, the hospital called and wanted us to come in at 11am on Tuesday for pre-op blood work. Unfortunately, Tuesday was the only day this week I was scheduled to work, so we "thought" the appointment was rescheduled for today. When we got there, no one seemed to know we were coming. After waiting about 40 minutes in the waiting room, we were told it was "going to be a while" and we were sent upstairs to meet with anesthesia. The pre-op physical and history went quickly, and we were told to go back downstairs for blood work. Alex did great for the blood draw and only cried a little. At this point it was 1 pm. For those of you keeping count, that is 2 hours so far with a 3 year old in the hospital. So back to the waiting room we go. Around 2 pm (3 hours now) I go up to the front desk and ask how much longer will it be, I'm told we are next. Woo Hoo! At 2:40 pm we finally get called back only to find out that....ha ha the jokes on us, we were done at 1 pm after the blood draw. We waited for almost 2 more hours with a hungry, tired 3 year old for nothing. When we finally got home and got some food in us, things were starting to look up, until the phone rang. It was the hospital. At first, there were apologies for the misunderstandings, then the bomb dropped. The doctor who is scheduled to do the surgery forgot he had academic duties on Wednesday and wants to do the surgery on Friday instead. So to review, I picked this week for the surgery because I wanted Alex well by Thanksgiving. Alley is coming for a visit next week and I wanted Alex up and around by then as well. Also, I took most of the week off work for recovery time. Needless to say this has been a rough day.

Oak Mountain

This weekend was cool and beautiful. My sister Kirsten came up for a visit so I decided we should go to Oak Mountain State Park.
Our first stop was the petting farm. For the first time ever, Alex touch an animal other than a cat or dog. This is the third time we have gone to a petting zoo and she always refused to touch any of the animals.

After the farm, we went to the wildlife center. Alex was excited to see the squirrels and birds. She was relieved to know she didn't have to touch anything. As a special treat, one of the volunteers brought out an educational bird for us to meet.
He was a gorgeous young red tailed hawk.

October Updates

Well, the month of October ended the same way it began, with a major doctor appointment for Alex. This time it was an MRI under sedation. Alex was a trooper even though she had to wake up at 4 am in order to eat before the 5 am cut off time. We really only had 1 major break down around 9 am when she realized she could not have anything to eat or drink. She handled the sedation well, and contrary to what the doctor said, she was not sleepy for 4-6 hours following the sedation. In fact, she was wired, begging for food and talking a mile a minute. Right before bed time that night, when I was so exhausted I could barely stand, Alex was laughing hysterically at nothing. I guess drugs are good :)

As for the MRI, it showed us exactly what we thought, that she is completely normal with the exception of her spinal lipoma. The doctors are confident it can be removed without making her symptoms worse, but they aren't sure if any of her problems will improve with the surgery. Since we have no idea how her symptoms have progressed, we can't be sure if removing the lump will reverse anything or not. Her surgery is scheduled for Nov 19th at Children's Hospital. They expect her to be in the hospital for 3-4 days. The funniest part was that for the first few days after surgery they want Alex to lay still on her side. This kid doesn't lay still, not even when she is sleeping, so this should be an adventure.
Alex did have some fun this past week. To start with, my mom and sister, Rhonda, came up for a visit. Alex loves her Aunt Rhonda, so they had a ball and I got some much needed rest. We rented Cinderella and Alex watched it for the first time that Friday night. Over the next few days, we watched it 845 time...give or take. On Wednesday, Alex got to go trick or treating at the city hall. This was her first time and she loved it. Afterwards, Alex came by my clinic to trick or treat so everyone could see her in her costume. Alex also went trick or treating on Halloween.

First, we drove to her friend Cameron's house and went around his neighborhood. Alex loved it but decided after the first couple of house that walking was for the birds, so I had to carry her, which meant I only got a few pictures. After we stopped at all the houses in the neighborhood, we drove home to trick or treat here. Since it was cold and I was tired, I put Alex in her stroller and wrapped her up in a blanket, which is were she stayed. She refused to get out and so I ended up ringing the door bell and holding up her Elmo bucket while she sat in the stroller and yell "Trick or Treat". Halloween was also a big day for Alex because she got her first manicure. My mom took her to a nail salon and Alex picked out a bright pink polish for her nails. Apparently she sat still while the polish was put on and while she was under the dryer. By the way, I was at work the whole time and knew nothing about it. Now Alex is begging me to paint her toe nails...

Anyway, that is all for the month. November looks to be even busier for us. Dan comes home the second week of the month. Alex surgery will be the third week and Alley is coming home for Thanksgiving week. I'll try to do better with the updates.

Now for the pictures, which is the only reason you come here anyway, right.

Alex at 7am when I am trying to wake her up. She is NOT a morning person.

Tinkerbell and Scarecrow

Goodbye October

3 months... a review

Alex on our Forever Family Day.
Alex after 1 month.

Alex after 2 months.

Today is 3 months since we became a family of 3. Dan left for Korea this morning. I thought for fun, I would post a few pictures from the past 3 months. It is amazing how much Alex has changed in such a short time. I can hardly remember what life was like before her.







Alex carving pumpkins this weekend with her Baba.

We seem to have lost Alex.....

......but we found this cute little fairy in the front yard hanging out near the flowers.....

Baby's days out.....

Well, we definitely had a busy weekend....

We wentto the Birmingham Zoo on Friday, and today we went to a place called the Pumpkin Patch where there are hayrides, a petting zoo, and to top it off, the kids get to pick their very own pumpkins for Halloween....As you can see Alex and her friend Cameron were having lots of fun at the pumpkin patch

Random Updates *Update*

I'm sure you have all been wondering what we have been up to lately.
I returned to work full time on the 15th of this month, which means I'm working about 11 hours a day. When I get home at night, blogging is the last thing I want to do, hence the neglect.
Dan came home from Korea on the 18th, but then had to leave again for a week long class in Houston the next Sunday. We had our first appointment at the Spina Bifida Clinic at Children's Hospital on Sept 24th. It was a LONG day. On Oct 1st, Alex had a test to check her bladder function and look for kidney reflux. Unfortunately, we found out that her bladder doesn't empty until the pressure is dangerously high and this causes kidney reflux, so we are now having to cath her every 4 hours. Alex does great with it and other than having to lay still for a few minutes, it doesn't seem to bother her. We also FINALLY got an appointment for her MRI. It is scheduled for Oct 30th.
Last Sunday, we went to Children's to visit Abby . She has had 2 major surgeries in the past 10 days. What a precious girl!! Go to her blog for pictures and to leave a comment.
We have big plans this weekend. Tomorrow we are going to try to go to the zoo and Saturday are going to the Pumpkin Patch. I have also promised Alex she can try on her Halloween costume since she has been begging to wear it for weeks.
Finally...pictures..the only reason most of you check this blog.





Monday when Alex woke up from her nap she had a major case of bed head. It was so cute, I had to take a picture.

Today when I came home from work Alex was all excited and wanted to show me something. It was a large box with a wrapped present in it. Someone sent us an adorable piggy bank. Alex LOVES it. We have no idea who sent it. So, if you read this blog and you sent the present..let me know. *Update* We found out the piggy bank was sent by Dan's company.
Tonight, when we left for dinner, Alex had to give the pig a kiss on the nose and tell it we would be right back. According to Alex... the piggy cried.

Alright that is enough for tonight. Check back later this weekend for pictures from our outings.