Lexi singing "What a Wonderful World"

This is the song she sang with her class at their end-of-the-school-year spring concert.

A little girl gets her wish

Lexi has been asking to go to the beach for a while. We weren't quite sure what she meant, what exactly she wanted to do there. In D.C., if you're wealthy, you have a house or a cabin at the beach in Maryland or Delaware, and you go there every weekend during the summer. You also have to battle traffic (especially on bridges across the Chesapeake Bay) when you go to the beach because everybody else has the same idea of going to the beach on the weekends.

For our June vacation (we are taking some sort of vacation each month this summer), we decided to take a couple of days when Lexi had no school (Sarah and I took two days off work) and go to the beach in New Jersey. We went to Wildwood, which is on the southern tip of the state, midway between Atlantic City and Cape May, on the very southern tip of the state. We decided to take the route through Delaware, which means you take a ferry from one cape in Delaware across the water 16 miles to Cape May in New Jersey. Putting the car on the ferry was part of the fun for Lexi.

Here is Lexi on our first day on the beach, running with a carefree attitude in the sand and surf. It was so heartwarming to see her so happy and getting her wish.

Spring concert at Lexi's school

 

This is Lexi's class (pre-K3&4) with the other pre-K3&4 classes at the school singing their selection at last Wednesday's spring concert. In case you can't tell, it's "What a Wonderful World."

Lexi and other kids

I am not all that concerned about germs - but maybe I should be! We have had two incidents in the last couple of days where Lexi has ben interacting with other kids - and I am wondering about their germs. On Sunday, the little African girls at church wanted to touch Lexi. I can understand that. So they were holding her hands and touching her face a little. One of them also promptly picked up Lexi's pacifier which is attached to her clothes on a plastic chain and stuck the tip of it in her mouth - the girl's mouth, not Lexi's. What to do? I wiped it off on her bib. Is that hygenic enough? I don't know. And what to say to these girls? I don't even know if they speak English - it might only be Kiswahili. Then at the Christmas Eve service, a little blond girl wanted to play with Lexi as if she was a doll. She was gripping Lexi's arm rather firmly - but then Lexi grapped the girl's curly hair. So maybe they were even. But the dilema for Stephen and I is - what do we say to these other kids that are interested in our kid? At what point do you tell them 'no'?

On to the next stop

Our time in Seattle draws to a close tonight (Tuesday) and early tomorrow morning we leave for Salt Lake City to visit Sarah's sister and her family for a few days. We have had a good time here - relaxing, running errands, visiting with family. And we think the family has had a good time getting to know our daughter. She was certainly the main attraction at an open house on Sunday. It was a mob of people and she seemed to be in every picture that was taken that day. Now we are mostly all on the right time schedule, though Dad and Mom still want to go to bed earlier than usual and then wake up earlier. Hopefully, as we move across the country and the time moves with us, we can get on the right schedule.

Aunt Lora bought Lexi a Halloween outfit. Isn't she a cute pumpkin? We didn't do any trick-or-treating though.

Vaccinations

Well, Stephen and I went to the travel clinic on Thursday to make sure we were up-to-date on our vaccinations (we weren't - Stephen had 3 shots, I got 2) and Alexandria went on Friday for her two-month appointment and her vaccinations. And yes, everyone felt them - though only Lexi wailed her head off. Since we are taking her to Africa, she got an extra shot - the one for TB, I think - that in this day and age, babies in the US and Europe do not normally get. She ended up with three bandaids - 1 on each leg and 1 on her arm.

The doctor said Lexi might be a little fussier or get a fever or maybe want to sleep a lot. While she got a little warm, she didn't have a fever of note and it's hard to say if she was a lot fussier than normal. But she's had a lot more poopy diapers than usual. We are hoping that is shot related and gets back to normal soon!

On the stats side, she is very close to weighing 5 kilos and is 2 cm longer than she was 5 weeks ago. All other systems are working well.

Sleep

Well, Alexandria slept through her middle of the night feeding last night. She didn't wake up until after 6:00. But Mom was awake anticipating that a certain someone would wake up.."any time now". So while Lexi seemed to sleep great, Mom is pretty tired today. Go figure.

Lexi goes to the doctor

I took Lexi to the doctor - or rather the 'professor' yesterday at the hospital. (It's a teaching hospital which is why I guess this guy doesn't like to go by dr. but prof.) For the EKG, she needs to be naked except for her diapers. The nurse was very surprised to see that she was wearing cloth diapers and wanted to know why we don't use the disposables. Her English was limited but I managed to explain that it was for environmental reasons (not the only reason, but too difficult to go farther). Then the professor's intern asked about them as well. She wondered if Lexi was allergic to the disposables. She had never seen a baby in cloth diapers before. No wonder our landfills are filling up!

But the hole in Lexi's heart is very, very, very tiny so she hardly has a heart murmur at all any more - the intern couldn't hear it but the professor could. In a year from now, we will have to get her checked again, but it should be gone by then.

Things I am thankful for

1. Lexi is a pretty good sleeper. She can go down for around 3 1/2 - 4 hours at night. So I really only have to get up once.

2. Lexi is a good eater. She gained in 2 days what she was supposed to have gained in 7. So we are reducing the frequency of her meals - but she doesn't always like that! (Trying to hit every 4 hours.)

3. The midwife has come to our home twice now - and since we had more questions, it was good to get them answered. There were a couple of things I was worried about, but she was able to reassure me.

A few words from Sarah

Stephen has been dilgently keeping you all up to date for which I am grateful. It was wonderful to come home on Tuesday night; I was going stir crazy at the clinic and just wanted to get Lexi HOME. Now we are trying to figure out what she needs when. Not necessarily the easiest task (where's her owner's manual??). Some times she is predictable - other times not. The first night at home was a bit trying, but the second was better. I am still quite tired but am hoping night #3 will go like clockwork.

I feel like I am already forgetting what the whole labor/delivery was like. I want to write it down - don't worry, I won't be posting it here! I didn't really know when she actually came out; I was pushing away (it REALLY hurt) with my eyes closed and then there was this slimy, wiggly thing on my tummy - and I wondered - what the heck is that?!?! Stephen had to tell me to open and look at her. Quite an amazing/interesting/miraculous experience. It still feels rather surreal that my basketball tummy has disappeared and we now have this human being to care for. It feels real and yet it doesn't.