Just Pictures Part II

Just Pictures Part I

Update

Just some quick updates. It has been very difficult to keep up with this blog. How do people do this on a daily basis!
Anyway...Alexis and John are doing really well. John turned 15 last month and Alexis turned 2 1/2.. No big celebrations just family and few friends close to us.. Easter was celebrated the same way.  Alexis got the hang of it and by the fourth egg hunt she was a master in finding those eggs. We are set with plastic eggs for next year that's for sure. It was a looong Easter weekend but we celebrated with everyone.


Alexis was supposed to have her third surgery in March but she was doing so well with her ST that we decided to postpone it until the summer (July 5th.) and concentrate on her speech. Her speech is going well and she really enjoys going every week to the DM center and "play" with J and Ms. S.
Her favorite words are CAR and YELLOW, but when she says Oh com'n! we just laugh. Too cute.


She is still eating very well and we have a 35lb. girl with a lot of energy. Her favorite foods continue to be vegetables. She does not like meat too much. Rice, all kind of beans and yogurt are her favorites and fruits like peaches and mandarin . Loves soups and not a big fan of pizza and fries..yea! We eat pasta.The only thing that she would not eat is mint.


Last weekend we drove up to Jacksonville and she did really well. John F. really helped keep her occupied. She had to sleep with us because she did not like the crib at the hotel. She's such a good sleeper at the house that we let her sleep in the king size bed. The hotel was conveniently located at a big shopping center with restaurants so it was great to just go down and walk everywhere with the stroller without the hassle of the car seat. We were in Jacksonville because John had State piano competitions and won a trophy. I'm going to try to post a video of him playing. but for now, you can view a You Tube video here and here and here from a couple of years ago{Scherzo in E minor by Karp, Tarantella by Pieczonca and Solffeggieto by Bach). Enjoy.

Easter 2010

                                               Easter blessings to all!

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Lunar New Year!!!

Christmas Day +

Our Christmas Tree

Here are some pictures of the kids decorating the Christmas tree. Alexis didn't know what to think of such a big tree inside the house but she quickly got the idea and started to decorate, but first she tried to bite a couple of the ornaments to make sure they were not eatable.
Alexis had her first cold since coming home from China but she is a tough little girl and nothing stops her. She is very congested and with breathing treatments with Xopenex and dexphen she starting to feel better.She attended her first Christmas concert and she loved it. We had to hold her to prevent her from going onto the stage to dance. She loves music and there is no doubt she will be playing some instruments. She danced through the whole concert so dance lessons will be something that she probably will enjoy. The concert was beautiful but Alexis was the main attraction. We were at the Hotel for 6 hours and running after a 2 year old for that long was exhausting but she looked sooooo cute with her red dress!
So, we have a couple of parties to go on the 24th and then we will be having Christmas dinner at home with family and then we will fly to the Caribbean and have a much needed mini vacation.

Princess Alexis Random Pictures

December

November was a busy but great month. We celebrated Thanksgiving twice. My nephew came from Syracuse the week before and we celebrated with my family an early Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving day, we visited with John's family and it was really nice. That was the first time they saw Alexis and it was like she knew them forever. She is not a shy girl for sure.

Alexis keeps adding more words to her vocabulary but last week was a big one because she said "touchdown'. For her brother this was the most amazing thing. He breaths football and I can not imagine his reaction if she says Go Colts! but for me, there is not a sweeter moment then when she said "ma-ma".

We saw her surgeon and we scheduled her third surgery for late February. This will be the last surgery and then we will start working with a pediatric dentist. Fortunately , she has all her teeth and they are pretty straight but we will have to work intensively with an orthodontist but that will be years from now. She's still healing from the surgery done in November but things are moving along. We just need to massage the area three times a day with Talsyn-CI which is a cream for scars. The area will look rather reddish for a while.

SO.... for now, our main focus with Alexis Nicole will be speech and fortunately Florida has a great "Early Steps" program especially in our County. Complementing that with the preschool she's in, this will help her immensely. The Early Steps program is an early intervention system that offers services to children with delays or conditions that make them have a delay in certain areas. To be eligible, the child needs to be evaluated in all areas. It is a great program and we had the sweetest service coordinator. When she turns three, she will be in another program and we will start requesting services in March so she can be ready to start by her third birthday.

Well, that's it for now. I will post more pictures in the upcoming weeks.