Our sweet little Lexi turned one the first week of October!
This year flew by in a flash!
It has definitely been a year full of ups and downs (more the latter), but Lexi has been such a bright spot through it all! She has truly been the best baby, with such a sweet and loving countenance. It's been an honor to have her precious spirit enter into our family. She and her brother and sis make my joy so full! My grandma has reminded me numerous times how these are 'the good days' and that someday I'll look back on these days with longing. I really have been trying to remember that wisdom and enjoy the here and now amidst the moments of chaos and craziness that inevitably come with three small kiddos.
The summer prior to my being pregnant with Lexi, I had this strong feeling on several occasions that we would be pregnant with our next child the following January. I shared this with Chris and told him to 'be ready', because I just knew that her little spirit was waiting up there, and that that was the timing for her to join our family here. Low and behold, that January I became pregnant with Lexi (we were not trying prior to that month). Chris was somehow shocked, which amused me as I had given him fair warning. I was extremely sick with this pregnancy. We didn't tell any family until I was about 14 weeks along, which was hard with how sick I was. I basically lived in the bathroom for almost 6 straight months, and Emmie, 2 1/2 at the time, would make us laugh with her imitation of me vomiting. It was lovely. I could hardly move in the afternoons I was so incredibly nauseous, so Parker and I would lay out our game of Skip Bo on the ottoman and we would play cards every afternoon while Emmie napped. And yes, Parker had pretty impressive Skip Bo skills!
Before we even knew we were having a girl, I suddenly had a strong liking for the name Alexis. This name had never even crossed my mind as a possibility before and I thought it was funny that I suddenly loved it so much. I talked to Chris about it, and miraculously, he loved the name too! I was nervous to ask him about it because with our previous pregnancies he was always quick to veto my names. But I had a very strong feeling feeling that this should be her name, and so from the minute it was confirmed that she was a girl, we knew she would be Lexi. We didn't really tell the kids because we didn't want them announcing it to everyone. So they came up with their own name... they were set on the name McKenzie, and Chris and I still had our backup name of Brooklyn- just in case- but inside we pretty much knew Alexis would be her name.
Alexis' middle name is Faith, named after my paternal grandma, Faye (whom we call Mimi). Yes, we got creative and added the "th" to make it "Faith".
Lexi has made our lives even that much more enjoyable with her special presence in our home. I know she was meant to be in our family. She is such a sweetheart and has been such a blessing to us all!
Here she is through the first 12 months of her life:
Lexi is always on the go! As I'm writing this she is coming up on 14 months and is yet to stand on her own, however, she has such a finely tuned crawl as this has been her mode of transportation for a good 7 months now. Just in the last 2 weeks she is finally pulling herself up on furniture to a standing position but is still too wobbly to stand alone. She has been taking little steps this week as she pushes Parker's old firetruck ride-on toy, and Emmie's old stroller walker. She is so proud of herself. Hopefully by Christmas this little peanut will have the muscle development to stand on her own! She is getting close!
Yesterday she crawled up the stairs for the first time. Parker was so cute to stage himself behind her to make sure she didn't fall. She was very proud of her new trick. Me- I'm a nervous wreck until my kids learn how to go DOWN the stairs, so I guess that will be our next endeavor.
Lexi's mind is really sharp. She picks up on new words and concepts really quickly. I think she looks so small that sometimes I forget that she is capable of more than I think.
She is so easy to put to bed. She is my first baby that I don't sit and rock before bedtime. I just put her in, she lays down, watches her glow worm, sucks her thumb while simultaneously stroking her eyelashes with her opposite hand and usually goes right to sleep. She just started sleeping in her crib in her room about a month ago. She slept in the pack and play in our room for a whole year! Pathetic, I know, but we only have 3 bedrooms on the top floor (2 in the basement- but I'm not about to have my kids sleep on a different floor than me - and P wants nothing to do with that either), so having Emmie and Parker sleep together on P's bunk beds was more work than it was worth there for a while. But-- we finally made the transition and everyone is happy. For now!:)
Back in October, we were at a children's clothing store, and not having a stroller, I put Lexi down for a minute. She was crawling around and this lady came over and and was astonished at how young and tiny my baby was to 'already be crawling'. I just kind of smiled and laughed, and kept from sharing the fact that my 'baby' was actually ONE, so not only is it normal that she's crawling, but it'd be totally normal if she were walking too!
But it's true... our sweet little Lexi looks like she's about 6 months old...
Lexi's Stats:
9 month visit in July:
Height: 25.5 inches; 0.49%ile
Weight: 14.59 lbs; 2.29%ile
12 month appt in October:
Height: 26 inches; 0.08%ile
Weight: 14.99 lbs; 0.96 %ile
She hardly grew in 2 1/2 months, and has been in the bottom 3 %ile since July.
I remember saying months back that I just want to "freeze" Lexi the way she is because she is just so sweet and perfect. Now for the irony in those words! Over the summer I bought some clothing anticipating that she would grow into them, and she never did, and never has. Part of me just loved having such an itty bitty baby (no back aches plus the cuteness!), but in the back of my mind I wondered why she didn't seem to be getting any bigger. At her 9 month appointment the doctor was concerned with her little growth, but said that her 12 month appointment would be a big indicator as to whether there was a problem. At her 12 month appointment the second week of October, the doctor's face just fell and I could see and hear his concern right away. He told me that it's one thing for her to be tiny and petite (which, with a 5'1 mom, plus short and petite grandma's is feasible), but that she had grown alarmingly very little since her previous appointment three months earlier and that she was no longer following her own curve. He assured me that it had nothing to do with nutrition since her height and weight correspond perfectly, and told me not to increase her caloric intake as that would just make her short and fat, which wouldn't do anything but add to a potential problem. He told me that it's very likely that she has growth hormone deficiency. He wants to reevaluate her at 15 months, and at that time if she has still had little growth, he'll send us up to a specialist at Primary Childrens for further testing. We've been concerned about it, but have been trying not to worry too much about it before we have to! I think she just went through a little growth spurt, so I have high hopes that she's somehow catching up. I have a few other concerns that go along with possible causes of GHD, but figure there is no sense writing them down and getting all worked up about them before we know if there is even an issue. So, we're a little anxious for mid- January to get here and to get some answers, but are trying to enjoy the holidays and the here and now too!
Meanwhile, we're just loving our precious tiny baby!
She is definitely something to celebrate, and celebrate her
1st birthday is what we did in
San Francisco!
It was cold, but we braved the beach.
I felt awful to be traveling on her first birthday, so it made me feel a little better to make a birthday banner and try and make her day special.
On a side note, I look awful but it's okay because the birthday girl's cute smile makes posting the picture worth it.;)
... And the little cupcake girl, digging into her very first bite of sugar, on her very first birthday, in Golden Gate Park!
We sure love you cute Miss Lexi!!!
