Almost 1 year

Lexi turned 11 months this week and that means mommy and the aunt-ourage must begin planning the first birth celebration. Like any true diva, Lexi must have multiple parties in multiple cities. So while we figure out how to plan a celebration for the princess, check out these highlights from her 10th month.

To combat the string of ear infections L suffered this winter (7 of them), Lexi's pediatrician recommended we consult an ENT about having tubes put in her ears. Of course the thought of surgery, no matter how small, sent me into instant panic, but I just wanted my baby to get better. On surgery day, she charmed the doctors and nurses and made mamma feel so much better. About 20 minutes after they took her back, we were called back to recovery. We had been forewarned that she would be cranky and inconsolable for about an hour as the Anaesthesia wore off. That was the hardest part. Within a couple of hours, she was playing, dancing and talking up a storm. That day when I said "mamma" she immediately repeated after me. With the fluid out of her ear, my baby could hear!

She's been great since surgery. Lots of babbling, nonstop dancing, signing and clapping and plenty of kisses for mamma and daddy. She's sleeping through the night and stands in her crib calling daddy when she awakes. She taking steps toward independent walking but still doesn't have any teeth.

We're enjoying this sweet phase and she seems to be enjoying us, too.

Lexi enjoyed spending time with her Uncle Dave who was visiting from Bangor, Maine.

Off to church with Daddy on a cloudy spring day.

Eating an orange. Lexi loves fruit.

Just another day on the job. Lexi is the newest member of Smash! Experiential marketing.

9 months! Lots of illnesses and finally "mamma"

Lexi turned 9 February 12 and her 9th month was by far our most traumatic. She had a tough winter, contracting every virus her friends brought to daycare. Some of those developed into painful ear infections, which meant lots of sleepless nights for all of us.

Things went from bad to worse when she contracted RSV, which made it difficult for her to breathe and has made her more likely to develop asthma. Her bout with RSV meant 2 over-night trips to the ER, breathing treatments and lots of prodding and poking. A lot of the medical care was emotionally harder on mommy and daddy, but the doctors and nurses at Le Bonheure Children's hospital were fantastic and we all made it out OK.

Receiving a breathing treatment at Le Bonheure East. Her Oxygen saturation level was 83%. It took a few treatments to get it back up to an acceptable 95%. She also has 104 fever and we discovered she was anemic.

This medieval torture device is actually a baby's chest x-ray machine. The nurse told us to expect her to scream but she won't be in any pain. She did not make a peep. What a champ.

Here she is in her tiny hospital gown during a separate visit to the ER.

All these illnesses meant Lexi didn't gain any weight during her 9th month, despite a normally healthy appetite.

STATS

Weight -- 18 pounds 7 ounces (48th percentile)

Height -- 27.5 inches (50th percentile)

TRICKS:

Lexi is the queen of babble. She says "dadda" and also started saying daddy. She calls our dog "Jackie" or something like it. Most days it sounds like she's just saying "Jack."

She usually calls me "Tasha" or "Tata" and out of the blue on Valentine's Day she said the sweetest thing - mamma. She uses it sparingly, which makes it so much sweeter when she does say it. She claps and started waving "bye bye" but only when she's in a good mood. She's cruising, holding on to furniture to walk around the house and has gotten so good a crawling, we have to run to keep up with her.

Lexi's first visit to the aquarium. We made the 5 hour trek to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.

Her first snow day. We got 6 inches and all the kids went out to play.

It's been a while ...

When we started this blog, I was sure we would be able to keep up the updates. I mean, how hard would it be to spend 30 minutes every week writing about Lexi's latest antics? Well, the answer is harder than I thought.

BabyBoogie took a backseat to trips to the ER, countless visits to the doctor's office and lots of sleepless nights

Our girl is 10 and a half months now and the last two months have been filled with all kinds of new tricks, illnesses, laughter, tears and lots of surprises. The next two posts will take you through her 9th and 10th months. We'll try to fill in every juicy detail.

8 months!

It's been hard to tear myself away from Lexi and her many cute antics to update the blog. In her 8th month Lexi is just a ball of joy!

First, the stats. Weight: 18 pounds. Height: 28 inches

Now for the tricks! Lexi is a crawler. A very fast crawler. She also pulls herself up on the furniture and will walk if she has something to hold on to. We've caught her standing unaided a couple of times, but as soon as she realizes she has no support she drops to the floor. She enjoys standing so much that she only wants to stand for diaper changes. That's a lot of fun.

And there's the babbling. Lots of it. She calls J Dada or Daddy. And I've been called everything: Yaya, Baba, but mostly she calls me "Tata" or something that sounds like "Tasha."

Everyday with Lexi is a new adventure. I can't begin to express how much we're enjoying her silly faces, her slobbery kisses and the excitment of not knowing what she's gonna do next.

Separated at birth -- Lexi and Horton

Lexi wrestles a bear

Lexi loves her bear-skin rug, a Christmas present from her Aunt Emily. Updates from the Stuart Family Christmas coming soon.

Merry Christmas!

So Lexi is continuing her mission to find the real Santa Claus. We went a little further South to Santa's place to see another bearded guy. She really liked this guy and his helpers didn't ringing any distracting bells. She pulled on his beard and questioned his authenticity and seemed relatively satisfied. At least satisfied enough to smile and grant her parents one decent photo to use for Christmas cards.
We're all getting ready for Jervon's folks to visit. His two brothers and two sisters and spouses and his mom will spend Christmas with us. Yes, we'll have a full house. Lexi's preparing for all the kisses and cheek pinching.

Our apologies ...

I can't believe it's been almost a month since we've updated Baby Boogie. Lexi and her mommy have been home alone for a couple of weeks and blog updating fell off the priority list. To all the fans of Baby Boogie who have informed us of our transgression, we're truly sorry :)

Lexi will be 7 months old this Friday and she's acting every bit the part. She's no longer satisfied with the white stuff in her bottle. She loves crushed bananas in her cereal. And nothing brings out the smacking noises like carrot puree and applesauce. Next up, finger foods.
As you can see, she's already gotten a head start. Her behavior during her first Thanksgiving meals proved mom and dad need to get started on the etiquette lessons. She was grabbing food off every plate within reach. She also loves drinking out of glasses and attempted to chug some rum punch. Thankfully we were able to separate her from the glass with only minor spillage and no liver damage.

For her first visit to Santa, Lexi decided to wear a traditional Dominican dress called the Wob Dwiyet. This outfit is normally worn during independence celebrations in Oct and Nov., so my relatives find it hilarious that Lexi's wearing this in December. My godmother painstakingly created the miniature outfit, which actually requires quite a bit of hand sewing.
The little island girl was all smiles for Santa, until Santa's helpers decided to start ringing bells to keep her entertained. The noise startled her and her smile disappeared, but not before she could ask Santa for a few things on her list.

6 months!!!

Lexi is six months old. Alexa Noreen Stuart is 6 months old. Where has the time gone? What did we do before she came along? What an amazing, joyous and sometimes scary time it has been.

Here are some stats from her 6 month check-up -- she's average.
Weight - 16 pounds (50th percentile)
Height - 25 inches (50th percentile)
Head - 16 inches (50th percentile)

She's met and exceeded her developmental milestones. In fact, her doctor was surprised by how active and interactive she is. She is quite the ball of energy and although she's not crawling or walking yet, keeping up with her rolling, lunges and grabbing is tiring.

Her doc expects she'll crawl forward soon. She's an expert at the backward crawl. Her movements are very swift. She spins around in a circle and can cover the surface of her play mat without ever moving forward. We're getting ready to lower her crib since I spotted her holding the railing, trying to pull herself up.

She babbles constantly and makes high pitched singing noises. She seems to understand call-and-response techniques and will repeat the same sounds in response to our prompts.
As for her mood, she's all smiles all the time and she has the cutest little belly laugh -- pure joy. She recognizes us and our dog Jackie and whenever one of us walks into the room she kicks her feet and waves her arm in excitement. She also has the same reaction when we turn on her music.

The last month hasn't been without it's bumps. She weaned herself off the boobs. One day a couple weeks ago, she decided she'd had enough and started crying at the sight of them -- I feel so used :). She had her first illness, an ear infection and a cough and cold that she's still fighting. Of course, we thought the world was about to end since the solar system revolves around her stuffed-up nostrils.

She sounds like a frog because the mucus had drained into the back of her throat, but her doc says she's doing fine and we just have to wait it out. That's a tough for two people who always feel the need to fix things.

Here are some photos from her 6th month. If I have the patience to wait out Blogger, I'll post a video later.

Conversations with Aunt Lynaire

Lots o' drool

Lil' froggy loves her spoon. She grabs it during feeding time and all kinds of messy fun ensues.

Congratulations Mr. President

You're never too young to choose sides. Lexi, our budding political analyst, was only 2 months old when she called the race. While in the womb, she listened to enough of Keith Olberman's and Rush Limbaugh's diatribes to make an informed decision.