Waiting for Your Word

My brother is the featured local artist this week on our Christian Radio Station out here-Spirit 105.3 If you click on this link and then scroll to the bottom left, you can hear his song, "Waiting for Your Word." Great job, Erik!

Reprimanded by a 6 year old(For Women Only)

Tonight we are going to one of the auctions I mentioned in the post below. I am also working all day today, so I had to pick out something that would work for a night out and for a children's boutique. Sure, I could have brought a change of clothes, but that is too much work.

Anyway....Ella came in when I was getting ready and I had my ***MEN: Close your eyes*** black, skirt slip on. She looked at me kind of funny and said, "Mom, that skirt is TOO short. Are you really going to wear that??!!!" (Coughing and trying not to laugh)...well, yes Ella, I said, but under my other skirt. "Good, I don't think that looks real good." Ha! I appreciate your help, Ella, but I wonder if your dad would say the same thing?! ;) I will make sure I remind you of this when/if your skirts ever look too short to me!

Thankfully though, I am glad she has a sense of style& class as well as a standard of dress for her mom.

5 Kids= No Excuse to Skip Date Night

Just thought I would post a picture as proof that Daron and I are still getting out a little on dates. I am sure that there are some of you that would love to adopt and have a handful of kids(literally), but the only thing that is holding you back is that you are scared that you wouldn't get to go on a date ever again! I am hear to tell you that it can be done as we have gone on three dates in the last 6 weeks since bringing home the little ones. Granted...all of our date nights seem to be going to auctions and my mom is single handedly the super woman that babysits our kids(a flashback thanks also goes to my mom-in-law when she visited). Today my mom took the little ones so that I could go and start working out again at the athlethic club and get some work done in the house without anyone asking for a snack. It is sad, but I haven't fully unpacked from Ghana-I KNOW, it was 6 weeks ago, but it is just so boring to put away unused medicines, energy bars, extra bandaids...gosh, am I lazy or what??? Anyway, I am here to say thanks to my mom for helping to keep the local schools funded at their auctions and to keep the sizzle in our marriage! I think we will need to give her a date night soon! ;)

Never bring two kids to get shots without a wing man!

Okay....so I have been really fortunate to have survived 9 years of immunizations without being one of 'those' patients that has a screaming kid in the examination room next door. None of the older three kids have hardly shed a tear for their shots; no matter how many they have gotten.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand why shots would be scary for Fia and Kwame and why they would freak them out. I just didn't prepare myself mentally and physically for it! With the kids so close in age, they are alot like twins in some ways. They hurt for each other, they take care of each other, and they learn from each other. Well....today they witnessed how much shots and blood work hurt each other. If I was smart, I would have brought Daron, enticed a friend, my mom, or asked my sister-in-law or cousin to accompany me to help with the kids. Instead, I thought I could handle it. Well, I did(because I had too). But it wasn't very fun and all three of us might be scarred from it for a LONG time. First, Fia got 6 shots and she was none too happy. Kwame got to watch her squirm and wail and they he followed suit(while Fia was still screaming)! If that wasn't enough salt in the wound, then we had to go down to the lab to get blood drawn. 5 VILES FULL!!!! None of this was fun and we definitely were heard by many. Kwame went first at the lab and his blood work went very slow, as they didn't find a good vein. When it was Fia's turn, she freaked out the 5 minutes before they even started on her!!!! It didn't get better either......she continued to wail throughout, even though they were easily able to find a vein since it was bulging due to her screaming. Luckily for her, the draw took half the time of Kwame's. Unfortunately for me......she holds a grudge!

So....they lesson for the day is to ask for help and bring a friend to take one kid out for a walk while the other gets their shots and/or blood drawn. No sense in having both kids cry at the same time when one isn't even getting pricked!

Disclaimer: Even though I started the day out by biting my tongue after missing the ferry by ONE car to our appt., I did get to have my fav fast food for lunch at Chipotle in the UDistrict with my sis-in-law & niece and we also got to play at the UVillage playstructure with the Harrington cousins! Thanks for the moral support when I FINALLY asked for it!

Plus, we ended the night by being invited over to our friend's house for dinner! Thanks for the great food, wine, and company!!! We had a blast(and thanks for taking the chance for having a family of 7 over)!!!!

One Month

I can't believe that it has already been a month that the kids have been home! Time has really gone by fast! It is surprising how well the transition is going and I am so thankful. I can still see where there needs to be growth on all of our parts, but it is amazing to see our family all together finally in one place.

These sweaters were made by our friend, Hilary. Aren't they gorgeous??


Food: We really haven't had many food issues. The kids pretty much try anything and are actually better eaters than the older girls. The food that we are still trying to incorporate more is fruit and dairy. Other than that, it has been super smooth. I even tried for a couple of days to mush up Kwame's medicine for ringworm in yogurts, smoothies, etc. The only way he would eventually eat it is just by chewing it straight up! It was so funny to finally realize this was how he wanted it.


Hair: It has been great learning more and more about their hair texture. I have tried out so many products that I had heard were good for them, and I think I finally found one that I like called Curly Q's Custard and Carol's Daughter Milkshake. They are both conditioning products that work much better than others I had tried. Only problem is that they will break the bank!! ;) I have had fun braiding Fia's hair and then leaving it out with a headband, scarf, or hair band. My girlfriend, Karen, is making the cutest hairbands ever, so if you are looking for any for your daughter, I will have to point you in the right direction.

Parasites: Just got some of our test results back yesterday and they both do have Giardia. It wasn't surprising in some ways since the water is undrinkable in Ghana, but they really didn't have any signs. I think their little bodies are just so used to living with it, so it will be nice to start them on the meds. on Monday, hopefully. No one has to worry about catching it from the kids unless you take a bath with them; which I won't let happen because we already use enough water in this house for the seven of us with showers, dishes and laundry! So.... hopefully they will be free of this gift from Ghana soon after they get the medicine in them. Later in the month we head over to the city again for a doctors appt. at the UW Adoptive Medical Center. They have doctors that specialize in pediatric care for international adoption; it should be interesting! I think they will get their first shots in the US. Ouch!

Sleeping: This has gotten much better now that the kids are only waking up three times a night instead of six, but we are definitely going to be excited when they sleep all the way through the night. We have finally wised up though and Daron and I are switching nights with who gets up. It has worked well except for one night when I woke Daron up after I heard Kwame and he thought it was supposed to be his night to sleep. He still got up but I could tell he was annoyed. A couple hours later when he got back from playing basketball, I helped him see that I was right (not unusual that I try to do this) and he eventually realized the truth. Then he admitted that he told all the guys at basketball that I made him get up on his turn to sleep! My only payback is the blog... so thanks for reading about his mistake! ;) Hopefully this 'waking up in the middle of the night multiple times' will be a thing of the past soon and I will hardly remember this stage. So...if you wonder why I am having more and more coffee to stay awake through the days, this is why.


Feel free to ask any questions that you have....I can't think of anything else to write about now(well, that's not true, but this is getting very long!)

Did you see MLK Jr. at school today?

We are part of a walking club on Tues. and Thurs. mornings to school and we have not done it yet since we have had the little ones home. Last week we had hoped to do it, but with the weather and Greta literally feeling under the weather, we had to push it off until this week. The older three have been begging every day to bring the kids in to their classes and introduce them, but we have tried to shy away from that until the kids seemed more acclimated. Well...today was finally the day and all five kids loved going to school. They got to meet all three teachers, the principal, and some of the students. Our town has a mix of ethnicities, but there aren't many with brown skin here. As we left the Kindergarten class, one of the little boys waved to Kwame and said, "Hi Martin Luthur King." Totally innocent, totally cute. We had a good giggle as we walked down the hill after that!

Week 3 at Home

We have been home much more this week than I would have liked because of a fever that Greta had for over a week. She is doing better now, but it was just weird since it lasted so long and it was low-grade.





Everything else is starting to feel like what normal is going to be now and we are getting into the swing of things. I am doing lots more laundry and spending a lot more time in the bathroom; both potty training, giving baths, lotioning and doing hair.
It is so much fun to see the personalities of the kids come out more and more! Fia loves to be silly and Kwame loves to copy his big sister's silliness too. They thought they were so funny putting on Daron's shoes and trying to egg him on. They were hoping for a reaction from him, because they love when he 'gets' them and they can try and wrestle away.

Thursday we had more snow. Just a little bit, but enough for a 2 hour school delay. We put the snow pants on quickly and went out to the lot next door to do a little sledding. Fia and Kwame loved it and had so much fun playing in the snow. The big kids were great and loved taking turns bringing the little ones down the hill.
Fia and Kwame also loved the hot chocolate and marshmallows afterwards and drank that in a quick second. I thought the last picture was funny now that we have 5 kids at home; lots more to dry off. I was running out of chairs!

Smiles

Just wanted to post some pictures of some smiles in our house the last few days!(I realize I need to take some of Justus too!) We are having a fun time exploring all the new things in our neighborhood and town. Fia loves pointing out the mountains and whenever she spots them, she says "Mommy, look!- Mountains. I wanna go there!" They both also love the boats that they see in the marina. We had a tantrum the other day from a certain little girl because I wouldn't stop to go and look at the boats on our way home from somewhere. We will have to bring them to Grandpa's boat before he sells it; they will love it!

The only real issue that we are experiencing right now is still naptime with Kwame. He hates going to bed and we have tried all sorts of things. Really, he just wants to sleep in our bed, but with 5 kids, we can't start that now! The last 24 hours have actually gone pretty smoothly and so we are crossing our fingers. I think 'toffee', known to us as M&M's, was what worked for bribery of no crying. So, hopefully it will work at naptime today too!

Week 2 with kids Home

Sorry that I haven't posted in almost a week for those that are far away and want to see the kids. Actually, we haven't really been out in town much yet, so those that are close haven't probably seen the kids yet either. We had a great time with Grandma in town and then this week the kids also got to meet their Uncle Brad and spend time again with Aunt Ingrid, Kaia and Lola. I love seeing my family with the kids - they love them so much already too. The cousins had a fun time playing together and Lola(3yrs.) even tried speaking in Twi!! It was so cute; I wish I would have witnessed it, but I guess Lola heard Fia and Kwame talking to each other and she looked at them and said, "that's funny!" Then she started to speak to them in her version of Twi- so cute!!

I brought the youngest kids over to Seattle for a doctors appt. and also made an appt. for Fia to get her hair cut and done. I think she really liked it; after all, it was an Aveda Salon! I definitely won't be doing that too often, but it was very reasonably priced for a first good shampoo, hair cut, and style. The stylist also had me try doing things; so it was a bit of hands on learning. They loved the ferry ride over and in between appts., we went to go and meet Great Grandma Gwen. They loved meeting her and I think she loved hearing them sing 'Jesus Loves Me.' Hopefully we can spend more time with her soon.

Yesterday we had our first of three post placement meetings with our social worker and it went well. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was very laid back and she just wanted to meet the kids, hear about our travels, and witness our family in action. Hopefully there wasn't too much she was worried about!

I have really enjoyed this last week and a half with our new family of seven. Normal is a little different than it was before, but I sure love it- all the kids are really becoming a sibling unit and I think Daron and I have been a good team together. We got to go out already on a date too! When Mary was here, we went out on Valentine's after the kids were all in bed. It was so nice to go out and enjoy each other at a great, new little restaurant in town. I wasn't sure if we would feel up to leaving already, but it was really nice for Daron and I since we are used to getting a decent amount of time just for ourselves. We are so thankful that she was able to come and meet the kids and help out with meals at night. She told me to post this picture of her cooking- it didn't always go as smoothly as we would hope!!! I am sure she had at least two kids under her though, so it wasn't entirely her fault. :) Grandma also got to be here to see Ella perform some of her Norwegian dancing at a nursing home on Valentine's Day. She did a great job-it was my first time seeing her perform; what a cutie!

It has also been great to have Grandma Bev and Grandpa Gordy live near and be here to play with the kids and give the older three some extra special time right now when we are focusing more on the younger two. We are so blessed to have our family and friends love us through this wonderful process!

Grandma Mary's Here!

Grandma Mary's Here! Grandma Mary came to visit yesterday from MN to meet her newest little grandkids. The older three have been so excited to see her and they passed on that excitement to Fia and Kwame too. When she walked in the door, Fia ran right up to her and then wanted to take her to show her the picture of both Maynard and Mary. Grandma is very loved here and it is so much fun to see the little ones join in with all the love!

The last few days the kids have been eating us under the table here. They loved beef stroganoff last night(the older three not so much) and everytime I walk in the kitchen they say they want food or water. I think we will see some change in their weight very soon! ;) To give you an idea of how small they are, they weigh the same amount that Justus did at 6 months-25 lbs(although he was huge)!

Overall the transition has been going really well. We have pretty much stayed in and the kids haven't really been in a public setting yet; just trying to get used to home and our family. They are loving the snow, looking at the water and boats, taking walks, seeing Ella come off the bus, getting dressed in their clothes, reading books, playing with puzzles, and taking baths, and of course, mealtime! They still aren't sleeping really well though and that has been the hardest par of the transition. They wake up in the middle of the night; sometimes still sleepy and sometimes not! Last night 4/5 of the kids all woke up with a nightmare or something! I am definitely not used to that and if you see me in public it will explain the dark circles! The kids are all getting along really well and it is so much fun to see them interact with each other. They take care of each other and they are sad when the older three head to school. It isn't all peachy though and Fia did have to come out last night after we had put the kids to bed to say that Ella was being naughty!

Both Grandma Bev and Mary decided to get Fia and Kwame the Bitty Baby twins. They have been having so much fun playing with them and Fia realized today that her dress matches the babies; you should have seen the smile! It was also fun to see her take the blanket that my grandma had made her and tie it around her to hold the baby on her back, as they do in Ghana. So cute!