Random March Pics and Stitches

Here are some pictures that I just found from March that deemed worthy of sharing for some reason or another.

Kwame all bundled up in the snow.....I mean really, could this be any more different from a typical outfit in Ghana or what? I don't think the evenings ever got lower than mid 70's when I was there.

March was also the birthday month of my neice, Kaia. She had her bday party at a pizza spot near them that is fabulous and the kids all had a blast. Fia obviously loved playing with the dough and teasing her uncles by putting the dough over her eyes.

Below are pictures of when we introduced Fia and Kwame to our church. The one picture is of Kwame and his buddy, Anders. They were cleaning up the nursery and really being big helpers. It was so cute. The other picture is when all the kids come up before Kids Church and Daron prays for them and/or gives a mini lesson.

Okay, I have more pictures coming soon. We have had lots of fun times lately with family and friends visiting, but I can only get my mind wrapped around a few pictures at a time these days, so this will have to hold you over.

On another note, our family has been to the ER twice in the last week. Before last Monday, I never knew where exactly one should go for stitches, but now I do. Last week after I put the kids to bed and Daron was at a meeting, I brought the garbage out(something I should have left for my better half) and forgot that there was broken glass in the bag. Well, I stuffed two more bags on top of the one with glass and cut right into my hand. After taking one look at it, I debated who to call first: Daron to come home or someone to come and watch the kids while we went to the ER for stitches. It all worked out, but four hours later, we were home and I had my three stitches that are just an annoying reminder of what I already know: NEVER TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE! ;) just kidding!

A few nights later, my sister and brother in law got into town. It was already after eight, but we ate dinner late so the kids could see them and hang out before bed. After all, it was spring break. While the adults were finishing up dinner, we heard a cry and they said there was blood. Kwame ran into our hutch and there was a big gash on his head. We just finished talking about our ER trip earlier in the week and we knew we had to do it again! We were smart and did not mention to Kwame that we were going to see the doctor. That would have freaked him out since after his immunizations a few weeks back he still says daily at one point, "Mommy, no go to doctor today." This time I used a new word, hospital, and we kept doctor out of the vocabulary. Only two and a half hours later, we came home with Kwame and two STAPLES in his head. Never heard of that before, but I guess that is common when it is on the scalp. I was very proud of him; he did just great and was super tough. It was kind of humorous and embarrassing that there was some of the same staff on that night as earlier in the week! Oh well, hopefully that is that last ER visit for a long time.

Great friends!

Last week we had some great friends of ours, the Mills, come up for a visit from OR. Most of the time we have been able to visit with them in the last 9 years we have either only brought our toddlers along on the visits or gone without any children, so our big kids don't really know each other that well. This time all seven of our kids got to play together and Matt and Kir got to meet the two youngest Jags. It is so great to be with friends that you feel so comfortable with and both spouses enjoy each other's company(at least Daron and I did)! I did wish that the weather was a little warmer and that we could have been outside more, but summer is almost here and hopefully we can road trip down to them soon too. This time we walked down to the bakery, played up at the park, made them run errands with us to pick up kids or go to swim lessons, had some Swedish pancakes, and we were so excited that my parents could watch the kids one night so that we could go for dinner with just the adults! Thanks Matt and Kir for the fantastic dinner that you took us out to!! Thanks mom and dad for making it happen!! Walker, Gage, Fia, Ella, and Kwame (the older kids were at school) climbing down by the waterfront

Isn't he a cutie? Maybe arranged marriages will come back 'in'.

Fia chose the sad face cookie instead of the smiley faced one; the yellow smiley ones were always my favorite growing up(and they still are!)
Fia is definitely a flirt and loved playing with Matt. He also won Kwame over by letting him play video games on his iPhone

Walker-he is hilarious! Daron taped some of his expressions so we can remember this funny dude!

Gage and Kwame

The Reverends

The Pastor's Wives

Connecting with our Ghananian Friend!

Last Friday was a special day for our family. Fia and Kwame got to be reunited with one of their friends, Victoria, from Eban House. Victoria is 5 and was adopted a few months ahead of us in WA, as well. Her mother, Hilda, and I have become cyber friends through our adoption yahoo group and it was great to have our families meet in person! We had planned to meet at a park in Seattle and play outside, but alas, it was raining. Our second choice was Chuck E. Cheese-LOL!! The kids were so excited to see their friend, that we could have met in a supermarket, but it was nice for all the older kids to go and play so we could just let the younger three reconnect, as well as the adults getting some time to sit and chat.

We ended up hanging out there for 4 hours! All 10 of our kids(one of theirs was at a bday party) got along extremely well and plans are in the works for another get toghether this summer.Hopefully we can get together with lots more WA families that have adopted from Ghana this summer; as well as others that are in our neck of the woods. Thanks for hanging out and taking the trek Zimmermans!

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!