The Weekend Before Christmas

The weekend before Christmas Nasuuna, Cousin Kennedy and I headed over to Minnesota for a girl's weekend. Katie and Megan had planned a little something special for Meredith and Nasuuna. We headed over to the Mall of America on Sunday...

The girl's enjoyed each others company...

While I enjoyed time with family...

Both girl's picked out Bitty Baby dolls as their Christmas gifts from their God Mother's. Nasuuna's named hers "Baby Jesus" but she has since changed it to "Musi". Meredith's is named "Maggie" but should be named "Megan," as it is a red headed doll.

Nasuuna was totally overwhelmed with the mall, most of my pictures include her looking at anything but the camera...

You'll have to turn your head or your computer to see this pictured, I have rotated it several times but when I import it it still shows up this way...

We even fulfilled a lifelong dream of Kennedy's by eating at the American Girl Bistro. Kennedy didn't remember to bring her doll... Perhaps next year she will:)

Nasuuna LOVES her doll...

In fact, she likes it so much it slows her down. Not only does she insist on bringing it everywhere but Musi also has to walk. A high school friend of mine contacted me via facebook because she had noticed that Nasuuna got a Bitty Baby. She sent Nasuuna a new outfit for her doll which she was given yesterday after we finalized her adoption.

This morning when she came downstairs Nasuuna kept saying "swimming suit." Her doll was already in her swimming suit so I couldn't figure out what she wanted. I asked her to show me, she went up to her room and pointed to where her swimming suit is usually kept, it was in the wash. Nasuuna wanted to put her swimming suit on to match her baby- LOL.

Together Forever...

After an eventful night with a fever that wouldn't stop climbing and a trip to the ER with a lethargic and weepy little girl in the middle of the night. I wasn't too sure today's events were meant to be... Actually I thought they might need to be called off completely. But with a resilient little girl that was able to bounce back (thanks to good medical care, meds, and rest) everything went as scheduled...

We were able to finalize Nasuuna's adoption today. In a few weeks we should receive a Certificate of Birth listing us as the parent. We are hers and she is ours.... FOREVER!
I wish I would have been given the questions I would be asked prior to being in the witness stand. I would have prepared an eloquent speech for the Judge. Pretty sure one of my answers included "... and she's charming..."

Cullen listened intently to the hearing. Geremu tried distracting Nasuuna the entire time. Nasuuna ignored everyone except Uncle Corky, so the Judge got a good view of the back of her head. I had static cling like you wouldn't have believed. Frankly, I wouldn't have believed it but I have pictures to prove it. Nick was busy lookin' good, someone had to do it. All the kids where happy with the treat, in the form of a sucker, they received from the Judge.

Our babysitter, Amanda, and her sister, Ally, were in attendance.

As well as some of our other close friends and family; Uncle Corky & Aunt Janet, Michelle, Uncle Tom & Aunt Sue, Cousin Kennedy, Cousin Chad & Huyen, Busch Family, Peters Family.
We knew there was a possibility things would not go as planned but we decided we would celebrate regardless. So celebrate we did...

We feel so incredibly blessed to have Nasuuna in our family. Thanks again to our family and friends for all of your support!

Merry Christmas!

The fun all started on Christmas Eve... A family friend Tony came over during the celebration. I

was trying to get a picture of some of the kids with Tony and the following two are the results... Geremu= Stunt Man, I have no idea what he jumped off of, just thankful that Tony was able to grab him before he hit the ground. I know the picture is a bit blurry.

While trying to snap the below picture I couldn't figure out where Geremu was, I thought he had disappeared. Apparently Geremu feels quite comfortable with Tony...

While we were all singing Christmas songs they danced...Santa made his traditional appearance when the song "Santa Clause is Coming to Town." Gifts where handed out and he promised to stop again at night.

The favorite gifts of the year...

Cullen got a DS from Auntie Katie

Geremu got a skateboard from SantaNasuuna got a stroller for baby Musi from Santa

There was a little wrestling...And a LOT of love...Merry Christmas!

Adjusting

When we first got home we were in a short honeymoon phase. The kids were pumped to play together and get to know one another. That was short lived, I was avoiding blogging about adjustment because frankly it wasn't all roses and rainbows.

Cullen had been waiting for another sibling patiently for a long time. He is easy going and nothing seems to bother him. He has adjusted easily to having a sister. So easily he told Santa he wanted a DS and another brother or sister. The one thing that seemed to bother Cullen was that Nasuuna didn't want him kissing or hugging her. Cullen is a huggy, lovey boy and Nasuuna wasn't about to accept his love freely.

Geremu has had a bit of a hard time adjusting. Honestly this hasn't surprised us. In fact, we predicted that Geremu would have the hardest time adjusting. He isn't the type of kid that likes change... He has a hard time with change. His world was rocked when I left the country. It was a long time to be away from him. When Nasuuna came home I think he felt like he was unsure of his place in the family. He wanted to be the "big brother" but she is very independent and doesn't want his help. To complicate things, in a two week period we had two deaths in the family. Geremu has been trying to put all the pieces together... From his past and everything that is currently going on. He has a lot of questions and needs a lot of reassurance. He no longer knew what his place/roll was in the family. It has been hard to see him struggle. He needed attention and he was doing everything possible to get it. He constantly had his guard up and would fight every battle with everyone. The only thing that seemed to help was to keep him busy. Hello YMCA...

Nasuuna is resilient, it's an amazing thing to see actually. She adjust to changes unbelievable well. She is an easy, fun-loving kid that can play by herself or with others quite nicely. She likes to be held, rocked and tickled. She enjoys spending time with me and helping around the house. I never would have predicted she would adjust so easily. She enjoys all foods, is a great sleeper and is a huge repeater. She will say anything I tell her to and clearly. She understands more English than she speaks but she has really come a long way. She loves the app uTalk Luganda and it has been a great way for us to communicate. She is a joy to be around.

This week has been AWESOME. All of the kids are doing amazing! What has changed? Last weekend Nasuuna and I left for the weekend. I wasn't sure if it was the best idea, but I figured it would be good for us to get away. Geremu was exhausting me... And I was afraid that Nasuuna was not going to like him if he didn't stop some of the stuff he was doing. We were gone a totally of 3 nights and every night Nasuuna asked "Go home?" It did make me a bit sad... I'm not sure she understood that we were only leaving for a little while and that we would be going back home. I kept trying to reassure her but it was obvious she missed "Cullenie and Geremuie." We ended up Face Timing and Skyping with the boys so she could still see them. Nick said that Geremu had a great weekend, his behavior was awesome. I'm sure he was exhausted from constantly having his guard-up. Cullen and Geremu both missed Nasuuna. Since we have come back things seem so much better. The kids are all playing great together and enjoying family time. Nasuuna is even accepting Cullen's love:)

The below pictures are from this week. Geremu has discovered that Nasuuna might play shy when it comes to dancing but she enjoys to bust a move just about as much as he does...

The dreidel game is the kids current game of choice. They play it with m & m's so really what's not to like about it?

Since we are leaving town as a family for Christmas we decided to give the kids their Christmas gift from us early. They LOVED the drums we brought them from Uganda. *Take note that Geremu lost his other front tooth yesterday. All he wants for Christmas are his two front teeth:)

Lastly, here is a picture of Cullen up on stage during his holiday concert... He could not have been more excited when he spotted us. Love this picture!

I'm going to have to do a little back blogging these next few days... I was having trouble logging onto my blogspot account but the issue has now been taken care of. Last week some good friends of the family came to celebrate the holidays and meet Nasuuna. Below are some pictures of our night together...

Beth brought all the kids new Packer hats, which they all LOVE sporting in Packer country.

One little girl was quite smitten with Patrick...

Just because he is so darn cute...

Got to try-on the Super Bowl Ring from last year.

Hope the 2012 one is green and gold too:)

Nasuuna is the bed hopper in this house these days. She has a tendency to crawl in bed with the boy who falls asleep the fastest...

Stay tuned for posts on adjustment, language and Nasuuna's early Christmas gift.

A Gift of Love

During this adoption journey the love and support that our family has received has been amazing. There is one particular story I'd like to share with you about a gift my daughter and I received while we were still in Uganda.
This short timeline of events seems like something I will want to remember someday when I think back on this journey. So bare with me as I remember the order of events. Uncle Corky had arrived in Uganda on Oct. 31st to wait out the remainder of our stay with us. My Grandmother was hospitalized on November 1st with Pneumonia. On Wednesday, November 9th we were informed that my Grandma was not going to make it. This was the day they had pulled all IV's as her body was in the process of the end stages. I would be lying if I didn't say that we were a little down in the dumps. Shortly after learning that my Grandmother was not going to be around when my Uncle, daughter and I returned back to the states I received an e-mail from Nick. There was very little written in the e-mail, instead there were two pictures. The first was a picture of a letter we had received from a man that we haven't gotten the chance to know very well yet. I asked the author of the letter if I could share it on my blog. I think his exact words were, "blog till your hearts content." I hope you are able to click on the below picture so you can read the letter... If you can't read or zoom in on the letter. Ed made my daughter a pair of freshwater pearl earrings. Nasuuna has a love for all things jewelry and Uganda is considered the pearl of Africa. The earrings came with the letter packaged up in the the below envelope...
I may have shed a few tears when I read the letter and saw the earrings. The earrings can be seen in Nasuuna's ears on all the pictures of her since she has been home. They are certainly something I'm sure she will appreciate even more when she understands the meaning behind them. I also got a pair of the earrings recently and love them. The letter and earrings could not have come at a better time. It was certainly a mix of emotions for all of us. This has not been an easy journey, but we do want you to know that we have felt your love and encouragement. We are humbled and thankful for your thoughts, prayers, wishes, gifts, meals and help. You will never know just how grateful and thankful we are to have you following along on our journey and supporting us along the way.
*If any of you are interested in a pair of the freshwater pearl earrings, I can certainly hook you up with the contact information of our new friend that has a love (and side business) for making this sort of thing.

Moving Along

We are slowly settling into a groove as a family of 5. Somethings have been much easier than anticipated and other things harder. We have decided to call our daughter Nasuuna upon her request. If you ask her what her name is she always answers with Nasuuna (pronounced Na-soon-a). We have not yet decided what will legally be her first name and what will be her middle, but we are calling her by Nasuuna. Apparently she was called this (and Knighty) in care. This has been a hard change for Geremu, he is still mostly calling her Kamusiime... She doesn't seem to mind and she does respond to him.

Nasuuna calls Cullen, Cullenie and me Momu (pronouced Mom-moo, similar to Geremu) everyone else she seems to have down.

One of the biggest "problems" between the kids has been a holiday tradition we have. You see, we adopted our first elf, Rootsy (light skin and brown hair) some time ago, when Cullen was young. Our second elf joined or family via adopted last year, Hider (darker skin and hair). Both of our boys have grown-up understanding the Elf rules that the book talks about and each boy is responsible for finding an elf each day. Cullen is a rule follower... He firmly believes that if an elf is touched they may start to lose their magic. If they lose their magic they wouldn't be able to return to Santa at night to report on the kids behaivor. I should also mention that we some how ended up with a Christmas Mouse, Gumdrop. Honestly, I can't remember how the mouse joined the group but apparently it plays by the same rules as the elf's. It is Santa's favorite mouse so feel quite honored to have him hanging around. The point of all of this is the Boys are true believers in the elf's powers.... Then along comes their sister... Let's just say Nasuuna is not so much a believer. In fact, she doesn't really know or understand the "rules" of the elf's and mouse. The first time Nasuuna grabbed an elf and was playing with it Cullen lost it. He was crying and yelling, I have never seen him so upset. I explained to Cullen that Nasuuna doesn't really know or understand that she is not allowed to touch the elf's.

Nasuuna has grabbed an elf and threw it across the room... Cullen believes he witnessed it fly... He never saw the toss. I had to practically tackle her to prevent her from picking it back up. I've learned my lesson and have been careful to put everything up high and out of Nasuuna's reach. I thought I was quite cleaver by hanging one on the ceiling fan in my bedroom. Nasuuna takes her naps in my room, she has little to no jumping skills. When Cullen went to wake her up she was sleeping with the elf. Houdini I tell ya. Cullen wrote Santa a note telling him about his sister and asked Santa to make sure he gives the elf's a little more extra magic just in case Nasuuna touches them.

Speaking of Santa, I took the kids to meet him. Cullen was so cute leading Nasuuna to him. The picture is awesome as her smile is as big as her face. Cullen said, "I told Santa I wanted a DS and so did Geremu. Nasuuna just looked at Santa and smiled. She didn't say anything. I don't think she wants anything from him."

Last night Santa came through the neighborhood behind a police car and fire truck. The kids could hear the sirens and Christmas music before he actually got to our street. We waited patiently for his arrival in the warm house. Below is the only picture Nick took without one or more of the kids faces/noses smashed against the window.

There was high-fiving and chest bumping when he finally turned to come down our street...

The kids each got a ziploc bag of candy treats. Since Nasuuna is a lover of sugar she is really starting to think this Santa character might be something special.

Deck the Halls

After a little shopping excursion the other night I pulled up to our home and noticed something was missing...

I walked into the living room to find perhaps the World's Widest Christmas Tree. While I was away the boys made an executive decision to chop a tree out of our front yard as our Christmas tree.

We don't live in the country and I was not aware of the fact that we were raising a Christmas tree. The tree was already in the stand and put up in the living room but completely undecorated. Since the boys seemed so on their Christmas game I was sort of hoping I wouldn't have to do any tree decorating this year. When Nick left for work the next morning and the tree was still completely undecorated he gave me a few instructions which included, "Don't let any of the kids touch the tree... The tree might fall." Really? I'm staying home these days and keeping kids away from a tree that takes up half the living room is nearly an impossible task.

Since it had been roughly a weeks since Nick first put the tree up I assumed he took care of the tree falling issue and just lost the enthusiasm to decorate. So while he was out I decided to put the lights onto the Christmas tree. One thing lead to another and I found myself wrestling with the tree just trying to keep it from crashing through the front window. I could see my neighbor across the street in her driveway, during my wrestling match I was also yelling or perhaps even screaming to her. We recently replaced all of our windows and they may now be sound proof... Or she was just ignoring me. Needless to say the tree won but it did not break a window so I wasn't totally defeated. There was a reason "the tree might fall", the stand was totally mangled. I ran out and bought a new Christmas tree stand and then went over to our next door neighbor (who should work for State Farm) and he helped me get everything set.

So today when our adoption social worker came for our one month post placement visit we appeared to totally have it together...

At one point Nick did say, "I can't believe the tree is still standing with lights on, I guess it's sturdier then I thought." So the truth came out, perhaps we don't totally have it together.

Today I was looking out the window and saw this tree... It's in the front yard of my neighbor who didn't answer my distress calls/screams. Needless to say she is really going to have to put some sort of tall electric fence around that thing next year. I can kind of see a glow on the top of it that says "The German Family Tree 2012."

Turns out Nasuuna is a HUGE Packers fan. Look at her enthusiasm as she watched the Packers beat the Giants tonight.

Hope to be back to blogging more now that things are sort of settling down. Between trying to find a new normal, Thanksgiving, and then Nick's Grandpa passing away this past week we have been a bit out of sorts around here.

Family Fun

So Kamusiime (who prefers to be called Nasuuna) came with a pretty amazing trick... She can carry kids around while singing and sometimes dancing.

If that wasn't enough for you...

The kids are getting along pretty darn well. Stay tuned in, I'm working on getting her to carry me:)

Thanksgiving

My parents came for Thanksgiving as did my sister Megan's family. I wish I had been better at taking pictures. Here Pop is with his girl's.

Auntie Megan came prepared and Kamusiime was LOVING it!
I'm pretty sure it was Kamusiime's first time near a red head... I did spot her at one point petting Megan like a dog:)
We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year!