Swimming...

Our spring break was spent at home this year.  As we are going to Florida in May for Kevin and Amy's wedding, we chose not to go anywhere for the girls spring break.  So, what does one do with five girls in the dreary Midwest for the last week in March, one might ask.
Well... Emme has needed her tonsils out for years and this seemed like the perfect time to get it done.  The poor thing was miserable all week and made sure the rest of us were feeling her pain as well.  I highly suggest having tonsils removed before the age of 8, so one doesn't have to deal with surly adolescent attitude in conjunction with surgical pain and narcotics!!!!
I tried to do some fun things with the girls before the surgery was scheduled.  Pedicures, individual shopping time,  and swimming were some of the things we were able to accomplish before Emme lost the golf ball sized tonsils that had inhabited her throat for as long as we can remember.  The swimming was the high light as Mekdes has never been in a container of water bigger than our tub.  We got a room at a local hotel and used their pool for the afternoon.  Mekdes has been wearing her swimming suit as her bra and underwear for quite some time now, so the thought of actually wearing her suit to go swimming was thrilling  beyond all imagination!  The first half hour in the pool was spent drinking the water.  It took some doing, but we were finally able to convince Mekdes that we would have other water to drink after we swam and that this water was just for playing in and having fun.  You could see it was hard for her to wrap her brain around the fact that there was all this water collected in one spot and you shouldn't drink as much of it as you possibly could.  As she said to me on a walk one afternoon, "Ethiopia, no water...no cup".  My heart still bleeds for all the orphaned children in Ethiopia.  As for our swimmer, she had a swimmers vest on and clung to a sister the entire time, but she was grinning from ear to ear and loving every minute of it.  Repeatedly, she would declare, "I swim! I swim!  Me love swim!".    Here are some pics from the momentous event.

So this is swimming.

I AM LOVING IT!

Goggles anyone?

My parents were able to come to help with Emme and visit during the week.  The girls enjoyed many walks to Grahams Chocolates for ice cream with Papa and lots of delicious meals made by Mama.  It is always a treat to have my family visit.  My sister and her kids were able to sneak up for a few days giving us some good cousin fun time.  

As I watch both Mekdes and Margo grow and transition into our new reality, it is so amazing to see the small indicators of this healthy growth.  Mekdes smiles for every picture now and isn't afraid to flash her pearly whites to show her happiness.  This is a real change from the timid child that walked into our lives 5 months ago.  Margo will actually ask Mekdes to play dolls with her and we all know what a huge milestone that is from 5 months ago!  Good things are happening and it gives us all hope.  Speaking of "hope"...on April 20 we have our last court date that states Mekdes Hope Geary is officially ours.  Yahoo!