First Smile

There once was a little baby who slept all the time. Her family got really excited when she would wake up and would yell out, "there's your eyeballs!" Needless to say, Samantha is a very relaxed baby, who even sleeps through the night. This makes life for the mom of three much less stressful than it could be. Caroline keeps the stress in it of course, but she does it in such a sweet way. Anyhow, Samantha is now six weeks old and I'm proud to report that she gave me her first smile today. She gave it to me, not to Caroline who gets in her face all the time nearly suffocating her, telling her how cute she is, not to Henry who helps her by putting her pacifier in when Caroline is putting the stress into mommy's life (i.e. potty training etc....), not to dad who loves to bounce her up and down in his arms, but to her mom.... at least that is what I'd like to think- so I am going to make it a part of the official Darowski family history- first smile was at mom. Anyway, as she woke up this morning and I began to hold her and talk to her she looked at me and smiled upon recognition. I felt like we really connected and it was nice. I can honestly say it made those nine miserable months worth it. We sure do love Samantha, whose name has been shortened to "Mantha" by Caroline, and was tweaked into "Manthers" by Henry, and was slightly adjusted yet again by her mother into "Manthers-Panthers," a silly name which Adam fully encourages. You know how people can get when giving little babies nick names. I just received a birth announcement from a friend that included each and everyone of the nick names they had given the baby and I think they had just stopped short of "Twinkie." Anyhow, here's to you "Manthers-Panthers." We sure do love you! Now wouldn't it have been nice if I actually had a picture of her smiling.

The Headstone of Adam Darowski

Let me put you worries to rest. You are not looking at the headstone of the beloved father of Henry, Caroline, & Samantha, but you are looking at the headstone of Adam's Grandfather, Adam Darowski the first. I guess that would make my husband, Adam Darowski, sort of a second. Adam was in New Jersey this past weekend to attend the funeral of his late Grandmother Catherine Darowski. Attending the funeral provided Adam II with a chance to reconnect with his New Jersey relatives. Everyone needs New Jersey relatives. In the picture below Adam II is at the graveside with his brother Joseph and his fiance, Emily.

Leapster

This is a leapster with sunblock on it. Ask me how my day was.

I guess this leapster won't get any harmful UV rays this summer- thanks to Caroline. The good news is that Caroline is accepting the fact that she is going to use the potty. It took taking away diapers, pull-ups, and undies and letting her run around in the buff for a couple days to figure things out. Now she is a pro.

Henry's Pre-K 5 Graduation

We feel so fortunate that Henry had a chance to attend Valley Ranch Baptist Preschool this year and be part of their Pre-K 5 program. He was in a class with 3 other children and two fabulous teachers, Ms. Diane & Ms. Jennifer. Ms. Diane has been teaching school for 20 years and brought so much wisdom, kindness, and love to the classroom- she truly helped Henry blossom this year. He has learned how to read, to count, to tell time, and to speak with manners. He has also made some great friends like Liam McGrady whom he gets along very well with and has a playdate with every friday. We are so happy that he had such a fabulous year. We probably could have sent him to kindergarten last year, but with this very special year at Valley Ranch I can truly see him having great success throughout his elementary years and beyond. We are very proud of all his hard work. Yesterday we found him with a workbook and a pencil just doing school work for fun! (Sylvan learning center would be jealous.) Caroline will be attending Valley Ranch next year and we are very excited to watch her grow there too.

Killing Killer Bees!

Henry & Caroline have been enjoying our back yard a lot this spring. For those of you that don't know, we put up a new fence and opened up our driveway by installing an electric gate. Yesterday Henry informed me that there were Killer Bees in the back yard. I told him that when his dad got home he would handle it. Adam is a very handy dad, who knew WD40 would kill bees. Here is a picture of Adam, the kids, and a bee that they have been calling the "Queen." Single handedly my husband and children took out a queen bee with WD40, pretty awesome.

Three Weeks Old!

Wild Animals & Brides

It's been about three weeks since Samantha was born and I have been going stir crazy from all all this time at home. So we decided to venture out as a family this past Saturday, our destination, The Dallas Arboretum. Here's a couple pictures from our experience. I didn't go photo crazy because I was just happy to be on a walk, and plus there were so many brides having their pictures taken I didn't want to get in the way. Caroline will proabably appear in atleast two or three bridal shots and surprise some couple when they examine their proofs. It was sort of inconvenient to have to stop every so often to avoid getting in a shot. So I couldn't really get any good pictures of my kids because Caroline wasn't in a wedding dress and no one would stop for us. Sadly, on the way out of the arboretum it started to rain, those poor brides. (FYI- Caroline is posing with a bear because low and behold the arboretum had stuffed animals on display- you could even touch them!). I'm also including a photo of our new stroller that made life at the arboretum that much easier. It has a place for Samantha in front and for Caroline in the back. Adam's friend from work, Greg, gave it to us when the baby was born. It is super cool!

Sassy

We are working on finding the new normal at the Darowski house. Adam compares the experience of having a new baby to living in a snow globe that has just been shaken up. We are still waiting to see how everything will settle. Besides having a new baby we are also dealing with our sweet three year old daughter. Three year old girls are new to us and I'm trying to figure out how to live peaceably with them. I'm going to wait another month on the potty training- I can get her to sit on the potty once a day and maybe even have success on it, but I just can't deal with all of her resistance right now. She seems to want to run the show. The following experience will demonstrae how much she thinks she's in charge. This week I've been out and about with three children for the first time. Luckily, Samantha is pretty laid back so I can use all my energy to deal with my super powered three year old. We went to the Dr.'s to get my allergy shot. After my shot the receptionist usually gives Caroline a sticker, but this week no sticker was good enough for Caroline, not even the iconic Dora, not a Disney Princess, not anything. Caroline was crying and whining and finally she was happy with a puppy dog sticker. I was embarassed and wish I would have had the energy to drag her out of the Dr.'s office without a sticker. When we got out to the car I told Caroline that I was very disappointed in how she acted. We don't cry and whine when someone is giving us something. She looked at me and said with all seriousness, "Mom, don't worry about it." Where did she learn that? Here are some pictures of my "Sassy" three year old.

Aunt Annie Comes to Help!

After a great week with help from Grandpa and Grandma Darowski, my little sister Aunt Annie came to help out with the kids while I recover from my c-section. As you can see from the pictures, the kids adore her. When we told Henry that he would be getting a new Aunt when Uncle Alex got married to April, he had a look of panic on his face and said, "No, I want Aunt Annie." Annie is very special to our family. She comes to visit every few months and does those special things that cool aunts do, like bring presents, play Mario Kart, play soccer, try to potty train a stubborn two year old, etc.... ( And yes she did get Caroline to use the potty a couple times, but can I say "Stubborn.") She is very special to us and we are very proud of her this week because she is graduating from nursing school. Go Aunt Annie!!!!!

Samantha-Two Weeks Old!

So Far Samantha has been a terrific baby. She loves to sleep and we hardly ever hear a peep from her. Nights haven't been too rough and I've been lucky to have help in town so I can get extra rest. Henry and Caroline always want to hold her. She does all the newborn things, the stretching, the face touching, the funny expressions and often I hear Henry and Caroline say, "Mom, Samantha doesn't look so good." I don't know what they expect, but she's just a newborn! And she has made our home that much sweeter! Here is a picture of her at 2 weeks, and one in the car seat.