It's Getting Hot in Here!

Things have been heating up here in Texas ever since the rain stopped. Unfortunately, our AC was not up to the challenge. After being fixed on three occasions since we have lived in this house our home warranty company finally decided cough up the cash and replaced the outdoor unit. Luckily, the unit was not mysteriously struck by lightning like the one at pal Mary Kay's.

Sorry I haven't been posting much, we are in Utah for Uncle Joe's wedding, but I will certainly try to make up for it. Plus, I am trying to finish Harry Potter....

Adam D. turns 23!

O.K. you got me, he really turned 29. But, Adam has been noted as being quite young looking. For instance, when I married him, people thought he looked 16. When he started law school the people at our church thought they were welcoming a new student who was attending The North Carolina School of Mathematics and Science, (a residential high school.) But, I think three kids and three years at a law firm has aged him quite well! Happy Birthday Adam! We love you!

My child can do math....

"Mom, lets make a rule that you can only have five popsicles a day. That means I can still have four more popsicles today." -Henry D.

Baby on Bumbo 2

This is my baby on her Bumbo getting smothoed!















No, the Bumbo is not an early potty-training device. Yes, the brotho and the sisto have tried to sit in the Bumbo. Yes, brotho and sisto got stucko. I'll stop now. Just wanted to answer your questions.

Finally...a Thumb Sucker

Samantha has done what those who came before have tried and failed....she has found her thumb! Thus, confirming my theory that she is an angel baby.

"Of Good Report and Praiseworthy"

I forced Adam to watch this the other night with Aunt Beth and I. He was reluctant when he read the description, "A delightful Iranian movie about a boy who accidentally loses his sister's shoes and ...." He said he would only watch the first few minutes and then he'd head off to bed. Well, an hour and a half later he was still up and suggested Henry watch it too.

I loved it. If you want to read more check out Ebert's Review.

"Children of Heaven'' is very nearly a perfect movie for children, and of course that means adults will like it, too. -Ebert

Baby on Bumbo

This is my baby on her Bumbo with her brotho and her sisto.

The Three

I really like these guys. Nuff said.

Shanghai

Kathleen (she's the blond on the right) moved into my neighborhood this past year, and now she's moving to Shanghai. I missed out. All year I've been saying to myself, when I feel better and this baby is out of me, I'm going be best buds with Kathleen- she is just so cool. I'm going to walk to her house and just drop in like neighbors on t.v. do. I never really did that- I was too sick or too busy. I missed out. I thought she'd always be there. I guess what I really want to say is that I looked forward to being even better friends with her.

She's stylish and cool, has it all together, gave me a cool Hydrangea once, and took me to meet Martha Stewart. Now, the 16 million people of Shanghai will get to appreciate her too. Life lesson- don't miss out- or as the 80's glam metal band, "Cinderella" would say, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."

Kathleen you will be missed! Luckily, she is going to start a blog detailing her life in Shanghai. Look for her link, on my blog, over the next few weeks.

Here's a shot of us at her baby shower/farewell brunch, held at Bread Winners Bakery in uptown Dallas. She will be having baby boy "Collin" in November- dual citizenship for him.

Cake

There were chocolate crumbs on the table this afternoon. I investigated. There was a paper plate with chocolate remains in the garbage. Underneath it was an "actual" fork, not plastic. The cake, leftover from my book club the night before, was gone.

I smiled. My children are survivors, I thought, they know how to take care of themselves. Then, Henry walked in and confided, "Mom, I 'accidentally' ate the rest of the chocolate cake."

"I have accidents like that all the time." I said, and I pulled the fork out of the garbage.

-

that worked.

I just want money...

So, potty training Caroline has been a real treat. And we have literally tried to reinforce her successes with every type of treat a three-year-old would love, in every shade of pink imaginable. Still, she is having issues. First, it was coming out at inappropriate times. Now, it is not coming out at all. It took two Nurse Practitioners, myself, and about 30 minutes to try and coax her into giving the Dr. a urine sample. Yeah, right. That didn't work. It's all on Caroline's schedule. (No comments from those of you who potty trained your children in one day.) Now, Caroline is on a regimen of "Milk of Magnesia," hopefully that will help her decide to go to the bathroom.

Today, when I was trying to get her to use the bathroom before we sped out the door to swimming lessons, I hastily offered her a treat if she would please just go. (I've already dealt with a swimming suit accident- it wasn't fun, thanks for helping with that MK.)

"Caroline, I'll let you have a treat if you go to the bathroom." With a devious smile on her face she looked at me and said,"Mom, I just want money..."

I just don't feel right about paying my children to go to the bathroom. This is blackmail by a three-year-old. Ironically, later that day, I walked in on Caroline yelling, "that's not money!" as Henry waved a dollar bill in her face. To Caroline, the concept of money is restricted to the various shaped coins she has collected in her Dora backpack, the small pockets of her shorts, and in her "My Little Pony" Easter basket, not to mention what she has taken out of Henry's piggy bank. Got to love Caroline.

Kid Vid take one

Just practicing loading videos. Nothing too exciting.

Life Lesson

Guest Blogger: Adam Darowski

Here's an anecdote from the other day: My drive to work involves an 18 mile trip down I 35 from Coppell to Downtown Dallas. Well, the other day traffic on I 35 was moving steadily, but slower than usual. It was approximately 7:15 A.M. There was a line of cars merging onto the freeway at the on ramp I use. As it became my turn to merge onto the freeway the car behind me tried to pull a "fast one" and merge over sooner than I did, like something a jerk would do, and speed up past me. Kind of like cutting in line. This violates several unwritten rules of freeway on-ramp etiquette and was a bold move. Noticing this, I immediately sped up and got ahead of the car again, causing this car to have to slow down (i.e., cutting him off) as the on-ramp merged with the "slow lane" (kind of a jerky thing to do on my part as well, but my reaction was not disproportionate). Upon doing this, the other car honked at me. I thought it was an angry honk as opposed to a courtesy honk or a "you've got a flat tire" honk. I thought, "Settle down, Road Rager. You were trying to cut in line. You can't possibly be angry about that."

So I was in front of this car now, and as soon as it could, the car switched lanes and pulled up beside me. My body proceeded to produce a low level jolt of adrenaline. I sped up a bit in my lane, and the car stayed right beside me. Then I glanced over, and they guy had rolled down his passenger side window and was clearly motioning for me to roll down my window. The guy appeared to be a male in his early 20's (i.e., a possible shooter). This was happening as we were clipping along at 50 mph down the freeway. My body produced slightly more adrenaline at this point, such that I began to tingle all over, and I thought to myself, "Hmm, I hope this guy does not shoot me in the head." I pretended like I did not see him and sped up past him. I worried that he might follow me to work and try to beat me with a tire iron (seems like those road rage guys like to do their beatings with tire irons, if they don't shoot you first), but I figured that since you have to pay like 5 bucks to park in my buildings garage, this guy would be dissuaded by the cost.

Any how, I worked pretty late the prior two nights, so I had planned on leaving work around 5 p.m. that night to give Laurel a break from the kids. I got out to my car at 5:05 or so, and wouldn't you know it, I had a totally flat tire (rear driver's side). There was no sign of puncture marks, so I figured the Road Rage Guy had not come in slashed it. It was just flat. Then I replayed the scene from that morning in my head, kind of like one of those movies where they show the same scene from different points of view, or with slightly different endings. I wondered then if the Road Rage Guy was really just pulling up next to me to warn me that I was driving on a flat tire. Wouldn't that have been ironic! I thought I was the victim, when maybe really I was too stubborn (or afraid) to listed to someone offering help. So that's a life lesson.

Gardenia

This is my gardenia. Since living in Texas I have had three gardenia shrubs. None of them have ever bloomed until now. This makes me happy. So far I only have one fragrant and delicate little flower on my front porch, but still I am happy. I had gardenias at my wedding.

4th of July

Since we are having the 71st monsoon of the season right now and since I'm usually running five days behind, it's time to update my blog about our 4th of July celebration.

I really wanted to be one of those moms who had their children color coordinated in red white and blue (Like my pal Julie). I had to get ready to march in the city parade with the cute little Cub Scouts (I am a den mother), so I put Adam on the job. I do have to say he tried his best, but as you know Caroline is a little "Sassy!"

As heard outside her bedroom door:

"Caroline, it's time to get dressed, we need to wear red and blue because it's the 4th of July," then a moment later, "Or you could wear pink."

So no, I do not have a nice color coordinated picture of our family to commemorate the day, but I do have this nice picture of me with my flag cake. Doesn't it look good?

The 4th was really a fabulous day for our family, Aunt Beth was in town, we did the pancake breakfast at our church, the parade, a fun barbecue with friends (where my cake stole the show) and then "Rattatouille," followed by viewing fireworks on our front lawn with our nice neighbors. We really like our country.

I've Out Grown That!

The first sign that Henry was growing up came a few months back when he informed me
that he would no longer wear pajamas adorned with Disney characters, but instead, would I please buy him some white t-shirts and athletic shorts like the ones his father wears to bed. O.K. that was no problem.

Then, the last few weeks when I've gone to the allergist to get my shot, he kindly told the receptionist "no" when she offered him a sticker, "I've outgrown stickers, I'm turning 6."

Then, at a social gathering when all the children were getting Zoopal plates to put their food on, Henry kindly told the hostess that he had "out grown" those plates and would like a big person's plate. Apparently, Henry is done with any sort of cartoon like character- that makes me a little sad.

He then asked me to get him a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

My cute little boy is growing up and he is making sure everyone is aware of it. While out shopping on the days building up to his birthday, he told every clerk we came across that he was turning 6. He told the people who were fortunate enough to stand next to us in line, and he even told people who happened to call the house. (He really likes to answer the phone these days, but I wish I could teach him how to discriminate against telemarketers.)



This past Friday he turned six-years old. At the last minute we threw together a birthday party when we found out his soccer camp was canceled for the rest of the week. (Yes, it is still raining in Dallas.) I asked him what he wanted to do and he just wanted a few friends over to play his new Game Cube. That sounded more like a normal everyday play date, so the party then evolved in to a Star Wars Jedi Training Camp, where Game Cube was one of the training experiences. I was very happy with how the party turned out. I had a lot of fun creating the Jedi Training experiences. Some of my favorites were "Jedi Blaster Training," which involved a flip on the couch followed by a dart gun shot at Darth Vader. We also played "Jedi Bowling"- a new creative way to use light sabers with considerably less crying.

The highlight of Henry's day was playing Lego Star Wars on his new Game Cube with his older friends Cale and Grant.



Happy Birthday Henry! We are proud of all you've done this past year with soccer, school, and being a great big brother! You sure are a special part of our family and we love your "infectious smile."

Henry has grown six inches since last year and is also a whopping 50 pounds. (I'm glad there are no regular reports on my weight on this blog, but apparently I need to start reporting on Adam's weight because Greg is calling him "Fat Boy" at work.)

Loving Her to Death!

This is one of my favorite shots of Samantha. Those chubby cheeks just melt my heart. I feel guilty I didn't jump in and save her sooner, but I've got to get pictures for the blog. Caroline literally loves her to death, so I have to keep a close eye on Samantha when Caroline is in one of her loving moods (which is often, and for no apparent reason comes up to me with a big hug and says "I just love you Mommy," followed by, "I just love Daddy, lets call him.") Besides being loving, Caroline is also very helpful and often volunteers to carry Samantha for me. Or she volunteers to watch Samantha while I go to the bathroom or take a shower. I politely refuse, as I think about the story my girlfriend shared that involved her son putting the new baby under the recliner.

Here are a few more shots of Samantha. We even got a couple shots of her smiling, which is a new past time for little Manthers. She loves to smile at Henry and Caroline and she even laid on my lap at the movies yesterday and smiled at me for a bit. (She really is an awesome baby, I didn't have to leave the theater once, and she didn't make a peep.) At her two month check up she was over 12 lbs and in the 90th percentile in height, weight, length, and my favorite category "head circumference." Now she is 10 weeks old, talks in full sentences, gives her mother 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night and is an overall joy!