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Never a dull moment!  1


There is one adventure after another around here! We have been so blessed with beautiful, happy kids!

This morning, when getting Kate dressed, I discovered many mosquito bites all over her back and tummy. But wait . . . this isn’t mosquito season. After careful examination, we have discovered that she indeed has chicken pox. Isn’t that just peachy?! We are hoping William gets them quickly and we can get this over and done! Annie is quite safe from getting them) for six months or so– and doubly safe since she gets her meals from me! So we are quarantining ourselves and making the best of it.
Here is a game that the kids have made up and play at almost every meal time: Kate closes her eyes and shakes her head slowly saying, “Can’t see! Can’t see! Can’t see!” until William loudly proclaims, “Ding Dong!” and then she can open her eyes. Then they switch. Interesting, eh? We just shake our heads.
And then, again at the dinner table, this conversation commenced: Kate looked at me with her big, serious, brown eyes and said, “Mom, Hank (the dog) poop-ed a lot”. Before I could reply, William pops in saying, “Unfortunately, Kate, we’re not supposed to say ‘poop’ at the table”. First of all, Kate is quite enamored with poop lately, especially when it comes to her little sister. That in itself is not all that noteworthy. It’s the -ed at the end that kills us. And she only does it with poop-ed and burp-ed. Second of all, what kind of four year old uses the word ‘unfortunately’ in normal conversation!?
Peter and I have always had a fun time filling out brackets for March Madness. This year, Peter decided to share this all important tradition with William and Kate. They went for Butler (they liked the name), Pittsburgh (they love the Steelers) and had Michigan/Michigan St. as the final two teams. Unfortunately, the only team that is still standing in their bracket is Michigan St. And I just feel the need to add that I have the most teams winning in our family.
Kate is a very girly, girl. However, she has an older brother. So the other day I found her playing with her dollhouse. Except the dolls were playing football. These cute little dollhouse dolls were standing in formation while she said, “Down! Set! Hut hut!”
Lately when we’ve been running errands, we’ve found that it’s just easier for one of us to go in the store while the other one stays in the car with the kids. After about 30 seconds the kids are bored, buggy, and generally annoying. So in desperation I made up some games. We play a lot of “I Spy”. Kate still has a little lisp and I love to hear her say, “I spy wif my wittle eye somping yewlo”. They we started spying on people. It goes a little like this: “Hey– who’s in that car? What’s that guy doing? I see a kid riding his bike! Oh, that lady’s driving waaaay too fast, etc., etc., etc.” They really get into it. So hilarious!
Last Wednesday night, William wanted to dress like his Daddy for church. Of course, I had to take a picture of my two boys! Peter had to persuade him not to wear a tie. I wonder how long this “dressing up” will last?

And those are the stories I can think of right now. I’m sure I’ll have more to add soon . . .

To answer a few questions . . .  2

We’re doing great around here, just in case you might be wondering. We’re working out our kinks slowly, adjusting to a new little one in the house. I’m surprised that the stress this time around is minimal compared to when we brought Kate home. Going from 2 kids to 3 has been easy to absorb . . . so far. I fully realize this could change in the next 20 minutes.
Annie Jane is still quite sleepy. She’s giving us good stretches of sleep at night and sleeps through all he chaos through the day. And she’s just so sweet! We are all quite smitten with her. I’ve resorted to setting the timer for the kids to take turns holding her. When Kate’s turn is up, she frequently says, “But I’m not done with her yet!”. She makes the cutest little squeaks and is starting to make eye contact with us. There’s just nothing like a newborn! We love it!
Some of you know that Annie was three weeks early. This happened for a few reasons. You see, all my kids have a history of a dramatic entrance into this world. William came five weeks early. He (and us) had to endure an 8 day stay in the NICU. Not an experience we’d like to repeat . . . so while I’ve mentally prepared for giving birth that early with the girls, we’ve also prayed that it wouldn’t happen. Kate came only 6 days early, but the twist with her was that I was quite dilated for a long time. The two weeks before her birth, I was 5 cm dilated and the doctor warned me that I needed to get to the hospital FAST when I started contractions. She was right– 90 minutes after my first contraction, Kate was born. While I was thankful for such a short labor, it was also quite scary and out of control. This time around, we discovered that Annie was breech. I was also dilating much like I did with Kate. The combination of the two things was not good. If I had gone into labor with Annie, the possibility of an emergency c-section was high. So we settled on a planned c-section, three weeks early. It wasn’t what we had anticipated, but in the end we were glad for a healthy, safe delivery for Annie. And now I feel like I’ve done it all . . . delivered at 35, 37, and 39 weeks . . . natural and c-section . . . boy and girl . . . NICU for 8 days, home the next day, in the hospital for 3 days . . . crazy! We also chuckle to think that Kate was by far our biggest baby. She was 8lbs 9 oz, compared to her brother who was 6lbs 9oz and sister who was 6lbs 15 oz. If her siblings had gone full term, they would have all been about her weight. It’s just that she was the only one who decided to wait until she was good and ready to come!

Annie Jane is named after a few of her great-great grandparents. We’ve carried this tradition through all the kids– one name from Peter’s side of the family; one from my side of the family. Annie was my great grandma on the Moneyheffer side. I dearly loved my grandparents, but Harold & Martha weren’t names that I particularly liked. Grandpa’s step-mother was Annie (his birth mother died in childbirth) and she died shortly after I was born. The only picture of me with her is when she decided to weigh me on the meat scale. She apparently didn’t believe the doctor! Jane is a name on Peter’s grandma’s side of the family. We call her both Annie and Annie Jane. And while William was a little disappointed that we didn’t use his suggestion of “Meece Snow White Damaska” or “Clarabell”, he’s adjusted to calling her Annie. Both Annie and Jane mean “gracious” and “gift of grace”.
We continue to take each moment at a time . . . thankfully the good moments are far outweighing the bad! And right now, Annie is sleeping and Will & Kate are peacefully reading their own books. At times like this, I am totally overwhelmed at the blessings God has entrusted to me!

An Attempt on a Family Picture  1





A few days seeing Mommy in the hospital

+ A new baby
+ Daylight Savings Time
+ Runny Noses and Coughs
(- The fun of having Nanna around)
= Our first family pictures

On Becoming Siblings  2

William, holding Annie for the first time asked,
“Daddy, how is she going to know we’re a family?”

I think she knows.
What did we ever do without her?


Baby girl  2


We are excited to introduce Annie Jane Damaska.

She was born Monday, 3/9/09 @ 8:19 PM
6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19.5 inches long
Praise God for Sarah’s safety and Annie’s safety and health.

Waiting Time  2

Meals in freezer? Check.
Tiny clothes ready to be worn? Check.
Diapers stockpiled? Check.
Bag packed? Half-Check.
Babysitters lined up? Check.
Name picked out? Mostly Check.
Every other possible thing that I can think of? Check.
We’re ready for this baby. Bring her on!

Two Peas in a Pod  1

Here are just a few snapshots of what we’ve been up to lately . . . I’ve loved William’s rendition of certain words lately:

“Mom, can I have some more parma-john?”  (Parmesan cheese)
“The Elf-adelphia eagles are winning!” (Philadelphia Eagles)
“When football players need a drink, they drink gator-egg” (Gatorade)

One of Kate’s favorite phrases right now is “Just one second”.  
One of William’s favorite phrases right now is “No way, no stray”.  After a little investigating, I think he means “No way, Jose”.  

Playing “Tony Hawk & Bucky”

When Kate poops in her diaper, she’ll start sniffing the air.  “I smell somp-ing,” she says.  “William, smell me.”  AND HE DOES!  He puts his nose right up to her little bum and says, “Yep.  You’re poopy.”  And then they both dissolve into giggles.

After Nap Hair . . . 
I’ve finally wised up and we gave William a digital alarm clock.  That way he can watch the numbers and know when it’s “seven-zero-zero”.  This has somewhat eliminated the minute by minute questions from 6:00 a.m. on of “What time is it now?  Is it time to get up yet?”

Cute boy toes– just a future reminder to me as he gets older and they get stinkier!

I love that the kids are old enough that I can leave them in the bathtub and get a few things done.  I can hear them both playing and know they’re going to be ok.  I checked on them the other day and watched their new game they made up.  They each take a bath toy and wrap it up in their washcloths.  Then they tell each other “Happy Birthday” and exchange their gifts.  They take turns acting surprised and thanking the other one for the gift.  It is totally hilarious.

Painting day . . . I’ve found it’s easier to just strip off their shirts before we even begin.  We took old toothbrushes, dipped them in watercolors and flicked them at the easel.  It was easy to clean up, but didn’t look that great.  
And so goes the world in the Damaska house . . .

Just a bit inappropriately funny  2

William loves to learn.  He’s curious about 2 things right now . . . well, more than 2 things, but the combination of these particular things could create quite the scenario.

1.  Rhyming
2.  Words that start with “ch”, “sh”, and “tr”
And so it was inevitable yesterday at lunch when he started rhyming words and then tried to add the “sh” sound to his string of words.
“sit, bit, lit, sh**”
The first time I chose to say absolutely nothing.  I knew he had no clue, had probably never heard the word and figured it would disappear.  But, then at dinner that night, the same string of rhymes came out of his mouth.  That’s when it gets hard.  There’s a certain appeal to any four year old boy when he knows that there’s a word he is forbidden to say.  Peter and I did our best to explain to him, in a hopefully boring way, why we didn’t want him saying that word.  We asked him if he had ever heard us say that word, had ever heard his grandparents or anyone else say that word.  He said “no” and we thought our explanation had been sufficient and satisfying.
His response?  “So I shouldn’t say “sh**?  It’s bad to say sh** and I shouldn’t ever say sh** and if I ever hear anyone say sh** I should tell them not to say sh**?  I’m sorry I said sh**.”
It took a great deal of resolve not to burst out in laughter, but somehow we did it.  Oh the innocence of a small boy who, all too soon, will not be innocent any longer.  And now I’m just praying that his knowledge of this word won’t reappear in Sunday School!

The Bull  0

I’m sitting on the couch, just finished plucking my eyebrows and feel compelled to write about it on my blog. I had a great idea to use Peter’s headlamp, which he made fun of, but actually worked quite well. Since I’ve had kids, one of the little luxuries I’ve allowed myself is to get my eyebrows waxed. So today when we went to get our hair cuts, I was fully expecting to get the wax. But there was a small wax incident.

Apparently William was trying to help. He really had good intentions, but all of a sudden we heard him crying hysterically and I knew something was really wrong. He tried to wheel the wax cart down to us, but of course didn’t unplug the wax first. Then he tried to “catch” the wax with his stomach, but didn’t succeed in that either. He was totally fine, just scared. But there was wax everywhere. Everywhere. Did I mention it was everywhere? He had to step out of his shoes because they were waxed to the floor. I had to take all of his other clothes off of him quickly so it didn’t get on his skin. So there he stood in his underwear and socks, surrounded by wax and we could only just stare. It was an incredible, sticky mess. Thankfully Peter had gone with me and he is quicker on his feet than I am (I tend to “not compute” and just stand there dumbfounded). He got the ice scraper from the car and we all started chipping away at it and spraying Goo Gone galore. My great friend Michelle is the one who cuts our hair and I was so thankful for her today. She was totally gracious about the whole thing. Otherwise, I think I may have just fled the scene and prayed I never saw her again. By the way, I think wax just may be the stickiest thing in the world. And it was everywhere. Kate kept pointing and saying, “Very sticky.” William just kept telling us how sorry he was. Poor kid. He’s in some kind of growth spurt and his body is having a hard time catching up with his brain. We’ve had a lot of practice with patience lately. There have been spills, breaks, falls, and accidents. Let’s hope this was the climax for awhile. It’s been like a prelude to adolescence. We’ve nicknamed him (not to his face) “The Bull”.

And so, I pluck. Because there was no wax left. Yet it was everywhere. Oh, William.

Praying for my Kiddos  0


I have been so convicted to spend intentional time in prayer for these kids that God has blessed me with. So when I found this post from a very incredible mom, I jumped on it.

Sometimes I’m overwhelmed with the things my kids will face in their lifetimes:
widespread hunger
AIDS
fading acknowledgment of Christ
apathy for the church
a shaky economy
But bigger than these and other issues that they will face is Scripture and the authority I can put in the words of Christ. And if I believe (and I do!) that God has brought them into this world for a purpose, my job is to get behind them and pray my brains out. So I will.
I wrote Scripture on index cards and posted them around the house:
Psalm 143:8 to pray over them in the morning (placed on my bathroom mirror)
Colossians 3:12-14 to pray over them as they get dressed (on the wall by their closets)
Philippians 4:12-13 to pray as I make meals for them (by the kitchen sink)
Romans 12:1-2 to pray as we leave the house (posted on the back door)
Psalm 24:4-6 to pray as they bathe (in the bathroom)
Zephaniah 3:17 to pray as I put them in bed at night (next to their beds)
Philippians 2:14-16 to pray when I check on them before I go to bed (next to their beds)
I so desire for my kids not just to memorize Scripture and have it in their heads, but to also know it in their hearts (the same goes for me personally). I want them to love it and live by it. And it all starts now. Yikes . . . a pretty tall order for someone like me. There are so many mornings when I lay in bed, listening to their calls of “Is it time to get up yet?!” and I groan and wonder what kind of mom I’ll be today. It’s so hard to be patient, kind, loving, thankful . . .even with good kids, it’s hard to be all that I want to be. And so I ask for the Holy Spirit to fill me and give me His patience, kindness, love. I cannot do it on my own. And He does. Even as little as I deserve it. Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking about today.