Author: Jocelyn Rau

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Seven!

Della turned 7 years old on the 1st, and she is growing into the most wonderful, smart, adorable girl.

She had a couple things on her birthday list, but at the top was a gift from Daddy. She wanted him to teach her how to make lasagna, about which I was so excited. I love lasagna! And if my kids can learn how to cook at this young age, I will be thrilled. It’s a skill I somehow never acquired, and Ryan is so good at it they can’t have a better teacher. So we got all the ingredients, I got her Hello Kitty apron out for her, and they got to work. Ryan said Della did about 85% of the work, and it turned out deliciously! I was so proud.

There’s really not much to say about this girl besides singing her praises. She loves school and can’t wait to start 2nd grade; she loves to read and is an excellent writer; she loves to ride her bike and play outside, especially if she can turn cartwheels and practice her gymnastics; she loves to help around the house and is always asking for a list of chores (seriously?? how did we get so lucky?!); and she is the best big sister to Lana and Morrison that could ever exist.

Happy 7th birthday, my peanut #1! We all love you so very much – to the moon and back doesn’t even begin to describe it! You are a blessing, and our family is so very lucky to have you in it!

 

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He’s Two!

One week ago, on May 31, Morrison turned 2 years old. 2!! He still seems like a total baby to me, but 2 just sounds so much older. I have a feeling I’ll probably think of him as a baby for quite a while.

He’s such a funny little kid and has the most charming personality. He always tries to make people laugh and feel better, and even when he cries, he cuddles in and gets all snuggly when he calms down.

We had his 2-year well check last Friday, so here are his official stats:

  • Height:  37″ (98%)
  • Weight:  30 lbs. (73%)
  • Head:  50 cm
  • BMI:  15.4 kg/m2 (17%)

And of course, poor kid, I completely forgot to do an 18-month post for him. Geez! Terrible mother. Here are those stats, just because I feel bad:

  • Height:  34″ (90%)
  • Weight:  27 lbs. (82%)
  • Head:  48.5 cm
  • BMI:  16 kg/m2 (47%)

At least that makes it easy to compare and see how much he’s grown in just the past 6 months!

He loves Thomas and all the choo-choos, especially Percy. He adores his big sisters and would follow them to the ends of the earth. He still craves his plug, but we’re working on making that only for naps and nighttime (again!); he’s actually gotten very good about giving it to you when you ask for it or throwing it in his bed if you tell him to. His favorite snuggle toys are Ellie the elephant and a rag; any burp rag will do, even if it’s getting a little stinky. He likes to color, especially when the girls are working on their own art projects. He loves dinosaurs and has quite the collection going. Oddly enough, he also loves to play with little erasers with characters on them and has an entire bag full of them.

He runs, he jumps, he plays, he shouts, he laughs, he hugs, he kisses, he cuddles. He has surprisingly good manners for a 2 year old with please and thank you, he is quite a good cleaner upper, he comes running for a kiss when he gets hurt, and he hates hearing sirens. He makes an overhead zooming noise for airplanes and has a whole repertoire of animal sounds. He loves to do things on his own, but he never hesitates to come to you and say something is “tricky” when he can’t get it. He knows some shapes and colors; always chimes in to help you count; and loves to sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Twinkle, Twinkle,” and “Happy Birthday.” He’s a dancing machine.

He loves to stack and build. Yesterday he put together a wooden train track he got for his birthday all by himself. He’s great at manipulating toys and things, and I get mesmerized watching his little hands work. His independent play is so good. He would stay out in the backyard playing with toys and their new grill set and food for hours if I’d let him.

His words are getting pretty good, and you can usually figure out what he’s trying to tell you. He’s still a great eater, using his silverware like the big kids. He’d probably live on Goldfish crackers if he could. He naps every afternoon with Lana, and they love that all 3 of them are now in the same bedroom. He goes to bed around 7:30 and usually sleeps until somewhere in the 6:00 hour; it never fails that he’s the first one up in the mornings, though. He wears 24 month or 2T clothes; size 5 daytime diapers and 6 overnights with a liner (pee pants!); and size 8 or 9 shoe.

One not-so-great thing is that he’s started crying when it’s time to go to bed in the past couple days. Naps and nights, which is so much fun. Sometimes he wants his sisters, sometimes he wants me or Dada, sometimes he’s just being crazy. Who knows. I really hope this remedies itself soon, because it drives me nuts. But for as much as his cries grate on every fiber of my last nerve (especially when he throws his tiny tantrums for not getting his way), watching him calm and sleep fills my heart to overflowing. It’s angelic.

Since I missed his 18-month post, you are in for a treat today – 2 Goonies comparisons! The first one is 18 months – Della, Lana, Morrison; and the second one is 2 years – Della, Lana, Morrison (Della’s is actually from the day before her 2nd birthday, her last day at day care and my last day of full-time work at Stark, but I thought I’d follow suit of the pics of the other 2 sitting on my lap for their birthday pics). The comparison pictures are really small, but you can click on each one to expand it for a better look if you’d like.

If you’d like to read some comparisons, here are Della’s 2-year post and Lana’s 2-year post as well.

I know this sounds ludicrous, but I still find it amazing that we have a little boy in this house. Yes, it’s been 2 years, but this tiny person is still a wonder to me. We love you so much, Morrison John. Happy birthday, and many, many more, my sweet boy!

 

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Springtime fun in the sun

This spring, we were lucky enough to get 2 vacations within 2 weeks of each other. I will actually call the second one a trip, because, contrary to popular belief, traveling with children halfway across the country without your spouse or their other parent is not technically a vacation. It is a fun trip at best, a torture sentence at worst. It’s definitely not a relaxing, put-your-feet-up vacation, though. Those of you who have traveled solo with your kids, let alone flown with them, know exactly what I’m talking about.

Our first trip was truly a vacation. The 5 of us went down to Key West over Della’s spring break from school with my sister and her family and my mom and stepdad. I had never been there and had always wanted to go, so I was really excited to get a chance to visit the southernmost point in the US. I was beyond thankful, too, because, due to the fact that I’m currently doing some work for my sister and the company she and my brother-in-law work for, our entire family essentially got a company-sponsored vacation. Otherwise, we probably definitely would have been enjoying a Rau family stay-cation for spring break this year.

My excitement, however, soon turned to dismay, when Lana and Morrison caught a bug from their cousins and started vomiting. Unstoppably. As such, I was stuck in our rented house for almost the entirety of the trip, since barfing kids not only feel terrible and need extra care but are generally unable to do the fun things that come with tropical vacations, like boat trips to see dolphins and manatees, exploring the island, and going anywhere other than our house. Thankfully it had a private pool in the backyard, which I was able to enjoy most days while the sick ones napped.

I did get to have a little fun before the sickness ensued, fortunately. My sister rented bikes for everyone the first day we were there, so Ryan took us all on a big bike tour of our part of the island on the second day of our trip. That was cool – we saw the southernmost point landmark (even though the line was ridiculously long and we couldn’t stop to take a pic there), we did get a picture at the start of Highway 1, we biked through some of the cool little Key West neighborhoods, we rode by Hemingway’s house (unfortunately i never got a chance to go back for a tour, which i really wanted to do), and we got the general vibe of the island. We also watched the sunset in Mallory Square one night and saw the elusive green flash; that made me really happy, because I’ve always wanted to see one.

Some of us also went to the beach one morning, which was nice. The beaches there are very rocky, though, not sandy, so it made walking on it rather unpleasant. I swam out a ways to a small coral outcropping that was a popular snorkeling spot, and as far out as you could touch the bottom it was rocky. So weird; I’ve never experienced a beach like that. We found a bunch of cool shells, though, which the kids loved, and we brought back enough to fill a mason jar that’s currently decorating their bedroom.

I got to go on a sailboat ride with my sister, brother-in-law, and some of their coworkers on what was supposed to be our last afternoon there. Fortunately, I talked Ryan into staying 1 extra day so I could try to get some relief from all the vomit and have a relaxing day to myself. It kind of happened – the little ones were still barfing, but it would have been a nightmare with them on a plane that day instead of at the house, plus I did get to enjoy the afternoon sun by the pool with drinks brought to me by Ryan from some of the bars on Duval Street that I never got to see in person due to my pseudo-quarantine status most days. I need to remember, however, that boats and I don’t mix very well anymore. Any time anyone asks if I want to go on a booze cruise I jump at the chance, forgetting that I get instantly nauseous as soon as we leave the harbor. Ah well. I got to help hoist the sails and did feel good after I laid down with my eyes closed for a bit and just enjoyed the lull of the ocean, so it all ended well.

I have to say, my favorite part of our trip was the almost-daily trips to the Cuban coffee shop. That stuff was delicious!! I lamented the fact that I barely got to see or do anything else due to the kids being sick, but that’s ok. Hopefully I’ll be back. And Ryan checked off everything on his list (of course!), which was good because he hadn’t had a true vacation in about 3 years.

Then, 2 weeks after we got home from Key West, I took the kids out to Tucson over the long Easter weekend to visit my grandparents. We had a layover in Denver, and thankfully my sister booked all our flights so that I met up with them to fly the second leg from there into Tucson together. I’m not sure 4 planes by myself with the 3 Goonies would have been quite as enjoyable as having company/help for half of them.

It was a great visit, even though I was parenting solo. The weather was beautiful, we took the kids to a new-to-us pool that was pretty perfect for them, we spent some time at the house of a wonderful family friend who I’ve literally known my entire life, we got to spend important time with my grandparents, and we overlapped with other family who we don’t see that often.

It’s always nice to get out of Dodge every once in a while, especially when Wisconsin winters can seem endless.  So these were some fun, sun-filled days.

 

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38

Yesterday was my 38th birthday, and although I’m not thrilled about the ever-looming age of 40, I will say that 38 is off to a great start.

The day wasn’t the warmest, but the sun was shining brightly and beautifully. I walked Della to school with the other 2 in the stroller, then went for a run when we got home. Then Lana helped me plant the flowers and plants we had picked up at Home Depot the day before – flowers for the pot I put on our front walk, flowers for their little playhouse window boxes, and raspberry and grapes plants for the back garden. Ryan and the kids got me a beautiful necklace that I wanted, and the kids all made me cards. Which I will of course save forever, since they are all going to be amazingly famous artists.

We walked back to school to pick up Della in the afternoon, enjoying the sunshine a little longer. I requested chicken marsala for my birthday dinner, and Chef Rau obliged. He also got me a brownie ice cream cake. It was all beyond delicious, as always! We all enjoyed the cake when Della got home from gymnastics, then watched The Voice, the girls’ and my favorite show. I had a couple glasses of dessert wine to toast to myself, and then we called it a night. It was a very good day.

This wonderful family of mine and and some great friends who know me well made this a fantastic, peaceful birthday, which is exactly what I wanted. Happy birthday to me!

I tried to find a comparison shot of me at 28, but we don’t have any pics from my birthday that year. So here’s a picture from our anniversary that year (the big #1!), which was a month before my 28th birthday. Ah, aging…

 

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It finally came to me

Ever since we’ve had children, I’ve wanted to get a tattoo to symbolize them in some way. I thought maybe I’d find a cool way to intertwine their initials, or something like that, but nothing ever stuck with me or jumped out at me as exactly the right design. And that’s the thing with a tattoo, for me at least – it has to be absolutely beyond perfect, leaving no doubt in my mind whatsoever that I really, really want it on my body forever.

Two weeks ago, it finally came to me.

I don’t know why, but every time I thought of what represented the kids best, sea turtles came to mind. A while ago, I had envisioned tiny little sea turtles wrapping around the inside of my left wrist. But they would’ve had to be super duper tiny so as not to be massively obvious, then I wouldn’t be able to incorporate their initials very well, yadda yadda yadda.

So then I decided on my left side, right in the middle of my side, so they’re kind of swimming up toward my heart. Bingo. Plus, Ryan said he didn’t like wrist tattoos at all, so that helped solidify that positioning. I actually went to the tattoo shop a friend recommended a couple Saturdays ago to get it done, but they didn’t have time for me right then, so I went to another shop that also didn’t have time when I walked in but said they’d call me back later that afternoon. I got a much better vibe from the second place, plus I found a penny on the ground outside the door when I left, so I called back that night to make an appointment for the following Wednesday.

It ended up working out for the best that my original plan of attack to get the tattoo didn’t pan out, because that night I had time to draw exactly what I wanted instead of just going in with a rough idea; the girls got to pick the color they wanted for each of the flowers by their initials; the tattoo artist with whom I ended up getting the appointment did an amazing job putting my sketches together and bringing them to life; I found another penny at the shop right before I got the tattoo; and the artist made the final tattoo look better than I could even imagine.

I just love it. It makes me happy every time I look at it. These 3 kids are my absolute heart and soul, which makes this tattoo so meaningful.

I’ve been having a lot of status envy lately, which I know is stupid and an unnecessary waste of worry, but I can’t help it. Sometimes I just get stuck. We’re surrounded by so many incredible things and places, it’s kind of hard not to sometimes. Seeing my beautiful tattoo and realizing how truly happy I am helps me snap out of it.

We don’t have a lot of money, we don’t live in a big giant house, we don’t drive fancy cars (Tesla is apparently the new expensive car of choice around here, by the way), we don’t go on exotic vacations all over the world. But these kids and the family we’ve created and our wonderful web of family, friends, and neighbors and the unbelievable community in which we live bring happiness that can never be measured with a price tag. And although I’ve been without a salary for over 4 years now, we’re making it work, something we never thought was possible before it actually happened. Plus, now when I do work, I get to do it in my home while our children play and sleep. Also priceless.

So thank you, little sea turtles. Not only are you exactly what I wanted for my tattoo, you are also a permanent reminder of happiness.

 

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Hello, world! Again

“Hello world!” That’s the title of the generic first placeholder post when you create a new blog, so I thought it pretty fitting to use here. The first post on my new, redesigned blog. And, being the editor I am, I couldn’t help but add that dialogue comma in there for accuracy.

So, whaddya think? ScooterMarie has become Jocelyn Rau. Plain and simple, just how I like things. I actually wanted an easy name like that from the start, but when I first set this blog up back in 2011, Ryan said I should go with something more unique. Hence, ScooterMarie was born. And it worked great. But I was never 100% in love with the name, so now that I’ve decided to redo the blog design, I figured now was as good a time as any to change the name. Plus, jocelyrau.com was available, so it worked perfectly.

Hopefully you like the change as much as I do. Those pictures up in the header are all ones we’ve taken over the years, and I love how they change randomly. Bits of my life coming to life on here.

If you had subscribed to my RSS feed on ScooterMarie to get notified every time there was a new post, I think you’ll have to subscribe to the new site address to keep getting them. Just click on this little orange square, and it’ll take you right to Feedburner:

So thanks for sticking with Jocelyn Rau – me and my blog.

 

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Change is a-comin’…

Hold tight, friends. This blog will be undergoing some major updates soon, including a possible name change. ScooterMarie has served me well over the years, but after thinking I had lost almost all of my blog’s work last night (thankfully Ryan retrieved it!), I realized I kind of want a fresh start.

So please stay tuned. I hope you’ll like what you see!

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