July 2018 – Jocelyn Rau

July 31, 2018

These days

These days are full of burp rags and 2 a.m. feedings; diaper after diaper after diaper and tiny baby snuggles.

Watching them take in this whole new world with wide, innocent, beautiful eyes. Something new to them every day, each piece filling my heart more and more.

These days are full of wiping 3-year-old buns and filling milk cups; taking breakfast and lunch orders and cleaning off hands and faces.

Figuring out when to let them try it and when to keep doing it myself. Knowing they want to learn and grow but selfishly wanting them to stay my babies forever. Trying to raise them to be good, kind, strong adults while making sure they live childhood fully.

I tell them constantly – enjoy every single day and year as a kid, because once you’re a grownup, you’re a grownup for the rest of your life. Being a kid is so much more fun!

These days are full of “Mama, watch me,” and “Mama, know what?” and “Mama, can I have that?” and “Mama,” “Mama,” “Mama.”

And I try to answer each and every one, because I know someday I’ll hear it no more.

These days are full of giving back pacifiers and rubbing tiny noses, soothing and calming just by being near.

These days are full of onesies and strollers and bikes and dolls and toys and imagination and creation and fun. Even the really, really long days. Start over in the morning, look back, and I can always see the fun. They’re kids. They do.

These days are full of laundry and messes and cleaning and laundry and messes and cleaning. But they’re mine, and I get to do them. I don’t have to wait until after work or on the weekend.

These days are full of one more kiss when I go to bed. They’re always deep in sleep and smell warm. Like these long summer days of play.

These days are rarely my own and are almost completely for these 5 incredible, magical, wonderful little faces. But that alone makes me ridiculously happy.

July 9, 2018August 2, 2018

Twins 5 month stats

The twins turned 5 months on June 30. No checkup this month either, so this will be another photo post.

Avit is now rolling all over the place, and Nat is very close. He can get his whole lower body over, just gets stuck trying to get his head and shoulders to follow. He likes to stop twisted halfway and just look around, little goofball.

We switched them into a crib from the pack n play in our bedroom a few days ago because they’re getting so big, and Avit was totally steamrolling over Nat all night. He still does, but now at least little Natty Nat has slightly more room to get out of the way. This is very typical of their personalities – Nat is generally very calm and easygoing, whereas I like to describe Avit as a little more high maintenance. Definitely crabbier. And so many times I go into our room to find Avit screaming right in Nat’s face and Nat just lying there, totally asleep.

They love to blow spits to talk to everyone, and the fake coughs are in full effect, just like their big brother and sisters did. I took the arched playmats out of the living room and brought up the jumperoo and 2 bumbo chairs, and they both love being in both of those. A little more physical activity is what they want now instead of just lying around.

They did great on our family vacation up north. Despite sleeping like garbage, they really didn’t add much trouble or hassle to the trip at all. We made sure bottles were ready well before needed, planned enough stops for diaper changes as well as letting the big 3 go to the bathroom while driving, and made sure to be proactive with their needs instead of reactive. Major difference in resultant attitude and decibel level.

These little ones are getting big! They’ve been with us on the outside almost half a year now, and just like Della’s note to me said when I found out last summer that I was having twins – don’t worry, it’ll be fun!

Comparisons, as usual – Della, Lana, Morrison, twins. Seeing any resemblances getting stronger?

And now all twins. Pretty soon they’ll be big enough to each go on their own rug.

July 5, 2018

Up Nort’

A couple weeks ago we took our first vacation as a family of 7, and it ended up being a lot of fun. We drove up to northern Wisconsin, rented a little cabin for a couple days, and tested the waters of big-family cabin life.

We went to a little place called Delta Lodge in Iron River, WI, which is all the way near the northern border of the state, up by Bayfield and Ashland on Lake Superior. It had 12 cabins on a small inland lake, and we were in cabin #4 – 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, living room, and screened-in porch. We shared a dock and campfire pit with the cabin next door, and we got to use a rowboat and kayaks for the whole stay.

We split up the drive north, spending our first vacation night with my aunt and uncle in Eau Claire. That in itself was a great time, because we hadn’t been there in years. It made for a wonderful visit, and the kids had a blast exploring all their land on a couple nice long walks.

We only spent 2 full days at the cabin, after getting there around 3:00 p.m. on the first day and leaving at 10:00 a.m. on the fourth day, but Ryan and I agreed that it was plenty for this first trip. We really just wanted to get a feel of how things would go with this crew at a cabin, and we wanted to check out someplace new since we haven’t done this before. We won’t be going to Canada this summer, so I really wanted the kids to get some swimming and lake time in somewhere. This was perfect.

Ryan took them on row boat rides, Della learned how to kayak, the girls swam like water bugs with me, Morrison loved playing on the dock, they constantly fed hot dog and hamburger buns to the bluegill who lived under our dock, we made s’mores over the campfire, we played games after dinner in the cabin, we celebrated the summer solstice, the twins broke in their new playpen as their bed, and we figured out what we do and don’t want to do the same next year.

There had been some really severe thunderstorms in the area right before we arrived, and by the time we drove home, Lake Superior was still so churned up that the water looked red from all the iron in the soil up there. It was crazy.; it looked like we were on Mars.