Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

Seven!

Lana turned 7 last month, and I don’t think anyone in the world could fill my heart and soul quite like this one does. I love all of our children beyond words, but Lana has a sparkle that is rare. She twinkles through life like no one I have ever known.

She still loves art, space, and Nigh-Night with all her heart, and even though she needs to stop sucking her thumb, I told her Nigh-Night can and should be a lifelong friend. She enjoys life with everything she is, and watching her eyes light up when she’s having fun is one of the most joyous things I’ve ever witnessed. She adores Della and would follow her to the ends of the earth. She loves her little brothers, too, and I can tell how proud she is when she helps calm the babies and makes them happy. It sometimes takes a little prodding to get her to help, but she’s very good at it once she does.

This lucky little girl got a couple birthday celebrations this year. We started off by doubling our block party as a mini birthday party for her, and she got to invite 2 friends from school. The girls helped me make mini cupcakes again, and Lana decorated them with jelly belly beans. She wanted to do candy corns on top, but for some reason we couldn’t find any at the grocery store when we were getting the ingredients. So she chose the jelly beans instead because she said they looked like little ghosts. Perfect!

Then on her actual birthday she got to open one present before school. Ryan picked her and Della up from school that day and took them to pick out her requested sushi for dinner, then later that afternoon he took the big 3 down to the lakefront to watch the monstrous waves. They got ice cream at the custard stand down there, then she had a regular-sized cupcake that she decorated with 7 jelly beans for her birthday treat after dinner. A day full of treats, the best kind!

That following weekend, my dad came up and brought her a giant birthday cake from my favorite bakery in Peoria, so the parties continued! That Sunday was our neighborhood trick-or-treating, which is one of her favorite things.

At her parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago, her teacher said how smart she is in math, which honestly took me by complete surprise. She’s never really mentioned math at all, but once I took a closer look at her papers and quizzes, I realized she is really, really good at it. Her teacher also said how sometimes she gets distracted easily and it takes a couple tries to get her back on track, and I said oh yes, that is Lana to a tee. 😀 Her teacher had forgotten that Lana was #2 of 5 kids, and once she remembered that, she not only commented on how amazing I was (well yes of course, thank you very much, ha!) but how great Lana is for being one of 5 children. I said well, that’s just life now, and we’re living it! She said Lana is a great friend in class and that her name came up very often when the teacher asked other students who their good friends were, and that makes me happier and more proud than any math scores ever will.

Lana Marie Rau. Our human fairy. We love you so very, very, very much, my sweet baby girl. You and I are alike in so many ways, it makes my heart shine. Never ever lose your twinkle and goofiness – they make you so wonderfully you. Happy 7th birthday!! May this be your most incredible year yet!

Posted on

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!

 




Posted on

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!