Tag: D

Della just turned 14 and I’m sorry, but that just sounds crazy – 14?! However, the day she was born does feel like eons ago…

ETA – we had her 14-year checkup at the end of August, and here are her official stats:

• Height: 5′ 7.6″ (95%)
• Weight: 117 lbs. 12.8 oz. (65%)
• BMI: 18.12 (32%)
• Blood Pressure: 120/60

Not only is she now a full-blown teenager, she’s off to high school! We’re going to be in 3 different schools now for the next 5 years, so that’ll be fun. 😀

She remains the unshakable leader of the Rau kids, and we are beyond lucky that she is. The poise and responsibility she shows when she’s in charge is amazing, and the way she makes sure her siblings are 100% ok and everything is taken care of is incredible.

She’s also a wonderful friend, and I’m so happy that she has had such a great group of girlfriends for a number of years now. It gives me comfort that they’re all going into their high school years together – strengh in numbers, right? I’m going to keep telling myself that, anyway, as all of these big-kid years and stressors come our way.

She’s still loving lacrosse and plans to play on the high school team next spring. She’s taken lessons from an upperclasswoman on the team all summer and will be doing some skills clinics with her coach from this spring in the next couple weeks before school starts, so hopefully we can keep her stick in her hands over the fall and winter, too, to get ready for the big leagues on the high school team.

It was cute – she and I were getting her school supplies ready today and ordering the ones she needs, and she already has her color scheme of corresponding notebooks, folders, and binders for each class picked out and ready to go.

Happy 14th birthday, Della Jolee! We love you so much, and the pride we feel watching you grow into this outstanding young woman is immeasurable. Thank you for who you are and everything you do – like I always say, never change for anyone. Here’s to a fantastic year ahead and many, many more birthdays to celebrate!

• 1 year old
• 2 years old
• 3 years old
• 4 years old
• 5 years old
• 6 years old
• 7 years old
• 8 years old
• 9 years old
• 10 years old
• 11 years old
• 12 years old
• 13 years old

Della turned 13 a few weeks ago, and it just sounds so crazy to say that we have a teenager in the house now! I always consider myself extremely lucky, though, because time still seems to be going just right. Like the day she was born doesn’t seem like yesterday to me. I don’t feel like life with her has rushed by to get to this point. It’s gone just right, and I cherish every day.

The little tiny girl with the biggest heart I’ve ever known is just growing into a bigger physical version of that self, which I absolutely adore. She is the most incredible oldest sister to this crew of Goonies, even with the bickering with one younger brother in particular that has become much more constant this summer. Ahem. Morrison.

ETA: We had her 13-year checkup on August 22, and here are her official stats, healthy again!

• Height: 5′ 6.54″ (96%)
• Weight: 111 lbs. 4 oz. (67%)
• BMI: 17.67 (34%)
• Blood pressure: 112/60

She’s smart, loves to read, wears the big chunky white Converse high-tops that all the teenage girls love right now, yet still plays with her siblings daily. They’ve invented a new game called “Whack and Capture” that sends them racing around our big back yard, chasing each other with a canvas reading pod that you hang from our swing, trying to bonk each other on the head with it then stuff each other inside the pod. Ridiculous, but it keeps them happy, laughing, and running for full evenings on end. My heart fills every time I see it, even though I constantly tell them to stop hurting each other.

She’ll be in 8th grade this year, her final year of middle school, and we were excited to learn that she got into Algebra for math. Her best friend made it in, too, so I know she’s happy to be in that class together. She’s going to run cross country again this fall, but I don’t know if she’ll run track in the spring again or not. She and Lana still take piano lessons together, but she is stopping band this year so Lana can take over the flute. She loves babysitting for the neighborhood kids, and their parents can’t say enough good things about her.

This one. Our beautiful first born, the leader of our pack. We love you to the stars and back, my little peanut. Squeaker. Happy 13th birthday, our amazing Della Jolee!!! May you celebrate SO many more. We are so fantastically proud of you, and I can’t wait to see all the wonder you’ll bring to this world!

These past pics and posts are starting to add up! Here are all 13 for this amazing little lady…

• 1 year post
• 2 years post
• 3 years post
• 4 years post
• 5 years post
• 6 years post
• 7 years post
• 8 years post
• 9 years post
• 10 years post
• 11 years post
• 12 years post

Della turned 12 earlier this month, and she’s turning into such a grown-up kid! Notice I say “grown-up kid” instead of just “grown up.” 😉 Plus she’s creeping closer to me in height daily, which is beyond weird.

She’s going to be in 7th grade this year, and I swear some days it seems like she could be about a junior in high school. Not because of an attitude, thankfully not yet!, but because of the level of responsibility and self-awareness she possesses. She is 100% the leader of the Rau pack of kids, and we could NOT be luckier that she is!

She loves playing outside with her siblings and the block friends, the little walking “field trips” that same group has gone on for the first time this summer, swimming, tubing, riding her bike, watching souped-up crafting shows with Lana and Morrison on YouTube, Harry Potter, Legos, reading, earrings, mystery nights at the museum, making quizzes for us on her tablet, Pete’s Pops, and sparkling water. Her favorite color is blue, and her favorite food is BLTs.

She’s looking forward to 7th grade, but not to anything in particular about it. She’s going to run cross country again this fall, which I know she’s excited about. I hope I can make it to her meets again with my new job, because I love watching her pride grow as she gets better and better.

Happy 12th birthday, our amazing, incredible, beautiful, smart, kind Della Jolee!! My little peanut sweet pea is getting so big! May you get everything you want and work for in life, my love, because you deserve it. We love you SO, so much!

ETA, we had her 12-year well check on Sept. 21, and here are her official 12-year stats:

Height: 5′ 3.5″ (90%)
Weight: 95 lbs. 3.2 oz. (54%)
BMI: 16.60 (25%)
Blood Pressure: 108/70

And a look back through the years with pictures and posts…

• 1 year
• 2 years
• 3 years
• 4 years
• 5 years
• 6 years
• 7 years
• 8 years
• 9 years
• 10 years
• 11 years

Della turned 8 years old on August 1, and 8 truly is great with her!

We had her 8 year well check at the end of that month, so here are her official 8-year-old stats:

• Height:  53″ (87%)
• Weight:  60.5 lbs. (64%)
• BMI:  15.1 kg/m2
• Blood Pressure:  109/69

She continues to be the sweetest girl on earth, and I really don’t think I could possibly love her any more. Her heart is made of pure gold, and that is probably the singular character trait I hope she carries with her forever.

She has the soul of an angel, and she is truly a friend to all. It was so cute – one of the room moms for her class this year is putting together a book for their teacher, who is getting married later this month. It’s a book of marriage advice from 3rd graders. Della’s quote was “Sometimes it will be hard, and sometimes it will be easy. Always be nice to the person you’re married to.” Wise words, my love.

She is also still the sensitive girl she’s always been. The other night after I’d tucked them all in, Morrison came out telling me Della was crying. I could tell she was kind of quiet at bedtime and I thought she was a little sad, but she said nothing was wrong. I was right. When I went in and asked what was the matter, she was practically sobbing and said that no one ever believes her. I said oh sweet pea, I always want to believe you, what are you talking about? Apparently earlier that night Lana didn’t believe her when she said one of Lana’s Shopkins toys was on the front porch when Lana was looking for it, and shortly before bed Ryan and I didn’t believe that his magazine gave her a cut on her finger when he jokingly waved it at her. It did hit her hand, but when she showed us the cut it looked like it had been there for a while. No way did we think it was fresh, let alone from a freak brush against a magazine.  But I guess she put her arm behind her to block the magazine, and when she did so it kind of swung around on the edge of the pages and got her. So I apologized and assured her there was no way we thought she was lying or we weren’t listening to her on purpose, we just honestly thought there was no way it could’ve happened. So I promised that we’d listen to her from now on, because I know she doesn’t make things up just to be heard, and she is such a good kid and always wants to be doing the right thing.

She is the most amazing big sister to all these little ones, and they are beyond lucky to have her. She adores the twins and is my biggest helper, carrying them around and snuggling them in, giving them pacifiers or whatever they need, and generally playing with them as much as she can. Lana and Morrison would follow her to the ends of the earth, and my heart practically jumps out of my chest when I watch the 3 of them playing together.

She has been really into gymnastics the past 2 years, but this fall she decided to switch things up and give dance a shot. She and Lana are in the same hip hop class, and they just started last week. I can’t wait to see the end-of-session performance for this one! We also just started back up with swim lessons, and she is loving it again and doing so well.

She still loves her Shopkins and Happy Places, learning about nature and especially studying the ocean, playing outside with all our neighborhood friends, cooking, reading, doing cartwheels. She has recently started to like doing her own hair, and her new favorite style is pig tails with a headband. So cute! Her favorite colors right now are mint green and coral, and her favorite animal is a cheetah. She wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up and live in Australia in an apartment with some of her best friends. I will definitely go visit! I think she needs to be some sort of organizer, though, because she is constantly organizing things. I took her to the grocery store with me last weekend and I swear every time we stopped in an aisle she turned to the shelves and started straightening the items, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be based on the labels, etc. I thought wow, she’s even tidier than I am! I see so much of my younger self in her. However, life and 5 children have certainly mellowed me out significantly, ha!

We hit the jackpot a million times over with this one, and I feel so lucky to be her mama. I watch her with such love and adoration every day, and I am so proud of the wonderful, kind, smart girl she is. We love you so much, sweet Della Jolee! Happy 8th birthday and many, many, many more, peanut!!

 

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!