The Rau Family

Oops...

2011-03-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

So..I kind of forgot I had this...so on to the updating!!!

Jack is now 20 months!!!! Man, I can not believe he is that old. This week marks the end of a rather sad week. Jack was down for the count with a rather bad cold. High fever of 102, coughing, runny nose. However, not to worry he is fine and causing chaos and getting into everything if you leave him alone to long.

Things that he is doing:
He is now 32 inches tall
I don't know his weight but he is starting to be very hefty
He has started to get into the Disney movies (his favorite is cars)
Likes to line up his cars in a line in the kitchen so mommy will walk in unsuspecting and step on them and trip
Dislikes being left behind ANYWHERE!! i.e. in his car seat when you walk around the car to get him, leave him inside, go to the bathroom and you lock the door so you don't have a visitor...well you get the picture.

I do think we have a future motor head on our hands, however. Anything with wheels and rolls he is fascinated. He will sit for 20-30 minutes playing with matchbox cars, his construction cars, airplanes, etc. It has gotten to the point where when we leave the house there is at least one car in each hand.

As for Matt and I we are in love with Yuma. We have met some fabulous friends who have kids Jack's age, all girls, so he is happy :). Matt is enjoying his new unit. He gets home early enough so he can play with Jack and see him more often. Our place is lovely and enjoy it immensely. I must say both of us love being here and enjoy every day together here. We are extremely happy and content here.

Maybe next time I will remember about this blog more often and update it!

Road Trip

2010-12-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

After a two and a half day road trip across the country I realized something. As much as I like driving in the car with Matt and Jack jabbering in the back seat and listening to music, I hate road trips. At least the ones that mean going from 9 in the morning to 3 no stops. Needles to say the trip was rough. Especially that last hour to half hour. Both Matt and I were itching in our seats to be home. When we did get home Matt had surprised me with having Jack at my parents house waiting for us to get home. The worst thing about the trip was the fact that we didn't have Jack. Although now we have a road trip home with a 17 month old. Oh bless me keep us in your prayers.

Wow life is crazy!

2010-11-15T16:25:00.000-08:00

So my last post has been awhile...I haven't been very dilligent in writing new things in my life. Well whats new with the rau family? Well..

Jack is 16 months old and is as busy as a bee. First he will pull the books off the shelf then after "helping" me put them back he'll sneak off to empty his laundry basket. then off to the cupboards, then the pantry. You get the pictures. Books tell you to not immediately clean up after your kid and wait until they are in a nap otherwise it will frustrate them. I am not joking i have read it. Well who ever wrote that doesn't realize that all the above happened within 10 minutes! My house would look like a disaster zone if i waited til jack was asleep! Not happening. The silver lining to all this? Jack has learned what stop and no mean, whether he listens to them or not is another matter. The dreaded word nap is also well known.

A few things that jack has learned is to say "whurditgo" which he says all the time (where'd it go?), no, nana, dada, mama, suu (my guess shoe since he says it when i put his shoes on). My favorite word that he says is go. Its simple but the reason i love it is whenever we are in the car and matt picks up speed to enter the interstate jack will yell GO!!!GO GO!! so adorable!!!

He loves to follow anyone around to see what they are doing. He is so curious about everything and wants to learn everything in the world around him. He is an amazing little guy!

10 Months!!

2010-05-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that my little tornado is 10 months already! He is getting so big and curious. Gets into everything and loooves getting dirty. As I write this jack is squishing his face into the sun room glass, which nana loves by the way. :) He is getting stronger by the day and I believe that he will be walking soon maybe a few more months. Below is a video of Jackson dancing to music. He loves to dance especially to mamma's music or her singing or even to someone clapping a beat. He is so darn cute!

Matt is slated to come home end of the month to first week of June. which is coming up!!!

Crawling

2010-03-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot! I took this video of him crawling then standing up and facebook would not let me load it for some reason...

A Little Behind

2010-03-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

I know I am a little behind on keeping up with this. Between School and Jack Man my life is busy. I am doing well in school and sort of enjoying it. It is spring break for me this week which means I will be working on my History paper!!!

Matt is back on base and is ready to come home. I haven't talked to him in a while but I did get to talk to him for an hour on Saturday. He thinks he will be home end of May. Now May just needs to get here already!

Jack has learned to crawl! He can also pull himself to a standing position from the ground and takes a few cautious steps along the couch. He walks really well if you hold his arms and he is even getting up on two feet on his own creating a little arch with his hands on the ground. He says Dada, Mama, and Nana but he doesn't really know those are names yet. He still talks up a storm and laughs at the weirdest things. We are having a hard time with solid food but we're persevering. He doesn't really like the airplane thing... I tried to sneak in a puff while he was laughing at pappy and I got the meanest look from him right after he shoved it out of his mouth with his tongue. Funny.

7 months

2010-01-31T07:27:00.001-08:00

I can not believe it has been 7 months already! He is doing so much and getting so big. Just a little update. He has two teeth already! I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday that he was this tiny little thing and now look at him! He has grown!

On the Matt front: please pray for him and his fellow marines as they head out for 45 day long mission to a heavy fighting area. AHHH!

God bless you!

Amanda

Been Awhile

2010-01-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know it's been awhile but seriously? It's been busy. Little bug is growing like a weed and takes all my attention (I can't help it if he is so darn adorable I can't help it). He is 7 months in about 8 days. I can't believe it has been that long! And he is so big! He is 27 inches long and 15 pounds. Little chunker (not compared to his cousins but to what he was born at). He is no sitting up on his own. Laughing and smiling every chance he gets. He looks at everything very inquisitively, smiling at those he recognizes, lifts his arms when i go to pick him up, along with the fact that he is eating solid food. And now for the big news. He cut his first tooth! I was not looking forward to this event due to looking at Lindsey dealing with a very unhappy and miserable cole :( but we didn't even know he did it until he was chewing on pappy's finger and he felt something sharp in Jack's mouth. Sure enough there was a tooth! no extra fussing just a little bit more tired then normal. YAY!!! Now I think another one might be coming cause the drool just keeps on coming and it looks like another one is coming in. Oh My Goodness.

Talked to Matt yesterday morning. He is leaving the wire and doing missions outside the base. He is thrilled that he can actually do what he enlisted in the Marine Corps to do. However, my nerves just kicked up a notch. So please pray for his safety.

Peace and Love,

Amanda

Here We Are...

2009-11-17T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well, Here we are back in IL. Matt arrived safely in Afghanistan and is doing great. So far loving being a marine and all that jazz. Jack is adjusting well. Not really sleeping through the night but close enough that im not a complete zombie like when he was born. Dad came out to CA to see off Matt and to help me drive the liberty home. Jack was a trooper on the road trip. He did amazing...until it got dark and he couldn't see anything so then we had to stop. We stopped in Flagstaff, AZ Amarillo, TX Lebanon, MO and finally home on the fourth day! We did very well on time.We didn't get a lot of pictures on the roadtrip. We just kind of drove. Here are some pictures of Jack after the surgery! (here you go lindsey!)

Busy Busy

2009-09-02T13:09:00.001-07:00

I have been remiss in my duties as mother in posting pictures and news about my son. OOPS! Our little guy has learned to smile and as fleeting I managed to get a picture!

Also Jack has been moved to his crib. Those little baby noises keep mommy up.

Below he uses his activity mat for the first time!! He is his father's son, hasn't stopped looking at himself ever since i put him in front of the sun mirror.

Can anyone say milk coma anyone? Matt made a growling noise while this picture was taken.

There are more pictures on our web album.

Other then that, news on the homefront:

Jack's surgery is again on the 22nd of october. Matt is leaving for the field on wednesday for a month for training. Quality time for me and little guy! It's going to be rough for Matt to be away for this long but its practice for when he leaves some time in november. We're not moving out not til oct 31 at least. But that means we will be packing up while Jackson is recovering. So a big thanks to mom in advance for coming out in October.

More Pictures

2009-07-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Before Matt went to the field and his mom was here visiting we decided to walk to pier after church. You may ask how did little bug like it? Here is a picture showing how excited he was to see the ocean:

Meanwhile, Matt was teaching Austin to read the proper way. There are names along the boards of the fence and Austin kept spelling them backwards so Matt took it upon himself to teach him the correct way to read:

Clean Apartment

2009-07-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

For the first time since we moved into this apartment it is clean. I mean clutter free. The only thing is we move out in about a month and a half...

Here is a new picture of Jackson!

Rock on bug!

Cute Moment

2009-07-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Matt and I went on our first date Wednesday night to go see the new transformers movie (which was really really good by the way). Through out the entire movie I would pull out my phone to check on the time. Finally the movie is over and I call mom and I can hear Jackson crying in the background. Nana and Pappy said he hasn't been crying long he is just tired and they can't get him to sleep but he ate ok which was good. We hurry home and as soon as I hold him he quiets down and goes to sleep instantaneously. Got to be amazed at how wonderful that was for me. For one who didn't like kids up until the day her son was born how fast they can change. I am completely in awe of him and love him so much already.

Our New Family Member!

2009-07-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

On June 30th (my due date) our new little family member was born at 1:42 am! It was an extremely long day. It started at 2:38 that morning with contraction every 10 minutes. Finally at about 4:30 Matt was getting ready to leave for work when I finally said "umm I think you should know I have been having contractions pretty consistantly for the past two hours". So he made a few phone calls and we headed to the hospital. When we were checked out I was still one cm but 70% effaced which was the only difference from the appointment last week. So I was sent home. We went to Kristen and Dj's until 2:30 the contractions were two powerful. Once again to the hospital! Once we were checked this time i was 3 cm so they sent me walking for two more hours. Well, I made it about hour and a half we went finally was admitted. We headed to the delivery room and a few hours later he was here! 6 lbs 13 oz and 21 in long. He was born with a cleft lip just like his cousin. It is really minor. He will have the surgery to correct at about 2-3 months and we are getting in contact with the department at the naval hospital on monday to set up a consultation.

On the side of our blog is the link to our web album. Hope you enjoy! On a side note: he held his head up on his own for a few seconds and when taking a nap on nana he lifted his head and switched sides on his own! He is only 3 days old! Come on bug you are growing way to fast...

One Week!!

2009-06-23T21:20:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh! I can't believe that I have just one week left til the due date. I do realize that i can go up to 2 weeks late due to the unknown conception date and all but I am really hoping I don't go that late. Because if I do, I won't be able to go home with him in August for his baptism! Which sooo isn't good. Its all set and everything. We have one more appointment next week. I better ask how far they will let me go...hope its not long!

9 Months Along

2009-06-14T10:50:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of me 37 weeks along (I know I know not exactly 9 months but pretty stinking close) :)

The Nursery!

2009-06-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the nursery!

The dresser:

The blanket: (there is a triceratops on the otherside)

The mobile:

Here is the crib and the diaper hamper!:

I think it is absolutely adorable. completely happy with it!

Almost Time

2009-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

I did the math and it is 24 days to my due date. I am hoping however that I am a little early, but not too early where Jackson has to stay in the nicu. He also can't come too early due to mom and dad are in Alaska right now. Our bags are packed (my bag and the diaper bag) also the car seat is ready in the car. I don't see the doctor again til the 23, which is pretty close to the due date, June 30! I just can't wait to have him out.

Visiting

2009-05-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Since Matt was in the field til the end of May so mom came out to keep me company. We have been very busy. We attempted to put the dresser together. Totally kicking our butts. We couldn't do it. Then we thought we could put together a bookcase. We couldn't do that either. Then mom helped me clean the apartment since it wasn't getting done to the lovely baby bump that is starting to make the easiest tasks almost impossible to do by myself. Which leaves me to the next topic.

Matt came home unexpectedly on Saturday. The first thing he says to me? "Wow you have gotten bigger!" Love you too, honey. So when he came home we put him to work. He put together the dresser in under an hour and a half. He put together the bookcase in less time then that. And the crib was done soon after. Three pieces of furniture in 4 hours. He was like the energizer bunny. So far we have been having fun. She leaves on Wednesday :( So life will go back to normal. Well as normal as having a baby very soon can be.

Bad Solution To Bad Timing

2009-04-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

Matt found out that he is being sent to that month long field op early with the advance team. You may ask what does that mean? He leaves NEXT WEEK!!! Which solves me being gone when he leaves because he will be gone when I leave. But this also means less preparation time. For example, what bills need to be paid, his gear he needs to bring, and dealing with the fact that i thought i had another week. Oh well.

Bad Timing Once Again Hits Me

2009-04-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

Once again the ugly monster called bad timing hits. Instead of Matt leaving for his MONTH long training op april 30 and coming home june 2 he is now leaving may 4. That is right. Im in IL when he leaves for the field! How messed up is that? I am like never gone and now I will be gone when he leaves for 4 weeks. Talk about bad timing...

However, on a lighter note, the June training op might not happen which means he will be here for the birth which i would prefer over May, but that is still going to be one looong month for me. Hopefully I don't go crazy. Trigger is lucky he is inside for that month so he doesn't have to deal with a crazy mama yet. Also, Matt is starting to look into the different options available to him when he re-enlists in October. No matter wha he decides though it still means a very nice chunk of change called a bonus. Favorite word ever right now. We would be able to pay off credit cards, jeep wrangler plus money aside for baby. Sooooo helpful.

Third topic I want to write about: shopping. I never once thought I would be excited to go shopping for groceries or anything for the apartment. But every new thing or go to the grocery store for that trip where you replenish like everything is so much fun. I guess its just more proof that this apartment is in fact matt and my new home. The cabin it had everything we needed but it never really felt like "ours". So when we are buying stuff for our apartment now, it may be smaller but it is more ours then anything. If I had to say what our first real "home" was, I would say it was here in Oceanside. It is more ours then that cabin in the mountain. Its crazy and ecclectic like we are and everything in it, we picked out together as a couple (which in almost 9 months of marriage is still a novelty). And like every household there is one piece of furniture that the husband must have and the wife doesn't like (big screen tv in the previous post). All in all I feel more at home and content with my life here in Oceanside. All we need is baby to complete the picture.

Picture Wanted!

2009-04-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Since we finally got internet i have taken pictures of me and of our apartment. I really should have taken pictures when it was clean...but we just got internet yesterday and i haven't reorganized the pictures and the movies and what not so pardon the mess. I didn't show our room for it was worse (Matt has more clothes then I know what to do with...)

Everything is going really well here. Matt has a gear inspection tomorrow and sarah, deb and dusty come in tomorrow night for Ava's baptism which includes a formal dinner cruise on Friday and the baptism on Sunday. I will try to take pictures of that and update about that at a later time. Our apartment is slowly coming together to the point where we can function. The cabin is being rented as of May 1st and Matt finally admitted we should not have rented it in the first place. As for me I take a walk everyday, well try to, and trying to eat as healthy as I can. As I am typing this I am watching tlc (favorite channel now) there is an advertisement for a new tv show called "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" Sounds kind of intriguing and weird.

Matt has found out that the month long field training in May might be cancelled. So I am hoping that is true. In the meantime I am enjoying seeing him while I can. Danyelle and I go bring our hubbies lunch at the shop every once an while like we did today. I am used to seeing Matt in the digi cammies but today he was in the coveralls which were like a jumpsuit that were the army cammie print. He looked a little like a gi joe (even more so when he came back from the field in the flak and cavalar (the bullet proof vest and the heavy helmet).

Matt is absolutely fascinated with trigger. He is starting to do the lovely lovely wave rolling accross the tummy. He is also starting to do multiple kicks, and I mean kick in three different spots at the same time (can you say kickboxer?). We also had the first elbow or a knee sticking out. Which Matt finds fascinating seeing my lopsided stomach, which is steadily getting bigger. However, I was out with Danyelle one day and someone thought I was 4 months along and was shocked when I said 7. Needless to say Matt makes it obvious by shouting come one prego if I am walking to slow in the parking lot.

Ok so as I promised here are pictures!

Me at 7 months

Our living room

Our Kitchen

Our Dining Room

Bad Timing

2009-04-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Can you say bad timing? Matt is in the field til friday and my cold/cough has decided to get horribly worse. Head hurts, nose stuffed, and coughing til I almost throw up. I know pleasant right? Im drinking fluids but I have no idea what I can take when Im seven months pregnant and I am supposed to drive to the airport tonight at 9 to pick up Kristen and DJ. If I didn't miss him so much I would be soooo mad at him right now.

Finally

2009-04-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am extremely bored due to the fact that it is a saturday and my dear hubby is in the field til friday. However I do not have pictures of practically everything (I am horrible with a camara) so to see pictures of our trip to Floriday you must go to Jess or Lindsey's blogs. The trip itself was amazing. Getting to see the family again for a whole week was awesome. However, getting Matt to sit still and not work was a challenge...

Today is a short post, sorry!

Short Post

2009-02-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

Today will be a short post. I was talking to mom on thursday I think it was when I asked when should I feel the baby kick? So mom went online and "googled" it. She found out it should be around how far along I am and what it should feel like; "butterfly fluttering or popcorn popping". Well as we're talking on the phone i start feeling something like a bump that was continuous and I just say yep I think I can feel it! How cool is that that the first time I feel the baby kick was when mom was describing what it feels like. Even now as I am typing this i feel him, actually I feel him all the time now. He is an active little bugger. Matt also felt the baby kick this morning for the first time. It was an awesome moment for the two of us.

First Post

2009-02-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

This post is the very first post in the new place. We had to hurry off the mountain due to the fact that it was raining and snowing at the same time making it slushy. Due to the slushiness factor Matt and Jared had to walk up and down the hill carrying our stuff. On the last trip up when both cars were filled, it was my turn to go up. I thought I was going to pass out. My legs were jelly and my lungs were burning like crazy. Needless to say I never want to do that again. However, we have to go back next weekend to get the rest of our stuff. Ech. It is totally worth it though, already I love it here. I feel happier. Which is always good in my book. Speaking of books...the apartment is overrun with them. I am going to have to work on that. To end this post here is a picture of Trigger. This is all they gave me.

Our New Place!

2009-02-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

Here I am sitting on the floor of our brand new apartment. No furniture, nothing. However, a neighbor has wireless that works in our place so we have internet!!! YAY! I can stay connected with everything from iside our new place! Also, no roomates. The boyfriend decided that he didn't want to live in this community due to you can not be loud. Which holds true anywhere so I am a little confused. However, it will be nice for us because we don't have to worry about roomates and baby. We bought a sofa and dining room table and they will be in next week! Next is the mattress. In the mean time we are borrowing Kristen and DJ's air mattress.

There is up to 2 feet of snow on the mountain but its hard snow where you walk on top of it. Don plowed up to our drive way so we can pack the cars. A couple of marines have been enlisted to help us (well, the ones that have four wheel drive on their trucks). So I won't have to do anything just pack! The weather forecast does call for 48 more inches so we're trying to move as quickly as possible considering that much snow takes awhile to melt. Down here in oceanside however it is nice and sunny and a brisk 52 degrees. I think I am going to like it here!

It's Official!

2009-02-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

It is now official. We are having a boy! Jackson Trigvy Rau aka Trigger and it is extremely uncomfortable to sit in my favorite jeans. I have to follow Lindsey's advice and use a hair tie to keep them shut to keep my jeans lasting longer. Matt is not so sure about that idea. Below is a picture of my baby bump. Still small but it is there:

This is me not sticking it out. Matt is really cute he'll come up behind me and rub my belly saying "We're having a boy!" So adorable. I did however forget to take pictures of the ultrasound. The lady didn't give us a really good picture just the two feet and part of the head and I was being a really bad scrapbooker and accidentally threw out the first ultrasound. I'm sorry! It was in a bunch of papers that was garbage and in it went. I kind of wish i didn't do that. Too late now!

So we might not move into the apartment do to credit history and bad economy and now Matt is considering something else that isn't so pricey. So until we are sure about where we are moving to I won't put up pictures just yet.

Squatter on the Mountain

2009-01-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

This post will not have anything to do with pregnancy and what not. No, this post will be about the squatter. We have this, my only guess is a crazy person, believing that the entire little street we're on and the land surrounding it (this includes our house and land plus five other house and property) are his. He brought a huge building crate and parked it between two houses. He as already walked into a neighboring house and threatened the family on the other side. I am supposed to keep the house locked while im there and call 911 if he tries to get in. Matt is asking command if he can leave work if he gets a call about the guy. One of the neighbors are in the process of getting restraining orders for the guy and all the land permits saying who the land really belongs to. So it should clear up in about two weeks. We shall see!

Next news, since I was asked, housing. We are looking for a new place to live hoping to move when it gets closer to spring/summer. It will be easier for the rentor's to find a new tenant. We are considering apartments with two bedrooms. I asked about base and found out that we would lose the 1600 a month that we get for housing off base which helps pay for bills. So no base yet! But we are definitely looking for something a lot closer to base due to the fact that Matt has been coming home late then leaving again for work soon after. The drive is starting to take its toll.

Next set of news is more political. Obama has frozen all government assets right now. And if he continues to do so, Matt's pay will be frozen. Which means no income for us. We can not live on my income so I am really scared of where this administration is going. If he takes the military's paycheck, he will lose a huge group of voters. Re-election should be interesting. The commandant already briefed the entire marine corps that this might happen so be ready. How do you prepare for that? No amount of force or saving can prepare anyone for that.

Well, that is what is going on in our life. Making our lives a little bit stressed right now. I have a monthly check up on monday and the ultrasound to find the sex of the baby on tuesday! So I will call everyone to let you know what we are having!

Toodles!

First post!!!

2009-01-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

OK, so I know I told everyone that I had a post but, in reality, I never touched it for months. So, here it is the first post! I am sitting at work and haven't seen anyone for over 2 hours. Pretty much a slow day. Update on Matt and I.
For the first time since we moved to the mountain you can see the porch floor. Matt's gear has finally been put in one spot and it looks less like a storage unit. I am getting settled into work to the point where i actually know what I am doing and Matt is doing is usual Marine thing. Which means get up at the crack of dawn...actually before dawn...heads to work to do Marine things. It has been busy there and he has not been coming home until late.
As for me I am dealing with the pregnancy symptoms, weird dreams, restless leg syndrome, and cramping just to name a few that change up my day. People are still amazed when they find out that I am pregnant. Now granted I have to stand up straight lift my shirt and stick my belly out a ways...but its there! I am starting, emphasise on starting, to show!! At first i lost about eight pounds in the first few weeks of pregnancy but since my last two dr.s appointments i gained 2.5 pounds! Which means I am the weight before I got pregnant. We have an ultrasound on the 3rd of february and a normal check up on the 2nd. Matt is hoping to be there for the ultrasound but command said he can not be there for everything. Which is OK. Just means I have to navigate a navy hospital on my own. YAY! So we should be able to find out the sex of the baby! Which we both want to know by the way. We decided it makes the whole naming and buying thing easier in advance!
When there is more to post i will! Thanks to the lovely internet I get at work!