A Ride on the Polar Express

My mom's all time favorite Christmas story to read to us is The Polar Express. When I was in college she sent me a care package one December. There was a silver bell in the box that had a note on it...."Remember the Polar Express". She has bought the book for each of us and for each grandchild. She absolutely loves the story!

Sometime over the summer it was discovered that there was a Polar Express Train. My mom was so excited! We had to get tickets! Tickets went extremely fast. I think we heard the other night that they were sold out by August. It was in Monticello, IL, about 3 hours away. Everyone in the family thought it was a great idea for a holiday trip so we got tickets to go.

We loaded up and left about 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. The train ride was at 7:00 and we wanted to get there early to grab something for dinner and get some pictures taken. Amy told her kids we were going on a mystery trip. They couldn't wait to see where we ended up!

Mom, Dad, Kara, Claire, Dane, and I rode in mom and dad's minivan. Claire and Dane both napped on the way up. Once we put their carseats in, the only way out of the van was to go straight up to the front and out one of the front doors. It was quite the workout for Kara and I.

Everyone wore their pajamas on the train (Well the kids did). I found these cute little pjs for Dane. They say, "Perfect Little Present" on them.

The train station where we got our tickets.

Our tickets were gold tickets that said "Polar Express" on them. The conductor punched everyone's initials into the ticket, just like they punch the words into the tickets in the book.

All of the cousins in their pjs at the train station.

Mommy and Dane at the train station

Dane was watching everything when we got on the train

Holding his ticket waiting for it to be punched

On the train they told the Polar Express story and there were dancers and singers. They served hot chocolate and snacks.

The Frost Family

Kara and Claire

Dane and Mommy

Waiting for the train to start moving

Mama and Dane

My mom had a ball watching her grandkids enjoy the trip!

Have you ever seen such an excited little boy??? He is obsessed with trains and to be on a Christmas Train was just over the top for him!

The Conductor after he yelled, "All Aboard", just like in the book.

Waiting to have our tickets punched.

The movement of the train put Dane right to sleep.

The train pulled up to the "North Pole" and Santa came out and boarded the train,

Santa stopped to see us even though Dane was sleeping

Thanks to Mama and Papa for getting us tickets and taking us to see the Polar Express.

Dane slept all the way home!

After Thanksgiving Fun

Friday morning is the traditional Black Friday shopping trip for the Rau girls. Dave had to work so I asked Taylor if she wanted to babysit. Amy has a rule, "No kids can go with her until noon." I thought it was perfect...Taylor could babysit so I could shop in the morning and then she would have shopping money for the afternoon. Katie, Amy, all of Amy's kids, Dane and I all spent the night at my parents house. We headed out at 4:15 AM. We always have so much fun...lots of laughing (maybe from lack of sleep). Amy's phone rang right at 6:00 AM. It was Taylor and she said Dane woke up right at 6:00 like I said he would. She wondered if she should feed him right away because he was sooo happy. I told her to feed him so he would stay that way!! She did great with him all morning. When we came by the house at 11:30 he was taking a nap. We grabbed a quick lunch, then headed back out, this time with the kids.



We got done shopping about 5:00 and pulled into my mom and dad's driveway right behind Dave. He came to see Dane and I for the evening. Dave, Dane, and I went up to downtown Kirkwood to get some pictures taken.

Mama loves to feed Dane when we visit

Dave left Friday evening and Dane and I spent the night at mama and papa's again. Mama took the baby monitor in her room for the night, which is always a nice break for me! Of course, Dane did not wake up at all for mama. She heard him crying at 5:56 AM and when she went in to get him he started smiling and laughing at her as soon as he saw her. I got to sleep late......sooo nice!!!

Saturday morning Aunt Katie came over to Mama and Papa's to help put up their Christmas lights. I helped a bit. It was so nice, especially for the end of November. Dane came outside to play in his exersaucer.

So Thankful!

We have so much to be thankful for this year that sometimes I have a hard time believing it!

Dave, Dane, and I headed up to St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon. We met Grandma and Grandpa Evelsizer, Dave's sister, Lisa, her husband, Chris, and our nephew, Mitchell for dinner. Dinner was delicious and we had a good time watching Mitchell play with Dane.

We then headed to my parent's house. We must have looked like we were moving in. Dane and I were staying there from Wednesday until Sunday. Dave helped us get settled and then headed back to Ste. Genevieve because he had to work on Thursday.

Aunt Katie came over to Mama and Papa's house to hang out and spend the night with Dane and I. We had a great time relaxing with her Thursday. She definitely has the special touch. She put Dane to sleep three times on Thursday! (She is babysitting overnight on Tuesday, hope things go that well for her then)

Mommy and Dane hanging out Thursday afternoon

About 4:00 everyone started arriving for dinner. We had a full house again this year. Mama, Papa, Aunt Amy, Uncle Darnel, Taylor, Delaney, Trey, Aunt Kara, Uncle Steve, Claire, Aunt Ashley, Uncle TJ, and Aunt Katie all came for dinner.

Dane, ready to celebrate his 1st Thanksgiving

Mommy and Dane
Daddy and Dane

Claire and Dane hanging out before dinner

Aunt Katie had lots of Dane time on Thursday

Our little family- I am so thankful for my wonderful husband,

Dave and my precious baby boy, Dane.

Dane was playing with Mama's Thanksgiving decorations. He loved the lights!

All of the cousins!

Mama and Dane

Not the most successful picture,

but I know all of the grandkids are thankful to have such loving grandparents.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. My mom makes us go around the table every year and say what we are thankful for. All of us have so much to be thankful for. We are blessed.

After dinner the guys settled in the family room for some football and the girls took the ads and headed to the dinning room to plan our shopping trip.

A Year Ago

A year ago:

• We lived in Chester, IL
• I was working as the After School Program Coordinator as well as teaching full time
• I would get to school about 6:30 AM and leave about 6:30 PM, plus went in on many Saturdays or Sundays
• Most evenings were spent with the laptop on my lap as I entered grades
• My plan times at school were spent in the lounge relaxing with other teachers.
• I would get up at 4:30 AM to go to the gym.
• I would usually take a short 1/2 hour nap on the couch about 7:30PM.
• I would stay up until 11:00 PM on most nights.
• Dave worked the 3PM-11PM shift (which is why I stayed up until 11PM)
• Our Thursday or Friday evenings were usually spent at the Chester Eagles having dinner and a couple of drinks with friends....usually late nights.

Then on November 24, 2008 I found out I was pregnant with my precious little baby.

Oh how things have changed:

November 24, 2009

• We live in Ste. Genevieve, MO
• I have to be at school at 7:45 and usually roll in about 7:40
• I am offically "Off Duty" at 3:15 and I follow the buses out and hope everyday that I don't get caught behind too many so I can get to Sue's house as soon as possible to see Dane.
• I race around school like a mad woman during my plan times getting everything possible done so I dont have to take anything home that would take away from my time in the evenings with Dane.
• I have a parent volunteer come in every Friday to do all of my copying for the next week
• Dave works days, 7 AM-3PM
• My evenings are spent on the floor, playing with Dane.
• I go to bed about 9:00 on most nights. I never know when I will get a middle of the night wake up call.
• I wake up at 5:00 AM because I have another little person to get ready in the morning.
• Dave and I spend many weekend nights at home hanging out with our little man. We sometimes go to dinner, but are always home by 7:30 or so.

All of these changes, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Eating Cereal for the First Time!

When we went to Dane's 4 month dr appointment Dr. Andersen told us it was time to start giving Dane cereal. After the appointment we went to Target and got cereal, bowls, and spoons. We are going to be giving Dane cereal every evening.

We thought Dane would take the cereal pretty well. When we eat dinner and sit him next to us he watches our plates and looks like he wants to grab the food right off our forks.

He did really well. He got most of it in his mouth. He would cry if we stopped for too long.

Mommy feeding Dane

Daddy feeding Dane. He looks like he is still wondering what is going on.
It looks like he might like this!

Finished up the meal with his bottle.

Dane is 4 months old today!

Dane is 4 months old today and is changing so much.

• Weighs 16 lbs, 4 oz (75th percentile) and is 25 inches long (50th percentile)
• Eats 6, 7 oz. bottles a day and is finally using level 2 nipples.
• Wears size 2 diapers
• Is almost wearing 6 month clothes, you can still fit into some 3 month
• Bedtime is being pushed up a bit. You can rarely make it to 8 p.m. You must be awake more during the day. You were sleeping until 6 am, but the ear infection messed us up a bit. We are working on getting back on track. I usually don't pick you up in the middle of the night, just rub your head and turn on crib music, but when you were sick I picked you up and rocked you...afterall you had a fever of 102. Well when you awoke Thursday at 1:30 am and I picked you up and you started smiling and laughing I figured you must be well enough to cry yourself back to sleep a bit. As much as I love to rock you, I must be able to teach my 20 third graders during the day so I need some sleep.
• Love to play with your toys now. It is so neat to watch you.
• You are soooo loud. You love to talk and laugh, sounds I love to listen to.
• Practicing sitting up. You are getting stronger everyday
• Turn to look for me when you hear my voice and tend to cry when you want me to hold you.....makes me feel loved!

• Started to play in your jumperoo
• You are getting so big we had to take out the head support out of the carseat, move the straps up, and take the bassinet out of the pack and play.
• You constantly have your hands or toys in your mouth. When I change your diapers and try to dress you, you grab my hands, arms, and clothes. I also have to watch my necklaces.
• Sat in highchair at dinner for the first time
• I can't hold you like a baby much anymore. You want to look out and see everything that is going on.
• Parents As Teachers came to visit you
• You had your first babysitter outside the family
• You celebrated your First Halloween.
• You rolled from your stomach to back when mommy happened to be off school for Veteran's Day. You are almost going from your back to your tummy, but still working on it. You are so close!

• You love to hold onto to your little bear blanket when you are in the carseat and have also started to play with your carseat toys.
• You watched football with Papa and had yo move your head because Mama got in you way and you couldn't see!

At your Dr. appointment Dr. Andersen told us to start giving you cereal and soon some babyfood. We headed to Target and the trip was all about you! We got cereal, baby spoons, bowls, and some baby food so we are ready. We also are ready to order your new carseat. You won't need it until you are at least 20 lbs, but we want to be ready because that could be anytime!

Dr. Andersen said you were just perfect and said she could just take you home with her because you are soooo cute!

Your daddy and I love you so much and you have made us so happy! I love every second that I get to spend with you!

Dinnertime!

Usually as Dave and I eat dinner Dane sits in his bumbo seat and plays. We eat at the island and sit him in the middle of the island. I decided I wanted to try out his high chair to see how he did in it. It actually worked even better. Since it has a high back he actually seemed to be really comfortable in it. We gave him some toys to play with. Now we can sit at the dinning room table and eat and he can sit right next to us. He seems so big to me! I know it will just be a matter of time before he is eating with us.

Dave is usually a good sport and takes pictures whenever I want to, however looking at his face I think tonight he just wanted to eat.

He looks so big!
I get excited everytime we try out something new with Dane, but then when I think about it I get sad that he is growing up so fast! Tomorrow Dave and I are both off work and we are taking him to his 4 month checkup! I can't believe it!!

So Sad to See a Sick Baby

Today was probably the first day since July 21, 2009 that I have not taken a picture of Dane.

The poor guy is sick.

Saturday night he did not sleep well at all. I was thinking it was because we hadn't stayed at Mama and Papa's house in two weeks and maybe he wasn't used to it or maybe he was so excited about being baptized on Sunday that he couldn't sleep :) Sunday night he was restless again.

When I dropped him off at Sue's on Monday morning I told her he had been restless and we talked about everyone at daycare having the sniffles and a cough. I knew he was congested because I could hear him breathing on the monitor in the middle of the night. I thought maybe that was making him uncomfortable when trying to sleep. It hadn't seemed to be bothering him during the day so I didn't think it was too bad. At lunch I called Sue to check on Dane. She said he did seem restless and just didn't seem like himself. I thought maybe the congestion was getting to him so I called the doctor to see if there was something I could give him. I was actually very glad when they asked if I could bring him in to be checked out. Even though it is hunting week and Dave took off all week to hunt he said he would take Dane to the dr Tuesday morning, then if he is just congested, but ok, he will drop him off at Sue's after the appointment and go to the woods then. So that was the plan.

I picked him up Monday afternoon and he did seem a little out of it. He fell asleep on the way home and slept until his 6:00 bottle. He didn't eat well at all, which is not normal for him. Dave was holding him and said, "Let's take his temp just to see what it is." Sue, Dave, and I had all felt him and did not think he felt warm. His cheeks were actually cool. We took his temperature and it kept going up and up. It finally stopped at 102. Dave told me to get ready so we could take him to the ER. It was exactly 7:00 and our dr is open until 7:00, so I called, unfortunately they were closed already. We were getting ready to go to the ER when I finally focused enough to remember that our dr has an after hours number. I called and it turned out that our dr was the one on call. She called us back in less than 5 minutes. I told her our symptoms and she said it sounded like an ear infection. She told us to give him Tylenol and to come see her first thing this morning. She was so nice she gave me her direct pager number so I didn't have to call the exchange again if I needed her.

I think I slept about an hour last night. I held him and rocked him for quite a while several times during the night. When I wasn't doing that I was watching him on the video monitor.

First thing this morning Dave, Dane, and I headed to Dr. Andersen's office. She checked his ears and sure enough she said he had a massive double ear infection. She actually said he was doing really well for as bad as they looked. He smiled at her and was so calm in her office. She gave him an antibiotic and we were on our way.

He does seem a little happier tonight, but still not 100% Dane. We already had his 4 month appointment scheduled for Friday so she said she will check his ears again then to see how they are looking.

I am so glad that I have never been wasteful with my leave days at work. I have only called in one sick day in the 11 years I have been at Ste. Gen. I have taken very few personal days. When Dane was sick last night I didn't think twice about having to call in.

I hope my little buddy is feeling better when he wakes up tomorrow. I never thought it would be so hard to see my baby not feeling well.

Dane's Baptism

What a great day today! Today Dane was baptized! Dane was baptized at Kirkwood United Methodist Church. Grandparents, Great Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins all joined us for the service and brunch afterwards.

Dane was fantastic. He sat with Uncle Darnel during the beginning of the service. He was happy during his baptism, but as soon as we sat down he started to fuss a little bit. This could be due to the fact that he was pretty much up most of the night on Saturday night. Too excited to sleep I guess. (Thanks to Mama and Aunt Tammy, mommy did get a little more sleep than I would have otherwise. Aunt Tammy also must think mommy is a little strict. I walked in about 1:45 am and Aunt Tammy was talking to Dane and changing his diaper. I told her, "We never look at him, talk to him, or change his diaper in the middle of the night." Though Papa Rau thought Dane got fussy because he wasn't getting all of the attention anymore.

After Pastor Dave had baptized Dane he walked him up the middle of the aisle to show him to the congregation. He just smiled at everyone.

Dane in his baptism outfit. Dave wanted me to cut the lace off his bib...but I didn't.

Sitting with Uncle Darnel waiting for the service to begin.

Baptism Service

Dane and Pastor Dave

Lifting Dane up!

Our sweet little family after church.

Mommy and Dane

Daddy and Dane

Godparents: Aunt Katie and Uncle Darnel. They were both so excited about being Godparents. Dane is lucky to have them.

Grandma and Grandpa Evelsizer

Mama and Papa Rau

Great Grandma Butler

Aunt Lisa

Uncle TJ

Thanks to my mom, dad, and sisters for their help to make Dane's baptism perfect! My mom and sisters spent Saturday shopping with me. Mom and Dad helped me prepare the food and hosted the party at their house! Thanks!

We have waited a long time for this day. It was perfect. Dane was exhausted!