Reagan made this last year. She posted it to her YouTube channel, and then sometime in the last year she deleted it. I wanted to share it because I realize I never did. I LOVE that she filmed her thoughts and actions on the day her baby brother was born. 

Apparently I did not take a "3 months" photo of Remy. Mom fail. 

The third month with our newest maniac was fun. We partied with friends and family. And we watched Remy grow! 

I am in love with the Graco jogger and infant seat. Remy actually likes his swing... neither of the other kiddos ever cared to chill in a swing. But Remy loves this one. We can change the orientation of the seat (rock side-to-side or front-to-back). 

Riley loves when I make his egg-free sugar cookies. He usually digs through this enormous box of cookie shape cutters. This month, we made some "spring" shapes, like flowers and bunnies! When I make cookies, I use this KitcheAid stand mixer. Stu got me the aqua one for Christmas. 

Originally, I intended to write a quick post about the first 6 months with Remy, since he is currently 7 months old. As I was pulling photos and looking back on it, I realized it'd end up being an enormous post. The only sensible option is to do a month-by-month. We are WAY behind... so let's get on with it. 

In the second month, Remy was staying awake more often... and seemed to really be paying attention to his surroundings. 

Throwing a new person into the mix is never super easy. We wouldn't trade it for anything. But it has been an exhausting, interesting first 3 months. I think for time, I will stick more to the Cliff's Notes of our new normal.

The first two weeks after we brought Remy home is kind of a medicated blur. I had more difficulty healing and bouncing back after this c-section than the previous two. Stu had to return to work pretty much right away, so my mom came up daily to help out. 

We spent a lot of time just snuggling our new baby. 

We have a beautiful baby cradle. I used it for Reagan and Riley. I think I slept in it as a baby. Naturally, I expected to use it for Remy too. It had been next to my bed for nearly a month. Then we got home, put him in it, and I realized that I could not bend down to pick him up. *insert sad mommy face* Oh well. Our pack-and-play had a bassinet attachment, so we used that. 

I like order, but I am not obsessed with it. I can easily go with the flow and have the schedule be loosely arranged. The older Stu kids were easy nappers and slept pretty good at night. Remy, our newest baby, is not like his sister and brother. He seems to thrive on routine.

I know now that Remy does not really love to nap. He will take a few catnaps here and there (usually only while he's being held) and one fairly lengthy nap in the afternoon. The older kids would just fall asleep if they were tired, I never gave much thought to scheduled naps. But he is different. He likes to be held and rocked to sleep. 

I can get over the high maintenance behavior of the day because he is an angel at night. Most of the time. 

It's difficult to live with a newborn. It's like moving in with a complete stranger. Together you are figuring each other out... while battling other stresses like sleep deprivation, hunger, sore body, jealous older siblings, unsolicited advice, etc. 

Remy and I are finally understanding each other. It only took nearly 10 weeks. (insert exhausted eye roll) Luckily for me, I have a few amazing friends with newish babies to bounce ideas off of, to complain to, to ask for help from. Moms need a tribe - but that's a completely different post.  

Before we get into bringing Remy home, we have to finish up the hospital stay. 

Last time I shared with you the horror of my second day/night. It was not fun. 

My last full day in the hospital was a Saturday. I was actually happy to be staying another night... with all the pain and difficulty moving around, it was nice to have the assistance of nurses. My Mom spent the night with me, so Stu could take the big kids home and get a full night of sleep. 

Remington was born around lunchtime. Stu and I talked (well, mostly it was me talking) extensively about how we wanted our hospital time to go. 11 years ago, when I was about to give birth to Reagan, I did not give any thought to how many visitors I wanted (or didn't want). As a first time Mom, I had no idea what the delivery and recovery would be like. And because of my lack of foresight, a LOT of people came to the hospital to meet our princess. I don't think my door ever closed. 

This time, I knew I wanted to keep it relatively private. So I only told family when we scheduled the delivery date. And I gave a few very close friends the heads up the day before. I'm glad I did this, my hospital time was rough. More on that in a few minutes. 

As I said in the final pregnancy update post, we made it to the morning of week 39. This was the day we had scheduled the c-section way back in November. I'm just surprised we actually made it to the planned day. 

We spent a nice last night together as a family of four. The morning was exciting. I don't totally remember the events at the house. I know we needed to get the kids up and dressed. We fed them a little something (although I made my husband handle the food since I was fasting). We put all of our hospital stuff in the car. The kids grabbed their bags for Grammie's house. And we climbed in and drove south. 

My mom met us in the hospital parking lot and took the kids. They were going to stay with her for most of my hospital stay. There was a flurry of excitement, love and a little bit of apprehension (you know, fear of the unknown).