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. 

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 you know from the last update, we ended the 36th week in OB Triage at the hospital. A part of me was ready for the baby, but most of me is glad he stayed in. 

​This summer brought many changes to our household and the way we do business.

As you know by now, I am 15 weeks pregnant with our 3rd Stu. We could not be more excited about it (extra credit for you if you read that like Chandler Bing). The first trimester was rough. Really difficult. I kid you not, I spent almost the entire month of June in bed. My body was utterly drained. I have never experienced that kind of exhaustion. I survived on saltines and peppermint candies and naps. My husband picked up the household slack (he's never more attractive than when he's doing laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking for the kids). The monsters didn't seem to mind my daily afternoon snoozing... I think Riley was just happy I wasn't yelling at him to put down the iPad. 

I am happy to be back in the land of the living. 

It has been quite a ride. We have been in a tornado of sick and tired. 

It all began two weeks ago with Reagan. On Sunday night she went down hard. It was like she hit a wall. Totally fine one minute. The next, she was down on the couch. Both kids had just returned from a weekend trip to North Carolina with their grandparents. So I attributed it to exhaustion, and I decided to keep both kids home and resting on Monday. 

On Monday night, Stu and I talked about how it struck us as odd that Reagan had been spending so much time just laying on the couch. Usually she is cartwheeling, handstanding, backbending all over the place ALL THE TIME. Something was clearly up. The next day, we sent Riley to school and took Reagan to the doctor. 

It turned out her ear needed to be drained. This was the first time we've ever experienced such a procedure. Let me tell you, it is utterly disgusting. I nearly threw up when the nurse showed me what they got out of Rea's ear. YUCK! 

I'm so happy to tell you that both kids will be going back to a brick-and-mortar school in a few weeks. 

As you know, we pulled Reagan out last October. And we pulled Riley out when we moved in April. Reagan and I had many conversations about school. She decided that she would rather be in school. She is ready to give it a go. 

Words fail me here. I am beyond proud of her for her  decision.
I am so grateful to my husband for pulling her out in October. I know removing her from her surroundings last year was the right move. The Reagan she is today is confident and more self-assured. The Reagan we withdrew from school was struggling and breaking from peer pressure.

She needed an environment where she felt safe to be herself. And homeschool/virtual school gave her exactly that. 

So, it is with extreme pride (and quiet, internalized fear) that I get ready to send her back out into the world. 

My family has recently taken up gardening. My youngest sister has been planting and growing things for several months now. My mom got into it when she found these adorable planters at the store.