Lauren on Living

A Lifestyle Blog about Simplifying Healthy Living

Easy Vegan Breakfast Sandwich

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One of the most frequent questions I get asked, (after where do you get your protein?) is about what we eat for breakfast. You guys, the options are endless. Everything from Tofu scrambles, chickpea frittatas, pancakes, oatmeal, cereal, breakfast burritos, bagels, french toast, etc. I could go on and on but I think you get the point. Pretty much anything you can dream of can be made vegan. Admittedly some may be more time-consuming than others. So I’m going to share with you one of my favorite breakfast sandwiches and it’s also super easy and quick to make!

Ingredients:

  • 1 brick of baked tofu, cut in half to make two thinner bricks
  • 1 slice of vegan cheese
  • 2 strips of smoked tempeh (or seitan bacon)
  • Avocado (enough to spread on one side of your sandwich)
  • 2 slices of bread, bagel or english muffin
  • Everything bagel seasoning (optional)

Directions:

Heat a nonstick pan on medium high. Add tofu and tempeh. Cook until caramelized (about 5 minutes). You can also spray a little oil in the pan to give them a crispy coating. While the tofu and tempeh are cooking toast your bread and then spread avocado on one side. Once tempeh is done remove it from the pan. Place vegan cheese on the tofu and cover pan with a lid so that the steam helps the cheese melt (if you’re short on time you can also do this in the microwave as I often do). Sprinkle everything bagel seasoning on the avocado, then top with the cooked tempeh. Next put the tofu on top of the tempeh (cheese side up, so it sticks to the top piece of bread) and cover with the other piece of toast. Cut in half and devour.

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!

Birthing Reese

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Like her brother and sister before her, Reese wouldn’t be rushed into making her debut into this world. It seems that I am firmly a 41 weeker. Reese came exactly 7 days past her due date.

The story of her birth really starts the day before on December 9th. I awoke on the ninth with a distinct ‘I’m going to go into labor soon’ ache. I recognized it because it’s the same ache I got the day before Bennett was born.

Side note: It is also worth mentioning that halfway through my pregnancy with Reese we moved away from the D.C. metro area (and our beloved midwives who I had been with for 5 years) to Maine and a whole new set of midwives that I barely knew.

Ok so back to December 9th. My midwives had been stripping my membranes for 2 weeks in an attempt to induce labor and get this baby out asap. It was my third pregnancy carried to term but my fifth pregnancy overall and I was done. I had developed varicosities in my groin that quite literally made me feel like my vagina was going to fall out. So yea, not pleasant and with a recent move and two other children I just really wanted to have my body back. Reese, of course, had other plans. So here I was on December 9th and I knew I would go into labor that night. So I made Asher’s birthday cake (since his birthday is December 11th) and went to visit my brand new niece in the hospital. My brother Jared’s third child, Juliette was born on the morning of December 9th. Even though our babies were due two weeks apart, Juliette was scheduled to be delivered a week early and with my habit of delivering a week late it was looking like that would be born very close indeed. So there I was sitting in the hospital holding my brand new niece and feeling my own baby squirm inside me and I was tingling with excitement that I would be meeting her the next day.

Sure enough, I woke up to consistent contractions at around 1:30am on December 10th after a few hours of laboring at home in front of the fireplace and with my contractions being only 3 minutes apart for an hour, my midwife decided that I should come in even though the contractions weren’t particularly strong. However seeing as this was my third baby, things could take a turn quickly, so I called my dad and once he arrived Raf and I set off for the hospital. My contractions slowed down and spaced out in the car, but they did the same thing with Bennett too. Apparently, I have to labor standing up or moving. After getting to the hospital at around 4am I labored in the room for a bit before they had me get in the bed to monitor me and this is where things started to go south. Don’t worry, nothing dramatic, just not how I would have liked it to go.

It turns out that Reese’s heart rate kept dropping during my contractions when it’s supposed to go up. My midwife (who by the way I was meeting for the first time) had me try laying on first one side and then the other and then my back and then back to my side to try and find the best position for the baby. I wish I would have asked her to let me try standing, but I didn’t and I have no real recollection as to why I didn’t other than the fact that she just told me that I needed to remain confined to my bed. I should have asked her to monitor me standing. In the bed, my contractions spaced waaay out and my labor slowed. I was 5cm dilated when I arrived and despite the fact that things had slowed I gradually progressed to 8cm, where my labor stalled. I remained at 8cm for hours and during every contraction, Raf would try and apply counter pressure or help me get through them and every time is touched me it felt like my skin was on fire. So tired, disappointed that my labor wasn’t going to go the way I wanted it to and daunted by the fact that at the end of this I would be the mother of three children under 4 (even if only for 1 day) I asked for an epidural. Rafaan to his credit did attempt to talk me off the ledge but I was tired and wanted to sleep and my labor wasn’t going anywhere. It was transition purgatory. My midwife agreed without so much as a second to pause (something my previous and beloved midwives would have NEVER done, they would have helped me manage my pain and encouraged me in any number of ways before even entertaining the idea because they knew me well enough to know that I needed that). Around 9am I got the epidural and my contractions spaced out even further. My legs became uncomfortably heavy so much so that I couldn’t move them at all and my labor pretty much came to a halt. I dozed for a while and watched the Crown on Netflix and eventually someone came in and broke my water to try and get things to progress. Still nothing and the hours ticked on, I felt completely disconnected from my body and from the entire labor process and fully regretted getting the epidural. I didn’t like being a passive observer to the birth of my child, I wanted to be actively involved. At some point, my dad came by to provide moral support and told me I should ask for some Pitocin. Finally around 4:30pm I was given the smallest amount of Pitocin (which I had been requesting for a while) and in 40 minutes I was pushing and after 15 hours of acitive labor Reese was born at 5:19pm weighing in at 7lbs 10oz.

I tore a little, because I was just so impatient to meet her that I pushed WAY too hard too fast. So that’s 3 for 3 for me. But she was worth it. She looked totally different than our other children and I had this completely weird feeling of meeting a complete stranger rather than someone I had been sharing everything with for the better part of a year. Which was foreign and unsettling.

I love this little girl so completely I can’t really express it in words. My mother came to see us that night, and then my cousin Sophie and my dear friend Aleah (who was 8 months pregnant with her first child) came. And Sophie held Reese while they watched the video of her birth and I watched them experience the wonder and awe and raw emotions from witnessing it and I’ll always remember that.

The next morning my parents brought Asher and Bennett, as well as my niece and nephew to come to see us and we all sang happy birthday to Asher and ate cake and seeing my older children hold their tiny sister and be immediately smitten with her is one of my sweetest memories.

Reese Marie completes us in a way I could never understand before we had her. I was always fascinated by the notion of how a couple knew that they had enough children and the moment she arrived I felt it, we were complete. Asher and Bennett think she’s the moon and the stars. Reese is a firecracker and such a fun person to be around. Every time I think I have her pegged she throws me a curve ball. It’s taken me 2 years to write her birth story probably in large part due to the fact that I was sad that her delivery didn’t go as planned. It was a magical experience that I was fully connected to, but you know what? It honestly doesn’t matter. Does it still sting? Absolutely, but that’s probably just my test. I need to learn to let go. Reese is perfection. I’m so thankful that she’s a part of our lives and that I get to be her mother. Sure for 7ish hours, I didn’t feel like I was involved in my own labor but in the end, I got a healthy, safe baby and I was healthy and safe and that’s all that matters in the end.

Happy 2nd Birthday Reesey Pea! I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to write finish writing your birth story, a lot has happened in the past two years. Three knee surgeries, your uncle surviving stage three testicular cancer, mommy trying to balance having three (AMAZING) children while juggling a budding career, and most recently a move across the country. Throughout it all, you’ve been an anchor. Your sweet smell, your wonderful scowl, your gap-toothed grin, you’re enthusiastic kisses and your love and dancing, singing, drawing and leaping without looking. You are full of joy. You are amazing in every way and I’m so excited about all the things we have ahead of us!

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 12

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29.5 inches long (63.89th percentile), 18 inches head circumference (72nd percentile), 19 pounds 5 ounces (42nd percentile), started walking, stands up from sitting on her own, likes to give high five and kisses, loves food, sleeps like a champ, loves to play with her brother and sister, dives out of your arms when she wants to go down, still only says bye-bye and likes to use it whenever possible, is still nursing on demand, no teeth whatsoever

Here it is, the last first-year monthly update that I will ever do (probably). I’m feeling all the feelings. My baby has completed one whole year around the sun and while it was the hardest year our family has ever been through (that’s a whole separate post) it was also filled with lots of love and light.

This month, much to our surprise, Reese started walking! I was certain she wouldn’t walk until she was over a year old, but true form she likes to keep me on my toes. She also started standing up from sitting without needed to hold onto anything and while she still prefers crawling for its speed at the moment, I think it’s only fair to say that we have a little toddler on our hands!

Reese has such a funny personality. She comes across as super serious, but we’re learning that this is all just a bunch of hot air and that in fact, she is a complete and utter jokester. In Persian, she would be called “shey-toon” which is what you call someone who is incredibly cheeky and mischevious. And my oh my is she ever shey-toon! She likes to hit me, and when I take her hand and show her out to touch me gently she tried to yank her hand away in order to hit me again at which point I put her down and tell her that she must be gentle. She promptly begins to cry REAL tears, so after a few seconds I pick her up and she IMMEDIATELY hits me again. This can go on and on and on. At dinner time she LOVES to eat, but she hates when we try to help her and gives us the most disapproving furrowed brow look that I’ve ever seen, often accompanied with a shriek of some sort. Yet all I need to do is look at her and mirror her expression and she’ll burst into laughter. She’s also taken to flinging herself out of our arms when she wants to go down, which is just a good time had by all and definitely keep our reflexes sharp.

Reesey Pea continues to sleep so well, I’m definitely optimistic that the sleep issues are truly behind us. She liked to give high-five and huge wet slobbery kisses but she is not at all cuddly. When I try to hug her she flings herself away from me. Even while nursing she pushes away from me and stretches my breast as much as possible in order to achieve the maximum distance from me while still being able to feed, which let’s just say isn’t doing me any favors.

Asher and Bennett love playing with Reese now that she’s more engaging and she, in turn, loves it as well. It nearly always ends in tears but it’s super cute while it lasts. Reese is super proud of her one and only word ‘bye-bye’ and likes to say is whenever given the opportunity. She doesn’t like saying it when prompted and will often stubbornly wait until the person has already left to say it, but at other times all I have to do it say “alright, we better get going” and she’ll start saying goodbye and waving proudly.

Unlike her brother and sister, Reese puts EVERYTHING in her mouth so I really have to watch her, but seeing as she’s our third child, a lot slips through the gaps. She still doesn’t have any teeth, for which I’m grateful quite frankly because she likes to gnaw on everything. Reese is also different from Asher and Bennett in that she will ask to go to other people even when I’m holding her and will sometimes not want to come back to me.

This past year has been the hardest of my life but I’m so thankful to have Reese in our family. She is such a funny, mischevious, curious, loving, intelligent, super active child. She makes our family feel whole and adds a level of dimension that is just so awesome. She always keeps me guessing. I honestly have no idea who she’ll turn out to be or in what direction her personality is going. The moment I think I have a handle on it she switches it up and leaves me feeling baffled all over again.

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 11

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Learned to go up and down stairs, loves dancing to music, very strong-willed, has started giving kisses, likes to get into everything, always wants to be part of the action, sleeping really well for night and naps, is babbling constantly, can be quite shy, always wants to feed herself, still no teeth

This little girl is quite the personality! She’s incredibly strong-willed and not at all patient about anything she wants. Everything. Must. Happen. Right. NOW. When nursing she throws her self back and screams at me in the time it takes for me to have her switch sides. Every time. When she wants to nurse and is screaming and crying all I have to do it ask “do you want some milk?” and all the tears stop and when I lay her down to get started she gets so excited she starts to giggle.

Reese loves dancing to music. Whether it’s when Asher is singing to himself or a song on the radio, Reese will bounce, bop and sway to the tune. We’ve had to barricade the stairs because all she wants to do is go up and down them. And up and down and up and down. It’s never-ending, but since I’m convinced we don’t need baby gates, we’ve had to use the kid’s little rocking chairs at the foot of the stairs to keep her on the main level. She’s actually remarkably capable on the stairs and goes up and down perfectly and FAST, but it still makes me nervous.

Reesey Pea now both blows kisses and gives me huge wet sloppy kisses and I love them both. It’s just so fun to see her personality develop. She loves clementines, drinking water from my glass, green smoothies and basically eating anything just as long as she’s allowed to feed herself. She still doesn’t eat a ton but it’s definitely picking up.

Reese’s sleep has been AMAZING! If I was the superstitious type, I’d be almost afraid to write about it for fear of ruining it. Reese had hit yet another bump on the sleep road and had started waking up at night and not going back to sleep for two hours. Yea, it was brutal. She didn’t want to play she just wanted to be held and the second she was put down she’d start screaming. As a matter of fact, she’d often be screaming even when she was being held. She probably wanted to be nursed but I wasn’t about to undo the night weaning…is it clear yet where my kids get their stubborn streak from? Anyway, so this was going on for weeks and we had tried so many things and finally, I just had had enough so I left the room and when back in at five-minute intervals and just kept doing that until she fell asleep. I also offered her her water bottle, though she probably only took it once. But after that night, she has been a dream! I put her to bed and walk out and she’ll either just go to sleep or babble and coo to herself for a little while before falling asleep. It’s been AWESOME!

This child is still all gums without even so much as a little redness or inflammation and because of this, I think she looks quite a bit younger than she actually is and I kinda love it. She’s already growing up too fast! I can’t believe I only have one more monthly update to write!

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 10

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Waves bye-bye, asks to be picked up by reaching her arm towards you, still no teeth, light sleeper, light eater, wants to be held all the time, prefers mommy over anyone else, first time being put to bed at night without mommy, generally easy going, very stubborn, not very cuddly

So I’m only two and a half weeks late with this monthly update. Everything seems like so much more effort with the third. Even so, Reese is such a funny little thing and a joy to be around.

Reesey Pea, is very stubborn and quite vocal about her preferences. She’s very serious around most people just but when she’s comfortable with you she can be quite the little ray of sunshine. She still screams to get your attention, which isn’t too pleasant, but I guess when you’re a third child you have to find ways to be heard above the cacophony.

Reese waves bye-bye by holding her arm out straight and the flapping her wrist but it’s the way that she asks to be picked up that really gets me. She extends her arms towards you and flaps her wrists and looks at you with such longing with those big brown eyes of hers that it pierces your heart.

This little one still isn’t eating all that much, but I’m thinking she probably eats a normal amount for a child her age, whereas Asher and Bennett were the oddballs with their consuming massive amounts of food. I’m such the fact that she’s still all gums doesn’t help anything either. She makes do, for the most part, mashing her food with her gums, but there are some foods that just prove too challenging. I mean, she doesn’t even have a hint of a tooth, but I’m really starting to relish her toothless grin. As cute as that first tooth will be when it comes I know a part of me will be sad that she’s moving yet another step away from infancy.

Reese is so dainty and petite and I’m really cherishing the feel of her tiny body in my arms, I only wish she were a cuddly child. She has no issue voicing her displeasure when I kiss her one too many times.

We went to Texas for a friend’s wedding which meant we left the kids with Raf’s parents and my mother-in-law put Reese to bed and although she did fuss a bit they were able to do it! So that definitely opens up a whole new world of possibilities to us. It’s nice to know that even though she won’t take a bottle, she is able to go to sleep without being nursed as long as I’m not there.

This little girl is either constantly on the move and getting into everything or she wants to be held and not put down at all. She has a strong preference for me and I often have to hide when most other people are holding her because if she sees me, she’ll want to come to me. I’m trying to savor this clingy-ness because I know it won’t last and one day I won’t be her favorite person anymore. And now I’m feeling all the feels!

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 9

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28 inches long (64th percentile), 16 pounds 11 ounces (24th percentile),17.5 inches head (50th-75th percentile), started crawling, still no teeth, loves peas, super active, getting into everything, screams loudly for attention, hair is coming in slooooowly, went on a solo trip to Colorado with mommy and daddy, very observant, likes to clap, wants to play with anything her siblings are playing with, hates being away from mommy for too long

This past month has been a busy one for this little girl. She started crawling and what started out with ridge robotic movements soon became a quick efficient crawl. She’s a girl on a mission. She crawls up to things, pulls to standing and get’s into all sorts of stuff she shouldn’t. We have to keep out guard up constantly and are trying really hard to remember not leave anything within grasp. I haven’t yet put up baby gates on the stairs, I was able to get away with it when Bennett was a baby and I’m half hoping I can do the same this time. Although the stairs we have now are much steeper and longer…so we’ll see. For now, we have been managing by keeping the doors shut.

Reese is such a petite little thing. When Bennett was 9 months old, she was the same length but was about 3 pounds heavier and Asher was the same length and weight as Reese when he was 6 months old. She definitely doesn’t eat as much as her brother and sister did at her age, but she’s growing and is a generally happy baby.

Reese has deep soulful eyes. They make her seem wise beyond her years. You often get the impression that she really sees you. She tends to observe a lot, with a very contemplative expression on her face. When she meets someone new she often tends to just look at them as though she’s summing them up. This behavior is once again in stark contrast to Asher and Bennett who were often very bubbly and warm. Reese is SUPER wriggly. She barely stops moving and doesn’t seem to be particularly cuddly much to my disappointment.

Reesey Pea still nurses on demand and sleeps fairly well through the night. Occasionally waking up but she doesn’t need to be nursed to put back to sleep, although she definitely has a harder time sleeping than the other two. I have to keep reminding Raf and myself that we shouldn’t compare her to them. Clearly, I’m not doing a great job of that.

Raf, Reese and I went to Colorado for 4 days while A and B stayed with my parents and it was so nice to be able to spend time with just her. Although we were recovering from the stomach bug that she so generously shared with the family and wrecked havoc as it made it through each and every one of us. It was just really nice to be able to spend our time as we pleased but we did miss the older two terribly. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we left something behind. While in Colorado we drove through the Rocky Mountain National park and it was spectacular! We saw lots of elk and took pictures at the summit which was 11,000+ feet. It was pretty amazing. We also met up with some friends and they took us on a bike ride through Denver that was pretty awesome.

Reese has started signing “all done” and clapping and we’re working on waving ‘hi’ and ‘bye’. It’s also becoming very clear that she understands quite a bit, which is pretty cool. This little one definitely doesn’t like being away from me for too long and is starting to display strong signs of separation and stranger danger. What can I say? She loves her Mama and I’m not complaining!

Reese’s Monthly Update // 8

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Started finger feeding, loves food, sleeps 10.5 hours straight at night, has 3 set naps, is babbling constantly, definitely a mommy’s girl, has developed separation anxiety, still not crawling and she’s pretty frustrated by this, has pulled to standing, still serious but also very happy, loves to screech LOUDLY to get attention

Reese is such a sweet little thing with a big personality. At first, she’s a tough nut to crack but once you’ve gotten past her stoic outer shell she becomes all crunched nose smiles and sweet babbles. She likes to pinch and pull hair, which isn’t too pleasant, to say the least.

This little one still doesn’t have any teeth, and even though she’s been drooling a lot her gums aren’t red or inflamed so we’re still waiting. The lack of teeth doesn’t hold her back at all. She pretty much exclusively finger feeds now and eats table food with us, mashing her food with her gums. Her fine motor skills have developed beautifully and it’s such fun to watch her stuff her face. We went peach picking last week and she ate 3 whole peaches!! I was kind of shocked.

Her primary mode of getting around is by rolling, but she often gets super frustrated and just screeches. I keep reminding her that she’s a human being and not a car brake but she pays me no heed. Ever determined to do things in her own way and in her own time, she has pulled to standing before even crawling. What can I say? She’s her own person.

She’s starting to develop separation anxiety and definitely has a strong preference for mommy over anyone else.

Reese is sleeping 10.5 hours at night and get’s up at 6 am and which point I bring her into bed with me and nurse her while I doze a while longer and if I’m really lucky she’ll fall back asleep for another hour or so.

Asher and Bennett can’t get enough of her and Asher, in particular, is very protective of his baby sister, often singing her sweet little made up songs to cheer her up.  One morning I woke up at 6:30 am not to the sound of her cries but to Asher sitting by her crib and singing to her to keep her company. My heart just about burst!

We’re so loving getting to know our sweet Reesey and I’m trying to cherish every moment with her, but I find it’s quite hard to give her the same focus and attention that I gave her siblings. Life with three is a joy but no joke.

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 7

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Started solids, night weaned, sleeps through the night (!!!), moved into her crib, shares a room with her brother and sister, personality is much more relaxed, smiles readily, laughs easily,

It only just occurred to me that I forgot to include her piggie in her 7-month photoshoot. Alas, I guess forgetting things is par for the course with being a mom to three.

Reese has really blossomed this month but it was a rocky start. We started off the month with a lot of stress, Reese was just getting over her second of back to back ear infections, which meant she was all around quite grumpy. At one point I was becoming increasingly worried that she may have a chronic illness  (mainly, cystic fibrosis) or a mental disorder. But then seemingly overnight, the clouds parted and my little girl brightened up. She became so much more personable and social. She started laughing much more readily and smiled easily. It was like we were finally connecting. It was a HUGE weight off my shoulders, to say the least.

Reese started solids this month and let me tell you, it has been quite the struggle. She so clearly wants to take part in meals, and she loves gumming food, but she doesn’t actually want to swallow any of it. Just another way that she is markedly different from her brother and sister. Her first food was avocado and she seemed to like it but didn’t want to swallow it. In fact, it’s been near impossible to get her to swallow anything. Either, she spits it out the second it goes in or she’s so mad that it’s in her mouth that she throws it all up anyway. The. Struggle. Is. Real. We took a break from solids for a couple weeks and when we tried again, we had similar results. She wants it, but she doesn’t want it. I’m hoping we’ve finally turned a corner. This past week she actually started swallowing a little bit! I’m actually able to get some food into her! Her poop still isn’t transitioning from breastmilk poop, but it’s a start!

Mid-month, I night weaned her. I knew going into it that it wouldn’t be as simple as night weaning Asher and Bennett but I still wasn’t fully prepared for how willful she is. We moved her into the kid’s room and into her own crib. The first night, she woke up 3 times and was awake for over an hour for 2 of those times. Every night after that she would only wake up once but would stay awake for 1-2 hours screaming while I rocked and soothed her. Finally, after about 10 days on a Friday night, I asked Rafaan to get up with her (I was only half serious and was pretty sure I’d be getting up). I awoke the next morning to find Rafaan asleep in the kid’s room and I hadn’t heard Reese at all. Come to find out she did wake up, but Raf picked her up, for a minute, put her back down and then patted her butt for 2 minutes and SHE WENT BACK TO SLEEP!!! At this point, I congratulated him on his promotion to night shift. Since it was a long weekend he got up with her the next few nights all of which he was able to get her back to sleep fairly quickly, with the exception of the one time that she woke up at 5:30 a.m. and fussed until I got up and nursed her at 6:15 a.m. or so. After that, she started sleeping through the night. it’s been kind of amazing. All 3 kids share a room and that’s been going really well also. They’ve only woken her up a couple times and we’re able to get her back to sleep pretty quickly for the most part. Hallelujah!!

Both my grandmother’s are visiting this month and it’s quite special that Reese has been able to spend some time with them. She is starting to scoot and scootch along on the floor on her tummy. I think she’s still a ways off from crawling and no teeth to speak of but she’s definitely starting to widen to roaming radius. Reese is very much a Mommy’s girl, just like her sister Bennett was. She does this funny thing where she’ll be fussing with someone else and I’ll go pick her up and she immediately stops fussing but then rotates her body to look back at the person that was just holding them with this almost smug look on her face. It cracks me up. She’s also taken to holding her arms out and waving her hands about in elegant little circles, almost like she trying to practice a Persian dance. She really is such a delight and I just can’t get enough of her sweet snuggles!

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 6

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26 inches long (53rd percentile), 15 pounds 2 ounces, (29th percentile), 17.2 inches head circumference (75th-90th percentile), smiles readily, sits upright without her hands, laughs almost exclusively for Bennett, started napping in her crib, finally moved out of her sleep regression, still only sleeps in 3-4 hour stretches, hair has started coming in, loves to suck her big toe, takes 3 naps a day, loves sleeping on her tummy

This little girl is FINALLY a smiley baby. She is definitely still more serious than either of her siblings but she’s really starting to smile and I love it. She’s still stingy with her laughs but for some reason, Bennett can have her in a fit of giggles by playing peek-a-boo with her and it is probably the sweetest thing on the face of the planet. Always grabbing at food that we have with us,

Reese developed quite the interest in people food this month. Always grabbing at food that we’re eating and since I’m SOOOOO late in posting this, she has started solids, but you’ll have to wait for her 6-month update to hear all about it, but let’s just say it’s been quite the ride.

The dreaded sleep regression is behind us!! I think the turning point was when I started putting her to sleep on her tummy. She can roll back and forth on her own anyway, but something about being put down on her belly as opposed to her back stopped her from waking up the second I placed her down. I also spent a lot of time this month working with her so that she would be able to fall asleep without nursing and that has also helped a ton. Reese now naps in her crib and sometime in the next few weeks, I plan on night weaning her, which I hope will result in her sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). I must admit, I have mixed feelings about moving her into her own bed at night. On the one hand, I know that once she crawls things will only get more challenging (she has already fallen out of our bed once in the middle of the night). But on the other hand, I’m really loving all the snuggles.

Reese developed a double ear infection and possibly strep this month, which needless to say was not fun. She did however finally kick the chest congestion that had been lingering for 2 months (halleluja!). The worst part about her ear infection aside from her obvious misery was getting her to take her antibiotics. If I could get her to swallow it without immediately spitting it out (which let’s be honest, was near impossible) then 2 out of 3 times she’d vomit it up in a fit of rage. Giving her medication quickly became the worst part of my day.

Reesey is getting stronger and likes to sit upright now, although she will still tumble over onto her face after a while, so I have to be vigilant. She loves to put her feet into her mouth and will often be seen sucking on her big toe, which is super adorable.

Asher and Bennett continue to dote on her. They love her so much and are so intent on demonstrating that love that poor Reese often has two sticky and loud people in her face, smothering her with attention and affection. She truly in the apple of their eyes.