One hundred & eighty six.

I have 186 photos flagged in my iPhoto, which means that I'm 186 photos behind in blogging (!!). I realize that I take (& post) an excessive number of photos, & I'm trying not to stress out about this, but anyone who knows me well knows that I just stress out about these things. I've got to go through them!! Really though, we've just been BUSY. Really, really incredibly busy. For now, I just have to be content with the fact that I'm a little bit behind on life in general, & at some point I'll catch up. 

Updates: 

Q has been busy growing! Kind of. Not exactly like a weed, but he's squishy & healthy & perfectly happy. He had his 9 month appointment the other week & is a whopping 17 pounds 3 oz (about 20th percentile) & is 27 inches long. He's getting really great use out of all of the clothes that we've purchased for him, so we can't complain. And teeth! He has two! They've totally changed his smile & he's got this new cheesy expression that makes me laugh every time. Love (although I don't love when his teeth popping through make him a little bit sad). 

The Great State of Texas. We have a place to live, & buying a house all by ourselves will bring us one step closer to becoming real + independent adults (or at least to falling into the stereotypical trap of the American Dream). We close at the end of August, & we're really, really excited about it. But a house?! It's just crazy. I keep looking at photos of it because probably in part to being so far away, it just doesn't seem real (all of it, really - the moving part & also the new home part). After a four day trip to Houston was extended to seven day trip, & realizing that city living outside of New York City is not the city living we know & love, we settled on The Woodlands. The big city to suburban utopia. It's going to be a shock, but so many people had suggested that we look there, & while it took some convincing, we think it's going to be a great spot for us. It's really beautiful, the sky is huge & wide open, Q will have lots of room to run (once he learns how) & I'll finally have that washer & dryer that I've been dreaming about for so many years. 

So, we've got a lot on our plate. Even just figuring out the travel logistics of our summer is a little bit complicated (at various points, we need to be at Priest Lake, Hilton Head & Houston - & also on our own vacation with just our family), not to mention sorting out moving dates & logistics, figuring out insurance, buying cars, & planning for the furnishing of our house, etc. I'm sure I'm missing a zillion things, but lists & spreadsheets have already been created so that we can keep track of all of the things that are up in the air. Overwhelming! But exciting, & when I start getting really sad (because leaving our home here will be heartbreaking), I try to keep myself focused on the things that matter most. If you're a New Yorker, you'll understand it when I say that these things are a) a washer & dryer & b) a garbage disposal. 

We went to the park this afternoon with Q. Mike got a little quiet & said something about how he was already starting to feel nostalgic. It's hard to avoid the feeling of maybe it's the last time when we're out in our neighborhood, & I know these next several weeks will just zoom by. But we're not gone yet, & we're New Yorkers until the middle of August.  

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