2018 // That’s a wrap!

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This blog post is coming to ya 3 days late, thanks to a healthy dose of laziness at the holidays! Ha! At least I’m being honest.

But also? I’ve been doing a lot of extra reflecting over the last couple of days. And my emotions are straight up all over the place.

I truly expected 2018 to be SUPER hard. I started the year pregnant with baby number three and fully anticipating that this child would send me down a deep dark hole of PPD and PPA. It turns out she didn’t. In fact, I’ve kinda been flourishing and finding myself kicking butt at this mother of three thing.

We ended our night in perfect ‘parent-of-3-kids’ fashion —  with an 8:30pm Netflix countdown with party hats and sweet tarts. And followed it up with a parents-only movie night in our NEW home, with a bottle of champagne, and homemade lobster rolls.

So while our 2018 came to a slow and quiet end, I looked back through my camera roll to see all of the amazing things that transpired since last January.

January 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jan 8, 2018 at 5:01pm PST

I met up with some great local bloggers for a little networking and brainstorming. It really kicked off my year in a big way by getting the creative juices flowing and reigniting my spark!

February 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Feb 12, 2018 at 5:05pm PST

Visited NASA Glenn Research Center with a special group of influencers for the State of NASA address. We got a behind the scenes look at some really cool aerospace technology.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Feb 23, 2018 at 4:56pm PST

Later in the month I covered the Cleveland Auto Show on behalf of Toyota!

March 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Mar 23, 2018 at 5:30pm PDT

We spent most of the month having fun at Cafe O’Play with the kids (thanks to a Winter family pass!). It wore the kids out and allowed me to get some work done at the same time!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Apr 13, 2018 at 5:35pm PDT

Oh – and Chad and I had a much-needed date night at Hilarities at Pickwick and Frolic, complete with a Barrio dinner-date beforehand!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Mar 27, 2018 at 5:31pm PDT

April 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Apr 5, 2018 at 5:32pm PDT

This was a pretty big month for us. We had (secretly) known about the gender of baby number three for a while, but we finally revealed the news to our friends & family! Baby number three was officially a GIRL!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Apr 22, 2018 at 2:27pm PDT

We also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with little fanfare. And, by little, I mean none! Ha! But that’s what happens when you’re pregnant with your third baby, right?

May 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on May 1, 2018 at 4:12pm PDT

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on May 6, 2018 at 5:34pm PDT

This, the month before my due date, I spent as much time as possible loving on my existing two babies. Lots of small adventures were had.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on May 24, 2018 at 2:11pm PDT

Oh, and I had some maternity photos done.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on May 10, 2018 at 4:15pm PDT

And met up with some fabulous bloggers for glass blowing at the Glass Asylum.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jun 8, 2018 at 2:19pm PDT

And then again for a photoshoot meetup at Borrow Rentals.

June 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jun 16, 2018 at 4:01pm PDT

I swear to you I spent this entire month just ready for Mila to arrive. In any spare moment I had, I was walking. Usually with the other two kids in tow.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on May 28, 2018 at 4:02pm PDT

The kids also enjoyed a LOT of swimming!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jun 20, 2018 at 1:04pm PDT

And then, of course, the arrival of Mila Rose.

July 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jul 2, 2018 at 4:12pm PDT

We adjusted to life with another little.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jul 19, 2018 at 4:24pm PDT

But I still managed to make it out of the house with all of the kids! Like Mila’s first trip to the Cleveland Flea with me and Remy Bea!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jul 21, 2018 at 5:40pm PDT

And her first trip to the LEGO Store with Ari!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jul 25, 2018 at 4:20pm PDT

Oh, and we had amazing newborn photos done.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Jul 28, 2018 at 4:28pm PDT

Then visited Edgewater Park Beach.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Aug 7, 2018 at 4:15pm PDT

And I took a yoga class with some fellow bloggers at Sibling Revelry Brewery. Mila came, too, although she spent most of her time in her car seat. Ha!

August 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Aug 23, 2018 at 5:34pm PDT

My first baby went off to his first day of Kindergarten!

September 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Sep 14, 2018 at 4:25pm PDT

I spent my first week completely solo with all three kids. I survived while Chad went away on his business trip AND I even managed to sneak out with just Mila to see the Infinity Mirrors by Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Sep 7, 2018 at 4:24pm PDT

Remy and I went out exploring our local Akron neighborhoods.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Sep 30, 2018 at 4:24pm PDT

And we visited the apple orchard when Mimi came to town!

October 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Oct 15, 2018 at 5:43pm PDT

Ari turned SIX!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Oct 22, 2018 at 5:32pm PDT

Chad and I went on our first truly solo (no Mila!) date night to the Best of Cleveland party at the Rock Hall.

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Oct 31, 2018 at 4:25pm PDT

And we had a fun Halloween photo shoot with the girls!

November 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Nov 16, 2018 at 5:27pm PST

I got to check out the new indoor putt-putt course at Punch Bowl Social in the Flats!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Nov 17, 2018 at 5:43pm PST

The Big Kids went to Kringle’s Inventionasium to see Santa’s workshop!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Nov 26, 2018 at 5:05pm PST

And we decided to purchase our forever home!

December 

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Dec 3, 2018 at 3:28pm PST

We closed on our new house!

 

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A post shared by Rachel L (@itsahero) on Dec 24, 2018 at 5:04pm PST

…and between moving and getting settled, we celebrated Christmas.

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Seriously I could not be more grateful to all of the people who made 2018 the best year yet. I may not have taken a fancy vacation or gotten a big new promotion, but I had the most fulfilling year to date! It was full of everything that is most important — family, friends, lots of love, memories, and delicious food.

Cheers to 2019!