3 months

Once again I started back at work after maternity leave and it's even harder this time to get on the computer outside of work, with two kids. I'm so exhausted at this point that after I get Nathan to sleep I literally crash in bed. I am hoping to write a separate back to work post but it may be a bit before I get to that.

Nathan is now 3 months and growing so fast. He's got the chubby cheeks and legs. It's really funny what you forget- things I thought Nathan did that Neil didn't, I go back and read Neil's 3 month post and realize I said the EXACT same thing. Not everything is the same but I'm surprised at how much and just how much you do forget. That's why it's nice to write this down.

Nathan loves to smile and stick out his tongue. He's been sticking out his tongue since he could. He also really likes his mobile in the crib so hopefully we are going to have two kids who love music! I sing songs to him too and so does Neil. Nathan is sucking a lot especially on his hands and doesn't really take a pacifier (yet, we told daycare it was ok if it was necessary- they have 2 adults for 8 babies and I just can't imagine how they do it).

The drooling has picked up as well but there are no signs of teeth yet.

Nathan is doing mini crunches- he really wants to sit up. Sometimes he fusses and what he wants is to be standing (held during of course). I have started to put him in the Bumbo for a few minutes at a time and that seems to make him really happy as well. At daycare they are putting him in an exersaucer so I'd like to pull out our jumper for him.

He also really likes the activity frame but rolls to the side immediately and circles around, so we walk away and come back into him facing the opposite way.

Nathan is not really on a schedule but we're working on it. I've found that he goes to sleep somewhere between 8-9pm. The only real bedtime routine is swaddling; we put his pajamas on often when Neil is getting ready for bed (around 7pm). I do nurse him to sleep and then hand him off to Dave who puts him in bed. I was wondering if he shouldn't be swaddled because he seems to struggle in it at times but we tried it once (ha here's a "see Neil's 3 month post" because I said the exact same thing) and I do think he still sleeps better when swaddled even though his startle reflex has gone away. With that said though he really gets his arms out by morning.

Sleep is sporadic. He has slept through the night but it's not predictable. We'll have one night where he'll go 8 hours straight sleeping and then the next he's up every 3 hours. This has made especially going back to work hard on me. I'm really tired, especially because Neil is always up at the same time so even on the weekends there isn't any catching up on sleep like I was able to do with Neil.

I have to say though that Nathan does go to sleep for the night by 9 (for his "long" sleep however long that is). Neil did not do this- I would go to bed but Dave would put him in his crib but that never happened until at least 11. So when Neil was 5-6 months we did sleep training and then were able to move his bedtime up. I think that spoiled me- I actually got more sleep with Neil when I went back to work than I did with Nathan. I guess they are probably both sleeping about the same amount but I counted it as sleeping through the night with Neil because I got a full night's sleep most of the time. Nathan though is much more sporadic and doesn't consistently sleep a certain number of hours.

Nathan is also able to go to sleep somewhat on his own. At daycare they make sure he goes in the pack n play partly awake so hopefully that will help as well. We are trying to establish a nap and feeding schedule but we're really only a week and a half into being in daycare so we aren't there yet. I wasn't able to establish a schedule before other than bedtime.

The shadows in this picture are awful but I love the looks on both of their faces so I'm posting it anyways.

So work/daycare wise right now I am sending in 3 bottles with about 5 oz of milk to daycare. I pump around 4:30am and then give Dave a 5 oz bottle to feed Nathan whenever he wakes up (and I also nurse whenever he wakes up before 4:30am so my output from that first pump changes based on that). Then daycare gets the 3 bottles but so far Nathan seems to only be drinking the first two. I do pump 3 times at work, 3 hours apart, and am consistently getting 15-16 ounces so I'm thinking that's what Nathan should be drinking but he also gets the bottle with Dave so maybe he doesn't need the 3rd bottle at daycare. Also, I nurse him at daycare when I pick him up around 3-3:30 (closer to 3:30 most days). They hold him off for me so that he's hungry when I get there. Nursing in the evening there is defintiely not a routine right now.