Posted by 
We survived the “fourth trimester.” Thank goodness it is finally getting easier! The babies are eating better, sleeping better and are happier than they were a month ago. Noah is also more interested and helpful when it comes to his siblings, though he has asked us not to have any more babies, haha!
Emry Jane has really started smiling this past week. She’s been smiling for the past several weeks at her Daddy, but now, she has decided that Mommy is okay too! She has the best and biggest gummy grins, especially if you call her “Daddy’s Princess.” I am not sure that she recognizes her real name. I believe Emry thinks her name is “Princess” because that’s what her Daddy calls her and Daddy is very much her favorite person!
At three months, Emry Jane is eating more efficiently. It takes her 15-20 minutes to nurse every 3 hours, sometimes a little longer if she is sleepy and comfort nursing. Up until the past two nights, Emry woke up around 1-2am and 3-4 am to nurse. It’s easy to nurse her at night, compared to Eli, and we usually fall asleep side-by-side and sleep that way until Daddy or Eli wake up us (or she wakes up to nurse again!) I know that she probably does not need these night feedings; however, if I let her cry, she wakes up Eli. If they are both awake, it takes significantly longer to nurse them. Thanks to the Miracle Blanket, she has slept much better the past two nights– only waking up once to nurse (before their normal 5-6am feeding.)
Emry is interested in working her core muscles, haha. She tries to sit up when she’s propped up with a pillow! She holds her head up great and can lift her upper body well during tummy time. She makes lots of oohs and aahs and the occasional shriek of delight. I am still waiting for that first precious little laugh 🙂 I think it is right around the corner. Emry Jane loves bath time and Mary, her Wubbanub lamb pacifier. She has started chewing on Mary’s ears! She also likes peek-a-boo and taking naps in her swing. We are still working on taking naps in the bassinets.
Eli has grown like a champ this past month. As I mentioned last month, Eli is a slow nurser. After Eli turned two months, weighing only 8 pounds 6.5 ounces, we began supplementing with 2 oz. of Similac Sensitive formula after each daytime nursing session to help him gain weight and to help me build my freezer supply of breast milk. (Before that, the babies were eating almost every ounce I pumped out and I only had 20 oz. stored in the fridge, which is only 2 feedings for 2 babies! Now, I have over 100 ounces of stored milk!) Two weeks later, Eli was weighed again at his official two-month checkup. He had gained a little, but only weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces. The pediatrician was worried that he still was not getting enough milk per feeding, so we upped his after-nursing bottles to 4 oz– half formula, half breast milk. We went back two weeks later and he weighed 10 pounds 15.5 ounces– that’s almost 2 pounds gained in two weeks! It has been challenging to nurse him then bottle feed him then pump, but I will do whatever it takes for him to be healthy! The past week, he has started latching without the nipple shield (yay!) and he nurses about 15 minutes before his bottle since Emry is nursing faster. We’ve cut 30 minutes off our feeding time this week. It is currently taking one hour start to finish. I am very happy with Eli’s weight gain and I love how chubby his cheeks are getting! I think he looks more like his sister with those cheeks 🙂
Eli has been sleeping through the night for the past three weeks. He falls asleep between 9-10pm and sleeps until 4-5am. Selfishly, I am so glad that he started sleeping through the night first since he is the slower nurser– more sleep for Mama! He does well with naps during the day if he is in his Woombie swaddle. I have not tried the Miracle Blanket with him yet, but his newborn-sized swaddle is getting snug so I will have to try it soon (or buy the next size Woombie!)
Eli loves bath time and kicks his feet like crazy in the bath 🙂 He is getting better with riding in the car, but we do have a couple mornings each week when he cries on the way to Noah’s school. Eli still does not enjoy tummy time and has less interested in sitting or pushing himself up. He smiles A LOT. He is the smilier of our two babies 🙂 He also oohs and aahs quite a bit.
Best picture from our monthly photo shoot– Emry Jane chewing on Eli! I remember a similar picture from my wedding…
She gets the shoulder-biting from her Daddy 🙂
Photo Credit: Joy Dement Photography
Next up for the blog… Cloth Diapering: How It Works for Us
christianson6 