Keeping up with the Schultzes: 3 Months

3 Months Old dressed in our Memorial Day outfits!

Every time I take the girls out or I talk to parents, I'm told the same thing: they grow so quickly, cherish this time! Even just 3 months into their lives, I can attest this is true. With every advance the girls make in growing bigger, sleeping longer, eating more, talking more, I lose a little of what they were only a few weeks earlier. While, yes- my postpartum emotions still get the best of me and I get teary thinking about those teeny tiny babies all wrapped up in the hospital, I'm so HAPPY and grateful that our little ones are growing so well and are so healthy. I have worked hard at cherishing every moment with Lyla and Nixon both separately and together and plan to continue doing so as a Stay at home Momma as long as I can.

After I was given my 8 weeks maternity leave from March of Dimes, I chose to resign from my position and instead continue my work through the foundation as a volunteer through our family team : Team Sawyer & Tristan. While I enjoyed my job immensely and my decision to leave was not an easy one, the reason I joined the foundation as an employee was so I could act as a Mommy everyday to my children that I lost too early. After many prayers, talks with my sons in heaven, and discussions with Trae, we decided that I would be better being at home as a full time Mommy to Lyla & Nixon and continuing to volunteer to March of Dimes as a family, then leave the girls and continue to work. We believe Sawyer & Tristan would agree, as well.

We haven't had a Dr. appointment since 8 weeks, when the girls got their shots and I've been too busy/lazy to weigh them at home.. so I don't know how much they weigh- but they are growing SO QUICKLY! I look back at their photos often and can't believe how much they've changed. Now that Nixon's face is filling out more, she is starting to look more like her sister and I'm being asked often if they're identical. While they look completely different to us, I can see why people ask.

So much has changed from Month 2-Month 3. They eat more, they sleep more at night, they're awake more at day, they both smile a LOT more and like to interact more.

Food: Both girls moved from the 4 oz Medela bottles to the 8 oz Dr Brown bottles this month. They are now eating formula and breastmilk throughout the day, appx. 4-6 oz a feeding. They tend to eat every 3-4 hours. They are eating Gerber Goodstart Gentle when eating formula.

Reflux: Both girls still spit up after every feeding. It's exhausting. We go through at least 2 bibs per baby a day and often times 2 outfits per girl/day. On days where I have no plans to get out of the house, I most often stay in lounge clothes (a.k.a. pi's) or Yoga pants because I WILL be spit up on. We switched the girls from Zantac to Prilosec 2 weeks ago and I think the acid has been alleviated a little.. but we're still in the "wait and see" phase. The medicine won't stop the girls from spitting up, but it is supposed to stop the acid from coming up with the milk and causing any irritation. I don't think I will ever forget the smell of stomach acid in spit up.. it smells nasty and the girls are often uncomfortable because of it. No fun. We give the girls the medicine while they're in the bathtub since they often spit out some of it and it's super sticky thanks to the grape flavor I had the pharmacy add, thinking it would make the medicine easier to take. Someone please remind me my daughters are babies and don't care that the medicine is GRAPE FLAVORED! (duh)

Sleep: This has progressively gotten much better week after week. I am writing this in week 15 and Nixon has now slept 3 nights in a row for 10-12 hours a piece, no waking up. While I'm aware that this could be a growth spurt.. I'm LOVING that she is getting good rest. We put the girls down IN THEIR CRIBS (we transitioned out of rock-n-plays at 13 weeks) between 8-8:30 and Lyla will usually wake up for a bottle between 2-3, then sleep till 7 while Nixon will sometimes wake up around 6, but other times not until 8! If I could learn to go to sleep by 10, I would be getting some amazing sleep! Read: it's currently midnight as I'm writing this.

Sizing: We are just starting to transition the girls into size 2 diapers. They fit better but we have about 100 size 1 diapers that we already opened and would rather not eat the cost of those, hence the transition. Hey, diapers are expensive! The girls wear 0-3 clothing.

Typical Day:

2:30 AM Lyla wakes up in crib crying for bottle. I rock her in glider in nursery while feeding her 6 oz. She takes 4 oz, burps and goes back to sleep in crib.

7 AM Lyla wakes up for day smiling and cooing in monitor. I go get her from crib, change her out of her Merlin sleep suit, change her diaper and put on day clothes. I breastfeed Lyla while watching the news.

8 AM Lyla goes back to sleep on Boppy Lounger in living room. I eat breakfast.

8:30 AM Nixon wakes up in crib. I change her out of merlin suit, change her diaper and put her in day clothes. She is smiley and happy as I change her. I feed her 6 oz bottle, burp her and put her on boppy lounger.

9:30 AM Nixon falls back asleep, Lyla is still asleep. I wash bottles, clean up from breakfast, drink large glass of water, then gatorade (for milk supply), start laundry, make bed & take quick shower.

10:15 Lyla wakes up cooing and wakes up Nixon. Both girls are fussy. I change diapers & I put them on floor to practice tummy time, rolling over & grabbing. We sing songs and both smile & laugh at patty cake when mom pats them while singing song.

10:30 Lyla is crying - I give her 4 oz bottle while Nixon plays in pack n play.

10:45 Nixon getting whiney, I give her 4 oz bottle.

11:15 I change diapers then read the girls a book while they fall asleep on boppy loungers

11:45 I clean bottles, clean up house, do laundry, eat lunch with Trae when he comes home for lunch.

12:30 Both girls are awake. I change diapers & we play on Mom's bed while Mom folds laundry. We love staring at the ceiling fan and at our own hands. I pump.

12:45 Girls are hungry- I feed both at same time 5 oz bottles.

1:00 Quiet time in bedroom after girls eat= nap time!

2:00 Girls wakeup- I change diapers thenI turn on music in bedroom and take turns dancing with the girls. They like the movement, especially when mom turns around in a circle holding them. Big smiles all around.

3:00 Back in the living room we play peek-a-boo, practice standing, practice sitting in bumbo seat and girls entertain themselves. I change diapers.

4:00 Girls hungry- both eat 5 oz bottles ( I nurse one of the babies, usually)

6:00 Lyla is napping, Nixon is fussy but awake. Trae gets home from work.

6:30 Bathtime starts! Nixon bathes first- she loves it! She smiles and kicks her feet cooing and smiling the whole time. I let her soak an extra few minutes then dry her off, clean diaper & give 6 oz formula bottle to start bed time.

6:45 Lyla bathtime. She also LOVES bath time. She smiles and coo's through the whole experience. Dry her off, clean diaper, 6 oz formula bottle.

7:15 We put both girls in their Merlin sleep suits and take upstairs with 2 oz left in bottles. I rock one baby in glider while Trae rocks other baby in his arms. The sound machine is on "waves"

8:00 Lyla is put down first, asleep in crib.

8:30 Nixon takes longer to settle, eating her 2 oz and the rest of her sisters and she goes down in the crib asleep.

8:45 We eat a quick dinner

9:30 I pump/watch TV with Trae

10:30 We go to bed.

Social Outings

We are doing so well at being more social with the girls! We find that as long as we're home in time for bath time to start (6/6:30), we can do just about anything with our little ladies!

This month, we attended our first college sports game when we went to a UT baseball game. I had some anxiety about bringing the girls since it was very hot outside, but packed up some cold bottles of milk, a full diaper bag of other items we might need and we went on our way!
In the end, we lasted 2 innings inside the stadium. It was simply too hot and too loud. No bottle, nipple, or pacifier was going to make the girls like the situation when the cheering for the baseball game started. The girls just screamed- they were so scared. So, we left the game and went to the parking lot where we turned on our air conditioning, fed the girls and chatted with some friends before going to eat lunch out.

Trae had a week long work trip to Dallas this month, so my best friend and college room mate, Heather (who we refer to lovingly as Aunt "la la") and her daughter Haley came in town to visit and help me with the girls. It was such a NICE visit. Heather currently lives in Louisiana, so we don't get to see her as often as we would like. It was so nice to be able to spend some girl time with she and Haley and it sure was helpful to have an extra set of hands to help me with the girls.

Trae's 2nd Fathers Day was great. We went to church, where the girls were perfectly quiet and content during the service. After church, we went and visited the boys in the Chapel, like we do every time we go to church. After church we met our friends Kindra & Jack Poage at Lamberts, Trae's pick for his Father's Day brunch! A yummy treat! We came home where Trae found his Father's Day gift- a table for his green egg grill.