One month old!

Karina is now a month old! The past five weeks have flown by as we have adjusted and formed new routines. Karina still sleeps a lot and eats about every 3 hours. At night, she usually goes back to sleep after eating, which her parents are grateful for.

Karina's day usually starts around 7 or 8am. If she is still awake after her morning feeding, Mommy gives her a bath.

Here she is all bundled up after a bath. Her hair gets a little curly when it's wet.

Then Karina gets to follow Mommy around, whether it's around the house, or running errands, or whatnot.
As you can see, she still sleeps for a good part of the day.

When Karina is not sleeping, Eliana likes to entertain her. Eliana continues to be a doting big sister. To help Karina reach the developmental milestones earlier, Eliana has started to read books to her sister. Here is Eliana's rendition of a Sandra Boynton book. She "reads" it all from memory, and while she does not get most of the words right, she has the intonation down pat!

And when not being read to, Karina, is still prodded, poked, kissed, and manhandled by her bigger sister several times a day.

Last weekend, we went to Emily's parent's house to pick wild blackberries. Karina came along for that and Eliana gorged on berries. It was hard to keep up with her.

In the evenings, Karina partakes in the bedtime routine. By now, Karina is getting a little tired and fussy and most of the time enjoys sucking on the pacifier. Her older sister never liked the pacifier as a baby. But now, she wants to be just like her little sister. (Also, in the picture, Emily is teaching Eliana how to sign the letter "L". Eliana's interest in sign language is as strong as ever and daily asks for the sign language equivalent of words that she is learning verbally.)

Elvin usually puts Eliana to bed and she is asleep by 8 or 9pm. He then comes down to keep Karina company so that Emily can get a well deserved break. Elvin and Emily usually try to be in bed by 10pm or 10:30pm, but lately, Karina has decided that she doesn't want to fall asleep (and stay asleep without someone holding her) until 11pm or later!