My little sweetie is now 3 months and absolutely the sweetest most passive and tranquil baby ever. I am still surprised that babies can really be this easy going. She typically sleeps 5+ hours at night. She very rarely cries and lays content for long periods of time. It's hard to describe her likes, dislikes because she does just fine with most every sitution. Marisa I thought was an easy baby too, but she did have particularities. Marisa liked to be swaddled just right with one arm out, and she hated car rides and her carseat. Karina does not need to sleep swaddled. She sleeps all stretched out instead. She doesn't mind car rides or her carseat and will fall asleep on her own in the stroller, the car, her bed, just about anywhere as long as she has eaten. She recently stopped taking the pacifer and sucks on her two middle fingers. I'd like to say she loves being worn but she really could go either way. It is nice however, that I can carry her because I enjoy it and not necessarily because I have to.
She's very bubbly in the morning with lots of smiles and a fairly long happy alert period where she plays in her bouncer or with Elena. I think I'd have to say that Elena is her favorite person in the family so far. She responds really well to Elena with lots of smiles for her. Marisa is catching on to this and is joining in for the giggles.
The transition to three has been fairly easy but adding a newborn is usually not the hard part for me. The hard part for me comes later when I have a toddler and a preschooler. It also has helped that Karina is easy and that Omar is home when he's home (and not working away in an office) and giving me lots of breaks throughout the day. For instance, I occasionally leave the house to do errands on my own while the girls nap. He also takes Elena to school so I sleep in those mornings and I don't have to get everyone out of bed.
Taking Elena to school when Omar is out of town has definitely been the hardest adjustment for me. I have to get all three girls up, dressed, fed, and into the car by 7:10am. The trickiest part of this process was Karina's morning feeding. Each day I hoped she awoke at a time that fell right on schedule with the routine because as you can imagine making breakfast for the older two while nursing was tricky. I recently discovered however that Karina doesn't need to nurse when I wake her up or before leaving the house. I discovered this when one night she nursed around 2am and slept through 7am; I was running late and decided not to nurse before leaving the house. I put her in her carseat all the while envisioning a long drive with a crying baby but instead she was perfectly content while AWAKE!! My mornings are much less stressful now.
Karina rolled over a couple of days ago. I found her sound asleep on her tummy. Now I can't remember if I'm suppose to flip her back or leave her. The last four nights she has fallen asleep by 7:30pm and has not woken up to nurse all night! I really don't know when she would have actually woken up because by 5am I am too uncomfortable and too lazy to pump so I wake her and nurse her then. I'll probably see how long this lasts and push the feeding for later in the morning. While it would be nice I can't actually imagine sleeping through the night this early.
And now for the pictures. I did a 3 month black and white photo shoot with the other girls so I was on a deadline to get Karina's done too. I decided to do color because I loved the colors the girls were wearing and how well they matched even though it was not planned. I was disappointed in their clarity and decided it's nearly impossible to take pictures of 3 little kids who will be still enough for a clear photo with my current camera. I could keep trying, but I still only have a film SLR and the CD's and film can get pricey especially when there are usually only two good photos per roll . I keep contemplating the purchase of a DSLR but I just don't think I will use it enough since I'm rarely hands free and because they are bulky to carry along with the big ol' diaper bag. Sigh...Well, I'll be redoing Karina's shoot because I didn't do it in the morning which is her best time and because I tend to shoot better black and whites or I like them better anyway. Enjoy!
