Little Miss Sunshine
So I’ve decided that Anna’s new nickname is “Sunshine”. You’re probably thinking it’s because of her new talent for smiling and her winning personality. Well she does have a fantastic smile and you could definitely say she’s got spunk but I’ve been calling her Sunshine for the sarcastic value. Because my Anna is, by far, the fussiest of my three children. Thomas was supremely difficult but he actually didn’t cry much as long as he was swaddled, bounced, and/or nursed more or less constantly (and yes, sometimes I had to nurse him while he was swaddled while I was bouncing on a yoga ball). Theo was such an easy baby I was convinced something was wrong with him for weeks. I just couldn’t understand how he could fall asleep on his own when he was tired. What awesome madness! I think it is highly probable that Miss Anna has cried more in her six weeks than our other two children did their first year – combined. She usually doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable or in pain; she just seems pissed. Anna fusses when she’s being held (which is 90% of the day) and on her play mat. She fuses in her sleep. The girl even fuses sometimes while nursing! When something is really wrong; a wet diaper, hungry, or has to burp the fussing changes into outright wails of fury. Yesterday she was clearly working through a growth spurt – nursing every 40 minutes, seeming exhausted, and she was so very, very annoyed by the whole process. Thomas even commented, “Our baby is so cute…and she is so fussy.” I think can already see the good side of fussy though – she is determined. At four weeks old Anna was rolling (angrily) from her back onto her side. She swats at toys hanging over her or next to her with excellent accuracy and gusto. Anna is not to be trifled with.
When Baby Girl started turning from breech to head down to transverse and back again and again in utero I had a strong foreshadowing that this one was going do things her own way. I knew that all those “Girls are so much calmer and easygoing.” comments that I got were full of shit. But you know what…it’s ok. She’s actually so fussy it’s funny. I think she’s pretty awesome and I wouldn’t want any baby but my little Sunshine.
January 5th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Ah. You have an Iris. With any luck, she will be EXACTLY like Iris and, around 3 months, decide that life isn’t so bad afterall. Crossing fingers for that 3 month mark…
January 5th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
good looks, lots of attitude. sounds like our kind of chick.
January 6th, 2012 at 7:34 am
“Little Miss Sunshine” has a better ring than my nickname for her: Miss Fussy-pants. Right now as I type, she is sleeping on Gina’s lap and making some of the weirdest noises a baby can make… something between a grown, cry, and whimper. She is a high maintenance baby.
If you are curious she is back to sleeping, silently.
Oh wait, Gina coughed, and now she is whining, now crying… now silent.
It really is rather funny.
January 6th, 2012 at 7:38 am
Yup. If any adult acted the way that she does they would be classified as mentally imbalanced.
January 6th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Hi! Thanks for commenting on my blog! It’s fun to click over here, and right away see we have much in common. And it’s funny, one of my daughters names is Anna in real life (we all use pseudonyms on my blog except for Olive; I just haven’t gotten around to calling her one yet), and Theo was my number one pick for Olive, had she been a boy.
Also, Olive was my fussiest baby as well (also, cheers for 3rd birth being homebirth!). She got MUCH better after a month, noticeably so after 2 months, and is now fairly happy most of the time. But she’s… I don’t know, WIRED differently, or something. She startles easily and is still easily my most demanding and impatient baby. I’ve said all along that I’m so glad she’s my 4th kid, as her personality does not stress me out NEARLY as it would have if she was my first.
January 6th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
You get people telling you that girls are “so much calmer and easygoing”????? I get the opposite – people telling me that boys are “so much more easygoing, less drama.” The peanut gallery also seems to be split on whether they pity me for having a boy (the energy, the tornado destruction!) or think it will be so much easier than Evelyn (much calmer and less vitriolic). I really get why that woman in Toronto wanted her kid to be gender neutral for so long.
Yeah, boys are more likely to wrestle, play zombies, and be strong enough to be a firefighter and girls are more likely to be, well whatever – not wrestlers, not zombie battle-ers, and not-firefighters, but leave stereotypes the hell alone and see my kid and her/his personality and traits for what they are. Gah! Sorry, I missed the point of the post. She’s a love and I could eat one of those cheeks!