Anna was "inconsolably" fussy for most of the day yesterday. She took little cat naps, ONLY if someone was holding her. The morning started out okay, but Daddy and I were scheduled to return to the "Crazy Fun Joy Band" at church, and that's where things got...well, complicated.
We were scheduled to rehearse at 10:00, but by about 9:30, Anna was ready for a nap. I suggested that we pack up and go to church early, so she could nap there, rather than getting her to sleep at home, then transferring her to the carseat. (She HATES the carseat....much like her sister did at this age!) Daddy thought that sounded like a plan, so we loaded up and went to church.
My plan started out wonderfully. Anna was asleep by the time we got to church, so I decided to take her right to the nursery. (We would've kept her with us for rehearsal, then just dropped her off in the nursery for the actual service.) Miss Jackie was pretty busy, so we didn't have much of a chance to "introduce" Anna, but then again, Jackie had Adele ages ago, so at least she knew our family. We plopped Anna (still strapped into her carseat) in a crib, covered her up, and went on our way.
About 5 minutes after leaving her, we got a call saying that Anna had woken up and was "inconsolable"-yup... that sounds like my kid. I went and got her (Jackie said she would've tried to get her back to sleep, but they were so busy (and noisy) that she couldn't take Anna to a quiet room all by herself, and she didn't want to let such a young baby cry. I personally think that she remembered Adele pretty clearly and knew that she didn't stand a chance at quieting her down!). What do you know, she fell asleep almost instantly in my arms. She slept through the entire rehearsal, and when it was time for the service, transferred nicely back into her carseat. We decided to keep her in the sanctuary, and put her in a pew next to Chris, one of the other singers' husbands.
That went well...until the service was just about to start. Chris frantically tried to catch my gaze...sleeping beauty was waking up! I went and got her and hurried back to my microphone-she could sing the first two songs with me :) (Everyone in the congregation watched her grow in my belly, so I didn't figure they'd mind if she came to sing with me, right?) Surprisingly, she just snuggled into me and let me bounce her for the songs. (I noticed lots of people smiling at me, too). She was about to howl just as the set was wrapping up, so I high-tailed it out of the sanctuary as soon as we finished playing.
From then on, she was not a happy camper. "Inconsolable" pretty much summed up the day. She would only nap in my arms, and only for short periods of time. She nursed on and off ALL day long.
At some point in the afternoon, the whole family was outside. I said to Daddy, "You know, she's turning out to be just like her sister after all." (You see, for a little while, I *thought* she was my angel baby...happy or at least content most of the time, she was a pretty good sleeper, and DIDN'T nurse every hour on the dot...) Daddy agreed, and I went on to say how I had been fooling myself thinking that she was "easy." She is, in fact, her sister's....well...sister. We discussed how she does take better naps than Adele did, and her feedings are more spaced out...but the times when she's not sleeping or eating are just as fussy. And that's kind of hard on us. It's pretty much impossible to take her anywhere, because she just screams. But then again, it's hard to stay here, because well, she's screaming all the time.
Sometime shortly after that conversation (after I'd already mapped out this blog in my mind), I laid a screaming, "INCONSOLABLE" Anna onto her elephant gym. What do you know, she calmed down, and spent the next few hours smiling and cooing all over the place. She went to bed without any trouble, and slept 9 hours straight. She woke up to nurse, but that only took about 30 minutes, then went back to sleep for another 3 hours. That's right...a 12 1/2 hour night! After that, she was awake for an hour, would yawn, I'd swaddle her, and with maybe one or two tears, she'd be out. Asleep. In her crib. For almost exactly two hours. ALL. DAY. LONG. The little girl slept for about 20 of the past 24 hours.
Bedtime was a bit of a different story, but that's okay...I was ready for some snuggle time! She was fussy, but not inconsolable like yesterday. She woke up from nap #3 of the day at about 7, was yawning by 7:30, when I decided to give her a bath. She hated the bath tonight (I guess if you're a baby and spend 20 hours sleeping, and only a few seconds fussing, you've got to cry sometime, right?) After her bath, she wanted to be sleepy, but wasn't quite. She nursed on and off for about 2 hours and finally let me put her in the crib at 10.
Adele never had a day remotely close to this one....ever. And the best part is, while today was definitely Anna's sleepiest yet, she's had other days where she sleeps the majority of the time too...just never in such a pattern for the entire day.
I guess time will tell if Anna is indeed our "angel" baby, or if she's just well...related to her sister.
What do YOU think?
Adele:
Anna:
Adele:
Anna:
Is she her sister's sister?
