Friday was a low - perhaps one of the lowest yet. K was trying to work on finishing her thesis which is due this Wednesday. I was at work. Poppy, who had been very fussy on Thursday, took things to a new level. She wasn't feeding well. She wasn't napping well. She couldn't be put down anywhere without crying. So instead of working on her paper, K spent all day pacing around the house with Poppy in her arms - about the only thing that would stop her from crying. At one point we were instant-messaging and she was telling me what was going on - under normal circumstances I would have left work to come home and take over. However I was going through a major crisis at work, the loss of a bunch of shared data on a server I was configuring. This was not something I could simply leave, and that made my day much worse. Back at the homestead, K was conscious of the time that was being lost, and with nerves made raw by the incessant crying, she was pretty much done by the time I got home - tired, upset, frustrated and genuinely worried about missing out on getting important studying done.
Now it was my turn. It didn't take long for me to experience the same situation. I started to get genuinely concerned. What could be making her this upset? At one point she cried with such intensity that she stopped breathing for a couple of seconds, that weird moment where babies need to pause before letting out the next scream. I measured her temperature, which was fine, and continued to try to soothe her. None of the tricks worked - changing her diaper, feeding her, rocking her - she was just pissed off with the world. Finally we attempted to do the going-to-bed routine, and amazingly she went to sleep. We were left with ringing ears, raw nerves and some lukewarm pizza, looking at each other with wide eyes wondering "what the f**k just happened?"
The next day, she was perfect. She smiled plenty in the morning, fed well, took long, deep naps and was alert and engaged in her playtime.
On Sunday she was also pretty good, but went through a fussy period in the afternoon and early evening. It was now we decided to check on something suggested by both my mother and one of K's friends: teething. After feeling around inside her mouth, we think there's noticeable bumps on her upper gums. This may be nothing, or it may be an indication that her periods of irritability might be down to sore gums.
The other theory is that she is picking up on the stress level in the household. As K ticks down the final days of her 27-month masters degree program, and works feverishly to finish a 70-page group thesis, the pressure has been building, as has her stress level. Our friends C&C noted that their 8-month-old is always at her worst when either of them is stressed about something.
Finally, the high point. As I was getting ready to leave for work this morning I looked in on Poppy in her bassinet. I could see that she was awake and just chilling out in her swaddle. As I approached her she suddenly noticed me and immediately gave me the biggest full-body smile ever! Smiles are nothing new for her - she's generally a pretty smiley and happy baby - but they are usually pretty random. This was the first time she has ever smiled in direct response to seeing me. WOW! And she's started doing this thing where her whole body convulses like she's trying to laugh when she has the biggest smiles. It's amazing.
So yeah, a high high and low low in the past three days.
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