Fussing

All babies fuss now and then (I think). Abby is no exception. When she's fussy, we play a game called "guess what Abby wants." Depending on how sleep deprived I am, it's either fun or frustrating. Basically, the game consists of finding the perfect combination of sounds, posture, and movement:

Sounds
the soothing sound of water filling the bathtub at extremely high volumes.
the vaccum.
the little jungle like sounds of the swing.
my horribly off key singing voice.
daddy's wonderful Ryan Adams impersonation.
the dryer.
the furnace.

Postures
in the swing.
over your shoulder.
lying in your arms true baby style.
in a straight line away from your body.
prostrate on the couch.
tucked in one arm like a football.
lying on the incredibly dirty doggy bed (I only did this once--I was desperate, and it worked)

Movement
bouncing up and down on the yoga ball.
jiggling up and down as you walk.
bouncing on your knee.
rocking in the rocking chair.
twisting from side to side.

You can see how it might take a while to calm her down. Sometimes I hit on the correct combo right away (e.g. holding her over my shoulder while singing loudly in her ear and standing next to the dryer) but other times it takes two hours. One day while Olivia was here I found myself walking around vacuuming while holding her like a football. Worked like a charm. Since Olivia was here we got a picture.