Angry Baby

After reading my cousin Michelle's blog for the past few months, I've come to the conclusion that my Clara was just not a happy baby. She really wasn't angry, per se, just really not smiley. At all. Michelle's Clara is a smiley girl. And completely adorable, I might add. (In case you're wondering, my Clara was named after my grandmother, but Michelle is on the other side of the family, so her Clara is not named after her grandmother. She is instead, named after a family friend.)

I went back through her baby pics, and sure enough, not too many smiley ones in the bunch. Clara has always been very thoughtful. She was an observer from very early on, watching people and things intently. I think she was so intrigued by her surroundings that she just didn't think too much about smiling or putting on a show now matter how hard we tried to ilicit a smile. She seemed to be in her own little world doing trigonometry in her head or something. It wasn't until she was around 6 months that she started smiling more and I do remember that it was a long time before she smiled for people when we were out in public.

Of course now she's Miss Personality with her cheesy grin and plenty of hugs and handshakes to go around. Speaking of, we went to Payless a few nights ago and she went straight up to a worker and gave her a hug. Then we went around a corner and found another employee, but this one needed a handshake. I love this kid. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to chronicle her angry baby pictures in a post since my blog wasn't around in those first months.

Here's our attempt to take a picture for our Valentine's card. Out of about 20 pictures, this was the best one. Seriously. I put it on a card. She was 2 months old here.


This one is our first smile caught on camera. Finally! She was 2 1/2 months old here.

Our first plane ride at 3 months. She realllly wanted to smile.

No smiles for Nanny.......

Or Big John.....

Or even sweet little Bryce.

Oh, wait. Grandma was able to capture a smile. Biggest one ever at 3 months of age. Look how red her hair looks here.

Oh, you're so close sweetie. Almost there......... Push.......
Maybe not. It's ok, there's always next time.

What? It's a bow. You're almost four months old. Deal with it. You should see the size of some girl's bows and they don't seem to mind :)

Ok, a princess hat is sure to do the trick!

Score!!!!!! Note to self: Something on head = Smile.

Hmmmmm. I guess my hypothesis was incorrect.

Ok Clara, now you're just being mean.

Stop tormenting me child.

Hellloooo, how can you not smile while sitting in bluebonnets? Don't get mad at me Missy; the bluebonnet is our lovely state flower and it's required by law that babies sit amongst them by golly. And smile. I didn't make up the rules.

Looks like you're finally growing up a bit and are learning how things work around here. Mommy acts like a lunatic and you smile obligingly. (That's a word, right?)
Ummm. We had a deal.

So there you have it. There may have been 3 or 4 other pictures featuring a smiling Clara, but no more. And I really am not exaggerating. In the second half of her first year, she really blossomed and I got some great sweet smiles from the little booger (and plenty of angry baby faces, too). Even today (and for the rest of her life, I'm sure) she is still quite an independent creature and has a mind of her own, smiling only when she darn well wants to smile.