Your Surprising New Little One!

[Marcimama]

What has surprised you about your baby? (gender, looks, temperment, other fun surprises)...

I was totally surprised Cora had dark hair and eyes. Her siblings were blondish and blue eyed. I actually just stared at her face for a few minutes after birth wondering whose baby this was, then we got around to figuring out if shewas a girl or a boy.

I am also surprised she is as easy going as she is, I thought she was going to be a wild one...but no thank goodness!

[Baby_Cakes]

Everything!

Since this is my first, I just had no idea what babies were like. I'm surprised that she is just a very small, incredibly frustrated little person.

She is nowhere near as fragile as I thought babies were, even as a newborn.

[crosscat]

Red hair!
When I was pregnant, everyone would ask if I thought the baby would be blonde like mama or brunette like dad. My joke answer was "She'll be a red-head."

Well, she is!

There'sa ton of other stuff, but I hate posting from my phone. I'll post more later

[myrmom]

how big he is getting...my other two started out just under 8lbs but didn't grow very big very fast...Ewan was only 19lbs at a year and Rufus was only 17lbs at a year...Keir is already almost 13lbs at 7 weeks...

[audsma]

I'm surprised that he has a schedule. DD never did. I can't set a clock by him, but I know he'll do an early AM poop, have only wet dipes @ night, etc.

I'm also surprised by his very boyish traits-- punching, grunting, etc.

I'm surprised @ how easy cloth diapers are!

[Bee21]

How completely different she is from her sister!

They are night and day. I expected them to be different, but not this much. Maya was born a full week later than her sister, but yet she was smaller. They look nothing alike- dd1 looks like dh with my pale complexion, this baby looks like me with his dark complexion. Their temperments are opposite- dd1 cried nonstop, nursed nonstop, hated the car, was a generally unhappy baby. Maya is so content and happy- almost never cries, could care less if she nurses. dd1 wanted nothing to do with sleeping with me, but that's the only place her sister will sleep. dd1 took a paci almost nonstop- new baby will not touch one.

It just blows my mind that two such completely opposite children could come from the same two parents!

[birthdancedoula]

Iris has surprised her mama a lot since even before her birth.

~ I completely expected her birth to be a piece of cake. It was challenging in many ways and taught me so many things about birth that I didn't know- even being an L&D nurse.

~She came out looking exactly like her 5 y/o brother. I kind of expected her to look like dd1 because she was a girl but nope, she looks so much like Sebastian.

~The girl has a ton of hair. My babes have all been pretty hairy but Iris has a whole crop of it! And its dark, too.

~I expected that my 5th kid would be laid back and easy-going. Not Iris. She's not shy about letting us all know when she needs something. She's gonna be our little drama queen.

~Her size. She's such a peanut. Her siblings were bigger at birth than she is now at 2 months. I finally got a babe who is petite like her mama!

[Dahlea]

I thought he would look more like my husband and have blond hair and light skin. Instead, he's darker like me, with auburn hair and shares a lot of features with me.
I also never expected him to be so BIG! (15 lb, 24 1/4" at 2 months) as I was a small child and Drew wasn't that big either.

[Amber Lion]

How aware of everything she has been since she was born. Everyone has commented, "She's so alert!" and she really is. There is definitely a PERSON in this tiny body.

Other than that, I have to second Carrie - as a first time Mom everything is surprising!

[lee1203]

She surprised me by being a she!

Even though the odds were against it, I was surprised (and a touch disappointed that she doesn't have curly hair like me.

I was *sure* she'd be at least 9 lbs at birth. She was 8.5.

I also did not expect that such a little person could be so dang loud. And I'm not talking about the crying! These things make such goofy random noises.

[heidirk]

His dimple
the cleft in his chin
his furry back and shoulders!

He sleeps!

he knew his brother from the beginning, and would look for him when he heard his voice!


how much I would enjoy him, and how guilty I'd feel that I didn't enjoy his big brother that way when He was a baby.

[Marcimama]

I too am surprised that a 3rd birth could be the most difficult of them all! NO fair! It is suppose to get easier!:

I was also surprised that life with 3 isn't as hard as I imagined! I think that is due to her easy going temperment...

[Mamja]

I was surprised at how cute she is. Yeah, I know, all parents think their baby is cute. But she had none of that newborn squishiness, even on her first day. No conehead, no puffiness, no marks on her body, nothing. She looked like a perfect little doll from the start.

[lifeguard]

How familiar he looked to me immediately. I swear I could have chosen him as mine without ever having seen him before (his perfect smell would have led me to him as well!).

Our housekeeper (yes, I'm spoiled while we are living here) seemed very surprised at how white he is!? I don't know why as dh & are both white, but I guess 'cause she's used to seeing darker skinned babies?

[mkmb129]

Her birth!

She's not really a comfort nurser. Colin was a huge comfort nurser, would never ever turn away a boob. Ainsley does sometimes, but I cannot shush her with a boob unless she wants to be shushed!

She sleeps so well. She eats, and she sleeps. Colin was not like this at all.

Compared to Colin, she's a piece of cake. I thought she'd be a pill like he was, this is heaven!

[jlbaby]

i guess i am not really surprised, but awed by how different she is from her brother.

she sleeps! holy cow! she's down by 8pm almost every night - amazing.

she hates the car. we could always take DS anywhere - it's a bit more challenging to leave the house right now.

her constant puking. DS never did. it took weeks for me to get over the "what's wrong with her??" mentality.

she finally loves her pouch sling. i am so pleasantly surprised!!

[NotTheOnlyOne]

yes, he sleeps. SImon never slept off me. He nursed all the time. Phin nurses well, but just for nourishment (15 pounds at 3mo) He sleeps anywhere, side carred crib, in our bed, in the swing, on the couch, in the bouncy..... he smiles and coos all the time. In general, he is just a happier baby than my first, who still needs a lot from me to get happy!

[TaraRae82]

Her personality and looks have not surprised me at all.....she is exactly as I imagined our first-born to be.

However, she isn't a Daddy's Girl like I thought she'd be. She's all about Mommy (frustrating sometimes). She's also a much better sleeper than I imagined since DH and I were very difficult babies. He was a screamer (tummy probs) and I was a cat-napper (never slept more than 20 min at a time). Our poor mothers. It has surprised me that she WILL NOT sleep by herself though.

[CindyCindy]

Marci, like you I am surprised at my baby's looks. My two older have blue eyes, this one has brown, just like Daddy! I absolutely love it! I can't believe children can look so much alike though, he looks exactly (carbon-copy) the same as my older son did.

Tara: That Mommy's girl thing will go away. At least it did with my daughter. I thought for sure she was always going to be attached and she still is somewhat, but somewhere along the way she fell for Daddy. It will be kind of sad when that day comes too.

[gabysmom617]

nak

his size--JUMBO! delicious porky thighs! in size 6-9 month cloths already...ds1 was a peanut

his eye color--slightly wierd and unexpectant gray-y brown....then i remembered my dads eyes similarly weird in color...

his hair...very much like mine when i was a newborn...for some reason that surprises me.

the fact that he came naturally, totally didn't expect to make it through that.

how boobaholic he is. ds1 was very adamant about not wanting to be covered during nursing. I was kind of uncomfortable nip just letting it all hang out, like he prefered. he usually was too into everything to care about the boob when out and about anyhow.
-but with Izzy, he don't care, he want the boob. now. here. yes, now. he don't care if he covered, upside down, in a sling, on a horse, whatever. as long as he got the boob, he cool. because of that, i've gotten way more comfortable nip than i ever thought i would be, and it makes it easier that he doesn't mind being covered if i feel a little uncomfy.