Two and a half months my foot, Mommy. I'm outta here!

So, everywhere that is medical that has to do with babies (such as the hospital, Katie's pediatrician, and the health dept where she got her immunizations) gives us some kind of milestones chart we're supposed to follow to see if our baby is developing properly.

Please note: I'm about to brag incessantly. My baby is a super genius.

Also please note: she's two and a half months old. Ten weeks. Not even three months.

Here are the milestones for three months: rolls to side, props herself up when on her tummy, inspects fingers, brings hands to mouth, reaches for parents, follows objects, regards toys.

Guess how many of these she has met? Yeah, all of them.

Here are some milestones for four months that Katie has already met: clutches at clothes, plays with rattle, reaches persistently, holds onto breast, mouths objects, stares longer at new faces than familiar ones, shakes rattle.

Yeah, she's way too smart. Also, she can hold her weight when standing up. She just hasn't figured out the balance thing yet.

BIG WEEKEND BONANZA!

So, Katie survived her first road trip this weekend. But first, the story I began writing last week and never posted.

In case some of you have never seen a baby, they spend 98% percent of the time with their hands curled into very tight fists. This is most assuredly the case for my kid. The result of this: fingerjam. I mean, anyone who's worn socks with their sneakers knows what toejam is, but fingerjam? Come on. It's become a habit for me to use my free hand to clean the lint out of her fingers while I'm feeding her.

Also, she tends to suck on the aforementioned fists, so I feel obligated to keep her from eating lint. Not to mention stopping her from sucking on her fists because sometimes a finger gets loose and she tries to gag herself. Geez, kid.

Now back to our program.

We decided to go to Boise this weekend for two reasons. First, things are getting crazy stressful down here as we approach the end of the semester (and graduation!!!!!!!) and we needed a break to help us power through our tests and projects and finals week. Seriously, it was direly needed.

Second, my dad is going to India. His company is sending him out to train the new people after they outsourced the rest of his department. So he has to go for a month. He isn't all too thrilled about missing the concerts and recitals and my brother's Eagle project, not to mention the beginning of baseball season (my dad=Little League in Boise). So we thought we'd come bring a grandbaby to cheer him up before he leaves tomorrow.

However, this weekend quickly turned into a giant brawl over who got to hold the baby next. Which means it was "who can stress the Katie out the fastest?" I won't lie, she loved all the attention (and for some reason thought Parker's monkey face was hilarious), but getting passed around to a lot of people who were not her mommy made her a little tired. She slept a lot on the way home, and has spent most of today sleeping also.

The good news is that Katie is a happy traveler. She spent several hours in the car staring out the window and giggling. She likes going outside, LOVES her stroller, and we figure likes the car when she's not hungry. She's pretty stellar.

But I think this trip was really good for my parents. The next month is going to be hard for both of them, what with my dad being off in a foreign country where cholera and dengue fever are still rampant and my mom being alone for a month with a herd of elephants. They both really needed some Katie time and some love.

And some priesthood. Mike was able to help their home teachers give both my parents a blessing to help get through all of this. I missed the whole thing because Katie decided on that moment to get fussy and loud, but I think it really helped.

So now we must press on in the madness that is March. (Speaking of, BYU beat Gonzaga on Saturday. Pretty good. Did you see it?)

Top Reasons 2-month-olds Have More Fun

#1 - Gaining weight is a GOOD thing.

#2 - It is not unacceptable to grunt loudly while pooping in a public place. And then people love it when you giggle about it.

#3 - Bathing means a full-on massage. All you gotta do is lay there.

#4 - You can remain the center of attention while napping and it's not because you've got something embarrassing on your face.

#5 - Entire stores are devoted to your entertainment, and it doesn't cost as much as a TV or video games.

#6 - Swings with mobiles are AWESOME.

#7 - As a follow up to #2, it is perfectly acceptable to be naked whenever you want. Well, whenever your mommy lets you.

#8 - Responsibility doesn't exist. Rather, everyone is responsible to you.

#9 - All you have to do is squawk loudly enough and anyone will play with you.

#10 - Come on, guys, baby shoes and headbands are the cutest thing that ever happened ever. Ever.

How's that? If it weren't for chocolate and husbands and getting to be the mommy of a 2-month-old, I'd want to be one myself.

This morning Katie had her two-month well-baby appointment at the doctor. She was 11 lbs even! Holy bananas! Kid's huge! I woke her up when I got her wrapped up to take to her appointment, so she was all cranky, until I stripped her down to measure her. Naked on something that feels like her changing table? She loved it!

She was marginally less happy when the doctor started poking her and moving her legs around. But everybody was impressed with how good she was doing, especially with how well she was holding her head. Apparently she's not supposed to roll over or be able to hold things until 4 months, but today when she and Mike picked me up from class, she picked up her binky and threw it at me.

How's that for precocious?

Confession Time

One thing that multiple older moms/grandmas said to me when I was pregnant was "don't let her sleep in your bed or she'll never stop."

Well, I let her. Sometimes it's the only way to get her to go to sleep without bouncing in the dark for several hours or until my knees fall off. Whichever comes first.

And . . . maybe I like cuddling her to sleep in my bed as much as she likes it.

Whew! I said it!

Seriously, as long as I keep her on the side opposite from Mike (man sleeps like he's in the middle of a shark attack) we both love snuggling. When Katie had her cold, I snuggled her all day too, and I guess she got a snuggling-mommy addiction. Well, I have a snuggling-Katie addiction. Who wouldn't want to snuggle this kid?