Romachino: 2 months

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe that as of April 10, Gabby is 2 months old. It seems like not that long ago she was a large bump in my abdomen, and now she's on her way to becoming a functional little baby! She's picked up quite a few skills in the past month. She holds her head up like a pro--I rarely even support it at all. This is especially true when I'm carrying her. Whenever she is upright, she has no trouble at all keeping her head in place. She also can support all of her weight on her legs in a standing position. All I really do is help her balance so she doesn't topple over. She's a very strong little girl! We've recently pulled out the Bumbo chair, and she's giving me mixed reviews. I think overall it's a nice change for her from the bouncer.

This bouncer is boring

The Bumbo is nice, as long as I can still watch TV!

Gabby is very much a visual baby right now. She loves looking at lights (still--she's been doing that since birth), and finds the ceiling fans absolutely fascinating, but she's added a very strong interest in patterns and shapes. She loves to stare at the miniblinds on the windows, and really digs the contrast of the dark picture frames with our white walls. Daddy wears a striped polo shirt pretty much everyday, and she loves to just stare at the stripes. She also really likes these black and white geometric shapes that I printed out for her (http://baby.zorger.com/baby.zorger.com.newborn.pdf). I put one next to her changing pad, and she just stares at it while I'm changing her. It keeps her quiet!

Stop sign-ish one--I change them periodically so she doesn't get bored

Another thing she really loves is the television. I know, babies shouldn't watch TV; I'm making her stupid; she's going to grow up to be fat and lazy; her brain will ooze out of her ear, etc. At this point, it's actually just a bunch of moving lights to her--she has no idea what is going on beyond that. And it sure does keep her quiet during tummy time. She's even gotten to the point where she finds TVs at other people's houses and watches them there--we visited her friend Phoebe the other day, and she fell asleep while watching The Muppet movie. I think this is just a manifestation of how visual she is--if it lights up and moves, she will watch it!

Ho Ho--I'm going to be smart despite your TV!

Her interest in what she sees has gotten so strong that she hates to be in her carseat in the stroller because she can't see anything. Walks have become quite a challenge, since she doesn't want to be in her carseat, but I can't pull her out because of the fear of sunburn. Plus, carrying her is really not comfortable for me. I have a carrier that I can wear, but that doesn't really take away the sunburn danger, and she always gets really warm in the carrier, which also makes her mad. I'm really going to have to figure something out. It's pretty obvious that she gets bored sitting on the couch for too long now (everything is the same, Mom!), and while she is quiet in the car (I think because she can actually see out the window now), there are only so many places I can drive. And once we reach the destination, we have the problem with her not being able to see anymore!

How can you be frustrated with me?

Her other senses seem to be not nearly as well developed yet. She's not really interested in the way things feel, or in music or sounds of any kind, unless they are super loud (I flushed a toilet in a public bathroom stall while she was with me, and it scared her so much she started crying!). She does still talk and coo at me (as well as give me huge smiles) when she's fed and rested. She will try to pull my hands to her mouth if she gets a grip on them, but doesn't do the same to toys yet. She also still hasn't really figured out that her hands belong to her, so we still keep her swaddled at night to prevent her waking herself up, although she is starting to really fight the swaddle and we'll probably have to abandon it pretty soon. I'm not looking forward to stopping--she falls asleep pretty much right away when she's swaddled.

Nyah nyah; I'll never sleep again when you take away my swaddle!

We had her 2 month well baby appointment on Tuesday, and she's weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz, 22.5 in long, and her head is 15.25 in in diameter. She's 10th percentile in weight, but the doctor isn't worried at all, since her weight gain since the last appointment is right on the curve. She's just a small baby! With parents like us, how could it be otherwise? I was given the OK to keep breast feeding, which is great, since it's free! On a sadder note, Gabby got her first round of vaccines. She actually only cried for a minute,

Not from the shots, but this is what it looked like

and she seems to be OK now, although the doc said that she could get a fever up to 4 days after administration. Fingers crossed that she's OK!

Here are some random shots from the month: