Two months old! Time for a recap!

Quinn is two months and one week old!

The last few weeks have been particularly fun for Mike and I because Quinn has started to develop such a fun little personality. It has been so exciting waking up each morning and wondering what the new day will bring out of our little sugar-sack doppelganger daughter.

This month, Quinn has started to smile! And not only smile...but coo, giggle and discover her voice. My favorite moment's of these have been during her 4am feedings. After she guzzles down her bottle (eating about five to six ounces now!) we often lay in bed together and I find myself listening to her talk and talk and talk until 4:30 or 5:00. She tends to laugh a lot when we change her diaper (and the intensity of the laugh tends to coordinate with the intensity of her bowel movements, strangely...) She laughs a lot when I show her episodes of Stella (sense of humor just like her parents!) and when she plays the game that Mike developed called "Daddy Invasion" where he gets really close to her and waits for her to giggle and push him away with her (insanely powerful) legs. I find myself spending crazy amounts of time and effort figuring out ways to make her laugh. This has by far been one of the most entertaining recent pasttimes of mine!

Another really awesome thing that Quinn has started to discover is her sense of touch. It started when I decided to read one of our little books to her that has different fabrics in it depending on the animal. I would open her hands and guide her to touch the different pages of the book. Eventually she started to do it on her own and reach to touch the cotton, the velvet, etc. It was amazing! The next morning we put her on her little activity mat and she was actually reaching for the hanging toys and touching them. In addition to that, as I was laying with her yesterday, she began to gently touch my hair and my face. She had so much control of her motor skills. Her latest thing is sticking her entire fists in her mouth, which I think might qualify for some kind of Guinness Record like "Record for the smallest yet cavernous baby mouth." I'm hoping she doesn't become a thumb sucker...but I guess there are worse things in life than thumb-sucking-induced modified teeth? Anyway, it is so incredible watching her learn these things so quickly at just nine weeks old. Unbelievable.

In addition to those things, she has developed a lot of independence as far as her strength goes. She has always tried to lift her head by herself. The first day we ever brought her home was when we first noticed how strong her little neck was! Now she holds her head up pretty much on her own! I have tried putting her in her little bumbo chair but I think she still has some time before she can keep herself from leaning from side to side. It's pretty cute seeing her body compact into a little loaf of bread when we stick her in it though. Hahaha!

Thanks to this newly developed strength of her hulk-like vertabrae, I'm really excited to be able to carry her Kangaroo style in the sling so she can become more aware of her surroundings. I tried it a few weeks ago but her head kept flopping around (whoops!) The sling is sooooo convenient. Thanks Katie for inspiring me to purchase one! Going out in public can be a bit of a pain if we want to bring the car carrier or the stroller. Slipping her into the sling is so quick and she usually falls asleep as soon as she is pressed up against me. Yesterday my step mom and I went to wall-mart and immedately, Quinn passed out and we were able to shop around.

We have begun taking baths with Quinn. I tried it a few times when she was a week or so old and she screamed the "billy goat" scream (which is both awful and hillarious to listen to! Boohoo.) Using her baby bath tub to bathe her in has been a breeze since I discovered the trick of placing a warm washcloth on her hoo-haa to make her stop crying and feel a little more secure being naked in public. Don't worry Quinn, mommy has the same anxieties, haha. Since she has been so calm in the water, I decided to try taking a bath with her again a couple of weeks ago and she lovvvvved it. She is incredibly bouyant...which seems really odd. I guess having a giant budah belly makes it easy to float. (Wait, then what is my excuse??) As soon as I sit her in the water with me, she immedately starts to float on her back. She also does this little thing with her tongue where she sticks it in and out like a lizard. Rigby enjoys sitting next to the tub if we're in there and licking water off of her face. I like watching his face twitch when he eats a little bit of soap. I can't wait until we get a video camera so that we can record all of these epic moments.

This last month has been so much fun! We are really becoming intune with Quinn. There are very few times within the last few weeks where we have had to struggle to figure out what she was crying and freaking out about. Mike, remember those nights of you sweatily pacing full-speed for hours in a giant circle through the house with all of the lights out so she wouldn't be able to focus on anything and hopefully pass out? Glad those nights are few and far between! It feels really good to have a better sense of what her wants and needs are...I feel much more confident as a parent. Honestly, I really thought that having a baby would be so much more difficult than what we have had to go through. Such a pleasant surprise!