Last Wednesday, K reached out for the wii wheel that Mike was holding.  With great precision, she looked at it, put her arms out, and grabbed it.  It was amazing. 

A few days ago, K began to sit up on our laps on her own without us holding onto her.  Although, we still had our hands ready to catch her when she got too excited and would throw herself back.  That was amazing.

Well, today she mastered something that is most amazing - she can sit on our laps and catch herself before she falls forwards, backwards, or to the side.  I don't know how she suddenly learned this skill, but she did, and it's amazing.

She loves practicing sitting and standing when she's awake.  It's so funny to watch people try to hold her sometimes.  If they don't know her well or haven't watched me interact with her, she'll cry because she likes to practice her new-found skills instead of being held.  She'll let me hold her when she's sad or when she's really tired, but other than that, she likes to be learning. 

She also loves airplane rides.  I don't think most things make her as happy as airplane rides.  Except for first thing in the morning when she's getting her first burping of the day.  We're always in her room and there's a picture Mike and I made back when we first started dating.  We tell her all the time that we'll add her little hands to the picture when she gets a little older.  Well, the first smiles of the day go to this picture.  She'll look for it on her wall and once she finds it (now she knows exactly where to look), she'll just smile away.  It's so cute but I really wish it was me she was smiling at sometimes.

top middle picture
these are each separate pictures that my previous roommates and I made

K has become quite the Mario Kart expert. She sits on my lap facing me, and with her new-found reaching skills, she grabs the controller and yanks, usually throwing me into walls or off cliffs. She also is really good at hitting he button to release all of my items to attack others. Amazingly enough, we usually come in first or second place every time!

She also was able to successfully grab my bowl of cereal yesterday and spill it all over herself, myself, and the floor. I realize that this is only the beginning of food messes.

In other news, I am loving the 10+ hours of sleep she gets every night. I only wish I could sleep as much as she does - a nap before almost every meal plus at least 10 hours of sleep each night? I'd much rather do that than the dishes and laundry everyday.

Today, Mario Kart Wii came in the mail.  We got an amazing steal on the game and I'm glad we were up at midnight checking prices or we would have not found our game at such a low cost.  Anyway, we had to play it tonight.  K was sitting on my lap in between games and Mike held out the steering wheel controller and guess what happened!  K put out her little hand and arm, reached for it, and grabbed onto it all on purpose!  She's our growing little girl!

Yesterday I was in Spanish Fork for work.  As I was driving home, Mike told me about how K was rolling over on her mat.  Like actually rolling over without any help from Mike.  This isn't the first time that she has rolled over while I haven't been home and I'm mostly disappointed.  Apparently she only likes rolling over for Mike.  Lucky guy!

Sometimes being a parent is a real bummer.  Okay, I've only been one for 3 1/2 months but now that K has an actual schedule each day, it's really effected me and my schedule. 

I have a couple of experiences that demonstrate this from the past week.

One:  There was this fundraiser up in Kaysville this past Friday that I really wanted to go to ... the guitarist from Dashboard Confessional ... but I have this baby and finding someone to watch her last minute so we could go just wasn't an option for us.  So we stayed home.  Well, kind of.  I had a staff meeting, then we had family pictures, then we had to go eat at Thai Ruby, but by dinner time, we would have been late anyway.

Two:  Sometimes there's friend-gatherings that I would really like attend but it's tough when we need to be home before 9 pm to start getting K ready for bed. 

I guess really, it's just a tough transition to get used to.  Sometimes I really miss the days when Mike and I would decide we wanted to go somewhere, do something, so we just got up and left.  Now we have to think about feedings, naps, and if K is even going to want to be there with us.  Will we be able to keep her in her car seat or will we need to carry her because she gets upset if she wants to see things and she can't?

But no matter how many hard times there are, we sure do love her and are so grateful for her.  Plus who doesn't love being asked every week, "Is she real?  She looks like my doll ..."  And I'm grateful for those people because now I know what she's going to be tonight for the Family Night Out.