while it would be nice if Doctor and River's timelines were a simple reversal in order, I do think they do a lot of skipping around-- which makes it even more complicated for us, gah! :)

Personally, I prefer the hopping and skipping around (within reason) though that's mostly because I don't like to think that the first two episodes of the season is one of the last times River sees the Doctor because it makes me so damn sad.