Hard At Work In Grandpa's Office

"Let's look at that TPS report."

"I want THIS much of a raise Grandpa!"

Hard at work already!

Yummy!

As most of you know, we're not planning to start Matilda on baby food until March when she's 8 months old. But last weekend she needed help only prunes could give, so, she got some prunes. The mess was epic, and hilarious. Here's her first time:

Which would you choose?

I know that every parent thinks their baby is beautiful, but I'm pretty sure mine is and I've decided to enter her in a beautiful baby contest. The prize is a $125,000 college scholarship.
So, help me out--look at the pictures on the blog from this month, or look at my favorites in the Kodak Gallery and let me know which picture you would choose to enter in the contest!
(click on the underlined text to follow the links to pictures)

7 Months

Matilda is 7 months old today.

Socks, they're not just for wearing anymore!

No longer content to just wear her socks, Matilda has resorted to playing with them and even trying to eat them.

Friday Funny

Dada

Matilda said her first word this morning--"dada." What a happy surprise!

What?

Just because it's a cute picture.

Rockin'

Matilda is getting old enough to enjoy "adventure" now. She likes to be (gently) tossed in the air, she likes to dance, be held upside down, and now she likes to ride her rocking horse.

Balancing Act

Matilda is able to stand and play with toys now--her balance has improved enough that she'll stay up as long as she is holding on with one hand.

Out to Lunch

We took Matilda out to lunch yesterday and she got to sit in a big-girl high chair at the restaurant for the first time.

This is what she did:








Yes, I cleaned it first.

Cute, soft, and cost-effective!

I know this probably seems crazy to a lot of you, but after doing considerable research, I've decided that cloth diapering is the best thing for our family right now. Matilda's sensitive skin seems to be bothered by all diapers except Pamper's Swaddlers, and they only go up to size 2, which she is already in. Cloth diapers are softer and aren't full of all kinds of chemicals that are in the other diapers that are bothering her skin. Also, turns out they are much more economical! With a coupon it costs about $22 to diaper Matilda in disposables for 7-9 days. So for the cost of less than 3 months of disposable diapering I've purchased all the supplies to make her cloth diaper stash--and even better, they're one size fits all and durable enough to last through 2 children! I'm happy with the savings... and they're SO cute!
Here's the first diaper I made, and Matilda modeling it:

The diaper and matching wipe (this is a fitted pocket diaper I made from a free Rita's Rump Pocket pattern)


Matilda showing off her fluffy butt:




Good to go with her Thirsties cover (a hand-me-down gift from a friend)

About those teeth

So Matilda's first tooth broke through on Christmas Eve. But it's been really difficult to catch a picture of the little thing.
Now she has two teeth, and it's still been hard to capture them because she's usually like this:



Or this:



But, here they are! For the first time appearing on the blog, Matilda's two teeth!

pfffft!

Matilda has begun to mimic, and is really getting a kick out of sticking out her tongue.

See how Daddy does it?


Matilda can do it too!*


Look at these goofs!


*I don't know why that text links to the picture... just does.

Precious

She just fell asleep playing. awwwww.

MMMMMMMonday!

This one is special and decadent, and would be great to have whenever, or consdier for Valentine's Day! Because I love you all, I'm sharing this with you. You're welcome.

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
Brownies:
1 stick butter
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Heavy pinch of salt
1/2 c. flour

Cheesecake filling:
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp flour
1/2 c. preserves

Preheat oven to 350
Melt butter, stir in cocoa powder.
Add sugar.
Beat in eggs and vanilla
Stir in flour until combined.
Batter will be thick
Spread into a greased 8x8 pan

Meanwhile, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and flour in another bowl.

Pour the "cheesecake" batter over the brownie batter in the pan.
Spoon on the preserves (I like cherry, raspberry and strawberry would probably be really good too).
I like to spoon it on in rows.
Draw a knife slowly back and forth through all the layers to "marble" the brownies.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
I would share a picture but we already ate them all.

Enjoy!

Sporty

Matilda is rocking the Adidas track suit Uncle Eric and Aunt Kim gave her for Christmas--too cute!

Time to Wake Up!

So cute asleep! but it's time to wake up...


What are you doing?!


Just give me a second to stretch. I'm not happy about you waking me up!


Alright, good to go!

Play date

On New Year's Day Matilda and I drove up to Milwaukee to visit my friend, Jess, and her daughter, Hailey. Hailey was born 2 days before Matilda and Jess and I met while we were both expecting and became friends bonding over our pregnancy experiences.
It was so cute to see the girls together. Jess and I got them matching tops to wear for pictures--but it's really hard to get a picture of 2 six-month-old babies smiling at the same time!
Hailey was really interested in Matilda and wanted to be touching her whenever they were close. Matilda was really interested in Hailey's toys! They both were interested in the football bowl game that was on tv when we tried to take this picture:

Pals

Matilda totally owns Romper now. He doesn't move when she gets close. He's soooo submissive and she's so curious. I never would have guessed that Laddie would be the one who was more interested in Matilda than Romper! Matilda, of course, is crazy about both of them!