Shameless

In my clipboard for work I keep a few pictures of Matilda, mostly to make me smile whenever I open it and see her smiling face. But I have to admit, I love it when others see the pictures and tell me how cute she is! I have grown accustomed to automatically following the thank you with "she got her eyes from her daddy," as that question always follows the "she's so cute."

10 Months Old

Into Everything

These days Matilda is into just about everything, especially the things she's not supposed to be into (if you look closely at the first picture, you'll notice she's actually standing in the freezer). We've fashioned a barrier of sorts in front of the Christmas tree, which helps a little. What does not help at all is the fact that the kitties like to hide beneath the tree, which makes trying to get over the barrier twice as tempting for Mattie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mattie really enjoyed her first Thanksgiving, especially the pumpkin pie!

Nine Month Stats

Today was Matilda's 9 month doctor appointment. She weighed in at 17 lb 2 oz (14th %ile) and was 28.25 inches long (64th %ile). Thankfully, she only had to get one shot. And it looks like we can add waving to her list of new things she learned!

Mattie and Santa

There's something oddly familiar about that Santa!

Peek a Boo

It seems like every time we turn around these days Matilda is learning or doing something new! She's gradually getting more new finger foods like Cheerios and crackers and today we gave her a sippy cup for the first time. (She was more interested in the noise it made when she shook it then trying to drink from it.) She has definitely mastered crawling, much to the cats dismay. And much to her parents dismay, she can already climb up stairs! Matilda is starting to grasp the concept of raising her arms to "so big" and just yesterday she started lifting a blanket up and down in front of her face for a fun game of peek a boo (as you can watch below)!

The Joys of Babyproofing

Yesterday morning I went in to get Matilda out of her crib and found her standing up! So, Matt & I had the fun job of taking apart her crib to lower the mattress all the way down. We also went out and bought a gate to keep her out of the kitchen when we're not in there and those fun little latches to keep cabinet doors closed. We've already installed the electrical outlet covers. (I can't wait to see how many nails I break getting those things out!) I just wish we could find something to keep Mattie from undoing her left-side diaper tab when I'm trying to get her changed!

Nine Months Old

Crawling

Here are two videos of Matilda crawling. She sometimes does this strange little crawl where she keeps her one foot on the ground and drags her other leg. We're guessing she does this because she would rather be walking.

What's New with Matilda

Now that Mattie is getting all sorts of different baby food, she's learned that her vitamins taste nasty. This makes giving them to her every morning a challenge, especially since they stain clothing so easily! Speaking of challenges, this morning Mattie woke up early, so I had to try and get ready with her out of her crib. Not an easy task since she has pretty much mastered crawling! Now that she's crawling pretty well, we're trying to give her some solid foods. Her first ceral puff didn't go too well (there was some "choking" involved), but she since that first one she's gotten better at "chewing" the puffs. Matilda has also discovered that she doesn't like her hat and mittens, but loves looking at herself in the mirror. And some mornings she greets us sitting up in her crib (as seen in the last picture). I'm just so amazed at how quickly she's growing and changing!

Mattie's First Halloween

Matilda had a very enjoyable first Halloween. She visited with family to show off her little lamb costume and then helped mom & dad hand out candy (Halloween isn't very complicated when you can't walk!).

How Time Flies!

Two years ago...

One year ago...

This year..

Fall Fun

Give the Girl a Hand

Matilda's very busy week concluded with her discovering how to clap!

Really On the Move

Looks who's starting to "crawl!"

Big Kitty

Yesterday was Matilda's first trip to the zoo. She started laughing when we took her inside the monkey building to the first exhibit. I was amazed since the monkeys really weren't doing anything, then I realized she was laughing at her own reflection! She eventually started to look at the animals, but I think she enjoyed watching all the people more than the animals.

Eight Months Old

And getting her first set of teeth! We first felt Mattie's teeth on Monday and they have already broken through. Thankfully she hasn't been too crabby through the teething. She prefers to chew on her arm rather than a teething ring. Matilda is also becoming much more mobile. She's still not crawling yet, but she likes to pull herself up to standing on the furniture (or our legs) and sometimes she'll even take a few steps while holding onto the couch! We're starting to wonder if she's going to skip crawling and go straight to walking.

Poor Kitty

While Mattie's week was rather uneventful, mine was terrific! I went to the New Kids on the Block concert Friday night! There's something very amusing about thousands of late-twenty, early thirty year old women who are away from their husbands and kids for a night. I have to admit I felt really old when I saw that along with t-shirts, there were NKOTB onsies for sale (and no, even though I was tempted, I did NOT buy one)!

Go Blue (Devils)

On Friday we took Matilda to her first football game at her Dad's high school alma matter. She loved it! There was so much to look at and hear. She especially loved the cheerleaders with their shiny and crinkly pom-poms. The only bad part was that Dad forgot that Brunswick's fight song is the fight song of a certain state college in Columbus, so he had to cover her ears whenever Brunswick scored a touchdown and played the song.

Fun Times

While Matilda doesn't always like to be in her exersaucer, she was absolutely loving it today! (Sorry about the orientation of the 2nd video, I didn't realize you can't turn the camera when recording a video.)

Random Thoughts

Matilda LOVES Elmo! I usually feel a tad guilty when we let Mattie watch TV, but the way she gets so excited when Elmo comes on, I can't help but turn on Sesame Street! Recently Mattie has started to grab things with her finger and thumb rather than her whole fist. She has also started to enjoy baby foods with more than one ingredient. I guess this means that it won't be too long before she starts getting some finger foods! She's still not crawling, but I don't think that's too far away, which means we should probably start baby proofing the house.

Road Trip

This past weekend Matilda went on her first road trip to Michigan to meet more of her family. Matt and I were both pleasantly surprised with how well she did sitting in her car seat for hours. She didn't get very fussy until we were almost to our destination (and when she was getting hungry, but that's nothing new). Overall it was a very nice trip and visit!