Lazy Monday Mornings

It seems to be a consistent pattern now that Matilda sleeps in later on Monday mornings. I think she is worn out after so much fun with Dad all weekend. And you would think that since I have recognized this pattern I would use the time to do something productive (i.e. clean bathroom, sort receipts for impending tax appointment, etc.). Surfing the web counts, right. I mean it is vital to find out what the Fug Girls thought of last night's Oscar fashion.

Sleeping Status Update

Thought you all needed more boring sleep details. With a little perspective (and napping) the other night seems not so terrible. M is still sleeping really cruddy, but since she is officially sick now my tolerance of late night-antics is much increased. Last night M woke almost every hour because she can't breathe great with her congestion; but thankfully she settled pretty quickly again most times. She found napping to be fairly unnecessary today and so settled down easy tonight at bedtime.

Other highlights:

• Nose: Snot function engaged


• Mouth: Second tooth broke through today


• Bum: Mark your calendars: "Babies First Turd"


• Feet: Steadier than ever, still prefers to crawl


• Appetite: Raging, even with a cold


• Cuteness: Increasing daily

Worst Night Ever

• 10:00 Start the calming, wind-down process to get girl to bed (started late due to 8pm "nap")
• 11:45 After two torturous hours trying to convince the girl she really does not need my nipple in her mouth the entire night, girl is finally asleep
• 1:30 Awake & Screaming. "Where is that f-ing nipple," she says.
• 2:30 Girl asleep
• 3:45 Mama asleep
• 4:00 Repeat 1:30, both doze off rapidly
• 5:00 Repeat 1:30
• 6:30 Both asleep
• 7:40 Mama up for the day
• 8:54 Girl still sleeping

No such thing?

You only have 4 more hours to get your free dinner....better get in line now! Yummy syrup-y goodness.

Ergo

Matilda is getting too big for the Bjorn, yet still refuses to ride in a stroller, so we just got a new baby-carrying-device this weekend, the Ergo. Here you can see our inaugural stroll. Matilda is still lukewarm on it, but I am sold. It is super comfy on my shoulders and distributes her 20 pounds nicely. My biggest concern was getting her into the thing - it is kind of a juggling trick with the back-carry position. But so far, so good, I mean she only bounced once after the concrete landing.

Bilk

Milk + Beer = Yuck in my book

Valentine's present

Such a generous girl with her zerbert gifts.

Gigi-sitting

Matilda & I were left in charge of Gigi for a couple of hours this morning and everything went quite smoothly. Almost suspiciously smoothly actually, I think Gigi's parents bribed both girls to be extra good so I will volunteer again.

Here you can see Matilda practicing her wrapping technique on baby Gigi. You can tell M has read The Happiest Baby on the Block and is a proponent of swaddling.

Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day from Miss M!

Photo taken this morning as she read her many valentines.

BOB is Back!

For a few weeks now I have been meaning to attempt a run with the jogging stroller after Matilda was worn out from the playground. We finally tried today and it was a big success. M allowed me a 45 minute run and slept peacefully in BOB the entire time. It was so fantastic. I think we will have to make this more of a routine and try to keep that exercise New Years' resolution.

1988

There are no words for this scrapbook scan I stumbled upon tonight.

Curry Love

We discovered tonight Matilda, like her Mama, is a big fan of Indian food. We ordered in from our average neighborhood joint and she was quite pleased so we will have to venture out for the better quality Indian food next time. She had Aloo Gobi, Naan, Samosa, Bharta (my favorite), Chicken Vindaloo and rice. Since there were 6 of us crammed around the dinner table Matilda sat on my lap, rather than in her high chair. Needless to say it was a rather messy endeavor, although the bib and apron did a good job of deflecting most of the curry smear. By the end of the meal only one of us had sauce on their forehead.

Spaceboy

I was very excited to get another pattern from Wee Wonderfuls to challenge my sewing skills. After finishing Spaceboy this week, Matilda & I used him as an excuse to hike up to the Griffith Observatory for some portrait opportunities. We were quite a spectacle trapsing around the place with Matilda in the backpack and me photographing Spaceboy in all sorts of strange places. Then tonight we took Spaceboy to his new home with Gaurav and Sarah. Publicly I said Gaurav got Spaceboy because he was jealous of Sarah's kitty, but really it is just because I feel bad for him that Kesar doesn't like her uncle G.



See more pictures of Spaceboy here at my Flickr pictures and look here to see other people's versions.

Feed Me

At La Cabanita, with food coming at her from both sides.


Sometimes Matilda acts like I am starving her. Tuesday at the library she knocked a 2-year old down to steal her Ziploc bag of Cheerios. This was not the first time she took on an older child and successfully confiscated the snacks. Today while heating up leftover stir-fry for lunch I dropped a single grain of rice on the floor. She spotted it immediately, dropped to her belly, and SUCKED it off of the floor.

These Boots

Matilda's actually using her boots for walking now. She took her first steps last night. A series of 6! Matilda was standing and I squatted down to talk with her and she stunned me by taking 6 little steps towards me! After much praise and dancing around with her in my arms I put her down and she repeated the feat with three more steps. Tim came in the door from work a few minutes later and was overjoyed to hear the news. He seemed only slightly sad to have missed the moment as she immediately demonstrated her new skill for him.

Fe Be Gone

No more iron drops for Matilda. We went for her follow up blood test today and her hemoglobin levels are now outstanding! Thanks goodness too, giving them was terrible for everyone involved. In the past month Matilda grew 1 inch and gained only 1/4 pound. As you can see she is really slimming down and looks so tall to me.



Matilda took both the flu shot and the heel stick for blood like a champ, she didn't even cry. We even got matching band aids from our flu shots. Mother-daughter outfits here we come!

New York Review

The suitcases are finally back in the closet, along with the winter clothes, and we have settled back in here after our extended trip to NY. We had an indescribably wonderful trip with family visiting, beautiful snowy weather and lots of new stimulations for Matilda.

The weather was perfect: snow showers almost daily with clear blue skies in between. Never so much snow that my wimpy California self got nervous driving.













Matilda got her first tooth while in NY and found that a cold donkey-treat was quite soothing to gnaw on. We spotted her second tooth today!






If we had a griddle like at Dad & Kathy's house we would have french toast all the time. It was so awesome to cook 6 pieces at once and not have to eat on lousy slice while waiting for another to cook.


This step stool was the perfect height for Matilda. She would use it as a "walker," driving all around the living room and terrorizing the cats.














Strangely, Matilda was like a different baby in the car in NY. She never cried and fussed like she typically does. Instead she slept for almost every car ride and on a few occasions even fell asleep before we finished buckling her in. We joked that here in LA we should start bundling her up in her winter coat and cranking the AC to simulate the NY environment.

Daddy's Girl

Matilda has become a bit of a daddy's girl this week. It seems like it must be correlated to the fact that we were away from Tim all last week but who knows really - we can never figure out cause and effect with this baby. "Da da" is now the only word she uses consistently, all the time, and in the correct context. She also asks to go to "Da Da" whenever she sees him, gets upset when he puts his shoes on or leaves the room, and goes crazy when he comes home or when she sees him first thing in the morning. It is so sweet.

10 Months Old (last week)

Matilda turned 10 months old last week while in the land of dial up. We were in NY for so long it seems that trip occupies the majority of my thoughts on her last month. The most notable change of the past month is Matilda's desire to eat food now. Here you can kind of see how green Matilda's tongue is. With her newfound love of food we are experimenting with lots of new foods. Someone recommended Veggie Booty, which Matilda immediately developed an addiction for. I have to covertly place the bag into our cart at the store because if she spies the package there is much yelling and demands for immediate snacking.
Here you can see the other major developmental change of this month: standing. Matilda can now stand solo, without holding onto anything. She has also taken a single step on three occasions now so it shouldn't be long until she's running. This last photo seems to sum up the NY trip with both two grandmas and the cat pictured. Matilda was in heaven with all the family, animals, fans, fire and other great things to practice her new pointing abilities on.