Tuesday, December 16, 2008

When You're Smiling

It would seem as though I prefer videos to just posting a plethora of pictures. (I know, people overuse "plethora" to the point where it has become cliche, but I'm still using it for the sake of alliteration.) At least for now I prefer videos. I may change my opinion later, or tomorrow, or whenever. You people should know by now that you get no guarantees from this guy.

So yeah, just one more piece of evidence that my daughter is the ne plus ultra of baby beauty.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Fat Bottomed Girl

We just had Matilda's four-month checkup on Friday, December 12. One would never think that such a chunk of a baby could have come from my petite little wife, but it is true--we have a heifer child. We are practicing telling her that it is okay to be portly, since obesity is undeniably her density. (<--Intentional spelling error for comedic effect. Geez, do I really have to spoon-feed you people everything?)

After the doctor used a pulley device and two nurses to haul her lardness onto the scale, she broke it. They eventually had to bring out two scales and weigh her half at a time. When all was said and done, she weighed 11.02 pounds (5th percentile) and was 23 inches long (1oth percentile). Her 5-day younger cousin, Andrew, is going to have some catching up to do if he does not want to forever live in the literal shadow of our tubby Tilly. I heard that last week his parents had him weighed, and he weighs under 17 pounds. I guess some kids are just small.

Enjoy the video.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

I meant to briefly (not boxerly) mention Halloween and move on, but then this happened. Maybe I'll post about Thanksgiving by Easter.

First things first. Here are some pictures of my daughter, Matilda, of whom I am the world's biggest acolyte. Even when that girl just don't want to be sleeping, I cannot help but smile at her. Most of the time she will smile back, too! And I tell you what, one of my favorite things has become going to see her in the morning. Often she will wake up and just coo and goo and fart, but not really cry yet. She just sits and stares at the polka dots on her bedding, the ceiling fan (which she thinks is funny for some reason), or her fist. If I can catch her when she is in such a state, I just poke my head over the side of her crib and wait until she sees me. As soon as she does, the biggest and warmest smile engulfs her face. Even her ears smile at me. Can a person's ears smile? I did not think so, but then Matilda's did at me. Then I saw her ears, now I'm a believer without a trace of doubt in my mind. I'm in love. I'm a believer. I couldn't leave her if I tried.

If you want to hear more about what we did on All Hallows Eve, I refer you to Allison and Camie. Both documented the evening's events more than adequately. I have nothing to add. I do wish to note that Megan sewed Matilda's witch hat by herself (no patterns, pictures, or anything but brain power to work from) while we watched Hocus Pocus on the 30th. I helped by having bought the dress (on super-sale at Hanna Andersson) and the pants (on super-sale from Old Navy). I didn't have the whole costume in mind when I bought those things, but everything came together nicely into the cutest little witch ever. If I were to write a book about her in Italian, it would be called La Bella Bambina Streghina. And without further ado, the Halloween pics.

I put a spell on you...

...and now you're mine!!

The witch on white. Almost sounds like a sandwich, eh?

Joel-Bone, Strega-Tilly, and Samnocchio. All three in costumes lovingly sewn (at least in part) by their wonderful mothers. And Paddington Bear wanted to play too. Happy 50th, PB!!

I'm pretty sure she is thinking, "I could turn you into a pumpkin seed if I wanted. A purple pumpkin seed. A polka-dotted, pansy-purple, prissy, prancing, prickly, pimply, partially-hydrogenated pumpkin seed. If I wanted to. Lucky for you I do not. Not at this time, anyways."

Last cute picture of Witchy Matilda. She used to twitch a lot while sleeping as a newborn. I joked that I was going to nickname her "Twitch". Too bad she stopped, otherwise I could have called her "Twitch the Witch". This is my favorite of the Halloween pics, by the way.

And finally, my Mario pumpkin. There's a little "M" on his hat that you cannot see from this angle. I roasted his seedy guts and ate them. They were delicious. Better watch your back, Luigi.

I was about to go on with this post, but I have decided not to. Enjoy what I have provided you with. Don't be greedy.

P.S. If any of you want a great scary movie, watch The Innocents (1961) with Deborah Kerr. We did not get it in time from Halloween from Netflix, but it gave us a good scare the following Tuesday.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Saturday Muffin Adventure

We did not have the ingredients for pancakes on Saturday, November 1, 2008.

So I made muffins instead.

But what does one do when one has just a little bit of extra mix left over--not enough for another batch but too much to throw away?

One uses the mix and then employs equations to figure out how much more oil, water, and egg to add.

But what happens when the extra batter does not fit in the muffin tin and one only has one muffin tin?

One uses a Pyrex bowl to make a MUFFONE!!

And then one makes a video of said muffins dancing.

And then one consumes said muffins.

Enjoy.


Friday, October 31, 2008

Sun Valley and Oregon

Sorry for all of you who have had to look at my ugly drawing of Sarah Palin for so long. I have been busy posting and responding about all matters politico on my blog. And for those of you who I offend with my blatantly pro-Obama and anti-McCain writings, let not your heart be troubled. I am done. I participated in early voting today and cast my vote for Senator Barack Obama. Next Tuesday, McCain will call to concede the election right after California is called for Obama--I'm guessing at 11:00 PM MST. After all is said and done, I plan on turning my blog into a site where you can find reviews of foreign films, or maybe something else.

Last thought...Obama v. Romney 2012. Gonna be good.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging! All things Matilda.

Two weeks ago on Thursday we left for Sun Valley, Idaho. It has become a yearly tradition for my family to go up there for a weekend in October when my dad has work off and my youngest sisters have school off thanks to an educators' conference. It is a beautiful place, and the weather is usually great. We stay at the Sun Valley Inn, which has a circular pool (which they keep at 100+ degrees), bike trails, two ski mountains, and more. We actually got to stay in a lodge this time around, and thanks to Matilda, we three got our own room and bathroom.

Megan and I in a big ol' cowboy chair in downtown Ketchum.

The Murphy Family (less Erinn, who had to work) Yes, I have since gotten the much-needed haircut.

James showing off on his bike.

Tilly demonstrating one of her and her mother's favorite passtime.

Our house - The Guest Lodge


Activities included napping, me running with my brother, me running up Dollar Mountain, the family getting on beach cruisers and heading two miles up the canyon, a smaller part of the family heading 5 miles into the valley (forgetting that we had to ride the slight uphill all the way back), lounging in the pool, eating dinner with some wealthy friends of my dad, and eating some really good Italian pizza at Ricco's (no, Nate, it's not even close to Settebello, but still yummy).

As a side note, I drove our part of the carpool to and from Sun Valley and kept the cruise control set on 65 mph the entire time. Yes, even when the speed limit went up to 75 mph. Do you have any idea how much gas this saved?! A lot. Normally the VW Passat averages 25 mpg, but on this trip we averaged close to 32 mpg. I did the same thing with my Ford Focus on our trip down to St. George in the beginning of October, and my car, which normally averages 27 mpg got 36 mpg. Driving conservatively saves a lot of money. And you are less likely to get pulled over. And believe me, 27 encounters with the fuzz later, who has two thumbs and knows all about getting pulled over? This guy.

Anyway, the next week flew by and on Wednesday night we left for Oregon--flying, not driving. My resolve to only go 65 mph may wane on such a lengthy trip. This was our first time flying with Matilda, and we were a little nervous, but we should not have been. The little pooper slept the whole way from SLC to PDX and then some. She even slept through when we had to put her through the x-ray machine. I hope it didn't mutate her. They told us afterwards that next time we should take her out beforehand. Who knew?

Tilly on the fligh back home from Portland. I know it's a bit out of chronological order, but I needed a picture of Tilda on a plane.


What followed was a fun and relaxing weekend in McMinnville. We enjoyed seeing family, going to our nieces' soccer games, eating at a local Spanish and a beachfront seafood restaurant, decorating cookies and carving pumpkins with Annie, and much more. Sunday morning pancakes were a rousing (not "an arousing", let's be clear) success as I debuted Murphy's Stopped Water flapjacks for the Rudens. I also made some really good baked pumkin seeds from the leftover goop at Annie's Halloween party. I'd give you the recipe for them, but they are so darn good that once one starts comsuption of said seeds, one cannot stop until they're gone. And that's not even mentioning one's resulting offensively stinky excrement. I think it is worth it, but now that we are back in our one bathroom house, Megan is considering filing a motion to explore the option of a temporary outhouse for your's truly. Matilda said that she wouldn't support such a motion, so I'm safe for now, but she does have a history of flip-flopping.

Zach, my nephew, and I took a trip back to the playground where he had fallen five feet, knocked out a tooth, and split his chin not too long ago. The little guy just scrambled right up the offending piece of said playground, only pausing for a moment where the fall happened. I presume he was contemplating if it'd be better to only have one tooth for the next four years or if he should dive through again and try to knock out the other one too. It's not worth it, Zach. The ability to eat an apple is so much more important than symmetry.

The Murphy family at the beach. Matilda's loving that salty sea air.

Andrew is very happy for his cousin Adisyn, who just scored two goals to help her team beat the bigger, stronger green team. Good work, Adi!

Jacie and Zach in the 3-tier structure which robbed the latter of one of his chompers.

I love my nieces and nephews. I love kids in general. You don't have to put up any pretenses. I can just be my goofy, true self and they love it. Whoever invented growing up should be shot. I do prefer to just be around kids, though, without other adults around. I get a little self-concious when people find out that the adult Sean is no more than a carefully not-quite-perfected act. Like when Annie caught me using Ryder's pumpkin to barf guts, or when I got into a name calling rodeo with Zach right before Sunday dinner which quickly spiraled into a jamboree of kids under 6 calling me every name from Poopy-Head to Gramma. Each child got louder and louder until the other more adult adults couldn't help but notice and came to take their respective children away from my bad influence.

I thought that playing in the rabbit hutch was a great idea! Only until their parents came out and told me otherwise. Sorry Jacie and Ryder.


And speaking of nephews, it was great to finally meet Drew-Bob, Dan and Annie's newborn and Tilly's 5-day inferior/5 lb superior cousin. We got some great shots of the two together. Matilda is just about at Andrew's birth-weight and Andrew is well beyond. Putting them together is quite laughable, not only because of the size difference, but also because they just become this octopus of punching and kicking and swinging, taking no notice of each other and often clocking one another in the face and elsewhere.

Tilly and Drew-Bob. Check out the arms and legs. Nuff said.

Another couple cuz pic

And the older cousins too! McKenna and Kale both love Tilly. And she loves them


I was told by a few people recently that my blog is long and wordy. I reviewed how much I wrote on this post alone and almost felt the same shame that I did during the Poopy-Head melee, but then I reread it and thought, "Hey, this is good stuff. Don't start catering. If you do, your Settebello pizza will slowly devolve into a Little Cesear's Hot-N-Ready." For those of you who prefer a Hot-N-Ready, wonderful. I myself enjoy them on occasion. Just do not expect them at this restaurant.

It was sad to say goodbye to Oregon and its scenic foliage, but alas we did. Matilda was awake for the whole flight and just as pleasant as a pumpkin pansy. Everyone who walked by commented on what a good baby she was (most of them said this while levelling a face-melting death glare at the two screamers a couple rows back).

Halloween so far has been great. But I'll kowtow to the appellate of, "The Wordy One" and save that story for another day. Here's a Halloween joke I made up:

Q: What did the pumpkin say when his brother asked if he was excited about Halloween?
A: "I'm pumped, kin!"

Ha ha ha ha ha!!

Well I think I'm funny.

Poopy-Head.

Grandma Judy, Bapa Alan, and Matilda

Little baby Peyton, who is kind enough to donate her clothes to the Tilbert fund after she has outgrown them.

Adisyn holding a cookie she made for Tilly. We crushed it up and put it in her next bottle. She loved it.

The Pirate Pumpkin Percivald, seediest character to sail the seven seas. Also the first Jack-o-lantern to grace the exterior of Alan and Judy's new house. It was my honor creating it.

And finally, here's a video of Tilly's silly reaction to light and dark.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

If you plan on voting McCain/Palin...

...and want my highly valued opinion on the issue, please visit my personal blog at http://seanpatrickmurphy.wordpress.com.

Thank you, my friend. That is all.

P.S. And thanks also to Camie for her dedication and for letting me know about this site. Hopefully my addition, pictured below, will make the cut.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Just to See Matilda Smile

Matilda turned two months old on Sunday! And on Monday, as a birthday present, we decided to paint her room. It was not a bad color, at least if you do not mind a nice masking tape color, but we decided to freshen things up anyway. I have painted quite a few rooms in my life, including the bathroom in our former apartment, but never have I attempted to tackle a room with a 14 foot ceiling. Boo. It felt like I was trying to mop a cafeteria with a toothbrush, or build a sandcastle with tweezers, or mow my lawn with nose-hair trimmers, or win a presidential election by putting Sarah Palin on my ticket--all utterly ineffective activities. After a few hours of back breaking rollering and mind numbing fumes, I thought I was painting rainbows and daisies on turtles' shells with my roller, so I decided to get some French air. (I worked at a group home with a guy, Kenneth, who said he wanted some "French air" whenever he wanted to go outside and I liked it, so now I use it.) The worst part was that I had to prime everything first because of all the crappy patch jobs the former owners did on the walls and blah blah blah...

I'm complaining about painting walls. That's probably about as interesting to most of you as watching said paint dry. I still have one more coat to put on (to keep the walls warm in the winter), and I will post some pictures of the finished product. Matilda seems to like it so far.

Speaking of Matilda, I really enjoy spending time with her now. Not that I did not enjoy it before, it is just that now she will look at you and react to what you do. I am sure that as she becomes even more interactive I will enjoy my time with her even more. All part of the natural progression of things.

My favorite thing to do with her now is have her sitting up against my knees facing me. Most of the time she will focus right in on my face, at which point I will start into a musical series of doos and dees and dahs. I have found that she likes jazz melodies the best, whether they be original standards (i.e. In the Mood) or modified into jazz (I've Been Working on the Railroad, Waltzing Matilda, etc). I will do about ten seconds of a song, usually with her staring intently at my mouth with a furrowed brow and/or a frown. A few seconds after I stop, she breaks into a gigantor grin, and I think I have even gotten a laugh out of her too. That is what we were doing in the video at the end of the following movie (except I muted out all of my noises, leaving only hers). I would do anything to see her smile.



Che bella ragazza! Noi abbiamo quasi finito di leggere "Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale". Non so che faremmo dopo averlo finito, perche quello e l'unico "Harry Potter" libro che ho, e comprare gli altri mi cosarebbero quasi duecentoventi dollari. Menaggia la miseria...

In other news, I have to thank my Brodder-in-Law Nate for taking me to the best Italian pizzeria this side of the pond - Settebello of Salt Lake City. Mammia mia, here I go again. I am a connoisseur of fine pizzas, and this was about as good as it gets. Their margherita is a true Italian margherita in all its simplicity. The flavors of the bianca are bitter, creamy, sweet, and altogether very palatable. I could eat there daily.

Now bear in mind that you will not find a "pepperoni" or "Hawaiian" pizza. If you want deep dish or cheese in the crust, this ain't the place for you, buster. This is for pizza snobs. This is the haute-couture of pizzary. I do not recommend it for all. But if you do go, make a reservation.

Megan and I also gave talks on Sunday on "Salvation and Exaltation". But honestly, I do not feel like writing any more. So I am done.