Snow Babies!

Blakely's great-grandmother (Nee Nee) got her and Lexie Kate snowsuits for Christmas. The weather has been so warm that I was wondering if she would get to use it this winter. Then lo and behold, we got 4 inches of snow last night. She looked so cute in her little snowsuit. As much as I hate cold weather and snow, I wouldn't mind it snowing again this winter so I can see my little snow bunny in her suit some more.

With cousin Lexie Kate!

8 Months Old!

 Oh my beautiful baby is growing so much! This past month, she has hit a few very special milestones. She crawled for the first time last Monday and you could not have met two parents who were more proud. Kevin and I were sitting with her in her room trying to get her to crawl. After a few unsuccessful attempts, and some bribing with her pacifier, she finally started going forward.


On Tuesday, she started standing up when placed against furniture. She can't pull up yet but I'm sure it won't be long. She is also going from a crawling position to sitting on her butt. That is really nice whenever she's playing in her pack and play with her toys. Before now, every time she fell over, Kevin and I would have to put her back in a seated position, but now she can do it herself.




 She has also started to really recognize Kevin and me. Luckily, she doesn't have stranger anxiety and will go to just about anyone, but when Kevin and I return to pick her up from the church or gym nursery, she starts waving her arms and yelling in excitement. It completely melts my heart!

We went to the doctor last week and she now weighs 17 pounds. She's still not sleeping through the night but it is getting much better. She sleeps until about 3:00 or 4:00 then quickly eats her bottle and is back to sleep. I'm hoping that maybe in the next few months, she won't be getting up at all.





 One milestone she recently hit (it's been a while in the making) is Blakely finally has some teeth!!! She's been showing signs of teething for months now but no buds were appearing. Then a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law said she felt little teeth and sure enough a few days later, some popped through. She looks so stinkin' adorable with her two bottom teeth. I haven't felt any more teeth but I know they'll be coming soon enough.

My sweet little Blakely, you are mommy and daddy's pride and joy. Thank you for filling our lives with so much laughter, excitement, and wonderful memories!! You are truly the greatest gift God has given us. We love you so much!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes and Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcakes on Pinterest the other day and just had to try it. I also wanted to experiment a little so I created a chocolate cupcake with whipped chocolate ganache filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. Yum yum yum!!
Luckily I have 100 kids at school who love cupcakes so I can make a bunch and not worry about them lingering around my house.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
I've posted the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes before but here it is again.
Makes 24 standard-size cupcakes

• 1¾ cups plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
• 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
• 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1¾ cup caster (superfine granules) sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ¾ cup sour cream, room temperature
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.  Line 2 standard muffin tin pans with paper liners, set aside.
2. Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt into a medium-sized bowl.  Whisk together until well combined, set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined, scraping sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
4. Reduce to low-medium speed and add the eggs one-at-a-time, and beat until well combined after each addition, scraping sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
5. Add the sour cream and vanilla and continue to beat on low-medium speed until combined, scraping sides of bottom of bowl as needed.
6. Reduce speed to low, add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, and mixing until just incorporated after each.
7. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.
8. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centres comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.
9. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool for a few minutes.  Remove cupcakes from tins and return to wire racks to cool completely.

**Dig a little out of the middle of the cupcakes and fill them with the whipped chocolate ganache.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

• 2 2/3 cups of milk chocolate chips
• 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla

1. Heat the whipping cream on the stove.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl.
3. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until the chocolate is melted. Then add the salt and vanilla.
 Mix well.
4. Let it chill for at least 1 hour then mix with a beater until it makes a nice mousse.

Vanilla Buttercream

• 3 cups of confectioner's sugar
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 4-5 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

1. Beat the sugar and butter until it is crumbly.
2. Add heavy cream, salt, and vanilla until mixture is smooth.




Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes (original blogger)

Cupcakes
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
**1/4-1/2 cup of milk

Frosting
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar,
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cupcakes

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour. **I added milk because the filling was too sticky. The milk did a great job of making it creamier.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

Frosting

Beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Enjoy!!

6-7 months!

Christmas morning!

I've been a little slack in putting updates for Blakely so I'll combine 6 and 7 months. She has done so much growing lately that I'm beginning to see her go from baby to little girl. I tell her every day that she needs to slow down a bit. :)

For Blakely's first Christmas, we had all sorts of family come in from out of town. My parents came from South Dakota, my brother came from South Carolina, and my grandfather came from Atlanta, Georgia. It was so wonderful having everyone here! The day after Christmas, I drove with Blakely and my parents down to Atlanta so we could spend some time with my parent's families. Kevin had to work so he wasn't able to go. We were there for a week and had a wonderful time. Blakely enjoyed getting lots of attention and my parents enjoyed spending so much time with her. On New Years Eve, we drove back to Richmond and they flew back to SD on New Year's Day. As always, it was hard telling them goodbye but we have already made plans to go out there in April so it won't be too long before we see them again.

Silly Daddy!

Now for a few Blakely highlights. She is now a rolling machine and will go from one side of the room to the other in no time. I have to keep a very close eye on her and will need to start baby proofing the house soon. She is scooting backwards a lot but has yet to figure out how to go forwards. I think it's hard for her since we have hardwood floors throughout the house. She does this funny thing where she gets in a pushup position and then goes into the yoga pose downward dog. I'm thinking she will crawl using her feet rather than her knees.

with Daddy and his cousins

We've been trying all sorts of new foods lately. She loves bananas and pumpkin. She's not so sure about blueberries and peas but I make most of her food myself so I think it's the textures rather than the taste that she's not crazy about.  She still doesn't have any teeth but that's just fine with me since she likes to gnaw on my fingers. Teeth would make that much more painful.

Blakely with Lexie Kate

She's still not sleeping through the night although we are starting to make progress. She still wakes up at least once a night to eat around 2-3 am. The doctor said that as long as I keep feeding her at night, she's going to keep waking up. So I guess I'm encouraging the behavior but some nights it's just so much easier to give her what she wants and get her back to sleep so mommy can get some sleep as well.

"Hey buddy! You still down there?"

A few weeks ago she started saying da-da all the time but has yet to say mama. Kevin absolutely loves hearing her say da-da and I know it will totally melt my heart when she says mama for the first time.
As always, she is the joy of our lives. Watching her grow and learn new things is the highlight of my life.