Update

Clare is our little chunky-monkey! She is a whopping 18lbs, 8 oz, which is the 43% percentile. She is only 26.5 inches long, so that's in the 12%. She had her 9 month appointment today and was super excited until the shot part. She thought the nurse was fantastic. So much so, that the nurse wound up carrying her to the scale for her weight check and back again. I'm not sure if it was the all of the cool toys the nurse was wearing or just someone fun in general. Clare was less than amused at the end when the nurse came back with a shot. Clare knew right away this was going no where good and through a fit before she stuck the needle in. The nurse was the recipient of a very unfriendly face. Clare makes the same facial expressions towards people that I do. Amusing now, probably not so much when I'm on the receiving end. All in all, a good visit. She is above average in the majority of her benchmarks!
There is one benchmark that she did fail. The question was: Does she get excited when you say the words bye-bye. Well, she does not get excited, because we don't use that phrase. The nurse and Pedi mentioned it. I had to explain we don't say that because we have 200lbs of dog that go crazy when they hear that expression, so Clare never really hears bye-bye. So, sadly Bean and Babby have already cost Clare an A+ at her 9 month check-up.
In other news, Chris and Clare had a great weekend with out me. They baby proofed some of the house. I'll be sure to post pictures tomorrow or Friday. Overall, they did just fine for 4 days together and the house did not burn down. Becky and I had a great time on our "road" trip from Philly to Austin. Although I was always fairly sure I would never like to move to Arkansas, it was confirmed with this trip. Texas was pretty though. I was very hung up on how skinny the cows were. I really thought cows were much fatter. Like ginormously fat was my expectation. So all and all, we had a great week!
I'll post pics before the end of the week. Clare and I are both very tired from today's appointment. It may be nap time....