The longest post E-V-E-R...

Seriously though, this could very well turn into the longest post with the most run on sentences, ever. So, in advance, please feel free to glance at the pics, skim the text and move on. I'll understand.

I'm going to start backwards, since it's really the only way for me to remember all that we've done in the last few days/week:)

Thursday: Clare and her cousins all went to the park. Clare, loving the swings, showed up this little smarty pants girl, who called Clare a "little baby brother" one too many times. In fairness to this little girl, she had a little brother herself. However, Clare was in all pink. And I'm (maybe) just a a little overly sensitive to the boy/girl thing. Clare only avoided the pink headband because she had an adorable hat to match the outfit (Thanks again to the Webb's-this outfit was a gift from them and it fits perfectly. The shoes are the only ones that stay on her feet right now and being pink match about 99% of her outfits). So, I'm just not following how this little girl thought she was a boy. To be fair, (to me, not this gender confused child) this kid was at least 6 or 7. Way to old to be confused. So, Clare was loving the swings with her cousin Emily swinging next to her, her cousin Sammy watching and her other cousin Sierra pushing her. Well, this other little girl (who, for mental picture sake had a super bad boy haircut, just sayin') was scared of the swings. So Clare, my 10 month old (yikes!) was going higher than her. That made me giggle. However, I'm a bad parent like that. I'm also realizing that playgrounds are like high school, with little people. Clare and I also went to the ghetto Kmart to do some coupon shopping. Just to brag for a hot second, we spent $23 on a new lemonade pitcher, 2 body washes, facial cleanser, deodorant (3), baby powder, shampoos (it's a sickness), Qtips, Pringles and other fun stuff. It was clearly double coupon days at Kmart. Clare was an angel the entire time, screaming at children as they ran by and attempting to pull the tags off the shelves.

Tuesday: We went to Clare's first Phillies game! Clare was having a very exciting week with Aunt Erin and Uncle JR. We all went to see the Phillies and the Reds (which was not the night the Reds lost 22--1). The Reds came out on top and it was a good game with decent seats. Clare had lots of yummy stuff, including hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries. She loved watching all of the crazies at the game and fell asleep sitting up! Aunt Erin and Uncle JR also went down to Wildwood with Clare and I. She had lots of fun on the beach. I tried to sit on the edge and the let the waves hit her. She was not a fan. She loves the water and loves the waves. However, it scared the bejeezus out of her. She was only comfortable letting the waves hit her if I was holding her. Otherwise she was scramble to climb up me, pulling my top off in the process (nice, huh?). So, for the sake of decency laws, I held her in the water. She is no longer curious about the sand, she crawled all over the beach (the past few trips she stayed on our beach towels and just played with the sand on the edge). We also walked the boardwalk and had some yummy boardwalk pizza, which is Clare's favorite. My child will fight you for a bite of pizza. She's slightly aggressive.

Monday: We all went out to dinner at the uptown Italian BYOB hole in the wall. Always yummy food. Clare had a good time. She only threw some of her food onto the floor. Then, Clare stayed home with one her favorite baby sitters, Aunt Jessica, while we all went to AC to gamble.

Sunday: We went to Philly to do the historic tours. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (Well, most of us saw that. Clare wasn't feeling that tour from the word go, so she and I sat in the square and had puffs and a bottle), Elferth's alley, Ben Franklin's grave and all that fun stuff. Clare had a great time. She fell asleep sitting up, with her head propped up on her tray in the front of the stroller.

Saturday: We went to Aunt Ginny's house for a BBQ, which was so much fun. Then it was off to Grandmom Bohl's for the parade and fireworks. Clare's favorite (person? animal? monster?) was in the parade, Elmo. She was very excited and unsure about the whole situation. I'm not sure if it's because he lives in her tv and she wasn't sure how he got out or if she wanted to eat him, like she does her Elmo here at the house. She just stared at him. Daddy and her were in a picture with Elmo, but Daddy looks "not typical" in the picture, so it will take some fancy editing to fix it for now. Clare fell asleep during the fireworks. She was in Aunt Erin's lap, with Aunt Erin blocking her ears and fell asleep within 20 minutes. She was so tired:)

Friday: Clare had her very first cheese steak at Geno's. As a typical Jersey girl, she loved it!

So, that was our week in reverse. I'll be sure to post updates next week and then it's time for another visit: Aunt Heather and Aunt Lisa! Clare is one very lucky girl:)

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

9 Month Pictures

Another Great Week...

Clare had a very fun weekend! Nana and Pop-Pop were in visiting for the weekend and we went lots of fun places. On Saturday, we headed down to Ocean City to visit with Clare's Great Aunt Anna Marie, Great Uncle Mark and her cousins Juliana and Jessica. It was so much fun! We hung out on the beach all day and went to the boardwalk for dinner. Clare had very yummy funnel cake, boardwalk pizza and salt water taffy. Pizza was the winner, by far. You can't cut up the crust fast enough for her. She's a little eating machine. On Sunday, we had Great Great (to Clare at least) Aunt Andrea's surprise 70th birthday party. Clare was of course adorable. Afterwards we went into the city to China Town for fantastic Chinese food. Clare was a huge fan. Loved the wonton wrappers. Egg rolls, not so much. But she thought the Clare sized cups were so much fun.
It was a great weekend!

Clare does have some exciting news. She is cutting her first tooth. I'm fairly certain it's to help her eat more pizza, but she has a small bump coming in on the bottom row. Prior to cutting her first tooth, she would let us see in her mouth. Now, she fights us to look inside. I'm hoping this is why we've spent the last 3 weeks (give or take a few days) needing a midnight or 3 am bottle. Clare slept through the night fairly young (8 weeks) so I'm less than amused at 3 am to be up.

Chris and I also added another addition to the Miller family: A mini van! I am a little sad at the responses I received last week when I called to tell people. Apparently, minivans are not cool. What kinda crap is that? It's the coolest. Chris of course continues to refer to it as the "Cadillac of Minivans", a movie reference I do not get (per usual). We thought everyone would be thrilled to be seen riding in our minivan. Yet everyone we told laughed at us. Minivans are not amazing? I missed this memo. I've wanted a minivan my whole life! It was really nice to be able to have room for 8 people to go places. With company in town all summer and us always traveling back and forth to Ohio (and Hilton Head this summer:) it will be nice to have extra room to spread out. Chris was a little sad to see his SUV go, but even he enjoys driving the minivan.

So all and all a great week here in the Miller household! Hope everyone had a great weekend and I'll be sure to post Clare's pics from her 9 month photo's on here soon (I pick them up tomorrow:)!

Congrats to the Johnson's!

Congrats to the Johnson Family on their new arrival!
We can't wait to meet your little bundle of joy!
Hugs, The Millers!

Long Post to Follow:

I know, I know. I've been very behind on the blog thing lately. With it being summer and all, it's tough to be motivated to be inside. Although, I do hate the sun, so I'm not quite sure how much sunscreen one person can wear. Clearly not enough, because my back is totally burnt. If you've been able to avoid my calls about this burn, you should consider yourself fortunate. We are now in the "peel" stage of the burn. Yummy.
Clare had a great week last week. Grandma and Grandpa Richardson were here for a WHOLE week! Grandpa Kevin helped us re-do the upstairs bathroom. He and Chris tiled the entire surround and it looks great! I will post pictures. Very exciting stuff. Grandma Dawn and I wanted to get out of dodge while the boys were working upstairs, so we escaped to the shore. It was a great day (minus the moron who forgot to put sunscreen on her back). The best part is that the baby and I share our 80 SPF:) Clare is such a water girl! She loved the shore. She thought the waves were so much fun, she was screaming at them the entire time. She wanted to eat the sand and all and all just had so much fun. We went down and visited Steph at her family's place in Stone Harbor and Clare was very excited to see her. Steph's cousin has a great pool that is heated (Beth-you'll appreciate this: She waits until her husband leaves and turns up the pool heater. She almost was caught yesterday because she left in on all night and it was up to 91 degrees. The air outside was cool, so it was pouring steam) really well, so her cousin Lee took Clare swimming. She loved it! She was splashing her hands in the water and trying to dive head first right in! Very cute stuff. It does totally burn me for the fall. I had sort hoped that if she hated the water, we could wait on swim lessons.
* I assumed that Chris, being an Aquatics Director, would be the one to take her to swim lessons. I hate the water. I didn't want a multi-head shower, because I need the water to come from one source at all times so I can block it. I shower with my eyes closed. I don't put my face in the pool. I assumed wrong. I have to take her to swim lessons. Chris's facility doesn't keep the pool warm enough for little kids. Boo doesn't begin to decribe my crabiness at this. So, this fall Clare and I will be in swim lessons. Awesome.*
So, Clare=loves water. On Tuesday it was off to the mall to avoid the boys, where I was on a mission for a dress for her 9 month pictures. Clare's favorite store? The jewelry store. I was fighting to death at gymboree to make it through the stroller jungle, so my Mom took Clare around the mall. She was very excitied by the jewelry. Sat right up and paid attention in that store. FYI, I'm blaming her Nana. Just sayin'. Wednesday we visited Aunt Ginny for a really great lunch. On Thursday Clare had her nine month pictures. Super cute. They'll be in the 30th, so I'll be sure to scan and post soon. We went back to Target and Chris met us there on his lunch break. Mr. Lighting Designer wound up re-lighting the shoot. Super fun. The poor girl working there was excited by the advice, which only encourages him. The pictures are so cute, that Target asked me to sign a release to use them:) So, it was confirmed by a non-family member that my kid is pretty cute. Friday, Grandma and Grandpa headed back down to the shore with out Lobster Back Mommy and Clare to enjoy a few more hours on the beach before heading back to land-locked Ohio. Clare was very sad to see them leave. So sad in fact, that about 2 hours before they left, she woke up and flipped out. I mean, flipped out. We still have no idea what the problem was. It did result in Chris and I both getting up after about 30 minutes of her fighting Chris to death not to sleep. He had changed her, feed her, changed her pj's after he spilled milk on them, rocked her, etc. She was not going for it. She was really upset. When I came in, she yelled some more. I do think she recognizes "unfriendly Mommy" so she gave in when I was so cheerful with rocking her. I think she knows a lost cause when she sees one.
In her list of accomplishments for this week: Clare can stand on her own now for quite awhile. She just lets go of things and hangs out for a bit. She can also (thanks again Grandma:) climb an entire flight of stairs. She has started saying DaDa. All fun stuff:)
So, Chris is sleeping in this morning on his first Father's Day. Clare is playing in Baby jail. I'll add pictures before I post.
'

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....

Hope the house doesn't burn down....

Well, I'm off to Texas with Becky tomorrow bright and early. Chris and Clare are all set for some Daddy time. I'm sure it will be a wild party at our house this weekend. Unlike college with beer bottles and left over pizza on the floor, I'm sure it will be baby bottles, gerber food jars and puffs. Let's hope the house is still standing!
In other news, our poor kitty Tiger has to be put to sleep tonight. He has a very aggressive form of cancer and it can't wait for me to return home on Monday. He was the best cat and we'll miss him.