9 Months

Sweet Baby Clare is now 9 months old!  This darling baby girl is showing so much personality and she is definitely on the move!  We had a pretty crazy month with a trip to Iowa, Father's Day, the first half of our move to Arizona, and driving to my parents house in Utah where we stayed for the rest of the month.

We did a quick Father's Day celebration (Julian was in turnaround so he had to work the whole day and every day around it) where we made a few crafts for Daddy and then we took him a smoothie at work after church.  Both of my kids adore their awesome daddy and they are truly blessed to have him for their father!  I am so grateful to him for the example that he is to our children and also for how hard he works so that I am able to stay home with our children.  I know how fortunate all three of us are to have him!

Unfortunately, on the day that Clare hit the 8 month mark, Julian's Uncle Herm passed away.  We were very sad to hear that news and we decided to pack up and head to Iowa for a very quick trip so that we could attend his funeral and support Julian's extended family.  I'm very sad that it took a funeral to get us there but it was really nice to finally meet a lot of Julian's aunts, uncles and cousins.  Herm was a Lutheran Pastor and a great man and he will be missed but it helps to know that he has returned to his Saviour.  We drove the 8 hours to Storm Lake, Iowa on a Wednesday and fortunately the kids did better than I expected them to.  Grayson was really quite good and Clare didn't cry too much.  We had to stop more than we would have without kids but overall I was happy with how they did.  Our kids had a great time playing with Julian's cousin's children and I truly enjoyed some great conversations.  Clare really enjoyed playing with the two other babies, one who was 6 weeks older than her and one that is 6 weeks younger than her.  They all climbed all over each other and shared some toys.  Julian's parents had flown out from Phoenix so the kids had a great time seeing them too!  That Friday we drove back to Enid and then I immediately got to packing.

The week following the funeral was pretty crazy because I was trying to pack up as much of our stuff as I could since we are moving to Phoenix.  Julian will be doing the actual move but the kids and I left about a month before him so that we could spend some time with my family.  Julian is doing turnaround right now which means he is working 7 days a week with long hours every day so I wanted to go somewhere where I would have a lot of help with the two little ones.  Since we are trying to sell our house in Enid, I couldn't pack most of the decor but I wanted to get as much of the other stuff taken care of as possible so that Julian would mostly be left with loading boxes into the truck instead of having to pack them.  We are so excited to move to Phoenix and be close to family and friends again!  Oklahoma was very good to us this last year and we are so grateful to the awesome friends that we made!  We will miss the people but I am so excited for our kids to grow up near family.  Also, I'm really excited not to have winter :)

My mom was kind enough to fly out to Oklahoma City and then turn around and fly right back to Utah with Clare so that Clare wouldn't have to do the 16 hour drive with me.  They hit a big snag when they got stuck in Dallas overnight but they made it to Utah the next morning.  My brother David had also flown out with my mom and he drove with Grayson and I to Cheyenne the first day and then on to Utah the next day.  We had so much fun spending the rest of Clare's 9th month in Utah with my family!

We started off by celebrating the 4th of July and Clare was able to meet her great grandmother, whom she is named after.  We enjoyed the holiday with family but we definitely missed Julian!  Both kids have really enjoyed bonding with their grandparents and my siblings.  My sister Courtney was particularly good at what I referred to as "Aunt Courtney naps" where she would get Clare to fall asleep without being attached to me.  Clare has always been a very picky sleeper and she definitely prefers to only sleep on me during the day so it was really nice to get a break while she napped on my sister!

We took the kids to the farm at Thanksgiving Point and Clare really enjoyed seeing all of the animals!  Grayson had a great time though he really wanted to go in to the restricted areas and he did not like waiting in line for his pony ride.  It is so much fun as a parent to watch my children having so much fun experiencing new things!

We also took a trip to the aquarium and Clare really loved that!  She put her hands on the glass to try to touch the fish as they swam by and then she would clap her little hands in excitement.  It was so darn cute!  She particularly liked the jellyfish and the penguins.  Grayson also loved it and he kept running up to each display and yelling "I like it!" I am so excited to be back in a big city where there are so many different opportunities for the kids to experience more things!

At 9 months old Clare is:
-about 17 lbs.  She is growing like a little weed!
-wears size 6-9 or 6-12 depending on the brand.  She has a darling little chubby belly and rolls and rolls on her arms and thighs though she is starting to thin out a bit now that she is crawling so much.
-pulling herself up on tables and couches and anything else she can reach.
-eats a ton of different foods.  She does all solids now, just cut into small enough pieces.  She loves fruits, especially berries, sweet potatoes, mac n cheese, bread, cheerios, really anything she can get her hands on.
-claps her hands when she gets excited.  It is darling!
-has decided that the shelf at the end of my parents kitchen island is her favorite thing to crawl on.  She loves playing with the coasters and the Restoration Hardware catologues that are on it.