Terriffic Three's!

Miller is at my most favorite age! Of course, when I told Casey this last week, he said, "Claire you say that about every age so far." But, I really think this is it!! He is so, so, so sweet. I wouldn't call our 2's terrible, just challenging, but I can say that we have crossed that bridge! Here is a little update:

• Miller, you can say your ABC's and count to 10 with no problem.
• You know a square, circle, triangle, rectangle and octagon with no problem.
• You are learning the Pledge of Allegiance.
• You attend MDO 4 days a week from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• You love to sing and dance. You will get mine and Daddy's iphone and pull up your "favorites" on YouTube.
• I often hear your talking to yourself and your toys when I am in another room.
• You still love Lambie
• You are still a horrible eater
• You are very obedient. I rarely ever have to count to 3 with you. 
• Your favorite toys right now are cars, tractors, dirt bikes and anything that pulls a trailer.
• You are obsessed with anything Auburn. I am very concerned that you will become a Super Fan...
• When you wake up, you come to Mommy and Daddy's room and say "I want to change clothes.." Into an AU t-shirt and shorts. Every. Morning. 
• And every afternoon you want to put on the same clothes from that morning.
• You love our dog, Bella. You often play with her like a sibling. One minute you both are playing and the next you are fighting over a toy.
• You are so, so, so loving! You love to be close to Daddy and I. So many times throughout the day you will come hug and kiss me! I love it!!
• You also love to wrestle with Daddy! Around 7 p.m. every night you go to Daddy and say, "Let's Wrestle, Daddy!!" 
• You are very determined and like to do things on your own.
• You have the most Southern accent, that is so stinkin cute! Your speech is really good. You can perfectly pronounce the 'L' sound. You still have a little trouble with 'R', but it is getting better every day. 
• Our nighttime routine with you is bath time, a few more minutes of play, brush teeth, Daddy and I lay down with you for prayers and a story. We usually stay with you for 10-15 minutes. When we get up, you always ask for Bella to come sleep with you. 
• You are completely potty trained. We have not bought a pull-up since I cannot remember when. You have still never had an accident in your bed. I actually cannot remember the last time you had an accident. 
• And last,  the picture with this post says a lot about your behavior....I can actually get a posed picture of you! This time last year, all of my pictures were a blur!

Daddy and I love you more than life. You have taught us both what love truly means. You are so precious. I love that I get to see life through your eyes. You teach me to not worry about the small things and to take in the moment. I am so thankful that God gave me you.

Here we go!

Wow, this feels strange...With a 3 month hiatus it's hard to get back on the bandwagon. I feel like blogging is kind of like going to the gym...If you stop, it's so hard to go back, but once you get going, it's great! Anyway, I have been thinking about how I am going to catch up. If I was going to update on every little thing, or just jump to where we are now. So, I have decided to do a little of both.

He Works Hard for the Money....

2 weeks ago a friend of mine called and asked if Miller could model some of the clothes for her spring/summer 2012 catalog. I paused for a minute, remembering the fashion shows that my mom used to force me to do for The Gingerbread House and Barefoot Darlins with my big brown paci in my mouth, and then I said OF COURSE! I could not wait to see how Miller would do.
Knowing Miller, I knew I needed to explain the process to him. He is not one to be happy about changing out of his Auburn t-shirt into a smocked jon jon and especially never happy about having 'posed' pictures made. So I decided we would have a practice round....

yep...this is what I got...

Whew! When Miller broke out this cute little number, I knew I would have my work cut out for me! I told him that was a wonderful silly smile, but I needed to see some teeth!

I was dying

I got teeth alright. I decided we might need to take a break...you know, models never like to be over worked...especially not 2 year old models.
Later that day i brought up the subject again. I told Miller that Randi and Jenna Beth wanted to see his sweet smile.

"Money Shot"

That's when I got the "Money Shot". That sweet little smile melted my heart! I told him that was exactly what Randi and Jenna Beth wanted to see! We practiced our sweet smile several more times that day for Daddy, Jannie and Pop. He was a pro! Casey and I joked about making him start his career at the age of 2. He said, "Hey, ya got to start somewhere!"
The next day was his big debut (haha!). He did great about changing clothes and pretty good about smiling. It worked out well because Randi said she like "un-posed" shots better than "posed".
Randi and Jenna Beth's designs were beautiful! The name of their line is Posh Tots. These ladies are so talented. I am so glad that they decided to do this, and let me come by for sneak peeks every season ;) You can check out their website here.
At the end of Miller's session, he was allowed to pick a toy from the toy chest. They had Lightning McQueen, big trucks, candy and sweet little things for girls too. What does my child pick?? THE PINK HELLO KITTY CHAPSTICK! Ha! Whatever makes him happy. I actually knew he would go for that right when I saw it because of his obsession with chapstick.
I will be sure and post the pictures from Randi when I get to see them.

Family Movie Night

We took Miller to the movies for the first time (well technically not the first time, bc we did take him twice when he was about 3 months and he slept right through the entire movie) on Saturday to see Cars 2. Casey and I were so excited to see this movie. Miller is obsessed with the original Cars movie. It stays on the TV constantly if Miller is at home. My house looks like Radiator Springs-he has every character, and some he has 3 of the same!
Miller immediately saw the popcorn and had to have some, then saw the candy and "needed" some of that too.....Fifty bucks later we were sitting in the theater! We all agreed that it wasn't as good as the first Cars, but we enjoyed the movie and a fun family night!

I know, horrible picture, but when I got my big Cannon camera out at during the movie to take Miller's picture for the blog, Casey gave me a bad look, haha! So I had to settle with my iphone without the flash. But if you look really close you can see Miller, staring intently at the big screen, holding a bag of popcorn as big as he is, with his other hand in a bag of Reeses Peeses.

Happy Birthday, America!

Jimmy's dog, Biscuit. He is hilarious! And so sweet!

We had a perfect 4th of July weekend. We were so excited for this long weekend to give us time to organize and unpack from the move.
We spent Friday and Saturday getting organized and setting up Miller's big boy bed.
On Sunday, my Aunt Becky invited us up to her lake house in Leesburg. We had the best time! She and Jimmy built the lake house several years ago, but this was the first time I had been able to make the trip. It is adorable! I wish I would have taken a picture of the front. When I think of a a cabin on the lake their house is exactly what comes to mind. Jimmy can build/fix just about anything and Becky has a great eye for decorating. Right when we got out of the car I could hear the ice cream machine on the back porch making homemade ice cream...my favorite! We let Miller nap for about an hour and then made our way down to the lake. Their house sits up on top of a hill of their lot and the lake is down at the bottom. Miller was instantly in a good mood when he woke up because he found out that we would be riding a Gator down to the boathouse. For those of you that know Miller, know that he is OBSESSED with Gators...really anything motorized these days. Not only does Becky and Jimmy's lake house look like something from Southern Living, so does their boathouse. The lower level is just like any other boathouse, and up top Jimmy built a room with French doors on each end. They have one of those huge swings that are like an over-sized twin bed. Casey and I were a little unsure if Miller would get in the lake, since he is terrified of the ocean. We told him it was a big pool. We made our way to the swim deck where Becky and I sat in the water and Casey got in and let Miller jump...over and over and over. He loved the lake! He kept calling it "Jimmy's big pool" After Miller got used to the water, he and Casey went for a spin in Becky's kayak. Miller was a little scared at first, but warmed right up to it. My boys kayaked all over the lake that day.

My 2 favorite boys!

Relaxing on the hammock 

After some fun in the sun and water, we went back up to the house to grill some burgers. Considering Casey and I have been in packing mode for about a month and my grill was the first thing we sold, we have seriously been missing some good grilling. We had the best time just chatting and eating supper. We ended up staying until 10 p.m.! I am so thankful to my sweet aunt for inviting us. We can't wait to go back!
On Monday, we slept late and packed our stuff to return to the lake. Only this time, we went to Lake Guntersville. One of Casey's friends just bought a new lake house and we have been dying to "try it out" When Casey and I first starting dating he bought a boat and almost every weekend we would take it up to the lake. We have so many fun memories on Lake Guntersville! Kyle and Lacy have asked us to come up several times this summer, but with packing and other obligations, we haven't been able to make it. I fell in love with their house when we pulled in the driveway- it is gorgeous! We jumped in the boat and went for a ride.

I know he looks terrified, but he really loved it!

 Miller loved it! He kept telling Kyle to go faster. I wish I would have taken a picture of his hair when we got off the boat. It was all slicked back- hilarious! We got off the boat and spent the remainder of the afternoon laying out, (yes, Casey swam with Miller and let me layout on the deck on top of the boathouse :)) I'm lucky) swimming and catching up.

Having a snack at the Bennett's

 We made it back to Gadsden just before the heavy rain came. We had supper at my parents house and enjoyed the city fireworks from my parents balcony.

Watching the fireworks from NYC-Miller loved these!

Watching the live fireworks from the balcony-Miller wasn't too excited about these.

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating our nation's birthday with our friends and family!

Big Boy Bed!

 Miller slept in his big boy bed for the first time on Saturday night! I know, this milestone is way past due, but we have had SO much going on and he seemed to love his crib. I intended on setting his bed up at our old house, but I kept waiting on his bedding to get finished. And honestly, it took me forever to pick it out. Then the move came and we decided that the apartment would be the best place for him to sleep in his big boy bed for the first time because the rooms are so close to each other. His bedding is still not ready yet- I am having a head board, duvet, bed skirt, etc. made and it seems to be taking forever! But, Miller doesn't mind-he loves it anyway!
We had a pretty good routine when he was sleeping in his crib, so we decided we would stick with it, minus the rocking chair. (yes this means no more rocking my baby :(...) Casey and I both lay down with Miller, read one book, say our prayers, cut on his music and noise machine, say goodnight and close the door. The first night Miller woke up several times and Casey and I took turns going to check on him. The second night was more of the same, but last night he did great!
Miller is so proud of his big boy bed. All day Saturday and Sunday all he wanted to do was play on his bed. He would tell me "You can come sit on my bed" ha! It was so cute!

129

See sweet Bella sitting in the window?

Yesterday was our last day at 129. 129 was my first house. Sure, I lived in a dorm, an apartment and a really nice house in Auburn, but 129 was mine. With a little help from my Dad and Uncle Craig, I designed everything myself-colors, floors, layout, everything. Miller and I moved in 129 on October 9, 2009. I had his first birthday party there the very next day on October 10. Miller loved 129. He had complete free reign in the backyard. I had windows placed so I could see every point of the backyard from everywhere in the house. We had 2 family Christmases, celebrated birthdays, celebrated new jobs, new friends, new school, graduating from college-everything in 129. Last year 129 was nominated for the Gadsden Beautification Award and won 2nd place. This year we were nominated again, and won 1st place! (Casey says it's all because of my yard man...which would be him, ha!)  Casey and I were talking Wednesday night, and I got a little teary (of course) realizing that that was our last night in my house. Casey reminded me that this was MY house, and that our new house (308) was OUR house. He reminded me that we will be doing everything together. Nothing will be your house, my house, your stuff, my stuff- it will all be ours. He reminded me of all the new memories we will make TOGETHER in the new house. And he is so right. I am so excited about this new step for our family, but I can't help but have a few bittersweet feelings.
We knew when we got engaged that we would need a larger house to grow our family. We looked at several houses, did a lot of talking and praying, and decided that 308 would be the perfect house for us. We finally agreed on a price with the previous owners. We were so excited! We had a home inspection done, and realized that it was not exactly what we were hoping for. At the point, we decided to step back from the situation, and take our time in finding a house. Not a week later, a friend of ours called and asked if he could come look at my house. We said sure. Not thinking anything would really come of it. Well that night they let us know they wanted the house- and they needed us to be out in 2 weeks. We were a little hesitant, but knew that with today's market we better accept. So we did. Casey and I decided that with the sale of my house, we could rethink 308 and handle some large items that needed to be taken care of from the home inspection. We informed the owners that we were ready. So we planned, packed and slowly started the moving process. We closed on our new house on Wednesday, June 15 2011! On Thursday, we got a call from the people buying my house. They were letting us know that things were not going to work out with the bank on their side. Me, Casey and my parents were not happy to say the least. We stopped packing, planning and moving. That Thursday and Friday seemed like they lasted an entire month rather than 48 hours. Word spread that my house was back on the market (well not the actual market, but available again). We had several calls and showed it to a couple on Sunday. On Monday, we got a call from a realtor that she had a prospective client who is very interested in my house. Long story short, they bought our house on Thursday the 23rd and we had to be out on Thursday the 30th.
I was able to get off work early yesterday and the day before to pack and move, thank goodness! Yesterday we started moving around 2p.m. and finished at 2 a.m....We are completely exhausted! If it weren't for my sweet parents, my wonderful Aunt Becky, our sweet friend Ann and our other friends Amy and Jared, we could not have done it. My parents have been such troopers. Not only were they there all day yesterday and this morning till 2 a.m., but my mom was back at our apartment at 8 this morning so Miller could sleep late while we went to work. 
We have been telling Miller that we were moving. And explaining to him why we were packing, but as any 2 yr old- he just doesn't get it. This morning I asked him what he wanted to do today and he told me he wanted to go home and ride his gator. That just broke my heart! I know he will adjust just fine, but it bothers me that he doesn't understand.
So now, we are semi-unpacking and organizing and getting ready for a long weekend! Happy 4th of July!