Thank God for Justin!

Not Mr. Justin Cline (although I do thank God for him most of the time)...our neighbor Justin. We haven't actually met him yet but over the phone he agreed to take care of Maggie and Oreo for us while we're gone. He'll come over tonight to meet the animals. He's a friend of the other neighbor who tried to help us out. They kindly hooked us up with this Justin. I will be making some toffee (a Mama Arey special) this afternoon to give him as a gift of gratitude when he comes over. 24 hours to go until we leave the house. Yikes!

Chaos is king

Not exactly an expression of holiday spirit but it's how I feel. I've had some pretty terrible headaches the last few days. Justin thinks it's due to the stress of leaving for a week. We STILL haven't found anyone to watch Maggie and Oreo for us...all of my leads fell through so we're waiting to hear from the neighbor today to see if her friend who's watching her dog and cat will watch ours too. I'm praying she says "yes." And then there's packing. That requires doing lots of laundry, making lots of lists, not losing those lists, all while still functioning under normal family-life circumstances. The negative temperatures and still falling snow haven't helped our stress levels as we think about frozen pipes and cars not being driven for 8 days. But all will be well, as long as we don't have to pay to board Maggie somewhere. Hopefully we'll get good news tonight.

If Parker were peanut butter...

No, he wouldn't be organic. He'd be chunky! This is one big boy! Today he weighed in at 13lbs. 10oz. (90%) and was 25in. long (off the chart). Madeleine was only ever in the 50% for weight until recently so I'm not used to seeing rolls on my own child. In fact, Parker is so big he's wearing a 3/6 month outfit right now; his two-month birthday was this past Sunday. It's really hard to get cute pictures of him too as he's always doing the frog kick and flailing his arms around. The world is a very exciting (albeit cold) place for him!

Oh so cold

The radio says it's currently -13 outside, without the wind chill being factored in. I tried to help Justin get ready for work this morning by going out and starting the Jeep. It wouldn't turn over at all. So I got the Subaru keys and it reluctantly decided to start. Inside the car it was -7. I hope this passes soon because we have a lot of winter ahead of us!

Santa's early visit

Here's the "before" picture:



And here's "after":



Since we don't have a chimney for him to slide down, Santa sent two of his little elves to bring this in our house. We went out shopping last night and filled our Christmas wish by finding a set of leather furniture on closeout so we were able to get a couch and loveseat for less than the original cost of the couch. I was sold on the idea of getting leather after reading an article in a magazine about how well it holds up to kids and pets and how easy it is to clean. Now all we have left to buy is a tv console, end tables, kitchen table and chairs, and a hutch. It will be really nice once everything is purchased and in place but for now we're joyously sitting on the first non-baby furniture that we've purchased since getting married!

Exercise 101

Madeleine got her first workout lesson this week. It took some effort but Justin finally got through to her, sort of.

Who says pink is only for girls?

Parker here just wanting to make a public service announcement: guys look good in pink. You see, I'm a swaddle baby and my mom only had one blanket that could wrap me burrito-style to prevent me from waving my wiley appendages. And seeing as I like to spit up on everything, she needed to find another blanket capable of containing my excitement. Being the thrifty shopper she is, she found this swaddle blanket at TJ Maxx on clearance but only bought it after getting the okey-dokey from me. I told her I'm confident in my masculinity and pink isn't just for girls; after all, my daddy looks stunning in a pink shirt of his own. So if some of you see me this Christmas season sporting my trendy pink and brown blanket, give me a high-5 (only after I get my arm out of the burrito) and comment on how the pink brings out the color of my eyes.

Settling in

There's not much to show for moving in but at least there aren't boxes everywhere. It will take us a while to get furniture appropriate for our space...not to mention enough seating for more than two people (and that's only if we can chase Maggie out of her chair). But I've got my eye on Craigslist. And carpet is great for the kiddos! Notice Parker getting some tummy time in the middle of the room.

I believe

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas are hugs, kisses, and lots of smiles.

Love,

Parker

One expensive kitty

Culprit:

Not including her adoption fee, spaying, food and litter, this little kitty has cost us $75. And that's just for the "damage fee" from our last rental. The landlord had a hissy fit over some carpet that she scratched and he's charging us $75 for it to be patched. I can't really blame him because they're trying to sell the house and we're partially to blame because we didn't clip her claws (her clippers got misplaced during packing); nevertheless, I'm not happy. At least she doesn't urinate all over the house like my parents' cat did (before she became an outdoor cat). Depending on her behavior, Oreo may have a similar future ahead of her.

Thanksgiving catch-up

We've finally moved into our new house. It took ALL weekend and then some but it's finally finished. I've managed to shuffle boxes into their respective rooms and begin the unpacking process. Madeleine and Parker have transitioned beautifully. Maggie was pretty nervous until she was able to hop onto our bed last night to sleep (we slept on the air mattress the first two nights as some skanky water leaked onto our mattress in the moving truck but it dried out by yesterday). Oreo is in heaven. She loves chaos, especially when it means boxes to play in.

We spent our Thanksgiving waiting for Justin to come home from hunting all morning. He didn't manage to get anything which is both good and bad: good because we wouldn't have had any time or energy to deal with it but bad because I'm running out of meat from last year's bounty and I'm too cheap to buy meat at the grocery store. To entertain ourselves while he was out, Parker, Madeleine, Maggie and I went for a Thanksgiving day walk. Madeleine picked out her own outfit:

She is in love with a bear Justin's mom brought out for her. I dressed it up in Parker's to-be Christmas outfit. Madeleine uses Mr. Bear to mimic the way I take care of Parker. She'll swaddle the bear, lay him in the boppy, burp the bear, put him in the bouncer and car seat, etc. Yesterday for the first time she told me Mr. Bear went poo-poo and she wiped his bottom with a diaper wipe. Getting a potty-seat for her is next on the to-do list.

I have tons more I could share but seeing as I just got the computer hooked up and I'm still surrounded by boxes in the kitchen I'll leave it at that. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the house up soon. Thanks for all of your prayers over the weekend. We are so thankful for all of you supporting us and caring for us. Give us a few weekends to get things settled and we'll start taking reservations for the 2009 vacation season!

We have the keys!

With keys in hand, we are now homeowners! We closed on the house this morning by going to the title company and pinky-promising that we'll pay back the $161,000 we're borrowing. After signing on about 400 dotted lines, we left the building just waiting to hear that the money from the lender had arrived at the title company. This afternoon our realtor showed up at Justin's office with keys in hand! Now we just have to change the locks, install fire detectors and a garage door opener, clean the gutters, add insulation to the attic, spray for spiders, etc....and move in! It looks like we have a full but thankful week ahead of us!

All smiles

Parker is growing so fast that we're having a hard time capturing all of his stages. I have a hard time remembering Madeleine going through each of these. By far, his desire to smile and respond to our smiles is my favorite stage to date (besides sleeping longer chunks at night!).

Sing it Bing!

"I'll be home for Christmas..."

The word "home" is taking on so many different meanings right now but in this case "home" means Virginia and Pennsylvania. It is official: we are flying back East for the holidays. Justin requested his vacation last week so we took a big gulp of air and bought tickets tonight. Of course we missed out on some of the best prices by waiting so long but we honestly didn't know if we could afford to make the trip. We still don't know for certain how it will all work out but we couldn't pass up this chance to see family and friends.

While family will always draw us back for visits, the prospect of seeing our best friends (and a few new babies) who will also be in town was irresistible. So here we come Areys, Clines, Johnsons, Whalens, Tippens, and Gabels! And if there's anyone else out there who wants their Christmas wish of seeing the Clines to come true, let me know because we're starting to schedule our time as I speak. The last time we went back East was Christmas two years ago and it will probably be another two before we come again. My hope will be that everyone will want to fly and stay in our NEW house next year!

Birthday bliss

I know I never got around to posting anything new regarding Parker's 1-month birthday. Sorry...things have been a little busy around here :)

He had his checkup yesterday and we found out he's 23 inches long (97%), 11lbs. (75%), and 38l5cm head circumference (50%). So far, he has matched Madeleine's growth curve so my fears about Parker taking after me seem unfounded. He is an incredibly smiley baby who now loves to coo. I'm loving this! I also love that he's now sleeping a 5 hour chunk at night; if only I went to bed when he does! We're working on our scheduling.

As for me (today is my 29th birthday), I will spare you my latest measurements and instead invite you to celebrate the fact that we'll be closing on our house in less than a week from today! Life is good, even if it is crazy!

Breaking Up

Goodbye Nathan; hello Bryon! In case you don't remember, Nathan was my new best friend who was leading me through the loan application process. Well, Nathan and I parted ways today when I found out we weren't approved for our loan through Navy Federal Credit Union. The only hang up was that Justin's on a one year probation with his new job; the underwriters didn't like that. Well hello Mr. Underwriter: all federal employees have a one year probation period! Nevertheless, with the clock ticking, we contacted a mortgage broker here in town we had spoken with a few months ago and he was more than willing to work with us. NFCU dragged out the pre-approval process for two weeks; my new friend Bryon got it done in 3 hours! So we are all set to move forward with closing on the 24th of this month. I'm frustrated that I spent so much time on the phone ignoring the kids to only be rejected but I'm relieved that we're not completely screwed. Things are starting to look better (except we're going to have to start packing soon...grrr).

Meanwhile, I've been tickled watching Madeleine adjust to being a big sister. Seeing as I am an only child, I had no idea as to how one makes a transition like that, but she's been a champ! She loves it when I bring Parker into her room when she wakes up. She always wants to hang out with him in her crib and on the changing table. If he's crying while I'm trying to put her down for a nap, she wants to go and make sure he's okay (I'm trying to help her realize that it's okay for him to cry sometimes though). I love seeing her express genuine affection. I know the day will probably come when she intentionally whacks him on the head with a toy but for now I'm basking in the delight of her gentle kisses, hugs, and touches.

Madeleine and Parker also soak in serious Daddy time when Justin gets home from work. As you can see, they love their dad! More tomorrow on Parker's one-month birthday!!!

My so-called life

Madeleine's currently in her crib crying. She fell asleep in my arms while rocking in a chair before nap time...not usually a good thing because she wakes up as soon as I try to lay her down. She's been in there for 20 minutes now.

Parker's been asleep in the bouncer for about 30 minutes but he's now squeaking. He needs to go back to sleep.

I'm sitting here with a miserable cold. I think I've already passed it on to the kids. We're all sneezing, coughing, etc. In my "free time" (when they're both supposed to be sleeping), I've had to work on all of the paperwork that comes with buying a house. I now have a best friend in Pensacola, FL named Nathan. He's processing our mortgage application. For a little light reading I have the home inspection report to go through and then discuss with our realtor. Nothing HUGE was found but some smaller things (like more insulation being needed) will have to be done pretty quickly. I took a video while visiting the house yesterday but I haven't watched it yet to see how sea-sick I'll make you feel. Maybe I'll get to that later.

Everyone keeps telling me to nap when the kids nap. Have none of these people tried to live with two kids before? They NEVER nap at the same time and considering the other things going on in our life, I don't have that luxury anyway because I have to complete all of the home-buying details according to East Coast time. Besides, napping is for sissies. (I must tell myself this to justify the circles under my eyes and increased number of gray hairs; no offense to those of you who get to enjoy that pleasure.)

I didn't get to post much on JoAnn's visit. She came right as we began the housing adventure. It was really nice to have the extra set of hands around. We tried to do some fun things but it's virtually impossible to get out of the house in less than an hour. As soon as I get Parker fed and changed, Madeleine goes "poo-poo" then wants a snack, Parker barfs on me, I change clothes, Madeleine spills water everywhere, the cat pukes (I kid you not...she's been doing this a lot more since Parker's been born), blah, blah, blah. But here are some pictures from her time here.

Three weeks

Life has not gotten any less chaotic since Parker's birth. This home buying process is quite involved. Nevertheless, I didn't want Parker's milestone to go unrecorded so here are some photos celebrating his ever-growing personality.

First comes love, then comes marriage...

Then comes graduate school, two babies, a new job, and finally a house! The sellers signed the paperwork and faxed it to our realtor just before 5pm tonight. Click here to see the house. We have a closing date of November 24th so we'll be moving quickly from here on out. Please pray for us as we move forward with financing, home inspection, etc. We'll be happy to open our doors to the official Cline B&B just in time for the holidays!

The Cline Drama...part 273

As you've all ascertained, the Clines don't do anything "normally." We celebrated Parker's 2 week birthday by putting a bid on a house and yes, it was while Justin was in Helena for his first week of work. He and the realtor faxed things back and forth so I didn't have to manage signing things with the kids in tow. And here it is, Friday night, and we're currently waiting for the sellers to sign the final buy-sell that they verbally agreed to. So we're pending home-owners! Hopefully everything will be finalized by tomorrow afternoon. At that point I'll give a link to the house so you can see it.

In the meantime, we've been enjoying having Justin's mom JoAnn here to help out since yesterday afternoon. Madeleine's still warming up to her but she did well when JoAnn got her up from her nap today while I was out signing paperwork this afternoon. Of course Parker is enamored, as is his grandma. We celebrated a casual Halloween by dressing the kids up in costumes and hanging out with friends Beth, Cody, and their daughter Greta. The little ones wouldn't cooperate for pictures but here's my attempt at capturing their cuteness.

Happy Halloween and here's to a great November!

Just for Daddy

Justin's in Helena through Wednesday so these pictures are mainly for his benefit since I know he misses us. As he gets to sleep in a queen-sized bed all by himself, I'm sure Justin will especially miss having Parker's little eyes staring up at him as he tries to fall back asleep some time between 2 and 4am, not to mention Maggie who keeps the foot of the bed warm and me "the radiator." So here you go honey: one of your favorite pics, a few to remind you of what you're missing, and one to make you laugh (yes, Madeleine was helping me fold laundry again).