Merry Christmas from the Clines

We hope you all have a joyous holiday with those you love!

I'm a winner!

So much of my life makes me feel like a winner on the inside but specifically, I've been winning some contests that make me a winner on the outside too. I have a whole list of online contests that I play each day...partially for fun, partially to see if I can win. Over the last week, I've won $5, $100 worth of concert tickets/concert merchandise, and a $50 gift card to a local nice restaurant! And through Craigslist I've made enough money to buy a nice set of leather couches for our basement (it was a steal!) and a gun cabinet. Justin used to harass me about all of my C-listing but I think I've convinced him that it's been worth the wait and work to supplement our income (and get rid of stuff we don't need anymore) in this creative way. My ultimate gift to him this Christmas was a promise to turn our storage room in the basement into a livable space. I'm more than 3/4 of the way there with a week to go.

Enough about my good fortune though...we're off to take a friend to the hospital for surgery this morning. I've been trying to post videos of Parker's stellar dancing but I haven't gotten it to work on this new computer yet so you'll just have to wait in suspense until I figure it out. I think it will be worth the wait though!

Hooray!!!

It looks like my best friend Carol has begun early labor with her little girl! I'm so excited for Carol, Jeremy and Soren to welcome this little one into their lives and become a family of 4. Congratulations Johnson's and I can't wait to meet her!!!

To appreciate the good nights...

...I feel it's important to document the not-so-good ones.

8:45pm leave Madeleine's room for the third and final time
10:07pm Parker wakes up, give him some milk
12:05am I finally head to bed
1:11am Parker wakes up again, give him more milk
3:20am Madeleine wakes up, Justin goes in and then I get up to rock, dance, and tickle her back to sleep
6:20am Parker's crying wakes me up
6:22am Discover I have a bloody nose (from cold dry air) while getting his milk ready, stuff tissue up my nose because he's really starting to cry now
6:23am Step in a puddle of Maggie pee while walking to P's room, now have one wet sock...have I mentioned how much I hate wearing a wet sock?
6:30am Out of P's room, in hallway cleaning up Maggie pee, listening to her snore from her chair
6:31am Realize we never turned off the outside Christmas lights ($$$ going off in my head)
6:40am Still cleaning up pee (how much can one dog hold?), hearing P squawking in his crib, resign myself to starting the day

And here I sit typing all of this with a small grin on my face. Maybe that's attributable to knowing that I get to drink hot coffee this morning because the kids aren't up yet or maybe I'm so tired I'm delirious. Either way I'm smiling.

Flippin' freaking cold

Our cold spell is about to snap in the next day or so. With highs in the single digits and lows in the negatives, I've been holed up in the house with the kids since this weekend. In case you wondered what frost looks like inside your house, here are some examples.

On Saturday we took the kids to Caras Nursery for Madeleine to ride the pony, an event she remembers from a year ago when she wasn't even 2 yet! She was again delighted with Molly and Frosty (whom she renamed Wall-e) who took her around and around.

Parker and the Christmas alpacas.

We then headed to a Christmas tree lot to pick out a tree. Our live tree hunt tradition of snow shoeing and cutting down a fresh tree was put on the back burner when the risk of frostbite entered the equation. We still managed to find an acceptable tree and spent that night putting it up and decorating it while the kids slept. Actually, Justin sat, drank wine, and watched "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" while I decorated the tree but he cheered me and offered helpful suggestions :)

It was fun to see the kids' reactions on Sunday morning. It's been tedious convincing Parker that the lights aren't chew toys but he's slowly catching on. He's also perfecting the face plant move. No more black eyes though...his black eye has shifted towards hues of yellow and green. Instead he prefers split lips. If only his bottom half could catch up to how fast his top half wants to move!

His latest habit happens to be an obnoxious one: screaming, for fun. Madeleine immediately screams (crying) in response leaving me to dream of happier places while trying not to go deaf. And he's been watching too many dieting commercials because he's now insisting on having a liquid diet of soy milk and water. The exception is peanut butter Panda Puffs cereal. While Madeleine's personality has always been challenging, I never appreciated her willingness to eat almost anything as much as I do now that I have a picky eater. It's a good thing he's cute.

I'm off to put on my flannel jammies and snuggle beneath my down comforter for the night. Good golly I'm eager to see 20 degrees again.

Black eyed P and Maggie's heart

The last few days have been a bit overwhelming for me. First, Thursday night Parker did a face-plant into the coffee table, hence his new nickname of "black eyed P." The bruise has gotten darker every day leading to more stares as we venture out in public.

Friday morning he slipped and bashed his face leading to a pretty bloody lip. He's managed to not get hurt during the last 24 hours so I'm hoping he's able to stay injury free for a bit.

And then there's Maggie. We have some sad news. Yesterday I let Maggie outside to go to the bathroom and after about 10 minutes without hearing her scratch to come back in (it was 15 degrees yesterday and she HATES being cold!) I discovered that she had collapsed in the backyard. I ran outside to find her having difficulty breathing and she was only semi-responsive. She refused to get up and I couldn't pick her up from the position she was in so I checked on the kids and called Justin and asked him to come home.

While he was on his way, Maggie perked up a bit and I was able to get her inside and she ate a biscuit which made me think maybe I had overreacted. And then a few minutes later she was again immobile on the carpet unable to pick her head up with her chest heaving for air. By the time Justin got home we thought she would die on the way to the vet.

He rushed her over there (our regular vet was closed for the day) and they said that it seemed like a heart problem and they wanted to do an EKG and some ultrasounds. We received a call later in the evening saying that they couldn't regulate her heart rate and wanted to keep her overnight to give her more fluids and try other medications. I was able to visit her at 7:30 and she seemed to be herself which put me at ease. However, when I went to pick her up this morning, the doctor told me that her heart condition is being externally caused, meaning she has a tumor somewhere. Of course he gave me the option to move forward with more invasive procedures to find the tumor and possibly remove it but I just paid $483 to find out she had one. I wasn't ready to pay another $480 for them to tell me where it is and there's nothing they can do about it.

So essentially, Maggie is dying...it's just a matter of time. We currently have medication to give her twice a day to keep her heart rate as steady as possible but the tumor could cause organ failure or heart failure and we don't know how long she has because we don't know where the tumor is or how severe it is. The emergency vet will fax over the paperwork to our regular vet on Monday and I'll get her opinion (which I trust without hesitation). We do know that if we hadn't taken her in she would not have been able to sustain that heart rate for more than a few hours. We are incredibly broken up about this because if we had waited she would have died but now we don't know when she will die or what her quality of life will be in the meantime.

Of course the kids don't understand and Madeleine just keeps asking me why I'm sad. We've told her Maggie is sick and we need to give her lots of love but she has no concept of death (thankfully). I hate this part of loving a pet so much.

Shameless promotion

An article appeared in the Missoulian today about a local guy who is one of four finalists in the Bud Light tailgate approved contest. I'm not a huge tailgater but I do love his idea (would work great for picnics, etc.) and I do love beer. So if you want to help make a Missoulian famous (it'll take me a few more years to earn that status), go here to vote for the Tummy Table. If you want to read the local article about him, you can read it here. Thanks for helping put Missoula on the map!

Grateful

Thanksgiving morning greeted us with frost-crusted grass, fog covered hills, and patches of blue sky. Well worth the work: heart attack potatoes

She loves pie.

Getting some fresh air before dinner.

Thanksgiving was a quiet affair in the Cline household yesterday. I spent most of the day cooking while Justin and the kids played. Madeleine enjoyed three Thanksgiving traditions that I always remember: the Macy's Day Parade, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and pumpkin chiffon pie! She loved watching the balloons (especially Snoopy) and kept asking when Snoopy would be back on during commercials! And while she enjoyed the pumpkin part of the pie, she kept saying, "I need more [whipped] cream!"

Parker loved tasting all of the new food and didn't seem to suffer any side effects from the dairy in it so we may be crossing that hurdle. We'll try again today and see how he does tonight.

I ventured out at 5:45am to mingle with the other crazys in Walmart. There's really only one thing I wanted to get the kids for Christmas and W had it cheaper than I've found used ones on Craigslist so I forced myself out of bed to buy it. The helpers at W loaded the last one into my car so it was a successful trip (you'll have to wait until Christmas to find out what I got).

We moved into our house exactly one year ago this weekend. To reflect and see that we've been blessed with this lovely home, ridiculously cute and entertaining kids, a stable job, a great town, good friends, and supportive family, I don't think we can imagine life getting any better. We are richly blessed and hope that next year we can share this day of thanks with some of you!

Proof

Jen and me
Tom, the dj, telling me to hold the microphone closer while singing. Silly Tom...he thought I wanted people to hear me! Beth and Jen weren't rocking out as hard as I was. I'm hardcore :)

Surrender

The album with this song on it by Cheap Trick came out a year before I was born and yet somehow I still managed to rock out and almost go hoarse singing along with our friend Stefan as he performed it on Friday night. It was also the song stuck in my head when I woke up Saturday morning! Holy cow did I have fun!!! The pictures are still on Stefan's camera as I forgot to put the battery in our camera before leaving the house so you'll have to wait to see me singing my Boston/Scrubs tribute of "More than a feeling" and enjoying a beer (or two or three). I was really touched when the whole group got up and sang "Happy Birthday" Beatles style. So to thank them appropriately, I danced solo in the middle of the dance floor with all eyes on me. Rumor has it that I didn't make a fool out of myself but I don't really care if I had...it was worth it :) I was apparently dancing well enough to get asked to dance by some middle-aged bearded man who kept telling me to "relax" and "let me lead." It would have been rude to say no to him but it was almost too awkward having Justin taking pictures of me dancing with another guy! Again, that picture will be posted as soon as I get it. I want to thank Jen, Stefan, Beth and Cody, Walt, and of course Justin for making that such a special night. Wednesday (my actual birthday) will be much easier to celebrate knowing that if all else fails I can still feel 21 at 30 by going karaokeing at Harold's!

Festivities

While my actual birthday isn't until next week, tonight is our official night to celebrate. Justin and I are going out to eat while Jen watches the kiddos and then we'll come home and put them to bed. Our realtor will then be coming over to housesit/babysit for us (he gave us a free night of babysitting along with a gift certificate for dinner as our housewarming present and we're just getting around to using it) so Jen, Justin and I can meet up with 10-15 other friends who will be tearing it up karaokeing at Harold's Club. It should be a raucous time full of singing and dancing! No one gave me any song suggestions so I'll have to stick with the tried and true Bon Jovi's "Living on a prayer" and maybe Boston's "More than a feeling." I'll hopefully have some pictures or maybe even a short video to prove that we welcomed this decade of my life in with style.

Clubfoot

Maggie's still not better yet so I set up another appointment with the vet this past Tuesday. We have been wrapping and taping her leg to prevent her from licking some spots raw but she was somehow still getting to them so here is our vet's version. This also gives her some additional support that may help the healing process. If she leaves this alone, we'll go back in 10 days and get a splint and have it wrapped again. Of course we have to treat it like a cast and not let it get wet which works really well when it's been raining/snowing for the last few days. All of those snack bags are finally being put to use because they fit perfectly over her club. We're hoping this at least starts to move us in the right direction.

The return

Justin came home yesterday defeated. He didn't see or hear anything and was too exhausted to go out today. We're hoping the snow we got today and will continue to get will make his chances better for this weekend.

Ready.gov

Have you seen those family emergency plan commercials? I can see the value of them, especially when the kids won't be with one of us 24/7. However, for the life we currently lead, instead of a family emergency plan, we use the hunting emergency plan. Haven't heard of it? It looks something like this:

Hunter: Justin Cline
Accompanied by: no one
Date of departure: 11/8/09
Date of return (unless success or emergency dictates earlier return): 11/11/09
Mode of transportation: Jeep, then bike and trailer, then foot
Address: Rattlesnake Wilderness Area, east fork of Rattlesnake Creek
Cell phone: coverage not available
Gear: bike, trailer, backpack, rifle
Potential health problems: bears, mountain lions, wolves, and crazed moose
Emergency contacts: Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Search and Rescue
Day/time at which emergency contact should be contacted: 7pm, 11/11/09

Simultaneously sobering and entertaining. We'll find out Wednesday if things go according to plan!

Change in the air

This was a very challenging week for us. As you already know, our kids have been off their regular sleeping routines. I continued to get less than 6 hours of sleep a night between the two of them waking up and needing to be soothed back to sleep.

Madeleine seems to be at a huge transition. From what we know/what I've read, the transition from 2 to 3 can be very overwhelming for toddlers, sometimes causing them to regress in behavior to feel "safe" as they enter this new stage of independence. For Madeleine, I believe that explains why she began sucking on her fingers regularly (reminiscent of the comfort babies receive from nursing) and wanting to be held/rocked to sleep. She continues to not nap, although she still yawns and rubs her eyes all afternoon, but that's been tolerable. She at least now has initiated her old bedtime routine and falls asleep without any resistance while getting back tickles...a HUGE improvement! And she even slept through the night last night which improved her disposition for the entirety of today. One problem I have is remember she's only 2.5! Because she wears 4T tops (I know!), 3T pants, and is 35 pounds, it's easy to not want to pick her up because she's huge and expect more of her because she's as tall as many 4 year olds. That's definitely my issue, not hers.

Parker continues to fight falling asleep at night. Fortunately it only takes about 10 minutes of crying for him to crash but it doesn't last for long. I still think he's jazzed up about walking and has a hard time slowing down in spite of our bedtime routine. And he's so much fun to watch that it's hard to force him to stop even when we know there's an exhausted baby under all of that walking and babbling. Again...my issue.

Justin's out hunting today through Wednesday (fortunately his cold dissipated this week) so I'm flying solo but it will be worth it come Friday when we go out to celebrate my birthday! If you have any karaoke suggestions, send them my way :)

Sleepless in Missoula

I believe that out of the last 36 hours, I've been alone (i.e., without a child within a foot of me) for 6 hours. What the heck is happening?!? Madeleine is fighting sleep so I'm not making her nap in the afternoons and instead attempting to put her down for bed early. I've had to rock her to sleep the last two nights but at least she's falling asleep without screaming. As for Mr. P...we have no idea what his problem is. He is starting to walk and that may be the reason for his hyperactive state when he wakes up at night. Oh yeah...he's walking. I was really excited about it until he started not falling asleep easily. That was the one thing we've had going for us over the last 2.5 years: Madeleine is a great sleeper once she's asleep, Parker is great at putting himself to sleep until this past weekend. All positive thoughts and prayers sent our way would be appreciated :)

We did manage to fit in some fun today on what's maybe the first sunny day we've had in over a week. We walked over the the playground and played in the sand, on the swings and went down the slide. Parker had lots of fun learning from Madeleine how to fill a bucket with sand. He enjoyed it so much that he preferred doing that while Madeleine went down the slide. I tried to show some of the fun we had, along with a picture of Parker sucking down his smoothie this evening!

* By the way, the OD on candy apparently worked because I haven't yet caught the cold that the kids and Justin still have. Yeah for Reeses and Butterfingers!

Bright spots

Some photos to make up for my whining...

Parker's birthday "party." We skyped with my parents and they watched the kids eat cake. Bedtime that night proved to be as difficult as hogtying an octopus. Sugar does a doozy on our kids! The rest of the pics are random from the last month...Oreo's antics, Madeleine's pirate face, Parker getting stuck in random places, Madeleine painting, and the kids sporting Messiah gear I picked up while visiting PA.

Little Miss Muffet

I hate it when things blindside you and turn life on it's head. After the last two weeks I'm way more compassionate towards little Ms. Muffet. That stinkin' spider! The nerve. Our spider has been in the form of a wicked cold that has turned our kids into stewing pots of germs. Madeleine's had it for a week, preventing her from attending the free H1N1 clinic last Friday that Justin took Parker to only to stand in the cold and rain for 4 hours waiting to be seen. No surprise his nose started running the next day. He can't sleep for longer than 3.5 hours at a time without waking up and that usually doesn't happen until after 3am. Before then he's constantly waking up crying. This has not helped Justin's and my attempts to stay healthy. One's body can only fight so hard when sleep comes in 45 minute chunks.

With the rivers of snot come mountains of laundry. I hate feeling coated in grossness at the end of the day so I'm constantly running a load of something that has just been slimed. Nasty.

Since a few weeks ago, Madeleine's been on a screaming kick whenever she finds something upsetting. Lately the upsetting item has been "loud" noises. I put that in quotes because I think she must either have a hearing problem or is just hyper-sensitive these days. She's also fighting sleep; she'd prefer to whine incessantly. Maybe this will move us more quickly towards the toddler bed. For now I'm thinking of investing in earplugs.

Then the jeep's clutch and heater core broke. Mildly inconvenient to our schedule; majorly inconvenient to our pocketbook.

Maggie's been chewing her leg raw so we bandaged it only to find her gnawing up higher above the wrap. Grrrr....

Did I mention we had almost an inch of snow on the ground this morning too?

Not my type of October. November has to be better, even though Justin ruined the surprise birthday party he was planning for me. No biggie...we had already planned on going to a redneck karaoke bar but nevertheless, he spilled the beans about the others who were going to be waiting for me there to yell "surprise." With that being said, I'm tempted to keep the porch light off this Saturday and stuff myself full of reeses, m&ms and skittles. Maybe it will help coat my sore throat...

A busy week

This past week was full of fun events which prevented us from celebrating Parker's birthday until Friday. First there was my final soccer game; I had a bunch of shots on goal and even got one in the net! I managed to play both the first and last games of the season...2 out of 5 isn't great but I still had a lot of fun. My quads held up pretty well although I'm spending the winter conditioning and strengthening them so I can play every game in the spring. We didn't get any action shots because it was really cold, dark and foggy but here I am after the game (first picture courtesy of Madeleine).

That was Wednesday night. Thursday night Madeleine and I had haircut appointments. This was Madeleine's first official haircut. I had trimmed her bangs a few times over the last 2.5 years but this was the real deal with Justin's and my hairdresser (I love saying that!) Katt. The fact that her name is Katt and she plays on my soccer team helped this go over really, really well. Unfortunately Madeleine lost it when Katt was using the blow dryer to help process my highlights because it was pretty loud, not to mention it was almost 7pm! So I got my hair colored but had to reschedule my cut for this coming week.

Before we left

In the big chair with her crazy locks.

Trimmed and pretty

I don't have any post-coloring pictures of me yet...just ones Madeleine took in the process so here is one more flattering picture of me :)

Happy birthday little monkey!

10 things I've learned over the last 12 months...

1. I know nothing about children

2. Just because your first kid sleeps through the night at 8 weeks doesn't mean your second will ever do so

3. Dog food, toilet paper, cat fur, hair ties, etc. can't hurt Parker's digestive system

4. Life does go on without ice cream and cheese

5. Chasing a half naked baby mid-way through changing their diaper can be the most frustrating and funny thing in the world

6. A sister is usually funnier than momma or daddy

7. We don't own enough toy cars or balls

8. Some babies will never, ever use a bottle

9. Weaning a baby is bittersweet

10. I never want another infant, although I'd go through it all over again with Parker

Happy birthday little monkey. We love you so much, even when you refuse to take your afternoon nap :)