Papa's photos

My dad got around to posting his photos so I stole some to share with you for the last installment of our vacation with my parents.

Being goofy with Mimi

Playground fun.

Fun at the market.

My dad let Madeleine pick off his plate almost every meal! It's almost inevitable that she doesn't sit and eat with us, at least not for the whole meal. I'm usually happy that she eats anything at all as long as it doesn't come from my plate.

Showing off the Christmas stocking my grandma made for her. We called my Grandma on her birthday and wished her a happy 86th! She's working on another stocking for my cousin's 1-year old and then Parker's is next. What a great gift for my kids to have! It was a little tough convincing Madeleine that the stocking didn't go on her foot though :)

At the park with the infamous blue slide. Sorry for all the pictures of me...I usually take a lot and don't have as many of them showing me with the kids so I really like these.

After the hike up Pattee Canyon.

At Fort Missoula on Friday. As you can tell, our visit there overlapped with Parker's nap time. He squished into the sling (he looks ridiculous!) and snoozed while we finished our short tour around the grounds avoiding sprinklers and elementary school kids from a summer program. My dad's the history buff and would have enjoyed reading more of the details of the history of the Fort but with two little ones he had to read the cliff notes versions.

After picking Justin up from the airport Friday we all met up at Bayern Brewery for beer, brats, potato salad and sauerkraut. The kids behaved pretty well and were especially excited to see Justin!

Madeleine's new favorite book is Amelia Bedelia and she insists on reading it like this. Oh to be 2!

The deal of the week: I got a free swing set off Freecycle and the people giving it away even delivered it to our house! Of course it was disassembled so my dad wanted to take a before shot of Justin and me working on it assuming we'd have fire coming out of our ears by the time we finished. Unfortunately for him, he forgot that I'm a procrastinator so he hasn't gotten to see the final expressions on our faces because most of it is still in pieces in the backyard. With my dad's help, however, we did get the basic frame set up and Justin installed the slide so Madeleine can now enjoy going on a slide without us taking a walk to the "blue slide" park or the "yellow slide" park. Now she just wants to go on her own swing set! I'm hoping we'll get around to finishing putting it together this weekend.

Madeleine on the slide. She's officially in the grimace stage of smiling. Where did she learn that?!?

More of our visit with Papa and Mimi

My dad and Justin went fishing twice. My dad's gradually getting the hang of casting, although he still needs to practice not falling in the water. And yes, that is a tiny fish in my dad's hand. I thought it was a cigarette he had caught but it is a fish; at least that's what Justin and Papa say :)

Papa teaches Madeleine some of the finer points of putting.

My first Skype conversation

That was AWESOME! I just got to chat with Preston and Aimee Tippen via Skype for 30 minutes with crystal clear video! It was so fun until I realized that they could see me too which made me somewhat self-conscious. Fortunately they're forgiving :) I can't wait to talk with more of you soon!

Our shrimp

Parker had his 9-month appointment today. He is absolutely not following in his sister's footsteps when it comes to size. He's currently in the 25% for head circumference, 25% for weight (20lbs.), and 50% for height (28.5in.). Although he looks and feels big to me, he's not the big boy we thought he'd be. But what he lacks in size he's making up for in determination. It's a good thing Madeleine is so much bigger than him because he's a force to be reckoned with. He will dive head first off the couch if you don't keep your eye on him and he's already defying gravity and balance by trying to let go of furniture while side-stepping. He crawls over us like we're mere speed bumps and scales my pant leg to stand up and beg to be picked up while I do dishes. Because of his increase in activity and slight dip in growth curve, the pediatrician advised me to start feeding him more throughout the day and to introduce more protein in the evening to see if that helps him sleep more at night without waking up hungry. She also suggested starting him on some soy milk (due to his dairy allergy) which will help him not be so dependent on nursing. So tonight he had some chicken and stars with mixed vegetables which went over pretty well and half a sippy cup of plain soy milk! He didn't even flinch at the milk...just gave it a curious look after taking the first sip. I am excited and somewhat overwhelmed at the amount of work I have ahead of me negotiating his movements and eating habits, along with his sister's reactions to all of this. However, he is a healthy and very happy baby and that's something to be very thankful for!

(P.S. More Cline/Arey staycation pictures will be posted later. Papa and Mimi left this morning just after Parker and I left for the doctor. We would have been lost without their help this past week and look forward to hopefully another visit in '09!)

As if you didn't already know enough about us...

My parents gave us an early anniversary present this weekend by generously getting us a new laptop. And now we're up and running with the rest of the world by being registered on Skype. So if you're interested, you can see us in real-time. Aren't you excited? Isn't that the grand news you were waiting for? And for those of you who aren't on Skype yet, I'm expecting an upgrade soon. I want to see those babies right after they're born Carol, Aimee, and Jayna!

Too much fun for one post

I'll maybe get around to posting more explanations later but here's a smattering of what's taken place in the Cline household over the last week. Parker now LOVES to stand up and will use anything and everything he can find to do so. Madeleine got a kiddie pool that she likes to use to give Maggie water. Both kids keep the grandparents busy so they're often found playing with one or holding the other. The Saturday market/carousel watching/river splashing was a hit (and exhaustion tool) for all. The wildflower stroll revealed some not-yet-seen flowers and the local children's museum was a chance for exploration and discovery. Justin and I went out to dinner (and plan to do it again this weekend) and I even got to redeem my mother's day gift certificate for a facial :) Can you believe it's only Thursday! I'm thinking that the grandparents should start making trips here monthly... We'll visit Fort Missoula and Bayern Brewery tomorrow and probably head back to the market on Saturday. My dad and Justin will go fishing on Sunday and then they fly back east Monday. Enjoy the pictures and see if you can guess what activity goes with what picture.

papamimi

They have arrived: Papa and Mimi (my dad and mom as Madeleine has named them) flew into town last Thursday evening and the kids have taken to them like floaters down the Clark Fork river on a 94 degree day :) I had asked them to come visit this week as Justin had to travel to Denver for a week of work and I wasn't interested in handling the Cline casa on my own. I love having the extra sets of hands to feed Parker, play with Madeleine, water the lawn, do the dishes, run errands, push the shopping cart, etc. They seem to be having a lot of fun as well, although I think this will be their most exhausting trip yet to MT. Nevertheless, the kids seem to be stealing their hearts and that may just keep them coming back for more! I'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow.

Perspective project

I've had a crazy idea lingering in my head the last year or so: what would it look like if I collected pictures taken by kids under the age of 4? We started letting Madeleine walk around with our camera about 8 months ago and since then she's taken a variety of pictures. Most of them aren't very good but they give me a little picture into what the world looks like from her perspective. Here's a sampling of her "work."

I'm wondering if there's anyone else out there who'd be interested in letting their kids take control of the camera and then share with me what they see. Let me know if you're brave...I mean interested :)

Growing together

I had some fun this weekend watching the kids interact. Parker is growing up too fast... He's already up on his knees bouncing and trying to pull himself up to his feet. When I stand him up and hold his hands he even tries to take small steps occasionally! The bond between Parker and Madeleine continues to grow which is especially sweet for me to watch as I never experienced a sibling relationship. I hope they grow to love and respect one another as adults but for now, I'll just keep enjoying their shared giggles and squeals of delight.

Here they are in the double jogger I bought off Craigslist almost 2 months ago. We've used it a lot; mainly on trips to the blue slide but I've gotten a jog or two accomplished as well. One of my favorite parts of having them sit together is that I'll often catch Madeleine putting her hand on Parker. Sometimes she'll rub his head if he's sleepy or if he's not she'll reach over and keep a hand on his leg. Of course she'll often tattle and let me know he's taken his hat off or is about to throw his pacifier out of the stroller too but I find the voluntary touches very sweet.

I think Parker looks slightly annoyed and embarrassed in this shot. But I don't know who he's annoyed/embarrassed by more: the mom who keeps stopping them to take pictures or the crazy looking kid sitting next to him who insists on dragging the dog's leash and whose smile looks more like a snarl. They are quite the pair :)

Nothing to post

I've just erased my third attempt at typing an interesting post. The first one was about me finding a $20 bill. The second was about our tire drama with the Jeep. The third was going to be pictures of Justin's day fishing last Friday. But all of them were way too long and not interesting enough so I decided to tell you that I'm trying but I just don't have anything good to say. And it's a shame because the kids are both sleeping (Parker is going on 4 hours and Madeleine 1) and I know life will be crazy again when they wake up. At least you know I wish I had something to share. Hopefully something fun will happen this weekend that I can post about later. Have a happy Friday and weekend!

The boys

Justin has been enjoying Parker's latest antic of pretending to want to go to bed and then fussing about 15 minutes after we lay him down. He eagerly gets Parker back up while I'm putting Madeleine to bed. I usually come out of her room to discover them laughing together with Parker either trying to stand up using Justin as a prop or smacking Daddy in the face. Because he's at work while they're the most awake, I know Justin delights in one-on-one father/son moments like this.

One year ago

Happy 4th of July, albeit a few days late. I found these picture from this time last year and am amazed at how quickly kids change.