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).

My full time job

This past week was our last week with Justin being home. Throughout the week I kept asking him how it felt to know he'd be starting his real career on Monday. Then all of a sudden, while putting Madeleine to bed tonight, it hit me: my full-time job begins on Monday too. I've been so wrapped up in thinking about Justin's job that my job as a full-time mom of two hadn't quite hit me. I've been prone to tearing up since then (probably also slightly attributable to postpartum stuff) thinking about doing this alone. Of course Justin will usually be home in the evenings but still, for 8 to 9 hours a day I'll be flying solo.

In light of this, I got my haircut yesterday thinking that it probably wouldn't be easy to get it done with a baby and toddler in tow. Fortunately my hairdresser works Saturdays so I should still have a chance to get it cut in the coming months. Nevertheless, back in April I remember being delighted sitting in the dentist's office simply because I was alone. I didn't even hear them call my name the first time because I was in a childless stupor. I wonder if every mom goes through this...

So for those of you who don't mind, I'll probably be calling you in the next few weeks to jokingly lament about my full-time (and underpaid) job. I may cry, laugh, slip in and out of delirium, etc., but if you can at least help me to use some three syllable words, I'd appreciate it. Justin and I joked that I should keep a tally of how many diapers I change each day. Quite literally my day will revolve around feeding and changing these kiddos. I only hope that I can occasionally find time to change and feed myself!

Since I mentioned haircuts, here's another excuse to post videos. I cut Madeleine's bangs again this past week because she had been walking around with her head tilted up trying to look under them. Here's how she looks (and acts) now.

The ins and outs of hiccups

I included a video of Parker hiccuping in utero a while back. I thought I'd prove that he really is quite the king of hiccups. After I turned the camera off, he kept hiccuping for another 5 minutes. Here he's 7 days old. My favorite part is when he smiles :)

Welcome Wendy!

I'm so happy to share that my lifelong friend Stacy Whalen gave birth via c-section to a healthy, beautiful baby girl named Wendy June Whalen yesterday at 10:50am. I have been friends with Stacy since 9th grade and have known her husband Zach since they started dating in college. It's such a joy to celebrate the birth of their little girl, especially as Stacy and I journeyed through Parker's and Wendy's pregnancies together. We love you Whalen family and can't wait to hopefully see you all soon!

Growing girl

Madeleine has surprised us with a few new developments.

1. She's learned how to work her CD player. She now finds specific CDs she wants to listen to, opens the lid, tries to put the CD in (usually upside down), closes the lid and presses play. As long as we're around to make sure she gets it right it's fine. It's those other times that concern us. We're torn between telling her "no" and teaching her the nuances of getting it right.

2. She's also learned how to open pill bottles. How fun! This morning she came into our bedroom, grabbed my bottle of prenatal vitamins (with a kid-proof lid...ha!), and proceeded to twist and push until it opened. The she dumped them all over the place. Fortunately Justin was able to intercede as I was busy feeding Parker. Now we keep the vitamins on my dresser out of her go-go Gadget arms.

3. Madeleine can identify an elk. While looking at a magazine yesterday, Justin had the page opened to an article with a picture of a bull elk. Madeleine walked straight up to it, pointed, and said "elk." The only other picture she's seen that we know of was a silhouette of one on a t-shirt Justin has. Granted, she's more likely to see an elk here in Montana than an elephant or a monkey, but her ability to remember things impresses us nonetheless.