TV land

While in Virginia over Christmas, my mom gave me an extra converter box she had purchased but didn't need. That simple gift launched this family into present day technology. Justin and I got to watch our favorite show Scrubs for the first time on television! Up to this point we had only seen it on DVD and from various websites on our computer's small screen (imagine the two of us arguing back and forth about who gets the padded chair and what angle the screen has to be in order for both shortie and the giant to see it). I thoroughly enjoyed the show; however, Parker didn't get the memo that we were having special Scrubs time so he proceeded to refuse to fall asleep until I let him watch some too. I think he's a fan. Like me, Turk's his favorite.

As for an injury update, Madeleine managed to make it through the day unscathed. Hooray!

Bumps and bruises

Madeleine has crossed another threshold of toddlerhood: the daily injury. While I hope the tradition doesn't continue, she has been injured every day since the start of this past weekend. Saturday Madeleine got knocked over on her face by a full glass bottle that fell off the top of the refrigerator and hit the back of her head. Justin and I were both terrified! We checked her eyes to make sure she didn't have a concussion (she didn't). Besides a huge goose-egg on her head, she seemed perfectly normal. And yes, we have removed everything from the top of the fridge. Yesterday's injuries weren't as dramatic but nevertheless painful for her: she stabbed the roof of her mouth with a sharp corn chip and she bit her lip while jumping on the bed. Today she fell face first on the asphalt landing on her upper lip which is all scratched. She also cut the inside of her lip and the flap of skin that joins the lip to the gum was wedged between her front teeth where she has a gap like I do. That fall produced near hysterics--it was also practically nap time which didn't help. I don't think she needs more serious medical attention but I'll reevaluate after the swelling goes down.

Is this what it's like to have a 2-year old? I hadn't anticipated injury tears on top of normal every day defiance tears (those are the ones she sheds in response to my saying "no"). This phase needs to pass quickly.

On a happier note, I have another dancing video to share. I love watching her version of these songs I had long forgotten until a few months ago. If you have any childhood songs you remember loving, let me know so I can remember them too and pass them along to another generation!

Developments

Parker had his first shots on the 13th of January. Everything went really well; he only cried for a few seconds! He continues to be extraordinarily long (25.5 in.), and fairly hefty (15lbs.). Bigger news than either of these facts is that he rolled over for the first time that day in the doctor's office! It's a little early for him to be rolling over (he's far ahead of Madeleine in this respect) so now I can't turn my back on him on the changing table. He mainly rolls from his tummy to his back, although once I saw him do the reverse. He prefers being on his back so I'm not too surprised.

Madeleine is still slowly chugging along with her vocabulary. I'm sometimes frustrated that she doesn't say words, especially because I know she can make all of the sounds and puts them together when she wants to. It seems she just has very little desire and motivation to be articulate currently. For the most part, despite her vocal inhibitions, she's able to communicate pretty well with me. She's officially announced her undying love of Elmo. She wakes up asking for Elmo and she goes to bed saying goodnight to Elmo. We have a habit of watching Sesame Street when she wakes up in the morning as it gives me a few moments to get Parker up and moving. Ever since seeing "Elmo's World" on SS, she has begged watch the videos we own all day long. I try to only let her watch one 45 minute video a day but I pick my battles. Her love affair won't last forever and I'm grateful for a bit of peace and quiet to make dinner at night.

Along with Elmo has come a love of dancing, which is sometimes synonymous with running in circles. She's also grown to enjoy the songs we sing at story time at the library twice a week. She's gotten pretty good at the moves too!

Justin and I had our friends Jen and Ryan over Saturday night to play Risk (Lord of the Rings version!) and eat dinner. We were up past midnight playing! It was a lot of fun, even though I sacrificed many of my archers to keep the game going. The game ended in a massive tie because it got too late but I'm looking forward to a rematch sometime soon. Jen and Ryan brought over homemade beer, some wine, and pineapple upside down cake; they'll get themselves invited back a thousand times over for doing that!

I'm heading off to bed. Now that I've finally informed the public about the kids, it's time to dwell in the sweet bliss of slumber, until Parker wakes up to eat. Nighty night.

Fog

It's been really foggy here and as a result, we've had a lot of hoar frost, specifically air hoar. It makes it look as if the White Witch from Narnia blew a breath of icy air across the town.

I'm awed by how dramatically different everyday things look when coated in ice crystals. Our willow tree looked like it was covered in diamonds.

While I've enjoyed the strange beauty of the hoar frost, I'm looking forward to seeing the sun again soon.

I haven't posted much lately because I've been wrapped up in reading novels in my free time. I find it satisfying to read while nursing Parker at night; it is one of the few moments when the house is quiet and I'm relatively free to do as I please. I reread a novel I read in college called "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie and then I quickly began and finished "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. I'm hoping to get the sequel to Pillars soon. I know you all probably miss hearing the daily updates on our little life but I've been enriched by taking time to read these books (Papa, thanks for teaching me caterwauling; I found it in Follett's book!).

I can't wait to share more about Parker's latest achievements and Madeleine's new words but I'll save that for next time. For now, all I have to say is GO STEELERS!

Go Steelers!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'll update the blog on the last few weeks sometime later but for now I wanted to show our Western PA spirit. Thanks to JoAnn's fiance George (the biggest Steelers fan we know) for outfitting the kids :) I grew up a Redskins fan but haven't been too impressed with their performance for, say, the last decade or so; needless to say, it was pretty easy to convince me to cheer for the Steelers. Hopefully it'll end up being a PA Super Bowl!

Holiday break-down

*Warning: this is a VERY long post! *

After flying over 4500 miles, driving 700 miles through 3 states and 13 hours in the car, $2.50 in tolls (not including the $11 in Starbucks coffee), seeing 45 people, and -18 hours of sleep, we're home in Montana. What a whirlwind of a trip! All in all, the Cline clan did pretty well. The kiddos cooperated as much as could be expected on the flights although our idea of flying at night so Madeleine would sleep didn't work out the way we planned. And the airline websites don't tell you that you can't have two lap children in the same row with another person because of the number of oxygen masks. So we ended up doing some seat shuffles but sat next to really nice people so it worked out.

Christmas morning was pretty non-eventful due to our late arrival into Dulles (12:40am). We all took some time relaxing, eating pancakes for brunch, and napping as much as possible. On the day after Christmas, we had a great time visiting with my Aunt Janet, Uncle Steve, and Grandma who drove down from Maryland to visit for the afternoon.

The beautiful quilt Janet made for Parker.

On Saturday we spent a short time with my old friend Molly ("old" as in long-time friend, not ancient...just to clarify for your sake Molly!) who drove over to say hello. Molly has been like the little sister I never had. She's the best friend of my best friend Carol's little sister Stacy. Got that? Anyway, we've known one another a long time and it was really fun to see her. And she did a great job putting Parker to sleep!

We also got to spend the rest of the day with the Johnsons: Carol, Jeremy, and Soren. I hadn't seen them since March and they had never met Madeleine or Parker. It was entertaining to pal around and walk the old neighborhood with our whole families. Madeleine didn't take to Soren as well as I would have liked but that's no surprise as she's super cautious and he's a go-getter. They have plenty of time to learn to like one another as I plan on trying to visit them after they move to Indiana this summer for Jeremy to start his job as a professor at Butler University.

(Notice Madeleine's dubious look. What a piece of work!)

Carol and I sported matching t-shirts for the day!

We also enjoyed spending time with my parents who graciously hosted us. Madeleine seemed to remember them from their visit in October when Parker was born. Besides feeding us and letting us abuse their laundry (packing for 4 with baggage costs required re-wearing a lot of clothes), they watched Elmo with Madeleine, chased her around the house, taught her to play the piano, rocked Parker, and helped him pass gas (a stinky but important job...thanks Mama, sorry that you almost passed out a time or two!).

Saturday night we drove up to Clearfield to spend time with Justin's family and friends. We spent Sunday celebrating Christmas with his mom's side of the family and Monday with his dad's side. Madeleine was immersed in gifts and has since taken it upon herself to open anything with wrapping paper thinking that it must be for her! She grew quite attached to Uncle Aaron ("Bubba") and his girlfriend Jessica and was sad to see them leave for New York. (Hint, hint...want to come and visit you two?) As is the story with the holidays, we ate and ate and ate and did laundry :) We didn't get pictures with all of the people we visited with (Jayna and Micah, Alan and Michelle, Audry and Bob, the Lovesky family, Uncle Dipe, the McCrackens) but we were so delighted to spend time with each of you!

Justin's dad Jerry with Parker

On Tuesday, chaos ensued (in the best possible way)! Justin's college roommates Preston and Craig came to visit with their respective wives Aimee and Suzanne. We had a blast! As always, stories were retold and mischief was caused. But we also created new memories and deepened bonds that were formed a long time ago. Preston and Aimee drove down from Erie for the day (after driving to Erie from Marshfield, Wisconsin) just to see us. We are incredibly blessed by these friends and the joy they add to our lives.

Back row: Justin, Craig, and Preston Front row: me, Suzanne, and Aimee

Preston discovered the puddle at the bottom of the slide AFTER he slid down it!

Madeleine had a lot of fun having Craig "catch" her at the bottom of the slide and run her back to the top. She played on the slides for over 30 minutes before we convinced her to keep walking!

We spent Wednesday hanging out at JoAnn's and preparing for another night of driving. We had to head back to VA for my dad to drive us to BWI to fly out Thursday. It was a nice day of down time before the big trip home.

We rang in 2009 by having a glass of Justin's Uncle Jack's homemade chocolate raspberry port. And then we hit the hay. It had been a long day but we had more fun ahead of us. My other best friend from high school Stacy and her family recently moved to Stafford and came over to visit with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey were second parents to me throughout high school and college and I've missed having them around when I've visited Stafford since they moved to South Carolina a few years ago. I hadn't seen Stacy and Zach since my wedding 4 years ago. It was wonderful of them to drive over with their new baby Wendy (born 8 days after Parker) to say hello for a few hours. I wish we lived closer!

We landed in Missoula at midnight that night after racing through the Denver airport to make our connection. We're slowly transitioning back into a normal routine. We were so glad to visit with all of you and are sorry we couldn't have seen more people (Hunter family and Amanda, especially) but we'll be back. It may be a little while yet but I'm sure we'll be back. In the meantime, we're planning Christmas 2009 here at 4 Wakonda Ct. You're all invited but reservations are suggested. Love to you all and Happy New Year!!!

Home again

Soon I'll post more about our trip to VA and PA but for now just wanted to pass along that I've uploaded all of our photos onto the Picasa site. You can get there by clicking on the link to the left that says "our pictures." We wish you all a happy new year and will catch up soon!