Evidence

Here are some of the projects we've worked on over the last month.

Our screen doors that Justin installed.

Did I just hear you ask what part of our house is painted red? We took two weekends and transformed the kitchen with 3 coats of "cherry chocolate" paint. Although I love yellow, it was the wrong color for that space. We're really happy with the results, even the red smudges that now decorate the lovely popcorn ceiling.

After the first coat of cherry chocolate we were afraid we'd have to buy 4 gallons of paint to keep it from looking raspberry. Fortunately we only had to buy two gallons.

Here's what it looks like now.

We lost a lot of sleep working on this but it turned out to be a lot of fun for us as a couple. We rocked out to classic rock and ate way too many Starbursts. It's always fun when a task like this turns into a really good time for us to connect.

I don't have any pictures of the berry bushes I've planted. They're not much to look at right now anyway. I also didn't take any pictures of the baby shower or Carol's visit. For the shower I was just too busy getting the food ready. As for our lovely visit from Carol and Soren, I think it's a testament to where we place our priorities when there isn't a picture to show from our visit. We preferred spending time with one another and didn't feel much of a need to document it. It was a true delight to have them here and I was tickled watching how well Soren interacted with Parker. Madeleine pretty much kept Soren at a mom's arm-length (i.e., "Mama, up!!!) but she was nevertheless happy watching them come up the basement stairs the two mornings they were here. We hope to visit with them again soon!

And while I've uploaded lots of new pictures to the Picasa site, here are a few obligatory ones of the kids.

List update

Baby shower: check
laundry: check
cleaning basement: pending

My biggest hurdle of the day is trying not to eat the triple layer chocolate cake I made for the baby shower. It's a sour cream cake with sour cream icing and while I so desperately want to eat a few bites I'm hesitant due to Parker's resulting gasiness which causes me to lose sleep. But there's so much chocolate!!! What is a girl to do? I'm hoping Carol likes it and gobbles all of it up for me. Carol and Jeremy officially announced on their blog last week that they're pregnant again so I'm thinking I can convince her to indulge since she's eating for two. Congrats you crazy Johnsons :) Can't wait to see Carol, Soren, and the growing peanut tomorrow!!!!

The list

Over the last three weeks we've:
installed screen doors (mainly Justin but I kept the kids entertained so I helped)
removed trim in the kitchen
repainted the kitchen
planted 9 berry bushes
dug up and transplanted a lilac bush/tree
began digging up a flower bed
broke and repaired the lawn mower
disposed of over 2 garbage bags worth of dandelions
and I attended a 4 session class called "Betty's for Beer" hosted by a local brewery

Over the next few weeks we'll:
host a baby shower (cooking and cleaning for me)
have Carol and Soren visiting for a few days (requires some desperately needed organization on my part; I've trashed the basement and Justin's thrilled their visit necessitates my attention to the disaster zone)
have a daddy-free weekend as he goes to a conference in NM
finish digging up said flower bed
order new windows
buy, stain, and hopefully install trim for kitchen
buy and plant bushes to block out annoying neighbors...

It's no wonder why people in their 50s and older want to live in a condo community. You spend the first 20-30 years of your family's existence working on your yard and house! Fortunately for us the novelty of it all hasn't worn off yet.

Better late than never

Yes, the Clines are still here and hopefully in a few days I'll post some pictures of why I haven't been updating the blog but I had a few minutes to upload this quick video of Parker doing one of his classic moves. The video is a few weeks old...he's actually crawling now. Funny how with kid #1 I would have kept you updated on every scootch and with kid #2 it's an afterthought: "oh yeah, Parker, he's crawling but he hasn't gotten into the dog food yet so it's not really that big of a deal." Ahhh...how life changes. More to come, I promise!

Sibling fun

I've said that Madeleine and Parker play together a lot now but I haven't shown it. Here are two examples. (As the videographer, I profess to stink at taking a clear, still video but I hope it's worth watching, depsite the slight sea-sickness feeling you may get.) Parker honestly thinks Madeleine is the funniest, smartest, cutest thing he's ever seen. The only other member of the family that competes with Madeleine for Parker's attention is Oreo and that's just because she's small and he likes to grab handfuls of her fur. It's fun to get small glimpses into what we hope will be the advantage of having two kids so close in age.

The sounds emanating from Parker in this second video make up the "Parker chuckle." What could be mistaken as the pre-cry for one baby is his way of letting you know that you are hysterical.

9 days later

I'm a slacker. Actually, I'm just a blog slacker. Ok, that's a lie. Does anyone else have those moments when they're walking around their house thinking, "How did I become a grown up?" I think back to how my mom used to practically beg me to clean my room which was at least a 3 day process and now, here I am, cooking dinner, cleaning up, gathering and doing the dirty laundry, running errands, putting kids to bed, feeding them and changing diapers, letting the dog outside to go to the bathroom...(Justin helps, of course)...and then there are days when I am simply out of gas and nothing gets accomplished.

While we have eaten pretty well the last few days (see picture below), as I described to Carol on the phone earlier today, there were--key word "were" because I cleaned this up while the kids took their naps today--(everything is on the floor in this list) 12 crayons, 5 sheets of paper on which Madeleine was coloring, 2 dishtowels, 3 of Parker's teething rings, Madeleine's basketball, two plastic pieces of silverware, a used napkin, two empty boxes of milk from Costco and an empty 6-pack beer container which sit next to the garbage can for recycling, two dead ladybugs which Madeleine discovered today, a cat toy, Maggie's water and food bowls, a rain jacket, a rattle, two socks, a pair of Madeleine's pants... you get the idea. I seem to have stalled out the last few days, despite being pampered on Mother's Day. Justin got me a gift certificate for a facial which I am instructed to use along with a massage gift certificate I have from a few years ago (no expiration date so I'm safe). So all this to say that I'm sorry for no blogging but I do have some things to share if you're still interested in reading.

Who knew homemade pitas were easy to make and incredibly yummy?!? No more last minute trips to the grocery store now whenever we're having hummus or flaffel!

First, Parker has jumped from having 3 teeth to having 5. We're waiting to see #6 any day now. He's also managed to figure out how to get up on his knees and rock back and forth. If he gets his feet planted he can even lunge forward. He was working on perfecting his push-up for a few days there too (video to follow later). I'm not quite ready for him to crawl but I'm excited for the increased independence that will give him. He's still not steady on his butt in the sitting position but I'm currently attributing that to his insatiable desire to be on his belly trying to crawl. We'll see what the doctor has to say two weeks from now.

Madeleine and I have our good days and our bad ones. When I'm really, really patient things go well but when I'm easily annoyed it's hard for us to communicate. She ends up in tears a lot those days which stinks for all of us, especially as I'm the adult and should control our environment better. It hasn't helped that we thought she might have a UTI (urinary tract infection). She was complaining of pain and crying when she peed so we got in to see the doctor yesterday. After a few hours of wearing a "pee bag" inside her diaper, we got a urine sample for the lab to analyze. The results were inconclusive so we're currently treating it as an exterior bacterial issue which means she spends time airing out a lot. She's still in diapers but if this continues it might help move us closer to potty training and underwear if she seems ready. She continues to increase her vocab and complexity of sentences. "Daddy is stinky" is a favorite sentence of hers as it incites tickles from Justin whenever she says it.

And it just wouldn't be spring in Missoula without flowers. We are again starting our wildflower tracking. It began on Mother's Day with a small stroll up Pattee Canyon where we found some glacier lilies (the yellow flower) and some trillium (the white one). I saw some tiny fairy bells starting to come out but they were in an inconvenient spot for pictures. The wild roses and lupine should come out in another month or so too.

I think that's all for now. I'll post again when my slackerishness wears off.

Baby love

Parker has hit an awesome stage: he loves other kids and especially babies (most of all himself). He became a giggle machine while looking at a magazine ad that featured babies. He laughs at almost anything Madeleine does. And seeing his own reflection keeps him hysterical. This happened one afternoon when the kids tag-teamed and I had some fun alone time with each of them.