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.

On our own

This morning we said goodbye to my parents who came to visit for a little over a week. When they arrived here two Saturdays ago, I was still pregnant. They were able to use that time to get reacquainted with Madeleine. On Monday night/Tuesday morning, we woke them up at 12:30am to say we were headed to The Birth Center and gave them Madeleine's monitor. Five hours later we woke them up and introduced them to Parker. It was a fun experience to see their eyes light up at the transformation that occurred in such a short period of time.

They got a kick out of Madeleine's antics; she is quite the performer! They introduced her to the wonders of stickers and sing-along Sandra Boynton books. They also supervised Parker while we gave Madeleine extra attention. With them here, Justin and I were able to go out on a coffee date for our anniversary and they watched Madeleine while we took Parker to all of his different appointments. It was wonderfully helpful to have them here and we look forward to seeing them again around Christmas!

Here are some more pictures from their visit. Unfortunately we didn't get nearly as many pictures with the grandparents this time because our hands were full doing other things. But they helped us get some good pictures of the 4 of us. Thanks so much Grammie and Grampy for everything! We love you!!!

On the changing table together

Saturday morning at the farmer's market (Parker's hiding in the sling under the blanket)

Two snoozers

Family time

Sleepy little man

Dog love

Madeleine taking pictures of Grampy

At The Big Dipper ice cream stand (This picture reminds us of our wedding photos where half of the family is hidden in the shade. I guess some traditions must continue.)

One last family picture

Why women were created with hips

The other good news...

The Cline family has some other big news to announce: Justin has officially been offered the job at the Vet Center here in Missoula as a family and couples therapist! This is what we had been waiting to hear about all summer long. The paperwork finally came in the mail last week and he starts October 27th. While it is wonderful news, reality has finally crashed in on me that Justin won't be around to help nearly as much as he has up until now. So we're taking advantage of this week to relax and let him have as much time with Madeleine and Parker as he can handle. The job offer also means we can move forward with the house-hunting process by getting pre-approved for a mortgage. All of this growing up at once is a lot but I think we're up for the challenge and rewards.

Oh yeah, as an afterthought

Today is our four year anniversary. While there will be no whooping it up on the town, a nice dinner at Heraldo's Mexican Restaurant with the family will be a nice substitute. Who'd-a-thought fours years ago that we'd end up in Montana, have two kids, and Justin would be starting work for the federal government as a therapist. Any bets on the next four years?