New Car

We bought a car. Since we live out in the burbs we decided to get one. It might get 10 miles a week on it but will be nice to have to travel around Australia.

Check it out. A 2005 Holden Vectra Hatchback. A pretty stylish car for a mommy with 2 babies. Notice on what side the steering wheel is on. That's right everyone drives on the wrong side of the road here too. Mandy has been and will be doing most of the driving. :)

Life in the hotel

We have been living in a hotel for a week now. It isn't as glamorous as we'd thought. Yes the room and laundry service is nice. The 100 meter commute to my office is also enjoyable. It sure hasn't been easy on the girls, especially Grace. Glass tables, exposed cords, balconies, two separate hotel rooms, and remnants of previous residents isn't the best combination for children. The first incident was Grace's black eye after she hit the coffee table. Ouch. She bumped her head a couple more times and hurt her fingers, poor girl.

Lucky for Grace we found a house. Mandy went out looking for two days and found a great house just off the beach. It is in Sandringham, a 30 minute train ride to work. We can't wait to move in.

We Made it

Well after twenty four hours after getting to the Houston airport we landed in Melbourne. Were we ready for our hotels. Grace and Haylee both let us know it. The flight from Houston to LA was horrible. I just about abandoned ship there at LAX. Haylee did well but Grace didn't sleep or stay still the entire flight. We overheard a guy in front of us rudely say, " aren't babies supposed to ride in coach." She crashed just as the plane touched down in LA. Everything went a lot smoother after that point. Mandy later told me she said a very heartfelt pray. Prayers are answered. Miracles do happen.

They slept through getting loaded in the stroller, pushed all through the airport, check in, security, and until we got on the plane. Grace fell asleep after dinner was served. She got up every once and a while to play. We got to know everyone around us really well because of her. Grace even introduced me to another ExxonMobil employee that knows my mom well. His office is 5 doors down from hers. Small world. When she wasn't walking around she was playing in her very own business class seat.

Haylee - the baby that didn't sleep the first 3 1/2 months of her life. Well she did GREAT! In the 15 hour flight she was out of her bassinet twice. It totaled to maybe an hour. She is doing so well. At the hotel they cried until we laid them down. They slept for 16 hours each. Poor girls.

Spring Break

My big brother, Gabe, and his wife, Sonya, and their 3 kids Jared, Emma, and Addison came to visit from Oklahoma for spring break. It was so much fun to spend time with them. We will really miss only being 1 state away when we move to the other side of the world!

All of the family went to Moody Gardens for the day and had a great time. We saw all sorts of fun animals. Gabe and Sonya treated everyone to a 3D movie which was super cool. I had never been to a 3D movie!

Zoo Day

Bruce's older brother, Shawn, and his wife, Christine, along with their 4 kids: Andrew, Tanner, Heather, & Kyle also came to visit from Arizona over spring break. All of the families went to the Houston Zoo together. We all had a really great time and the weather just couldn't have been better!! Family is wonderful!

Australia Bound

That's right. Mandy, the girls and I will all be moving to Melbourne Australia within the month. We have known about this for just over a month now. It didn't really sink in for me until yesterday. I've been in Melbourne on business. Scoping out congregations, places to live, and thinking about being over here perminantly on March 31 gave me a good reality check.

Is it far away or what? Right now Melbourne is 17 hours ahead of Houston time. After we both go through daylight savings that will change to a 15 hours difference. A flight here from LA is about 15 hours. You land in LA before you even took off in Melbourne.



Melbourne is beautiful. It is right on the Yarra river.

At night it is spectacular. For the last week I have been at the Langham Hotel on the left. The Esso building where I work is right behind it in the popular Southbank area. It must be ExxonMobil's nicest building with a built in atrium, in the most popular district in the city, and within 100 yards of the largest train station in town.

The Beaches are phenomenal. We will be going into winter but might be able go swimming before it gets too cold. The girls just got matching rash guards and bottoms. That's right, we'll have a set of pro-surfers before we come back.

Consider this an open invitation for family and friends to come and visit. There are so many nice places to visit. Ski resorts are within 3 hours during the winter and surfing is only 30 minutes away. It is a lot dryer here than Houston and as a result they actually have 4 seasons here. Luckily we won't get snow in Melbourne.

sisters

Grace loves Haylee so much! Although she doesn't completely understand what's going on with this new addition to our family, I know there is already a bond between them. Grace loves to touch little Haylee's hands, tummy, and face. Haylee smiles and coos at Grace. It is such a sweet and tender thing to watch! I know they will be the best of little friends!

Grace's First Birthday

December is a busy month in the Harline home. The last 8 days of the year we celebrate our anniversary, Christmas, and Grace's birthday.

Friday night we had a family birthday party for her. She got so many fun gifts! The birthday theme was Elmo, her favorite friend. Mandy made Elmo cup cakes. Grace loved them as you can see by the mess... and of course her several chins. ;)

Today is actually her birthday. Mandy and I went into Grace's room when she woke up to sing her happy birthday - that was at 11:00 am. She slept for 15 hours last night. What a gift to her parents. Anyway, she wasn't sure what to think of us singing her happy birthday so early in the morning.

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful and special Christmas we had! It was so special because it was Haylee AND Grace's first Chirstmas! How fun!! Grace, of course, didn't really udnerstand what was going on, but loved all of the wrapping paper! And Haylee just slept the day away! What a blessing to have happy, healthy, and beautiful little babies!!

Haylee's Slideshow

My sister Sarah took newborn pictures of Haylee when she was in town for Thanksgiving. Check out the sweet slideshow she made us. Thanks Sarah, you did an awesome job.

Baby Haylee

Haylee is here! That's right, our second child in a year arrived on November 16 at 6:08 PM. She was eager to get here - born at 35 weeks (although the doctor didn't think she was even that far along). Her weight was 5 lbs 15 oz and she was 18 inches long. Like her big sister, she had a luxurious stay in Memorial Hermann's NICU. We are glad Haylee is doing better and home with us now. Mandy is doing real well. Her recovery this time is going a lot better than last. She is my hero.

Grace is still getting used to Haylee. She is not sure what to think of this little thing that takes so much of mom and dad's time. I've been able to take some time off of work until we can get used to the new schedule. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Growing Gracie

Grace has been showing off quite a bit lately. She is so proud off her self so usually after she does something, she'll stop and clap then wait for us to start clapping too. We are loving this age. She is so much fun.

This video is the premier appearance of her: 1) 4 teeth 2) crawling up the stairs 3) saying Da Da. Not that big of a deal but her parents think so.

Our First Home - The Improvements

Mandy and I bought our first home in Kingwood, TX last March. We recently had our first girl, Grace, and were ready to get out of our 3rd story apartment. By a stroke of genius Mandy was able to tie Grace's abnormally frequent ear infections to our smoking neighbors that for some reason had a shared an aircondition duct with us. A note from our pediatrition got us out of our apartment and into a beautiful home. Since then we have done a lot of cool things to this house:

1. Paint EVERY room except the game room and laundry room.

2. Fix up the "Man Cave". Added workbench, shelving, dart board, and tools storage.

3. Landscaping, landscaping, landscaping.

3. Coat Closet Before:

Coat Closet Part 1: Running DVI, USB, Stereo audio, and RCA video from office to TV room.

Coat Closet Part 2: Sheetrock, 2 new lights, mud, tape, lights, paint, and carpet.

4. Attic: we added a light and about 500 ft3 of decking to be able to use it as storage.