It's Christmas Time

Last night I finished my Christmas shopping. While it's a relief that I no longer have to brave the crowds, it does not mean I'm done with Christmas gifts. I'm making a lot of gifts this year, and I'm not yet finished with that part. I began to stress a little last night, especially since I still had a package to mail to Florida, and still had things to make to include in that package. I was tired, and just wanted to go to sleep (it was 7pm).

Then at dinner Chris and I sat at our dining room table (normally we sit in front of the TV), and I prayed a different prayer than we normally do before dinner. I prayed that we would not stress about what we need to do for Christmas. Christmas isn't about the gifts or the baking or any other preparations. It's about our Savior. It's about celebrating his miraculous birth. I prayed that we would not stress over the material things, but rather enjoy this season and remember WHY we are celebrating!

After dinner I somehow got a second wind and was able to finish everything I had to for the package going to Florida! I mailed it off today. I feel so much more at peace about what I need to do in preparation for Christmas. I am planning to have fun with what I still need to make and not stress about it!

I pray that each of you remember the true meaning for this glorious season we're in. Have a very blessed Christmas!

I'm all in

The first I'd heard of Twilight was over the summer. Vampires? I don't think so. But then it got more popular and hyped, and some of my friends read it and loved it, so I decided I'd do the same. Not to just follow the crowd, but because if this many people liked a vampire book, there must be something special about it. But I hadn't made it a priority until now.

Now the movie is out, and last week I got tickets to see it on the Imax with some friends. They challenged me (and I've challenged myself) to finish the book before I watch the movie. I found this a very daunting task, seeing as I began the book on Tuesday and I'm not the fastest reader (I like to read every word...and sometimes read them again). I was a little skeptic...it was hyped SO much by everyone that I didn't possibly think it could be as good as they said. But it is. I'm all in, and it is possible that I'll finish it before tonight.

What CAN I eat?!

I had an allergy and hormones test done today (among other things). It's part of a whole health and wellness treatment I'm doing in seek of the cause of my migraines. I always wanted to re-affirm my intolerance to gluten, so that it did. Here is a complete list of all food I am allergic to:

vinegar, yeast mix, coffee, wine, albumin (cowsmilk), cheese (except feta/goat), amaranth, gliadin, gluten, oats, rye, spelt, wheat, soy, peanuts, peanut butter, thyme, carrots, celery, potato (white), and tomatoes.

Quite impressive, isn't it? Who knew someone could be allergic to so many things. Actually, they call it a "sensitivity," so I can have these things in moderation, but should just try to stay away from them. I would have thought I'd be depressed after this news. Heck, being allergic to peanut butter alone is almost the end of the world (but I learned of almond butter, and Henry's roasted almond butter is pretty darn good). I think what has kept me in high spirits are a few things...

1. I have already known I'm intolerant to gluten and soy, and have already cut them out of my diet. And I had a hunch about cow's milk, so I don't drink milk (I'm not willing to cut out cheese...I will cut down). So, knowing that I've already cut out one item that is in so many things, I know I have willpower, and I know I can do it.

2. I know it will make me feel better. Before I went off gluten I was getting several migraines a week. Since going off it, I get 1-2 per month. Seeing that improvement gives me hope that I've finally found the rest of the problem. (In addition to the hormone issue I have...more to follow.)

3. Since I am gluten-free, I know that there are ways around your intolerances. For example, I bake with rice flour and tapioca flour instead of wheat flour. I eat nut thins instead of wheat thins. I have quinoa pasta instead of wheat pasta; to name a few.

The other thing I had tested was my hormone levels. This is the main issue I was concerned with, because I already knew my migraines are hormonal. Turns out that several of my hormones are too low. I got a hormone supplement to hopefully correct this issue. Maybe if the hormone issue is fixed, I can still eat things I'm sensitive to and be fine. I'll still be doing plenty of testing on my own, so I'll let ya know!

If I could have gluten...

I've been gluten-free for a year and a half, and I love it! (For those of you who don't know, gluten is found in wheat, barley, and rye. So no normal baked goods, bread, or beer for me...don't worry, I have ways around it!)

Even though I've gotten very accustomed to this lifestyle, there are many times I would really love to have a glutenous delight. Many people in my situation may cheat here and there, but I don't. I have definitely learned the art of self-control. It's selfish, really, because I don't want to get a blasted migraine!

But recently I've been thinking...dreaming...of what I would eat if I could have gluten again. Many things that I used to eat are easily replaced with the GF version (although the GF version is often not available if I'm at a restaurant, etc., so it's convenience I miss most), but some are just irreplaceable.

So, here is my top ten list of gluten-filled food I would eat if I could...

10. Sourdough bread
9. Bagels
8. Maple doughnuts
7. Ravioli
6. Triscuits
5. Sundried Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins
4. Real Mexican Flour tortillas
3. CPK Pizza
2. Bronx Pizza
1. Cheez-its!

Disclaimer: I wouldn't eat these junky foods all the time...it would just be nice to be able to have some every once in a while if I wanted.

Last week Erika and I exchanged haikus at work, and here's what I wrote in honor of my beloved #1 missed food:

Yummy orangish square
How I love your cheezy ways
But hate your gluten

Thank you, thank you. I'll be signing autographs next week.

Lipstick Jungle: A Sad Farewell

In the TV world nowadays, a good show is few and far between. My current shows consist of Entourage, CSI if I'm in the gory mood, sometimes the Office (hasn't been as good lately), Heroes (although I'm still on season 1), Lipstick Jungle, and anything on FoodNetwork. Of all those shows, Entourage and Lipstick Jungle are FAR above the rest. But I just found out that Lipstick Jungle has been canceled. I almost cried. I can't understand why people don't see the brilliance in this show.

The show is based on the book "Sex and the City," and that show did phenomenal. It's a sexy drama about 3 friends instead of 4, and they're a little older, but still the same premise.

Then I thought about it...the show wasn't marketed enough! Every time I mentioned the show to any friends, they may have heard of it, some had "meant" to watch it...if it was marketed enough they would have remembered! It's hard for me to really get hooked on a TV show, but I'm HOOKED on this one, so it's gotta be good. I have good taste, right? So the problem is that it didn't get enough exposure. And now it's been canceled. So it is with a very sad heart that this Lipstick Jungle fan says farewell to Wendy, Nico, Victory, Kirby, Joe, and Shane.

If you liked Sex and the City, go online to www.nbc.com/lipstickjungle and watch Lipstick Jungle from the beginning. You'll see what I'm talking about. I think they'll continue airing the rest of the current season 2 since they've already recorded them all...but I want them to keep making them!

Here's the premise:

Movie exec Wendy (Brooke Shields, "Suddenly Susan") does everything she can to balance career and family. Nico (Kim Raver, "24"), editor-in-chief of a hot fashion magazine, has her eye on becoming CEO. And free-spirited designer Victory (Lindsay Price, "Beverly Hills, 90210") longs to make her dreams come true -- and maybe find "Mr. Right" along the way.

Armed with humor and strength, these three modern New York women support one another through the triumphs and tears that are all part of making it big in the Big Apple. Also starring are Andrew McCarthy ("Joy Luck Club"), David Noroña ("Frasier") Paul Blackthorne ("Big Shots") and Robert Buckley ("Fashion House").

Heroes

I'm on episode 5 of season one of Heroes (watching on Netflix Watch Instantly). I'm hooked. I'm still not totally sure what's going on yet because I'm not far enough in...but every episode is a cliffhanger so I have to keep watching. At least it's something to pass the time between episodes of Entourage and Lipstick Jungle! Best shows on TV!

Back to tea

I've gotta say, I didn't thoroughly enjoy my half-cup of coffee yesterday. Even with the creamer. It made me feel kinda icky...I'm not used to it anymore. I guess the antioxidants in the tea have "cleansed" the yuckiness out of my body! So...I'm back to my mango black tea today and loving it :)

ERIKA

Erika has a poster of Dwight from "the office" on it. He's holding a piece of paper with his name on it, and each letter of his name is an acronym for something (i.e. "H" = hard worker). She hung it up on the file cabinet by her desk. So one day when Erika left we had some fun. I sent Michelle this picture of Erika (the only one I had that would work) and she turned it into a poster. This is hanging on Erika's file cabinet next to Dwight:

I gave in

I'm drinking coffee. I've already gotten a lot of slack for it, so I need to explain myself...

• I am now at the point where I can have a cup of coffee every now and then and not fall back into my addiction. (Albeit it was mainly an addiction to the creamer...it was still a need I had every morning.)
• My main reason for quitting coffee was that I hated my reliance on it. It used to be that if I missed my cup of coffee one morning...say, on the weekend...I'd get a headache from the lack of caffeine. I hated it that I depended on this substance for functioning during the day. Now I don't rely on it, so it's okay if I have it every once in a while! (My other reason for quitting coffee is because it is a headache trigger and the Lord knows I don't need any more triggers for my blasted headaches!)
• I really needed the extra pick-me-up today. For some reason I'm extra tired and have a lot of work to do, so I needed the coffee buzz.
• It was only HALF a cup :)
• In my earlier post, I said "there's no going back!" This is still true...I will not go back permanently. This is just an every once in a while occurrence.
  

My half-cup of coffee is good...but not as good as it used to taste to me. (Although my caramel vanilla creamer does make it pretty tasty.) I am over my addiction to coffee, which was my main goal. I still prefer my tea!

Tea Addict

The last time I drank a cup of coffee was Sept. 6. I've been clean of coffee for almost 2 months! It took a good 3 weeks before I stopped craving coffee (actually, it was the decadent creamer mixed with the coffee flavor that I was after). But now that I've switched to tea, there's no going back!

My desk at work is L-shaped. I have two small top drawers on either end of the L. One is for pens, pencils, white-out and the like, and the other...tea! And I'll admit, I've got candy stashed in there too. But when you open the drawer, you just see a bunch of boxes of tea. I like to have different flavors to choose from, because my tea mood changes from day to day. There's Chai tea, green tea with peach, pomegranate white tea, pomegranate green tea, a mixture of miscellaneous teas I grabbed from home, and my favorite - Trader Joe's peach black tea.

Peach black tea is my everyday choice if I'm not in the mood for the others. It's a little sweet on it's own, but not too sweet. The pomegranate teas are very good - and full of antioxidants - but I can't drink them with my almond milk because they're too acidic. (I drink my tea the British way, with some milk - almond milk, that is. I also add some honey.)

I was a little bummed to miss out on the holiday creamer flavors, but I may have a solution to that. Straight black tea with creamer? I'll let you know how that goes in the next couple weeks :)

My Etsy Shop

Most of you know that I live to craft! Well, as my projects have gotten better and more creative, I've wanted to sell the stuff I make. Some friends told me about Etsy (thanks Jen and Amy), so I finally set up my Etsy shop! (If you haven't heard of etsy, like I hadn't until recently, it's like Ebay but only handmade items.)

You can get to my shop at: www.jaymalew.etsy.com. I don't have a lot listed yet, but I've been working hard! And there's lots more to come! I've got oodles of ideas mulling in my mind...I'm gonna have so much fun with this! So check it out now just to see what I'm talking about...and then check back again and again and buy Christmas presents and stuff :) I can custom make anything, so if you see something you like but want it just a little different...colors or paper or embellishments or occasion...just let me know!

Some political facts to ponder

John Glenn (DEMOCRAT) said this...

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.



FDR (DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us; Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost ... an average of 112,500 per year.






John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.











Johnson (DEMOCRAT) turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost ... an average of 5,800 per year.










Clinton (DEMOCRAT) went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent. Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.





In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.


We've been looking for evidence for chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton (DEMOCRAT) to find the Rose law firm billing records.










It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida !!!

Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB! The Military morale is high! The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

Some people still don't understand why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange is between Senators John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum (on the Senate floor - January 26, 2004). Not only is it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the armed services do what they do for a living.

Senator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn):

"How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real job?"

Senator Glenn (D-Ohio): "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank. I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day... to a veteran's hospital and look those men ... with their mangled bodies .. in the eye, and tell THEM they didn't hold a job!"

Couldn't have said it better myself

Yes on Prop. 8?

I've gotta be honest...I voted yes on prop. 8, but I really could care less if two gay men are legally married. I want them to be happy and have the same rights as anyone else in love. One of my good friends is gay, and I love him and his boyfriend. They're going to Canada to live and get married...and I'm incredibly happy for them. Shoot, the gay divorce rate is probably much lower than the divorce rate for straight couples!

No, same sex marriage is not my problem. So why did I vote yes on Prop. 8? My problem with the whole proposition is what comes along with legalizing same-sex marriage. Eventually our education system is going to teach children that marriage is not just between a man and a woman. Maybe this isn't required yet...but just wait...it will be if prop 8 doesn't pass. I don't want my children learning one thing from us and another thing in school.

As a Christian, I believe that the gay lifestyle is biblically wrong. Yet, I don't pass judgment on those who are gay, and I don't necessarily have a huge problem with how they want to live their lives. But if same-sex marriage remains legal, pastors and priests and any other religious figure may have a lawsuit on their hands if they refuse to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony. How is this separation of church and state? If the church is forced to perform a ceremony they disagree with, the government is interfering with their beliefs. And if the church still refuses, they may lose their tax-exempt status. This isn't fair! And on top of this, if a pastor decides he wants to preach on how same-sex relationships are biblically wrong, he may be sued for hate speech! It already happened in Canada.

Now, I'm all for equal rights. I do believe there is something different in a gay person that makes him gay instead of straight. I've seen this behavior first-hand and truly believe that the gay lifestyle is for some people. But I also believe in the separation of church and state and want the government to bud out of the church's business. If you are gay and want to marry...go to Canada.

The Almighty Hangover Emergency Cure

I've found it! A hangover cure that really works! It's on soyouwanna.com, and the recipe is below. I didn't take the cysteine or B-complex vitamins and it still seemed to work pretty darn well! The smoothie looks like it will be worse than it really is. The v8 gives it a little weird flavor, but hey...it works! And it's not so bad.

1. Take 2 aspirins
2. Take 200mg cysteine (available at specialty food stores)
3. Take 600mg vitamin C
4. Take 1 tablet vitamin B-complex
5. Mix the following ingredients together in a blender:

• 1 banana
• 1 small can V-8
• 6 large strawberries
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup orange juice (I used orange-pineapple-banana juice)
  
• 1-2 cups milk (or soy milk), to desired consistency (I left this out)
  
• ¼ tsp. salt (I also left this out)
  
• dash of nutmeg

6. Drink it all up.

If necessary, follow up with a dose of Maalox, lots of Gatorade, and bouillon soup for dinner. These ingredients will rehydrate your body, replace essential vitamins and minerals, and help rid your body of some of the toxic byproducts of metabolized alcohol.

Bouncing Girl

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

FRIENDS

Oh my gosh...I'm so excited! Friends has finally been given the go-ahead for movie production!

The actors were inspired by the recent success of Sex And The City, and have all agreed to do the film.

I've set a new record!

Every week during the college football season we have college game picks at work. There are 20-or-so people in our pool. Well, this week I set a new record! I chose the most number of games WRONG. Thank you Alabama and VA Tech for coming through for me! No thanks to UCLA.

My favorite show...

Three Sheets is a show on MOJO, an HD channel. Zane Lamprey is a comedian who travels around the world to discover and become a part of other countries' drinking customs. He is not afraid of anything and befriends anyone around. It's mostly a show about drinking, but it's also about the people, food, and everyday life of the people in each country. GREAT show! Check it out if you haven't already. (Cox channel 701.)

General preview...



Three Sheets in the Philippines...



Three Sheets in Portugal...

10 things you may not know about me...

1. I am a member of coffee creamers anonymous. Ok, it's just Billy and me at work who are in it, but I LOVE my coffee creamer. I recently quit drinking coffee and switched to tea, and the hardest part has been that I don't get my yummy coffee creamer anymore. I don't know what I'm going to do when Thanksgiving and Christmas flavors start arriving at the grocery store. I may have a weak moment and go back to coffee. NO!

2. I love my dog. Ok, you're thinking, "duh, I knew that." But I REALLY love my dog. It's probably unhealthy how much I love my dog. Although, I can't help but think that if I love my dog this much, it's only going to be magnified when I have a real baby someday. I can't wait! (Hurry and finish school, Chris!)

3. I am obsessed with Close to my Heart products. I know you know I am addicted to scrapbooking and stamping, but I think this addiction has turned into an obsession. I LOVE this stuff! (See my craft blog at http://jaymamalme.blogspot.com.)

4. I don't like whipped cream unless it's homemade or Starbucks (which is practically homemade). I think Redi-whip and those store-bought whipped creams are disgusting and taste like oily plastic.

5. I make KILLER gluten-free pumpkin muffins. I tried making them last year during Christmas time because it was my first holiday season being gluten-free. I thought they were fabulous, but since I'm used to gluten-free food it could've just been me. Well, I took them to the Malme Christmas eve lunch and they were a hit, so it's not just me :)

6. I know an Olympic gold medalist. My sister's good friend, Lindsay (and a friend of mine too), married Reid Priddy last year. Reid is a professional volleyball player and as soon as they got married they moved to Greece, then Russia, and other places because he played for those countries' volleyball teams. He was in the Olympics in Beijing and the men's volleyball team won GOLD! Ash, Justin, and Maddie had dinner with them last week...

7. I'm a pretty good cook. Ask Chris. He actually told me to write that one :) I LOVE the foodnetwork and watch it pretty much any time I watch TV. I like to try the techniques and recipes I see on the shows and adding my own twist. It's fun to create recipes on the fly.

8. I use a blanket as my pillow. Chris has done this for years, and I always thought he was weird. But I have had a hard time falling asleep and sleeping well lately. I thought I'd try Chris's technique one day because he always falls asleep in 30.2 seconds and sleeps well. So, I folded up my soft cuddly throw blanket and poofed it to form a pillow. I slept SO well! And fell asleep fast. It's not as high as my pillow, which makes it perfect.

9. It takes me at least 45 minutes to get out of bed when I wake up in the morning (and sometimes longer). I set my alarm for 6:30 on workdays in hopes that I'll get up by 7:30. Usually I get out of bed at 7:45. I try to leave the house by 8, but usually it's 8:10 or 15. (I don't get all glam for work so it doesn't take me too long...and I usually shower at night). On weekends when I get to sleep in I still lie in bed for at least 45 min just to wake up...sometimes watch TV or make a phone call...then I get out of bed. It drives Chris nuts...he gets out of bed the second he wakes up (which leaves no cuddle time...I don't like that).

10. I really want an iPhone. I didn't until Thursday when I played with Melissa's. (Thanks a lot Meli!) I thought, "I don't need email and internet on my phone, that's ridiculous. I don't want to be available ALL the time. Plus it's more expensive service." But what can I say, Apple has the smartest people on the planet working for them (the rest of the smartest people on the planet work for Google and Christian Ed) :) haha. Anyway, just by playing with the iPhone I want one now. Really bad. So anyone who wants to buy me one feel free...I'd like the 16gb one please. thank you.

Time for Some Campaigning

Miles McPherson at RNC

Maddie & Daddy

What a smiler!

Maddie is such a happy baby. Her favorite tricks are smiling and cooing!

Happy Girl!

Madison has started smiling up a storm lately! It's so unbelievably precious to see her showing emotion and reacting to what you're doing (usually being goofy with her). She's also starting to coo a lot more too. (She's 5 weeks old now.)

Every time I see her the last couple weeks she looks more and more like Ashley. When she was first born I thought she looked more like Justin, but now I see my sister in her cute little face so much more! She looks exactly like Ash did as a baby.

Last week Auntie Jayma and Uncle Chris had the pleasure of babysitting while Mommy and Daddy were at a wedding. (Congrats Erin!!) She was such a little "sweet pea." She was a little fussy at first, but most of the night she just slept. The first hour she slept was in her carseat, and Holly was very interested in her. Then she was awake for maybe half an hour, during which I just took these pictures, fed, and changed her. Then she went right back to sleep in my arms until mom and dad got back around 11 (she loves to be held...she wouldn't have slept as long if it wasn't in my arms!). It was so nice to be able to watch her so they could go out and have fun! (And they did!)

Here are some recent pictures...

Maddie helped Auntie Jayma make coffee when I was at Ash and Justin's helping out.

She loves to LOOK at everything!

Watching TV with Daddy

Watching Daddy fall asleep watching TV

Maddie loves bath time. And she loves her new towel from Missy!

Sweet Freedom

Let us not forget how important today is. Chris and I have been watching "John Adams," the series that was on HBO a while back. It has given me a new appreciation for our fabulous country and all that our founding fathers had to go through to get us to where we are today. Happy Independence Day!

So Cute

Maddie's first pacifier :)

Chris and I were watching Amber for the past week and a couple days...since Madison was born. Yesterday Ash and Justin came and picked her up. Life is good for the Evans family :)

I'm One Week Old!

Hi all...this is Maddie. I'm so excited to meet everyone. I've met so many people already. My mommy told me it's mostly family. My Great Aunt Pooh and Great Uncle Steve surprised everyone and visited us from Florida. That was great fun! I fell asleep on Aunt Pooh for a couple hours...I think she loved that as much as I did.

I hope to meet Mom and Dad's friends soon! Apparently I'm kind of a handful right now though, so Mommy and Daddy have wanted us to lay low for a while.

Yesterday was my one-week birthday! From the reactions I've seen, I'm getting pretty big and strong already. I'm 20.5" long and have already gained back my birth weight. I love it when people hold me. I sleep much better when I'm in someone's arms. And when I'm awake I'm very alert. I love to look around and soak up all of my new surroundings. Sometimes I even lift my head on my own...but I can't hold it up for very long.

Look how precious I am when I'm sleeping. I sleep a lot, but sometimes not for very long at a time. I love to eat...and I love to wake Mommy and Daddy every hour or two so I can. But the doctor said I'm very healthy and eating very well...next week I'm going to learn how to eat from a bottle!

To all of you who are reading this...I hope to meet you soon. If you want to call my mommy or daddy to come see us, we'd love to see you! Hopefully one of these days I'll let them get some sleep so they're up for calling you. XOXO Maddie

Welcome to the world, Madison!

Madison Grace Evans was born on June 17, 2008 at 6:03pm. She weighed 8 lbs, 11 oz, and was 18.5 inches long. After a short, and what started off to be grueling labor, Madison's delivery was what most moms could only dream of!

Ashley and Justin arrived at Scripps Encinitas yesterday at 7am. She started getting induced at 9:30. For several hours she had steady but weak contractions (on a scale of 1-10 she said they were a 4). We thought it was still a waiting game.

At 2:30, just as her doctor arrived, her water broke on its own. That's when it hit her like a ton of bricks. She now says, "Those contractions before weren't a 4. They were a 0...then they became a 12." She immediately asked for Epidural. The anesthesiologist arrived right away, and we all (myself, my parents, and Justin's parents) left the room thinking we'd be right back in. Over an hour later we still had no news of what was going on. Apparently the anesthesiologist had a hard time getting the epidural into her back, and the FIFTH time was a charm. Meanwhile, between tries to get the needle in, she was having extremely painful contractions. She was pretty much ready to go without the medication. But finally, it worked, she became numbed, and as she told me later, "Remember... Epidural = GOOD!" Once she was numb it was the extreme opposite. The contractions got stronger, but she couldn't even feel them!

After only 3 hours she was already dilated to 9 cm. She was off the inducing drug, too (Pitocin). Around 5:30 the nurse asked us to leave and was going to check her again to see if she was close to fully dilated yet. We went to the waiting room, and after a half hour we thought we'd check in to see what was going on. The nurse walked down the hall and said, "It's all done." "Good, all done checking." we thought. "The baby is beautiful." the nurse said. "WHAT?! She's had the baby? It's only been half an hour!"

As Ashley and Justin later explained it, when the nurse was checking the last time how dilated she was, she told Ash, "Wow, her head is RIGHT here. Why don't you try pushing for practice." So she did. "WAIT...STOP...let's wait for the doctor. She's coming!" Doc arrived within 5 minutes, she gave a few good pushes, and the doctor was able to pull her out the rest of the way. And voila, you have the most beautiful baby EVER! (Sorry to those of you who have babies, but seriously, look at her!)

And that, my friends, is the greatest baby delivery of all time. Total ACTUAL delivery time was about 15 minutes. Actual labor since her water broke: 3-1/2 hours. Mom, Dad, and Maddie are doing great!

Tidbits of info from Auntie Jayma:
* Maddie will be growing fast...wow can that girl eat! Her first feeding was over an hour. She took to breastfeeding very easily.
* Her feet are already huge! She's definitely her mother's child :)
* She definitely knows her daddy's voice. When she starts crying, Justin sings to her and she calms down. He sang to her in the womb every night.
* She likes to stick her knuckle of her index finger in her mouth. She started doing it right away. She must have been doing it in the womb.
* She liked the warm water from her first bath on her head, but she didn't like the rest of her body being cleaned.
* She's already very curious and opens her eyes and looks around a lot. She likes being swaddled, but she also enjoys it when she's free...she moves her arms and everything all around!
* She's the most amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, perfect little person I've ever seen! I can't wait to spoil her!!!!
* You thought I talked about Oslo a lot...just wait...you haven't seen anything yet! ;)

Maddie's coming!

Ash and Justin got to the hospital at 7am this morning. Apparently there was some confusion about whether the doctor was coming to induce her or if the nurse would...in which case the doc would come later. I think it all got figured out by 9:30 or 10, and she should have started getting the hormones around then. As far as I know she's in labor or well on her way. I haven't gotten an update for a couple hours. I'm waiting for my mom to call me from the hospital, which is when I'll find out when I should get my booty up there, too! Aw, June 17...I like that date.

Lovingly handmade

Lately I've been super into making cards. I still love to scrapbook, but I've been trying lots of new ideas and techniques for cards and am addicted to it. Here are some of my most recent works of art...