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...

T + 3 days

Well, it's June 16 and Ashley is STILL pregnant. She and Justin went to the doctor this morning to ask about getting induced. The doc did some "stuff" down there as a last hope that Maddie would come naturally, but if Ash doesn't go into labor today they have an appointment at the hospital at 7am tomorrow morning. She will get induced shortly after arriving, and the doctor said noon is a good time to have family come to wait for the arrival! So (God-willing), by tomorrow we will have a new addition to our family...FINALLY! Look how HUGE she is!!

Here are some pics from Father's Day with my family at the Beach House in Cardiff...

Daddy's boy

Oslo loves his daddy. Don't get me wrong...he loves his mommy, too, but he's definitely a Daddy's boy. Daddy is the one who usually takes him to the park or running at Fiesta Island. Whenever Chris is gone Oslo still follows me around the house wherever I go, but he knows that I'm probably not going to be taking him somewhere super fun. So usually he sleeps and relaxes when it's just me. Then when he hears the garage door open he darts to the garage door and waits for Daddy to come up. Then he's excited and hyper for a while, because he knows Daddy will take him to the park to play or rough-house with him or something. (I do take him to the park when Chris can't, and I take him on walks...so I'm not a horrible mom...just not as active as Daddy.) :)

Good Luck, Julia!

I met Julia in 4th grade, when she was new to my elementary school. We went to different high schools, but we've stayed in touch over the past 17 years, and she's still a very dear friend to me. Ever since she was little she said she wanted to be a Marine Biologist...she wanted to save the whales and dolphins! After graduating from UCLA she volunteered for the Surfrider Foundation, and for the last couple years she worked for a law office that did the legal documents for Surfrider.

Well, a couple months ago she got one of the normal update emails from Surfrider which lists current job openings. There was a General Manager position that intrigued her...in Australia! She applied just for fun, and didn't hear anything for a very long time. Then she found out she was in the top 4 candidates. Then the top 3...after four phone/web interviews, she was offered the job! She decided to accept the position, and she'll be moving to the Gold Coast of Australia for a minimum of 2 years on June 22. These pictures were at her going away party on June 8. Best of luck, mate!!!

Ashley's Baby Shower

It seems like forever ago, but Ashley's Baby Shower was on April 26. We had a wonderful time at the Penthouse suite at the Hyatt Mission Bay. Here are some pictures...compliments to my favorite photographer, Lauren Bullock (www.bullockproductions.com).

Madison's special blanky from Grandma

Justin's Aunt Sandi from PA sent this cute clothesline wrapped in a laundry basket


These were the pregnant women at the party:
Desiree, Denise, Ashley, and Christina

Dad's ready to be a grandpa

Too cute!

Mom, Ash, and me

The anxious and excited Mom- and Dad-to-be!

Precious

Madison, get your little tushy out here!

Today is Friday the 13th. Today is the day the doctors set as Ashley's due date. But Madison still isn't here. We thought she'd be coming a couple days early...Ashley was getting contractions every 3-5 minutes on Wednesday and went to the hospital. But they weren't strong enough, and eventually they started getting farther apart. She's still been getting contractions, but sometimes they're every 5 minutes, and sometimes they're every 2 hours. On a scale of 1-10 for pain, Ash is still in the middle. The doctor said to go to the hospital when she's at a 10.

Madison Grace, stop taking your sweet time...we're SO ready to meet you!!!!

Seattle

I ventured to the beautiful Northwest with my parents from May 22-27. Chris met us up there for the weekend. My cousin FINALLY got married! She met Edi a couple years ago in Greece. She was on vacation and he lived there (but he's Albanian, not Greek). He hardly spoke any English, but somehow they communicated, and now they're married! (He speaks English very well now).

It was a long road, but after nearly 2 years he was able to get a visa to visit. They knew they wanted to get married, but since his visa was only good for 3 months, they had to get married fast! They tied the knot on May 25, 2008 on the patio of a quaint restaurant on a lake in Seattle. There were about 30 people at the wedding, and it was just lovely.

Chris, Lexie, & Edi

Chris and me all dressed up :)

The proud parents...my Uncle Mark & Aunt Dona

My mom was the florist...and did a FABULOUS job, especially coming from out of town!

Aunt Dona and me (she's had a little wine here)

Mom and me on the ferry to Bainbridge (which I LOVED!)

We hiked through a beautiful forest in Bainbridge. Everywhere you looked was a Kodak moment!

I got to have dinner/coffee with Robobin

I had to take an artsy shot of the Space Needle!