Author Archives: Jolene

40 weeks and one day

Posted on by
Reply

The due date was yesterday.  It came and went without even a sign of labor.

David said he thinks the baby is running on Malley-Time… which is a running family joke because my family is notoriously late for everything!  I think I would rather have the child inherit his ‘super-punctual’ family genetics… but I guess I don’t get much say in that!

We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning- just for the regular, weekly exam.  She will check for dilation and cervical changes.  Then, from the doctor’s office, we will be heading to the hospital for another ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels.  After we get another peek at our little lady, we will be heading up to the OB floor to be hooked up to the fetal monitors so they can watch her activity for half an hour to make sure she is good and healthy.

Tomorrow, if the doctor suggests inducing… I can’t say I would turn her down, at this point.  I am certainly ready to meet my daughter.

We have these wonderful friends that live in our computers!

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday, we had a get-together with a few friends that we met on a message board.  Most of them, we have met in person before, but a couple we had not.  We feel very blessed to have these people in our lives.  Even though our face to face contact is rare and brief, we consider them very dear friends.

These amazing and generous people threw a little shower for our little lady!  Heather and Kate did the planning!  Kate and Bill got to the chinese restaurant early and decorated everything.  She brought an adorable cake!

IMG_1060.JPG

She even brought clay so that everyone could play a shower game.  Everyone had to make little ‘clay babies’ and I had to pick the winner!  My friends are not artistic.  Not with play-doh, anyway.  The results were HILARIOUS, though.  Nothing like a roomful of grown adults playing with clay!

IMG_1068.JPG

They traveled from all over the state.  All the way from Kalamazoo, Detroit,  Muskegon, Lansing, Grand Rapids and even Alpena!  And they brought the baby-beastie gifts!  David even got his man-bag diaper bag!  LOL (this was a big concern for him- Thanks again, Jim!  LOL)

I just want to thank you all, again.  I don’t think I could possibly thank you all enough.  It meant SO much to us.

A big day for my big girl!

Posted on by
2

Probably nearing 2 years ago, I made a deal with Madalyn.  If she stopped sucking her thumb, I would let her get a couple streaks of color put into her hair.  At the time, she wanted purple.  Off and on, she would try different methods to ‘earn’ her hair-do.

This summer, Maddie went away to camp for the first time.  About a week before she left for camp, I went to say goodnight and saw her put an X on her calendar.  I asked what the X’s were for and she told me that she put an X on every day she didn’t suck her thumb.  There were 2 straight weeks of X’s.  I started paying attention during the day and peeking in on her after she was asleep, and sure enough… no more thumb sucking!  She decided that making new friends at camp was SO important that she didn’t want to risk anyone making fun of her because she sucks her thumb.

About a week after she got home from camp, she reminded me about our deal.  I tried to talk her into coloring her hair pink, but she wanted to go blond!  We decided to wait until just before school started so it would still look good for her first day of junior high.

Today was the day.  We had 4 “peek-a-boo” blond highlights put in under the top layer of hair.  When she puts the sides up, you can see 4 definite streaks.  When the top layer is down, you can see a few lighter strands, but it just looks like she spent a lot of time in the sun this summer.  We thought about putting the highlights on the top layer, but then they would show roots when they start growing out.  This is a one time deal.  Mom isn’t paying to do this on a regular basis!

So… today, we headed to the local beauty school.

IMG_0132.JPGIMG_0135.JPGIMG_0140.JPG

She was so excited.  It turned out exactly as I hoped.  Enough blond that the grown up girl is happy, but hidden enough that I don’t have to admit that she is old enough to have highlighted hair!

Baking with Ben

Posted on by
3

For the past couple of months, Ben has wanted to make Chocolate Chip Muffins.  He had never had chocolate chip muffins… but he just KNEW they were going to be good.

IMG_0711.JPG

I looked around for a recipe for him, and found one- I won’t post it because it wasn’t good enough that we will ever re-use it… but he was a happy, happy boy.  His sister was away at camp so he had the kitchen and mom all to himself.  This is rare- with Maddie wanting to be a pastry chef… she thinks she’s an expert already and constantly bosses him around.

IMG_0713.JPG

I was able to sit back in my chair with my camera and let him go to town.  I offered advice if I saw he was about to do something that would kill the muffins (tablespoon instead of teaspoon kind of stuff) and take pictures.

IMG_0717.JPG

They turned out exactly as they should have- they had cinnamon in them and I think that none of us were fond of that- but they were edible.

IMG_0716.JPG

And not one picture of the finished product… We were too busy eating them while they were warm!

Decorators, we are not.

Posted on by
Reply

Maddie and I can bake like nobody’s business.  Our cookies are awesome, our cakes are tasty and we can manage to pull off any recipe quite sucessfully.  But if it isn’t just a plain, frosted cake…  you can count on it to not be very attractive.  Maybe even downright ugly.

Last weekend, Maddie baked tie-dyed, purple and yellow rainbow cake for Chi Chi’s graduation party.  The cake was 12 shades of awesomeness.  Until I helped her frost it.

IMG_0691

Maybe I am the problem.  I don’t have an artistic bone in my body.  I like to think I am crafty, but I think I am delusional.

I should call around and see how much I’d have to fork over for Maddie to take a cake decorating class, without me… she’d probably do much better without me as a sidekick!

Garage Sales!

Posted on by
8

Since it has been 9 years since I had a baby around, we are severely lacking in the baby supply department- as in- we are starting from scratch.  At the same time, we are trying to pay down debt, go on vacation and do some projects around the house.  So, last weekend, I started garage sale shopping for baby items.  Last weekend, I found a baby swing and 5 blankets just by dragging David around Midland.  The weather was bad and there weren’t many sales to be found.

Last night, David picked up a Midland paper for me and he and I sat down with Google Maps and mapped out the route of every garage sale that listed baby items in their ad.  Maddie and I waited for the rain to stop and we headed out.  She had $50 of her own money and I took $100 with me.

She bought lots of random things- a handmade cheetah print hair clip, a cheetah print pillow, a floaty raft to take to Branson for the pool, cake pans and her best deal of the day-she found a white and brass daybed for $7.  She is cleaning her room right now to make room to move her old bed out and the new bed in.

I spent $77 and here is my list:

11 newborn onsies

5 newborn t-shirts (all snappy instead of pull-over the head in case I manage to break another baby’s clavicle during childbirth)

1 hat

3 bibs

1 snowsuit

6 ‘bag’ style jammies

8 sleepers

1 pair of duckie slippers

2 pairs of socks

1 brand new boppy pillow

1 play-yard/bassinet/changing table combo

What to Expect the First Year

What to Expect the Toddler Years

2 crib sheets

All of the clothing is newborn sizes and winter clothes, and almost everything is Carters, in yellow and green and in perfect condition.

IMG_0027.JPG

It was a very productive day- and I am exhausted.  Maddie, on the other hand, could have gone for another 4 hours!

And so it begins…

Posted on by
Reply

Saturday night, after an evening out with friends, David needed some pancakes to soak up his beer.  We stopped at the Texan for ‘breakfast’ and it was yummy… and short lived.  We didn’t even make it half-way home when I was spending some quality time in the rain by the side of the road.  Lovely visual, eh?

Last night, after eating a late dinner, I ended up sick again.  Poor Ben has the sad luck of having the bedroom right across the hall from the bathroom.  I could hear him calling for me while David was pacing the hallway trying to make sure I was okay… ummm… no, no I wasn’t.  LOL

After scrubbing my teeth, I went into Ben’s room to explain morning sickness to him, only to have him reply, “but it’s not morning” which launched into another discussion about how silly of a name it is.  He went to sleep satisfied that I was perfectly fine.  And I was.  Once the food is forcibly evacuated, I feel perfectly normal… which is a good thing, I guess

And so begins the period of arbitrary food evacuation.

(peanut butter cookies seem to be staying down just fine, though!  LOL  Made Grandma Malley’s recipe tonight, but I altered it by adding splenda in place of half the sugar… not grandma’s cookies… but close.)

It’s all about the peanut butter!

Posted on by
Reply

I love to make these cookies.  They are fast and easy. The dirty dish count is 1 bowl, 1 measuring cup, and one fork.  If you use parchment paper, you won’t even dirty a pan.  From the moment you enter the kitchen to the time you are eating yummy cookies, it’s only been a half an hour… 10 minutes to get all the stuff out and then mix it up, 10 minutes to bake and then 10 minutes to cool… and for me, peanut butter cookies to calm the peanut butter cravings this tiny rice sized bit of wonder in my belly is giving me!  Nom nom nom!

IMG_1110

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup splenda****)

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all 3 ingredients together in a bowl.  Roll into little balls and press down with a fork.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool for about 10 minutes and then gobble them up!

****IF YOU USE SPLENDA!!!****

Mix your sugar and splenda into the peanut butter and THEN add the egg.  For some reason, anything I have baked where splenda and egg are allowed to mingle together in a bowl, the resulting mess is very pudding-like (after it’s been baked)… not a great feature for a cookie.

Also, don’t try to go all splenda, either.  Tried it and failed.  The cookies fell apart the second I touched them, and what I did manage to get in my mouth, instantly adhered to the roof of my mouth for what seemed like hours!