Ella Carolyn O'brien

As of 1:10 AM, Saturday, March 29th Ella Carolyn O'brien arrived into the world. For those of you who don't know, Ella is the granddaughter of my Aunt Carolyn who passed away this month from cancer. Ella, her namesake, is 7 pounds 9 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long. She has the most beautiful red hair you have ever seen. Her arrival was dramatic to say the least... Courtney, my cousin, called on Friday evening around 9pm to let my mother know that she was having minor contractions and to just be ready for a call. Carolyn's last wish for mom was that she be with Courtney during her labor and she was not going to miss it if at all possible. We all went to bed, or tried, with the hopes for a call to go at any time during the night. At 1:15 AM (5 minutes after her arrival) mom got a call to get to the hospital that Courtney had given birth on her bathroom floor! Courtney got out of bed that morning having what she called minor contractions that were timing about 5 minutes apart, so she decided she would just go ahead to the hospital. After taking a bath, putting on her makeup, getting her bags and still not feeling very much pain with her contractions, she decided to go to the restroom before leaving. Once she began to leave, her husband Cory called Uncle Bob to come over and watch her son while they left, and while on the phone with him, Courtney looked over to tell Cory that Ella was coming!! He looked at her and told her that NO She wasn't and that they would go ahead to the hospital. No sooner did those words come out of his mouth, than Ella's head was crowning! Cory helped Courtney to the floor and within a minute Ella Carolyn O'brien was here! Ella's cord was wrapped around her neck multiple times, but once Cory unwrapped her and tapped on her chest a few times, she began to breathe. I know it was God's perfect will the way it all happened. If she hadn't come as fast as she did, it could have ended very differently with her cord around her neck. The midwife told Courtney that she was having SILENT LABOR, which Suzanne is going to have to explain to me so that I can grasp this whole concept. We arrived only minutes after they did to Gwinett Medical Center. Once I saw the two goofballs, who I call Gomer and Goober, that brought her in the ambulance, I knew that Courtney was probably ready to scream. The poor girl had to tell them that she still had to deliver her afterbirth, which she did by herself because the goofballs didn't know what a placenta was, they thought she was having another baby! I thought you moms would get quite a hoot out of that! Anyway, she is a perfect, healthy, beautiful baby girl and her mother is doing GREAT in spite of everything. Plus, she has the best guardian angel in the whole world, Mae Mae!!

Stormy March

First and foremost, I appologize for the extended length of time between now and our last blog. Thanks to Brandi, maybe I'll get back on track (thank you Brandi). March has been stormy in many ways. I think God has had us in the valley here lately and believe me I'm climbing fast to find that mountain. My sweet aunt Carolyn passed away earlier this month, leaving my entire family heartbroken. I've never seen anyone fight as hard as she did. She found out last January/February that she had stage 4 cancer that had spread from her Colon to her liver, lungs, and it seems like everywhere in her tiny little body. She attempted every kind of treatment, but God had better plans for her. We were blessed to be with her in her last hours and witnessed the angels come to greet her into heaven. Then came Easter...Dusty had a golf tournament in Jekyll Island, so Emma and I made the long trek down to be with him. She travelled great! No tears, Just sleep! What a great baby I have. We enjoyed the first two days together lounging by the beach one day and strolling around the island another. But then came Easter Sunday...I had great plans to stroll her around the golf course (you can do that with sweet babies like Emma), but the wind decided to blow and the temperature decided to drop, so we had to stay in the car and wait on the team to finish so that we could make the long trek back to Cleveland. This ended up being a terribly boring day, being in the car from 11 am to 11 pm with a baby is NOT a good idea for anyone-FYI. I am not sure if it was the stress of the weekend or the emotion of the entire month piling up at once, but poor Dusty had to witness a melt down when he finally arrived at home around midnight Easter Sunday. He somehow put the pieces back together, as usual, and we got to sleep around 1 am. The late night lead to a crazy Monday morning, which I hate anyway, and just as the bell rang for the students to be in class, I walk into work, not a good idea with ninth graders! They like to remind you of these things when they walk in late!...Well, enough of dwelling on the stormy month of March. The great news is that Spring Break has started today and North GA Tech is out for a few weeks too! Emma and I have great plans for the next week and hopefully by the end of it we'll be standing on top of that mountain and watching the flowers bloom! Tomorrow I'll put some pics of Emma Grace at the Beach on the blog.

Story Time

Yes, I know it has been a while since our last post. I apologize to all of you who have been constantly checking in to view our latest updates only to get disappointed to find that everything was still the same. Kim and I have been talking about how long it has been since our last update, but things have not been all that exciting around here.

Aunt Bee came by the house tonight to get a little help on her research paper. We worked on her paper for a little while until Emma got a little fussy and then Bee decided to pick her up and read her a story. Apparently Emma loves Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. Soon after Bee started reading to Emma her mood changed. The evidence is in the picture below. In fact she giggled and smiled through the entire story. After story time Emma went to sleep on Aunt Bee's shoulder.

Happy Valentines Day Mom & Emma

Love....
Is from the heart
Of the Father
The giver of every
Good and perfect gift,
For love is
The greatest gift of all.

Love....
Has touched us
And brought us
Every meaningful thing
That is in our lives,
For love always gives
The BEST.

Love....
Will keep us
And nourish us
Enriching each day
Of our journey
For love is always growing
And will abide FOREVER!!

Today I thank the two of you for being my valentine. However, today I praise God this day for placing the two of you in my life. He has blessed me beyond belief and I am forever grateful. I am eagerly looking forward to the years to come and the excitement that we will experience. Words can not express the love that I have for the two of you, but John 3:16 says it best, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". There is nothing that I would not do for both of you. I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH. Happy Valentines Day!

Love Dad!

HAPPY BABY

What a Week!

It all started with Emma's 2 month birthday on Thursday the 7th. It seems like all of the BIG things happen when you least expect it. She gave us her first REAL smiles on Monday. All it took was her BEST friend Madelyn Kate coming into the world. I got the call from Miranda that Laura had just given birth to her beautiful baby girl. As soon as I told Emma Grace that her new friend had arrived, she started smiling and hasn't stopped!!!
Then Tuesday, while I was at work, Dusty witnessed her rolling over as she was having play time on the living room floor. He called me to tell me the news, which made me sad to miss it, of course!
She got to spend quality time with her Aunt Gina and cousins Caitlyn and Blake on Tuesday and Thursday. I hear Caitlyn had Emma smiling, while Blake loved on "HIS MEMMA"!!!
Then came Friday...Fridays are usually great because Dusty gets off at lunch and He, Emma, and I get to spend the whole day together. This Friday was extra special because we had a special visitor. A real life SUPERSTAR came to visit. When Superstar Ella walked in, she walked right over to Emma Grace...stroked her sweetly across her face...planted the sweetest kiss on her head...and in the kindest of voices said "Hey baby, wanna sing?". What she meant was, did she want to swing because she had brought Emma a baby swing to play in. We had a great time with Ella. We gave her a pom pom to cheer for Bee 'n John at the Piedmont baseball game and we played Beauty Shop while Ella got her bangs trimmed. (Marybeth, you have an angel.)
Saturday was quite busy, and quite honestly, I don't remember getting to see much of Emma that day. We ended the day, however, at Zanzo's with Papa and Mimi Gailey, Uncle Trey, Aunts Gina and Amanda (BUBBLES), and Cousins Caitlyn and Blake to send Papa off on his trip to Africa for a few weeks. We will miss him sooo much! (Papa, don't forget to check the blog so you won't miss us too much.)
Then finally, Sunday came around. Dusty, Emma, and I got to spend the day just the three of us. She really started giggling today. What a sweet noise that is. I got the camera out to capture her sweet faces, you can check out the slide show to see them for yourselves.
Another week has gone by that I wish I could get back. I love to watch her grow, but I don't want her to grow too fast. I have never felt such love, nor have I ever been so happy. Thank you God for giving us this blessing.

Pray for Aunt Carolyn

Well, Mimi, Aunt Bubbles, Emma, and I went down to see Aunt Carolyn this weekend. Emma had never met her great aunt, who, for those of you who don't know, is my mother's sister. Aunt Carolyn has been battling cancer for the past year and has undergone all kinds of treatment, but this week she is planning on going to M.D. Anderson in Houston, TX to begin a clinical study. She looked great when we went to see her yesterday. Emma just soaked up all of the loving she could from her great aunt. After visiting with her a while, we all packed up and went down to see our cousin Courtney who is expecting her second child in April. She was so cute with her little bump! Emma is going to be thrilled to meet her new cousin Ella! We had a blast playing with cousins Collin and Brody, too! Oh, and Uncle Bob, we love you too!! By the way, for those of you who grace our site...Please keep Carolyn and our families in your prayers as often as you can. She will need it in these coming months! Pray God gives her the strength and courage to endure this journey and that at the end her body be cured of this aweful disease. We are thankful for all of our friends and family.