Play Date

Well, it's finally spring break!!! Thank God-those ninth graders were getting crazy! My girlfriends from High School and I planned a play date for our little ones today, a much needed mommy's day out of the house! Laura came with her 8 week old Maddie Kate, Darla came with her almost one year old Billie Kale (Hope I spelled her name right Darla), Miranda came with her 1 year old Bryson, Danielle came with her cute round belly (expecting Luke in May!!), and Emma Grace and I were there too! What a day! Emma Grace did so great, I think she was so interested in all of the other babies that she never said a word, no crying, just sat there on the floor watching everyone! Maddie Kate was sporting her cute hairstyle, her hair tends to stand straight off of her head in every direction! It's the cutest thing you've ever seen! I'm just jealous that Emma Grace has NO HAIR! (It's a shame that a hair dresser has a baby with no hair!) Billie Kale came in sporting her adorable head band with the biggest flower on it! What a cutie, she's gonna be a stylish little girl! Bryson was hilarious, into everything~the reason why Miranda offered to have the date at her house! But what a handsome little guy he is~these girls are going to fight over him, I am afraid! Danielle is getting closer and closer to the arrival of her little one. Another boy thank goodness! Emma Grace and I took a side trip to see his nursery on the way and I have never seen so many clothes and shoes in my life. He is sure going to be a cutie! It was a great time! I am so excited to watch our children grow together. I just pray that they stay as close as their mommies have! I'll have pics on soon, the girls are emailing me some.

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.