Christmas 2007

We spent this Christmas at home here in Liberty Missouri. We hosted our KC family for Christmas Eve. The gathering was as follows: Jay, myself, Taylor, Bella, Bill, Lynn, Marian, Christine, Steve, Stephen, Angie, Tatum, Dixie and Pippa. We ate some lovely Caesar salad made by Marian, chicken spedini & spaghetti made by me, with some of Marian's bread and some lovely tiramisu for dessert (also made by Marian). We started the evening off with prayer and then ate our dinner. After dinner we all sat around the living room for Jay to read from the Bible the account of our Savior's birth through the gifts of the magi for us to all understand why we exchange gifts. Then we opened gifts. Taylor wasn't really into it. She opened one or two gifts and then just wanted to play with them and not open any more. After the gifts were opened and the tiramisu had been gobbled up Stephen read the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to all of us before we all scampered off to our respective homes and snuggled into bed.

Christmas morning Taylor popped out of bed at about 7:30am and came into the bedroom with me. She watched Playhouse Disney while I showered and got ready for the day. We didn't even broach the subject that it was Christmas morning until I was ready and it was 8:30. We were stalling to try to buy Marian and Christine some time to get here. Taylor came bouncing down the steps and went nuts because Santa had brought her trains and a train table.

We spent the rest of the morning munching on breakfast casserole, blueberry muffins, and bacon and trying to get Taylor to open the rest of her gifts. Truth be told we didn't get all of the gifts opened until the day after Christmas. I guess she just wanted to savor the moment.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus every night of advent and on Christmas day we had the pleasure of being joined by Marian, Christine, and Stephen for our final chorus of "Happy Birthday". We didn't get to bake Jesus a birthday cake because we had so much junk food in the house that we just couldn't tolerate any more sugar. I'm sure Jesus will overlooke the fact that he didn't have a birthday cake this year.

We had a WONDERFUL and WHITE Christmas this year! It was lovely, warm, beautiful, and memorable. We are so thankful for the savior that was born among us, lived sinless among us, and died for us. Praise to GOD in the highest!

Taylor Starts Dance Class

We began the hunt for a dance studio for Taylor. Most dance classes begin between 2 1/2 to 3 years old so I wanted to get my homework done. Taylor got some dance shoes and tried classes in all of the studios.



She started out strong and she started to cry about halfway through most of the classes.



But we found one that she LOVED. The only time she talked to me was twice when she wanted to tell me that she was having fun. We decided to go with Studio 10 in downtown Liberty. She had loads of fun with it but after class she is EXHAUSTED!

Taylor's 1st Gymnastics Meet

Taylor goes to gymnastics at The Edge here in Liberty Missouri. Her class is called the Tiny Toucans and her coach's name is Jamie. They had a Christmas Extravaganza to end the year and show all of the parents and families what these kids had learned through the year. Taylor had a wonderful time performing despite the fact that she started out a little shy in the beginning.

Coach Jamie gave her a medal for her performance and she is ever so proud of it! She has now graduated up to the Precious Pandas for the new year!

Taylor @ Small Saints Learning Center

It is fall and fall means school pictures. Taylor attends Small Saints Learning Center every Tuesday/Thursday in Ms. Renee's class. Like all schools they take school pictures. Of course I must show off my little darling!

She has two friends at school that she talks about, Tori and Kaitlyn. She's recently started talking about a little girl named Abigail that we haven't confirmed her existence yet. She LOVES school and she really looks forward to it during the week. In fact, when she got up from her nap today she asked me if she could go to school.

They had safety week at school and they brought in a fire truck and an ambulance and Taylor thought that was awesome. Now every time we pull up to Small Saints she asks if there is going to be a fire truck today. I'm so just glad that she gets this experience. I know it will be so valuable this winter.

Garth Brooks Concert

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are playing 9 concerts in Kansas City and we were fortunate enough to go to the Tuesday night concert (#2 in the 9 night set). The good Lord was looking out for us because we were able to park on the street on the corner of 11th and Grand for free. When we walked to the Sprint Center we saw that the line to get into the building wrapped around the building for two blocks. So Jay went exploring and found some doors that had very short lines and we got inside in about 10 minutes.

We found our way to our seats and the concert started at 7:33pm. Trisha opened the night and sang for about 30 minutes. Then there was a 45 minute intermission while they tore down her bands equipment and put Garth's band's stuff up.

At the start of the concert we heard "I said a little prayer tonight before I came on stage and I came walking past the walkers and the drivers on the union wage. I asked the Good Lord up in heaven Let me treat the music right and then I prayed Kansas City goes wild tonight". A white piano came up in the middle of the stage with a man wearing a white cowboy hat. Then a guy came up out of the center of the piano wearing a cowboy hat, he quickly pulled out a fiddle. Then when the words "Kansas City" were sung Garth popped up in front of the piano from a trap door under the stage.

The concert was awesome and Garth was incredibly funny! What was really funny was when he started to sing "Two Pina Coladas" he was strumming a guitar. After the first verse he stopped playing, giggled, and said "okay, humor the old man and we'll sing it in the right key"...he'd messed up and was playing in the wrong key. Too funny!

Our seats were WAY up in the nosebleed section. It was high enough to make my knees shake and make me sick to my stomach. Even Jay was feeling a little woozy. But the concert was still AWESOME!

Jay went to the concert again for #3, but despite the fact that he had a ticket to tonights concert #4 he's not going. He decided to stay at home with the children and myself.

Halloween Festivities

My goodness, who knew that Halloween would spawn so many different parties for a two year old? Here are all of the parties that Taylor has been to:
1) MOPS
2) Library
3) Preschool
4) Kindermusik
Isn't that INSANE? She is one partying fool. She hasn't even trick or treated yet and she already has a gift bag full of candy. She is loving the idea that she goes to someone's door and says the magic words "trick or treat" and they give her food. I guess that is a pretty neat concept. Pictures will come as soon as tomorrow is over with!

"That's Taylor's Mommy"

Yes, I have entered that phase of my life. I was entering Taylor's preschool when a little girl and her mother passed me on their way out. The little girl tugged on her mommy's pants, pointed at me, and said "that's Taylor's mommy". I lived the first parts of my life as "Pete's granddaughter", "Sam's neice", "Nora's daughter", "Jackie's sister", "Jay's wife", "Bill O'Brien's daughter-in-law", and I have now progressed to "Taylor's mommy". I kind of like the sound of that. Despite the fact that Taylor is 2 1/2 years old it still seems odd to me to be referred to as "Taylor's mommy". I remember my mom always being referred to as "Jessi's mom" and it sounded so official. It is truly an honor to be known and labelled as someone's mom.

GARTH BROOKS!!!

Garth Brooks recently announced that he would be doing a "one man, one show, one city" concert and he'd chosen Kansas City's Sprint Center for that show. Tickets went on sale today for the November 14th show and they sold out in the first 60 seconds. So he started adding dates. We finally got two tickets to the show on November 6th!!! He'll be doing a show just about every night from November 5th to November 14th. Isn't that wild that he sold out all of those shows in just minutes after opening them to buy tickets?

Sunday Night Family Carpet Picnic & Movie Night

Every Sunday night we have a family carpet picnic and watch a movie that is suitable for the whole family. Carpet picnics are something that Jay and I have done since we've been married. We spread a quilt out on the floor of the living room, order a pizza, and have a nice picnic in the comfort of our own home. Now that we are parents we ensure that the food is child friendly so we've taken to ordering pizza. This evening's movie was "Toy Story" and we ordered pizza from The Pizza Shoppe. Taylor now prays at all of our meals and this evening she prayed and said "Thank you Jesus for the pizza and for the carpet picnic Amen". It was too cute!!!

I guess that she wasn't too impressed with "Toy Story" because she requested that we watch Shrek instead. I think that she really likes the movies with alot of music. Although last week we tried "Marry Poppins" and she wasn't really into it. The week before it was "Chicken Little" and she LOVED it! She wasn't that keen on "Charlotte's Web" when I took her to the free movie morning at the theatre to see it. Only two and she can already tell you what she likes and what she doesn't like.

We were getting out of the car and Taylor wouldn't let me help her out of the car. She told me "I do it myself". She's so very independent!

Bella is growing like a weed and now wants to participate in family movie night & carpet picnic. She sat in my lap while we were eating and curled up in her daddy's lap after we were done eating to watch the movie. She stared at Taylor the vast majority of the time just smiling away. She so loves her big sister. She giggled at her daddy today and then later on she giggled at Taylor. She's a happy baby!

American Idol at the MO State Fair

We took the girls to the Missouri State Fair on Saturday (August 18th, Bella's 2 month birthday!) where the American Idols were performing. It was INSANELY hot, but neither of the children kicked up a fuss about the heat. We started the day with funnel cake (which Taylor didn't like) and the barns. In the barn we met Santa Claus. To answer the age old question "What does Santa do for the rest of the year?"...he raises cows. Although to do business he goes by the alias Bob Barley. He let Taylor pet one of his cows and a bull. She loved it and she loved talking to him. He showed us pictures of some of the children he's met over the years. That was a great experience!

We went to the kids' barn where Taylor got to see some chicks, puppies, kittens, ducks, more cows, a horse, sheep, pigs, and (her personal favorite) a donkey. She said it was Donkey from Shrek. The sheep was pretty darn funny too. I didn't know that when a sheep said "baa" that it sticks it's tongue out as far as it will go to say it. Taylor and I laughed hysterically at the poor sheep.

We had dinner at The Poultry Foundation restaurant where I had smoked turkey drumsticks. Yum! Taylor had chicken nuggets and Jay had a chicken sandwhich. It was a crazy cheap meal for the fair and an enormous amount of food.

After we ate we went down to the Midway to let Taylor ride some rides. Our child is an adrenaline junky! She rode the carosel first and was hooked. She then road the train, the space ships, the flying puppies, the motorcycles, and the cars. She wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but for some reason it was closed.

We went to the American Idol concert in the grandstand and Taylor had a fantastic time dancing the night away. It was a GREAT concert. All of the songs were popular songs that you could sing along to and from where there are 10 of them performing the show was action packed and non-stop. Saying that, they did have an intermission to give the back up singers a break. But it was a whoppin' good show.

We were back at the Midway for Taylor to give it a second go at 11PM. We didn't get home until 2AM and both girls were sound asleep. In fact, the whole family slept in until 10AM that morning. We had such a fantastic day! This is what being a parent is all about...making these so very special memories.

They're two wild and crazy girls!!!

This is my first week without someone here at the house to help me since Bella was born. It has been WILD! For the most part things have gone decently smooth...all things considered. Taylor has been a little mischevious, but I was expecting that. Let me give you a rundown of all of the trouble she's gotten into lately:

1) She threw a small flashlight and hit Bella in the head, but she was devastated when Bella started to cry.
2) She covered one of the dogs in Little Mermaid stickers.
3) She sits on Bella in her swing to try to swing with her.
4) She pushes Bella in the swing and gets it going as high as it possibly can go.
5) She shakes the bassinette as hard as she can when Bella is in it.

We've been trying to make a point to do some special things with her to show her that Bella is an addition to the family, not someone who is taking time and attention from her. We went to the spray park yesterday and Taylor had a wonderful time playing with the kids there...although she tried her best not to get wet despite the fact that it was 90 degrees outside. I've also set up a playdate at my house next Thursday so her friends can come over to play. We took her on a walk and got her an ice cream cone at the McDonald's at the end of the road. I think she is having fun. She REALLY wants Bella to be big enough to play with her. That will happen all too soon.

Jay and I had a WONDERFUL 6 year anniversary on July 21st. Bill & Lynn sent us out on the town and bought us dinner at an absolutely stunning restaurant in the plaza called Plaza III. I had an awesome cut of prime rib and an incredibly scrumptious chocolate soufle. We also had a wonderful glass of Vouvray to compliment our meal. Jay bought me the new Harry Potter book as my gift and I bought him a shaved dog...explanation to follow:

The dogs stink. Simple enough. So Jay took them out onto the back porch to wash them down with the hose, but the hose was attached to the power washer. So Jay just ran the water through the nozzle (no the power washer wasn't on) to bath them. Well apparently Pippa has really sensitive skin and it completely tore up her back. The vet shaved her and put her on pain medication, antibiotics, and a lotion twice a day to clear it up. Pippa now has a reverse mohawk. Not a good look for her.

I got my hair cut at Salon Bellissima here in Liberty and I love what Cassie did with it! I also got blonde highlights and that helped lighten my hair up. Jay didn't like the fact that I got so much of it cut off, but if he wouldn't hate it I would've had her do something more dramatic. I just don't have time to fix my hair in the mornings!!!

Well, that's life in a nutshell for me. Tune in later to hear more about the wild adventures in the O'Brien household!

Isabella Inez O'Brien's Birth Story

It was Father's Day and we were attending the early morning service at Desperation Church when I was so uncomfortable we had to leave the service early. I called my OB/Gyn and she told me to go on in to the hospital to get the baby checked out and to see if I was having back to back contractions. When we arrived at the hospital I was having what they call "irritating contractions" that produced no change in the cervix. They figured out that what was causing the contractions was my right kidney acting up again. They hooked me up to an IV and monitored me overnight when my kidney started bleeding. The doctor came in early that morning and told me that she was going to induce labor to prevent any damage to my kidney.

Dr. Joy Saunders broke my water at 8:30AM on Monday morning June 18th. That was an interesting experience. Rather than a nice little trickle it was sort of like a fire hydrant that has had its cap removed. After my water was broken I started having contractions every 7 minutes. They started a pitocin drip and my contractions started coming every two minutes. I'm a WUSS so I had my epidural at noon. It was an AWESOME epidural. I felt nothing but some pressure as her head began to descend. We started pushing at 2:20PM and at 2:30PM the nurse told me to stop pushing and just let the contractions do the work. The doctor arrived at 2:40PM and I had about two more pushes before she allowed me to deliver Bella myself at 2:45PM.

Bella was born "grunting" which is a sign of respiratory distress...not to mention that she came out looking like a smurf. They found a spot on her lungs that they said could be pneumonia. We all began praying and thanks to the Lord's mercy the spot was gone the next day. She then jaundiced and we spent the next couple of days watching her sunbathe in the NICU. We got to bring her home on Friday June 22nd.

Awaiting the arrival of Bella

We have had a little scare with preterm labor a few weeks ago so my mom, aunt Frances, and father-in-law Bill have flown in to await the arrival of Bella a little earlier than previously planned. It has been hugely helpful to have some help during this time that I am supposed to "rest" to help keep the contractions at bay. Everyone has been here for a week and I think that they are exhausted from all of the unpacking, cleaning, and settling in that they've been doing. By the time the baby gets here we'll ALL be suffering from exhaustion!

Taylor is having a FANTASTIC time having all of these new playmates here staying in her new house. She likes to take Papa outside to play in the back yard. She likes to take Nanni out to play with bubbles. She likes to harass Maw Maw for food. She'll be so sad when everyone leaves, but maybe she'll be so entralled with Bella that the transition won't be that bad.

Y'all be praying for us as we await Bella's arrival. Please pray for a quick, safe, and as pain-free as possible delivery.

Taylor's 1st Night in a Big Girl Bed

We finally got bed rails for Taylor's big girl bed and have baby proofed the room so tonight is the first night for Taylor in her big girl bed. I'm a little concerned. We went to Target and WalMart looking for bedrails that go all the way down the side of the bed, but we could only find ones that went halfway down. Needless to say I'm a little worried about her falling out at the bottom of the bed. Jay had to inform me that he always fell out of the bed at the bottom. I have never heard of such a thing...but apparently that happens.

Right now I am watching Grey's Anatomy (DVR) and listening to Taylor babble on the monitor. She's clearly not unhappy with being in her new bed and I don't hear her jumping either. All good signs!!!

Jay's become the grass Nazi even though we've only been in this house for 2 weeks. He is currently oustide trying to jump the battery on his riding lawn mower with is truck. I somehow think that this is some really horrible scenerio that you see in sitcoms not in real life. I'm going to go outside and make sure that he is still breathing.

Spiderman 3

We have long anticipated the coming of Spiderman 3 and today it has finally arrived! Jay and I were blessed to be able to go see the movie today at lunch. Marian came by the house to watch Taylor while Jay and I ran off to the movies. Jay was disappointed by the movie because he is a comic book freak. I thought it was pretty darn good. Venom was pretty awesome. Jay didn't like the sandman much at all. He said that the character was unbelievable and inconsistent. I guess I don't go to movies to analyze them, I go to have fun and be entertained. All in all, I thought it was a winner.

Babies and baby snakes...

We had our 3D ultrasound last week and Bella is so beautiful! She looks very much like Taylor did as a newborn. She has a full head of hair, a cute little pug nose, very full lips, and chunky little cheeks! We got to watch her smile, stick out her tongue, drink, and play with her hands and feet. She keeps her hands and her feet up by her head. It looks reallly uncomfortable. At my OB appointment this week the nurse told me that I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. We'll see whether or not that prods Bella to make her appearance at the end of June.

Speaking of babies...I saw my first little Missouri snake today. It gave me the heebie jeebies. It was only like 8 inches long and it was really skinny and light brown. I looked it up online and it looks like it is a harmless earth snake that eats worms. Still yet...yuk!!! I was so freaked out by the snake that I just about locked myself out of my house with my two dogs and Taylor still inside the house. That would've stunk!

Exhausted bliss...

We made it...we are finally in our new home. Well, for the most part anyway. We are still sort of "camping" in our new home. We were sooooooooo tired after moving yesterday that we didn't get to go back home to get our so called "piddly stuff" that just so happened to include our clothes. Yeah, I know, not the brightest of ideas. But at the time going to bed sounded a lot more appealing that going for yet another truck load. So we get up this morning and we need to go get something to eat (because food is another one of those "piddly things" that we didn't pick up) and despite the fact that we are clean we have no clothes other than clean underwear to wear. So off we go to WalMart in clothes that we've worn for the past three days. YUK!

Right now Jay is in the back yard putting down an invisible fence for our dogs. Yes, our Georgia mutts are jumpers. Now if they jump they are going to get the fur shocked off of them. It is better for them to receive a jolt than to get hit by a car...or a train, right? We'll see how this bright idea works. Lord willing it will work like a charm and end our dog chasing problems.

Our new bed is AWESOME!!!! We got a king size bed and I slept the WHOLE NIGHT. Now, for those of you that have been seven months pregnant you know what a miraculous feat that truly is. For those of you that haven't had kids or are men we'll just say that it is every bit as miraculous as the parting of the Red Sea. Granted my bladder was ready to explode when I got up this morning but man was it worth it to get a full night of sleep.

I like to move it, move it...

Well, I really don't...but that song has been stuck in my head since watching dancing with the stars. Anyways, we are gradually getting our stuff transferred from our apartment to our new house. Our apartment looks like a small bomb has gone off in it and I see no end in sight. The guys from Desperation Church are coming tomorrow to help us move the furniture. That my friends is what you call ANSWERED PRAYER. I don't know what one man, his 7 months pregnant wife and 2 year old little girl would do if left to accomplish this move on their own. YIKES!

Thankfully the weather has been picture perfect while we've been getting some work done on the house and getting it cleaned up and ready for the move. It has been warm and dry, just the right conditions to dry carpet and paint quickly. It is supposed to rain on Sunday, but Lord willing we'll have all of our furniture moved over to the house before the downpour begins.

Taylor has totally enjoyed playing in our new backyard. I caught her yesterday picking the tulips. She wasn't old enough in Georgia to really get into our flower bed so this was a new experience for her. I couldn't get mad though...in fact I laughed. When I got to her she said "See mommy, flowers! For you!" How sweet is that???

Together Forever...Well only 10 Years!

Today marks our ten year anniversary of being a couple (Jay and I that is). How have we decided to celebrate? Well, Jay went in late to work today...not for anything romantic though. I went to the lab and had my gestational diabetes test done today and followed that up with going to the OB/Gyn to get a shot in the rump. We're planning on celebrating through dinner tonight by having shake n' bake chicken, steamed broccoli, and semi-homemade bread. Do you see what happens after 10 years? Ha ha ha! No, seriously, I think we are just about both out of steam with the upcoming move. Maybe after we get settled into our new home we'll go out to dinner or something to celebrate.

Taylor is terribly congested so I've spent the better part of my day wiping her nose and holding her since she takes up residence on my disappearing lap when she's not feeling well. She'll be going to see the ear, nose, and throat doctor at the end of the month to see about tubes going back into at least one of her ears. Until then we wait until she starts running a fever and then we'll go back to the pediatrician for yet another antibiotic.

I'm sure she'll begin feeling better once this blasted cold weather leaves us. There is a song called "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters that is incredibly depressing, so it is my goal to keep that from coming true for our family since it has been COLD AND RAINY ALL WEEK!!! If it is cold and rainy on the day we move you'll see the most irrate pregnant woman you've ever seen in your life.

Evil Peanut Butter Easter Eggs...

Taylor got quite a few peanut butter Easter eggs in her basket this year. This sounds like an innocent statement, but it is a statement laced with evil. Why? Because as I am sitting there reading my book, cleaning the kitchen, folding laundry, or watching TV they call out to me. If I don't listen they recruit their friends the hershey kisses and m&m's. What is a girl to do when the chocolate from the Easter basket is yelling at her? Eat them of course!!! It is the ONLY way to silence them.

Getting up to Date on the O'Brien Family

Our lives have been on fast forward the past few weeks. We are buying a house here in Missouri and our Georgia home has gone under contract. The day our house went under contract was a day of very mixed emotions. We are definately happy to see that financial obligation freed up, but it still stings to see our home going to someone else. Closing on our new home is on April 18th and closing on our Georgia house is on April 20th. It will be an emotional ride that week.

Our second little girl is due on July 5th, which puts me at 27 weeks pregnant. Her name is Isabella (Bella) Inez O'Brien. Her middle name is for her great grandmother that passed back in February. We were blessed with enough time with her to tell her that we were naming the baby after her. She seemed pretty pleased with the idea.

Our first born, Taylor, is doing rather well. She is growing like a weed and learning new things every day. She will tell you "I like it" and always wants to eat "cereal" or "pancakes." She LOVES to sing and dance and has even started praying at mealtimes when she is in a bold mood. Whenever we leave she'll tell me "I'll drive" and when I say no she says "okay, I'll drive home." Ahhhh...the adventures of being a housewife.