We are so excited to introduce our most wonderful Christmas gift straight from the arms of Jesus!

 Eisley Laine O’Brien was born December 22, 2015 at 9:40pm. She weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 inches long.

She
is perfect and precious and the most beautiful little girl we’ve ever
seen! So thankful for her, for your prayers covering us and for our
sweet family of five. Jesus is so good!

My sweet boys,

There is just so much to say and yet so much that I can’t put into words! God willing, soon – very, very soon – there is going to be a wonderful little person who joins this family. And she will change everything!

It has just been the two of you for the last almost two years and I have just been so blessed to see how you two love each other. You are inseparable. Even when you are both tired and grouchy and bickering, you can’t stand to be apart. I love that you have this bond! I love that you are so close. And I can’t wait to see how your little sister fits into that bond.

Things will be different – oh, how things will be different! We will all have to adjust to this new way of life. Not only are we bringing in another baby, another soul, another child with needs and opinions and desires, we are also changing things completely by bringing in a sister. Boys, I am SO excited for you to have a sister! And she has no idea how blessed she is to have two older brothers who will watch out for her and protect her as she grows up.

I can’t wait, sweet sons. I can’t wait to watch you both with this new precious girl, another best friend, someone to round out the Three Musketeers. I can’t wait to watch Parker become a big brother, to watch Nathan experience a baby sibling again. You are both in for so much fun!

You are so loved, Nathan. You are so loved, Parker! Never, ever forget that!!

Love you so much,
Mama

Oh my goodness, I cannot even believe I am writing this post! 🙂 How are we already at 37 weeks? With both of the boys, I wrote down a bunch of stats from the pregnancy on this week and they are still some of my favorite posts. So I had to do it again this time with Little Miss E!

Total Weight Gain (thus far
anyway): 30 pounds. I had gained two extra, but dropped two and have stayed at the same weight for the last couple of weeks. We will see what the Christmas goodies do to this weight gain though. 😉 I have noticed that my meals are getting smaller and smaller – she’s taking up all the room in there! I have another appointment tomorrow morning, so we will see what the box of homemade caramels my grandmother sent does to my weight gain. 😉

Baby Stats:
According to the books, she weighs a little over six pounds and is at her  birth length now. I’m assuming she’s right around there – at my appointment last week, I was measuring a week behind, so maybe our Little Miss will be more petite than her brothers. 😉

Movement: Baby E is not as active as her biggest big brother (but I’ve heard of very few babies who are!), but she’s probably more active than Parker was. She tends to start moving as soon as I sit down when the boys are either down for rest time or in bed at night. She turned breech a couple of weeks ago (and I felt it – it HURT), but she flipped back around and I’ve felt her little toes on my rib cage ever since. 😉 Sometimes she’s fairly quiet in there and I get super worried and then she’ll start moving around again. It’s so fun to watch her move around in there – that’s definitely my absolute favorite part of pregnancy. It’s amazing how well you can know a baby before they are even born.

Swelling: I’ve had basically no swelling this pregnancy! What little I’ve had has been in my hands – my rings haven’t fit for awhile, but my ankles still look normal. 😉 I have noticed a little puffiness in my face but I haven’t had anything like I did with Parker! So thankful – it makes moving around a lot easier this time.

Cravings: In the beginning, I wanted a lot of chocolate and since then, I’ve still favored the sweets this time around. Now that we are at the end, I’m really liking cold things like fruit, ice water and milkshakes always sound good…maybe this is just a nine months pregnant thing for me? 😉 Otherwise, I haven’t craved hardly anything!

Aversions: I haven’t really had any aversions this time!! I felt great for 97% of this pregnancy – I think I was sick to my stomach for the first couple of weeks, but from about 8 weeks on, I have hardly been sick or thought something was just disgusting. Every so often in the last three weeks, I’ve been nauseous, but I think it’s more her position than anything now.

Sleeping: Sleeping has not been that great lately. I’ve decided that this is God’s way of preparing mamas for lots of sleepless nights in a few weeks! It’s so hard to get comfortable and I’ve had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions that keep me up. So between everything, it’s hard to get a good night’s rest. I am so ready for a sweet smelling newborn to snuggle at night!! She cannot get here fast enough.

Maternity Clothes: I am down to about three shirts that still cover my big tummy, so I just rotate those out. I don’t remember when I first started having to wear maternity clothes, but I remember it was later than it was with Parker, as weird as that is!

Baby’s Room: Since Parker is still in a crib (and I have zero desire to move him right now!), we are doing things a little differently this time around! We always keep the babies in our room for the first many months anyway, so since there wasn’t really a reason to move Parker to Nathan’s room quite yet, I decided to do a little “Baby’s room corner” in our room this time. 🙂 I went back and forth on just going ahead and moving Parker to a big boy bed, but he sleeps so well that it just didn’t make sense to move him when we are about to be losing sleep anyway! I will post pictures of her little set up this week. 🙂

Mood Swings: I think for the most part, I’ve been pretty even keeled this time around. Occasionally, something will make me all teary, but I’ve mostly just been tired. I think a lot of that is due to having two boys running around right now too. 😉

Workouts:
Welp. Failed at this again. So far, the only pregnancy I have consistently worked out during is Nathan’s. I had a stretch there with this one where I honestly tried, but between the boys and the deadline and our crazy schedule, it just didn’t happen. 

Birth Plans: Nathan was an emergency c-section after 18 hours of
labor and he scared me to death. I went into labor with Parker, and hoped for a VBAC, but never dilated, so we did another c-section. This time around, I don’t really have a choice, so c-section it is and we already have the date scheduled. I’ve been having lots of sporadic contractions lately, so we are really hoping for her to make her entrance a little earlier!

Nathan: He’s so excited for a baby sister. 🙂 I don’t think he remembers very much about Parker’s birth and newborn days, so I’m excited for him to get to experience them again. It will be SO nice to have a little helper there and someone around to entertain Parker. 😉 He’s going to be a great big brother to a little sister – he’s already talking about how he’s going to be the big protector guy.

Parker: Oh goodness. I am worried about this little bear! He’s been so clingy, so needy and so “No, Mommy do it!” lately that I just know he knows something is about to happen. He loves to talk about Baby E and rub my tummy and give it kisses, but he is very insistent that he is still a baby. I’m just praying for lots of patience for me and for him over the next few months!! He adores babies, so I think he will love his sister. I just don’t think he will love sharing “his” mama. 😉

Me: I am doing well! I’m feeling good and other than being tired, I’ve been doing great. With the deadline, I put off a lot of stuff until now, so I’ve been rushing around trying to get everything done for our Little Miss and Christmas at the same time. My brain has NOT been working with all the things I’m trying to remember to do! Poor Jon has dealt with some major pregnancy brain from me. 😉 I am so ready to meet our sweet girl! I can’t wait to see her face – I feel like my boys don’t look super similar, so I’m curious what she’s going to look like. 😉

So thankful for the prayers and sweet messages we have received from you all over the past many months!! We are SO excited for this little love!! Please continue to keep her safety and us in your prayers as we approach these last couple of weeks!!

It has been cold, cold, COLD outside lately! We’ve been spending quite a few days bundled up inside preparing things for baby sister’s arrival and we’ve started closing up the activities for the year. 🙂

 

I’ve been a crocheting MACHINE lately – I think I’ve been busy almost every time the boys are in bed with Christmas gifts and getting things done for sweet baby E (love seeing your guesses on her name, by the way!). We got the green light at our appointment last week, so I’m not-so-secretly praying she comes sooner as opposed to later! 🙂 Can’t wait to see her precious little face!

Every year during Advent, we take the kids to get frozen yogurt and it’s always one of Nathan’s favorite traditions. Parker was a big fan of it too this year!

Oh my goodness. We have been so busy and so purposefully NOT busy that I have been totally spacing this blog! First things first, thank you all so much for participating in my Katie in Waiting contests!! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has purchased the book and reviewed it!! 🙂 I love reading your thoughts!!

We have been in full Baby Prep and Christmas mode over here, so prepare for a HUGE onslaught of pictures!!! 😉

 One of the outdoor malls in town always makes a big deal about lighting of the Christmas tree, so we went and had such a great time! Free fondue, free hot chocolate and cider and free face painting…what’s not to love? 😉

Bryant, Nicole, Gabriel and Cayce came with us, so we all went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen afterward. So much fun!!

This kid loved his hot tea. Plus I think he felt just like a big kid drinking out of a big cup. This lasted about six minutes before the cup fell out of his hands and exploded all over the sidewalk. 😉

Parker ended up getting a double ear infection that week and so Pops came and took Nathan to swim lessons on Friday. They had planned on getting lunch and maybe bowling, but it turned into an entire Pops and Nathan Day and Nathan had the absolute BEST time!!

I got this picture late that afternoon – I mean, he had a terrible time. 😉 They didn’t come back until dinner!! Nathan loved every second of it.

He did his first Grand Prix with Awana this year!! Jon and Nathan had such a fun time making their Batmobile together and he was so proud of it. 🙂

We took Jon out for an early birthday dinner the night before Thanksgiving – Parker looks less than thrilled but he really had a good time and LOVED when they sang Happy Birthday to Jon.

My two little turkeys on Thanksgiving Day!! This Thanksgiving was just a little different – we were supposed to be in California with Jon’s family, but since I had early labor with Parker, we decided it would be best to stay home just to be safe. I can’t wait until there are three little O’Brien turkeys next year, God willing!!

Our little Thanksgiving crew – Caleb and Nicole were in California waiting for my nephew’s arrival, Bryant and Nicole were with her family here. We still had a great feast and I ended the night with a lot of Braxton Hicks, so we were thankful we had decided to stay close to our doctor but we missed our California family!!

 The next day, Jon braved the early morning Black Friday crowds and got us a new Christmas tree!! Our old one was the one I had grown up with and it was in very sad shape. We love our new tree! Our little helpers were in full force decorating this day. 😉

Parker has no concept of stockings but he does know what they look like…. ha!!

And I’m not sure Jon can do the lights without his right hand man. 😉 I think this is one of Nathan’s favorite things to do since he gets to stand on the ladder while they are working.

It’s Christmas!!! Love that there are FIVE stockings up there!! We are so blessed!!!

We went over to Gammy and Pops’ for leftovers for dinner and to anxiously wait all together by our phones because someone decided to finally come that night! 🙂

My littlest nephew Hudson!! He finally made his appearance early on the morning of the 28th and is just pure sweetness. It’s so fun to see Caleb and Nicole as parents. Cannot wait to hold him!!!

We celebrated Jon’s 31st birthday with my family that next night. Love this man. 😉 Love his constant shadow. 😉

Gabriel decorated Thanksgiving shirts with us, so this was the first time we had the boys all together with dry shirts to model. 😉 These three are just so fun. I can’t wait to see them grow up together!

Me and my sweet Gabriel. He had surgery the next morning to repair his cleft lip, so we spent Monday by our phones praying.

Sweet boy post surgery – he was so doped up here. Jon and I went to go visit him that night and it was just so hard to see him in the hospital bed. 🙁

 Monday morning, was our annual Christmas tradition of seeing the Nutcracker! We love that Gammy comes with us!

 Love our tradition. Love these boys!! Parker sat perfectly still on my lap through the entire hour-long performance – it was SO much better than I was worrying about!! He got kicked through the whole thing by his baby sister, but he didn’t seem to mind. 😉 And Nathan loved it like he does every year!!

Nathan wanted to take a few pictures before the show started. 😉

Monday was also Jon’s birthday, so we went home after the hospital and opened some presents and had a little family birthday just the almost five of us. 😉

December 1st started our Advent. This is one of Nathan’s favorite parts of the whole season! We’ve had so much fun introducing Parker to it! 🙂

Hot chocolate, boys in their jammies and Charlie Brown Christmas – not a bad way at all to end the day. 🙂

I go in and check on the boys every night before I go to bed. Nathan just looked so old to me this night. My boys are growing up before my eyes and I just wish time would freeze for a little bit! I want to have their baby sister here and just figure out how to stop time then.

And speaking of getting old – for about two days, our house turned into Nathan’s office complex for his real estate business. He was a teacher on the side and sold people backyards. He made up business cards and everything for himself and carried them in a briefcase. 😉 He wants to be exactly like his dad.

The boys have been doing swim lessons for the last few months at an indoor swim school in town. It is totally one of the highlights of their week! Parker LOVES it! We had to do a makeup lesson on Friday night because Parker missed one week with his ear infection, so Jon got to do it with him. 🙂

And this guy is an official Guppy Class graduate!! He has worked so hard for the coveted Guppy Grad snap on his goggles and he did great!! He has become quite the little fish in the water – moving on up to the next class! He’s decided he’s going to go to the Olympics someday. 😉

Haircut #7 for this boy – I swear, Parker’s secret talent is growing hair. He has gorgeous hair too – it’s so soft and perfect! He was way overdue for a haircut this time around!

Writing their lists for Santa (or “Yanta”, as Parker calls him). We let Nathan write his list as much as he could by himself and he did a pretty good job!! Most things I could figure out what he was trying to say. 😉

On Monday, we walked into Nathan’s school for his end of the year Christmas party and found a surprise baby shower instead – so, so kind!! We were so overwhelmed and thankful!!

Sweet baby boy got his stitches out yesterday!! So thankful that he’s doing so well!

So much going on in such a short amount of time!! I’m so thankful for my family and for the fun we are having this season. Please continue to pray for us with little Baby E’s arrival (let the name guessing begin! ha!) – we are just praying for her safety and for a smooth transition for the boys. So ready to just have her in our arms!! I’m hoping to do the finishing touches for her this weekend, so I will do a post then with her “room” (which is right now just a corner in our room. 😉 She’ll get her own room when we move Parker to Nathan’s room after he turns two!).

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful Christmas season!!