The Party and the ER

Well we had a great party yesterday at my mom's house. The guys BBQ'd, the kids bounced and the rest of us drank sangria and ordered Pampered Chef products. Things were going smashingly until...."SMASH" Joshua fell against a brick planter & split his eyebrow open. Fortunately, it was not a "gusher". Unfortunately, it needed a few stitches. We packed up & headed to the ER. Well actually, first we tried to go to Urgent Care to save us from the $50.00 ER co-pay, but they didn't take our insurance - so we had to go to the ER anyway. It was not too crowded and we got into the triage nurse within 15 minutes. We only spent a total of 2 hours there, which is super fast in ER time. We got away without stitches. They used the surgical super glue to close up his gash. Here are the pics:

The gash

Waiting...

The aftermath...exhausted & sleeping

Ice Cream for our brave boy

Pray for Stellan

**Update 3/25**
The update is that there really isn't any new information. Stellan is still in SVT and on an array of different medications. This is of course taking a toll on MckMama, so please pray for her and the family too. None of this is a suprise to God, so whatever His plan, we ask for guidance and peace for Stellan's mommy & daddy.

MckMama's precious baby Stellan is in the hospital with SVT (high heart rate) that will not come down. Please pray for him! Here is a link to MckMama's blog & the latest update.

Favorite Things

So I'm going to take a page from Oprah and tell you one of my favorite things - Mommy Necklaces! About 5 months ago I was desperate to find something that would keep Rachel from pinching & biting me while nursing. I did a search for "nursing necklaces" and found Mommy Necklaces. FINALLY! Necklaces that I could wear everyday that looked fantastic! (Why didn't I think of this???)

These necklaces are safe for babies to play with while nursing. All the components are CPSIA Compliant and they have a nifty breakaway closure so your baby/toddler can pull on your necklace & you don't have to worry about it breaking & beads flying everywhere. I honestly hadn't worn necklaces on a regular basis since Joshua was born because of all the ones he broke! I wish I had known about these 3 years ago!!

Also, In my line of work (Daycare Provider) I'm constantly around kids who are pulling at me. So even when Rachel stops nursing, these will continue to be extremely useful to me.

Another way these are great is for children with special needs. I just enrolled my best friend's son who is autistic. He LOVES necklaces and I don't have to worry about them breaking! He will sit in my lap and play with my necklace for hours.

There's no doubt about it, if you have kids of any age - you need these necklaces! It's totally worth the investment and are cheaper than certain necklaces (that rhyme with "right-on") and these won't break!

Okay, so here's the super fabulous news - they've started a blog & are giving away necklaces to celebrate the kick-off! Just go here and leave a comment to get yourself entered to win! I know you'll love your Mommy Necklace as much as I love mine. (I own 6 already!)

Birthday Parties!

Yesterday was Joshua & Rachel's birthday parties. It's so nice that they're young enough to have combined parties without them complaining yet. I'm sure that won't be the case as they get older, but whatever.

I tried uploading all the pictures, but blogger is having trouble, so I made a slideshow.

Here is the direct link if the slideshow is taking too long to load.

Flashback Friday

Sorry this is late, I'm running around going crazy trying

to get the house cleaned for the kids' birthday parties tomorrow!

Since Wednesday is Joshua's 3rd birthday,

here is our firstborn on his actual birth-day.

I was in labor with him for 15hrs and

he was a chunker at 8lbs 12oz!

Happy 311 Day!

Today is 311 Day. It also happens to be my daughter's 1st birthday. That is no coincidence.

Most of my friends know that 311 has been my favorite band since way back in the day. Here are some other tidbits: My blog "Beautiful Disaster" is named after my favorite 311 song, the verse that describes my blog is taken from Ecclesiastes 3:11 (I was so stoked when I found it and it matches perfectly!), and finally - I had my daughter induced specifically so her birthday would be on 3/11! I know. I need help.

Now I'm not normally that crazy and obsessed, but her due date was so close that I decided to try for it. Brian was like, "There's no way the dr will induce you on whatever day you want." And I'm like, "I'm the one giving birth & I'll have her whenever I want!" Hahaha. It was touch & go there for a while. At my last appt before Rachel was born (a Friday), the dr said I wouldn't make it to my induction day (Tuesday) and that I would probably be seeing him that weekend. I scoffed and said, "No - I will see you on Tuesday." And I did just that. Rachel and I had an understanding. She's been on my side ever since!

She's such a happy and loving baby and I can't believe it's been a whole year already! We are having the kids' birthday party this weekend and I'm praying it doesn't rain (40% chance). I'm going to post some pics today of Rachel in her shirt that says "Birthday Girl" when I get a chance. Until then, crank up the 311 music and have a great day!

Flashback Friday

I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast!

Next week Rachel will turn 1, so here is a flashback from

one year ago when she was born on 3/11 Day!

Our Hero Has Returned

My brother-in-law Chris has returned safely from his deployment in Iraq! He came home to Virginia early Saturday morning and the family awoke with excitement. We are so proud of him and happy that he is finally home. My sister Heather has been holding down the fort in his absence and is very happy to have her hubby back! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him and all of our brave men and women who serve this great country.

Only two people have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the military. Amen!