Put on a happy face! (Right??)

So.

This is the chaos my life has ensued as of late.

Brynn spent last Thursday- Sunday in the hospital last week. I took her in to the dr's office bc she had a high fever, and they admitted her bc by the time I got there she was just like a hot, limp little dishrag. They put her on iv fluids, did bloodwork, sent he rhome with the most expensive antibiotic I've ever heard of, and decided that they think she has fluid behind her eardrum. Hello, ENT referral & tubes. No biggir, right? Okay.

So then Wednesday, my boss asks me to meet with her to talk shit about a new employee, i.e. tell her what I think so they can decide to fire her or not. Enter CEO who tells me he will be making me full time soon, and he'll let me know when to put in my notice at the other place. Yay!

In case you're keeping score, we are now at Lemons-1; Lemonade-1. Follow me?

Friday, husband gets laid off. Lemons have taken the lead.

Austin is having tonsils & adenoids out in a couple weeks, read that as: MORE MEDICAL SHIT I CAN'T AFFORD RIGHT NOW. Lemons are now up by 2.

Same week as T&A: Brynn must see an allergist so we can get the entire list of what she is allergic to- now read THAT as, Brynn must live off of rice for the rest of her life bc I'm pretttyyyyy confident she is allergic to everything that goes into her mouth. Everything. Lemons are whipping my arse. Considering a forfeit.

The score is holding steady at Lemons-4; Lemonade-1.

BUT.

I will continue (try to, at least) to be a generally happy person. I will play with my kids and make them laugh, even when the $1600 antibiotics are making them puke & poop all over the place and enduce yeast infections (another score for the Lemons). I will still spend countless hours making online carts I could never actually afford to buy, even with both of us employed. I will wake up everyday & go to work, and enojy conversations with my work friends, and laugh at the silly things the kids tell me.

My wedding song that M & I first danced to was "So Small" by Carrie Underwood. I chose that song bc I truly love the lyrics...

 "Sometimes, that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand.
What you've been out there searching for is in your hands,
And when you figure out love is all that matters after all,
 It sure makes everything else seem so small.

It's so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big at the time
It's like a river that's so wide
It swallows you whole

And when you're sittin round thinking bout
What you can't change
And worrying about all the wrong things
Times flyin by
Moving so fast
You better make it count cause you can't get it back"

It's just a grain of sand.

Nellas' ONEder Fund

Hi everyone, today I'm going to put my potty mouth aside, my whining to a minimum...I know I don't have a LOT of followers, but those who do, I hope you see this post, and I hope you see the love that comes with it.

I've been following Kelle Hampton's blog for a few months now. (You can see the button to her site posted to the right of this post!) Kelle is a Florida photographer, mother of 2 girls, and 2 bonus sons as well.

Her 2nd daughter, Nella, was born Jan 22, 2010, with downs syndrome, unexpectedly. Her birth story is absolutely amazing, it is a must read for all mothers! When you go to her page there is a button that says "Start here if you're new" that will link you to the birth story.

In honor of Nella's upcoming 1st birthday, Kelle started a fundaraiser to raise money for the National Downs Syndrome Society. Her original goal was $15,000. She met that in under 24 hours. So she doubled the goal to $30,000.

As of now, less than 2 days in, she has raised over $22,000.

This is BIG, people.

She asked anyone that has gotten anything from her blog, to donate $5. Or more. $5 is a magazine at the grocery store checkout. Or $5 can be giving designer gene'd kids a chance to do something they may have have be able to.

Pay it forward peeps. Read 1 post from Kelle & you'll be hooked. Click on her button on my page, and it will direct you to her site, where another button will be under her header to direct you to the donation site.

I only donate to things that grab me & suck me in. This is one.

http://www.kellehampton.com/

Finally. Party Day arrived.

I have been planning my daughter's first birthday party since August. No jokes. I am a lunatic about my kids bday parties. I always had shitty parties, I want them to have good ones, kwim??

Okay, I'm going to let the pics do the talking here. Mostly. My usual venue was my garage, so I did the best I could transforming it from a workshop/car storage center to a winter onederland. Enjoy!

I made a few of these luminaries for the tables. Yes, I AM awesome, thank you.

1 of 2 cupcake trees. (trees are martha stewart collection from macy's.)

The banner, signs & cupcake toppers are all custom made from Party Pops on Etsy. Check her out, she's awesome, and great to work with as well.

The dessert tabel, I was trying to fit it all in, but cut off some of the bottom. You can kinda see a couple hanging snowflakes from the ceiling as well. I also had pink snowflake garland draped around the front of the table, you can't see here.

And here's one of the birthday girl of course! This while we sang happy birthday, with her cupcake, trying to keep her from grabbing fire...

I would've added more, and tried to in fact, but I have a new program, and it takes forever, bc I haven't figured out how to adjust the file sizes yet.

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet, little girl. I can't believe it's been a year already! I have fought so hard for you this year, all I want is to make you feel okay! We are still fighting for you, and will keep fighting for you, until we get it all figured out. I will never settle, I promise. You light up my life & make me so happy, I can't put it into words. I never knew how awesome it would be to have a daughter, but now I do. We all love Miss Brynn!!!