Yet another reason to love boobs...

I have always liked Salma Hayek as an actress and, as an added bonus, I think she is incredibly beautiful. (If I was a guy or not straight and blissfully married, I would SO put her on my people to do list...)

After reading an article on ParentDish about a beautiful and wonderful gift she gave to a mother and her starving child during a UNICEF visit to Sierra Leone in September 2008, Salma Hayek has officially moved to the very top of my favorite celebrities list.

When Wedding Cakes Go WRONG...

And, in honor of my cousin Julie's upcoming wedding I would like to share some wedding cakes posted on Cake Wrecks. To remind her Mom that there ARE worse things out there than a western themed wedding, and to make everyone else gasp/smile and/or giggle while frantically calling their baker to make sure they have a "backup cake" ready in case the original is delivered in less than expected condition.

NICU Flashbacks & Requested Prayers...

Me holding Samantha in NICU 4 1/2 weeks after her birth.

Tonight my heart is broken for my cousin Rachael and her husband Corey. Rachael gave birth to the couple's first child on Wednesday night... two months early. Little Carrick is in NICU, breathing on his own, and from my cousin's brief email description, seems to be a fighter.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, they are going to need it.

I can't help but have flash backs to when Samantha was born two months early. I remember so vividly the feeling that, somehow, I had failed my child. I felt betrayed by my own body and angry that there was nothing I could do to make things better. I was terrified of loosing my daughter before I ever really had the chance to know her and I wanted to find a way to protect her from all of the pain that comes along with an extended NICU stay.

Mostly I just felt helpless and confused.

How and why could this happen to us? What could I have done differently to make her enter the world healthy and full term? How did my WHOLE WORLD suddenly shift to dramatically revolve around this tiny piece of me? How is it possible to love someone so small SO much more than I have ever loved anyone, including myself?

My heart is broken for my cousin, not because I think her son will not survive, quite the opposite. My heart is broken because I have been in her shoes, and I know how it feels to be a mother who must watch her child fight for every step, knowing there is nothing you can do except watch, wait, and pray that God will pull you through.