The most political post I will ever write.

Let's not be afraid of the future.

 God still holds it

 and even if America was heading down the path we wanted it to be

  we aren't promised an easy road, 

we are promised that He is in control 

and He who has began a good work in us will finish it.

 He will be faithful to our families.

 Of course I am praying so much for my kids and their future,

 that God will captivate their heart

 and no matter what our government looks like they will know Him, 

know His awesome, unfailing love

 and  use their lives to make Him famous.

 Because Christ is the hope of the world not America. 

Holloway out.

{this was going to be a facebook post but was way too long for my liking. Christians, if you got the candidate you wanted it still applies and if you didn't guess what, still applies :) }

I had a baby girl..

And her name is..

She was born September 17,

7 pounds, 5 ounces of awesomeness.

oh and 20 inches..

She is wonderful.

Pregnancy brain is contagious

Our family has "seasons"

Like last summer was the season of six flags..

Last spring the season of happy hour drinks at Sonics every friday..

This summer was the season of the beach...

And 2 summers ago was the season of  Old Orchard Beach..

I was pregnant with Jackson then..

and we took probably our only family picture there..

So I thought it would be cool to go back..

take a similar picture...

So one day..

totally unplanned..

because we don't really plan that well..

We drove down...

 and went to the same spot to take the picture..

Both Court and I took one look..

and disappointment sent in when we realized they changed the mural...

We listed about 15 things that they changed..

from size..

to color..

to the font....

I think I might have uttered the words..

"They changed it completely"

 But same mural or not we decided to take the picture.

Exact same mural..

Only repainted..

We be crazy.

Warning excessive back to school pictures...

I won't remind you all again how emotional I am..
crying, sobbing, blubbering idiot
wreck..
You get it.
But..
My little boy started school..
and up until a couple weeks ago...
I was homeschooling..
I was very excited about that..
but
we made a decision to put him in school..
a great one with awesome teachers..
and Daddy close by..
But still..
emotional wreck over here..
Gibson not so much..
very excited..
up at 5:30 excited.
That's Christmas morning excited.
People.
Christmas morning.

 Oh yes,
can you tell by these pictures..
Ari was also excited..
I was nervous that she would be a mess with her best friend leaving..
but yeah..
Not so much..
And you will notice Jack was absent..
He was there
but was not quite there..
He was not ready for the early morning photo sess.
Disappointing because he had the most glorious case of bed head.
Sorry, you all are deprived of that.
And also note there is one photo of me with them..
I planned to get one at school..
Not so much.
The big kid was not having it..
Luckily he came back as snuggly and loving as always..
and I quickly forget the snubbing I got at school..
Ok, almost forgot.

Baby Mama

Aria walks in..

"Hi Baby Mama."

Umm, what?

"I am saying hi to you and the baby."

Sure,

 that's what we are going to say Baby Mama means.

As I am cooking this baby..

I have been pretty absent..

I have decided that instead of blogging during naptimes

I would clean..

haha

I mean  

Sleep..

 I sleep now..

clean, that's funny.

(Court told me he would rather come home to a happy house than a clean one, regretting that yet honey?)

However I did blog through my pregnancy with Jack..

Who we had nicknamed Hercules...

Weekly updates in fact..

and I worked full time.

Wow.

Just typing all that out made me tired.

must nap..

But if you are interested in what happened last pregnancy..

when I actually did more than napping..

check it out here..

Warning: sleep was not my friend..

and apparently makeup and I were fighting too...

Tuesdays with Ari

Kind of like Tuesday's with Morrie...

Only not at all.

All my kids are characters..

I have to refrain myself from posting status updates with all the things they say 

because I would spend way too much time on facebook..

oh yeah..

and it would be annoying...

Ari girl has been coming up with some gems lately though..

that are begging to be shared..

As I am heading to the dr's office for a check up..

She hands me 2 dimes.

Aria: Is that enough to pay the dr to get the baby out?

Me: Well no, honey that's....

Proceeds to hands me a chuckee cheese coin.

Aria: How about now?

Umm.. if she is going to bribe people she needs to get a job.

Also her sweet motives of wanting to meet the baby are actually wanting Court and I to go to the hospital so their Memaw will stay with them.... because Grandparents are cooler than parents

obviously.

After another dr's appointment (boy, am I exciting)

Aria: What was your blood pressure?

Me: making up a number because I never keep track of that stuff.

Aria: Ok, good.

Aria crying because she stepped on a toy train.

Aria: The BLOOD! THE BLOOD!

Me: Ok sweetie, lets look at it and clean it up. I will put a band aid on it.

Aria: NO WE ARE OUT OF HELLO KITTY BANDAIDS! No other bandaids work!

HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Throws the offending train away, to the screams of Jack protesting.

Aria: Jackson, I am doing this for your own good!!!!!!

Oh my,

Ari, save the drama for your ma....

oh, I guess you did.

And last but not lest..

Aria playing with her dollhouse.

Aria: "Husband, can you get me an ice coffee? The kid's didn't nap today."

Court, if you are reading this.. the kids didn't nap today..

soooo.......

You got this...

It was the perfect storm..

Pushing the 3 kids around..

in those Jumbo carts at Target..

They were peaceful and well behaved..

And then..

the storm hit..

Jack pulled Ari's hair..

she was screaming because it hurt..

he was screaming because he hurt her..

and Gibs decided at that moment 

He needed to pee...

and not only did he need to pee..

He felt the need to scream this fact at the top of his lungs..

along with 

"I THINK I MIGHT PEE MY PANTS"

lovely..

And that moment..

a woman walked over and smiled..

I was waiting for some encouragement..

some

"been there, it's ok."

Instead I got

"Bet your wondering why you decided to have that 4th."

nodding at my very pregnant belly.

I am going to assume she was trying to be funny

 and thought we both would have a good laugh..

We didn't.

She got a fake smile.

Or a grimace..

Not sure exactly what my face did...

but my hand didn't slap her..

so that was good.

And I felt inadequate..

Like really, am I crazy?

It's easy to feel that way as a mom..

When it's 3 am and the baby just screams and won't sleep..

When your kids disobey..

Tantrums are being thrown..

You lose your temper..

The debate about..

bottle feeding

 breast feeding...

co sleeping..

cry it out...

schedules...

discipline..

Stay at home..

Working moms.

It's easy to feel like you just aren't good enough.

No matter what you do,

it will be wrong.

Luckily, grace steps in..

And the truth is..

You are their mom...

You were chosen to parent those children...

they were chosen to be your babies...

You aren't going to do everything right..

Some days your kids are going to go insane at Target..

But you got this...

You are their mom..

and by God's grace

You can handle it....

Because He made you uniquely..

He made your kids unique...

And His Grace is sufficient..

And if you see a mom or dad struggling in the store..

smile...

say something encouraging..

and if it's Court or me

buy us a Starbucks..

deal?