Let’s try this again…

I was planning on shutting this space down because time is not something we have a lot of. But, the thing is I enjoy it. So I am back…. for today.

We finally made the exodus to suburbia. We were snobs when we bought our former house. There is no doubt about it. At that time we would have never lived outside of the city period. Then we got our first tax bill which had doubled in a year and we learned a very grown up lesson. Living in the city came at a price. Over the next few years we added 2 more kids to our family and our neighborhood became a hot spot for filming. Traffic was ridiculous and we were busting at the seams. We had it and responded with not just moved to the burbs but as far out as we could go. I will be real honest. I wondered if we would like it and if we would fit in. Both of us like city life, its been the way of life for  the last 10 years.

We are 2 months in and I can not believe we thought life was better down the road.

Our house is beautiful with a huge yard for our kids to run around in. There is a symphony of frogs with the glitter of lightening bugs in the evenings. I never hear a horn honk and life is easier, slower. That hustle and bustle I thought I thrived on is of the past. Things are calmer and we are so much happier. It suits us. We fit.

 

This is the road I take every day. Far beats West Paces Ferry any day of the week.

 

 

 

It needs to be said

After reading a post on election day from Beth Anne at Okay, BA. I started really thinking. It was so well written and it’s like she took many of the words right out of my thoughts. I have been quiet with my opinions this election cycle. The screaming and yelling has been intense lately and I quite frankly had been insulted by many of the things I have heard or read.

I am Republican and most likely will never vote for a Democrat. Never say never but after spending some of my post college years working on Capitol Hill  I learned a few things. Namely you will not agree with EVERY stance a party takes. I am sorry but if everyone is honest there are very few people (who have taken the time to truly educate themselves ::sham on the media especially Fox news:: but thats a different topic all together) that are on board with every last stance a party holds. Most of the officials do not even feel that way just down play their differences in opinion.

I am female and I will never be in support of Roe verses Wade being overturned. I got pregnant out of wedlock and I know the importance of a women’s right to choose. It was not the choice for me ever and that is based in my moral code that is a direct result in my faith in God but I know that is not everyone’s faith. I can not dictate what you believe and I can not even imagine the turmoil that would have gone on in my heart if I didn’t get to make the choice to be a Mom.

I have a number of gay friends and I love them deeply and want them to experience all that life has to offer. I want them to be able to be married and I think that one day in our lifetime it will happen nation wide.

But, I do not vote on social policies in National elections. I believe in small government and those policies start at the state not national level. Many Presidents have taken stances on these issues in all directions because they know they can run their mouths without acting. We have separation of powers for a reason and it will take a lot more than one person to get any of that accomplished, things like Acts of Congress and Supreme Court decisions. Trust me watch the Marijuana debate unfold. It’s happening and it is starting at the state level. Slowly states are making it legal for various uses, give it time its going to make the national level soon. But, note that did not start with a President.  It disappoints me greatly to think that our election was focused  on such issues that have no place in the White House.

I vote for a President who will protect my country fiercely. One who will work with all sides to find agreements that work not stomp his feet and dictate what he wants to happen. I  believe in strong fiscal policies and expecting people who work hard and make money to pay their fair share not theirs and everyone else. I believe government assistance is just that assistance for tough times but not a career path. I believe that we have a lot of work to do that things have spun out of control for years and that it is time to reevealute everything. I think that Bush left us with some problems but I also know that some of today’s problems reach back even farther to other administrations.

Lastly, I think the leaders in Washington tend to behave in a manor similar to my three year old. I think they all need to grow up and stop worrying about who is winning each issue and focus on the fact that Democrat or Republican this is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and we need to start behaving like it.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

We have been going to the pumpkin patch every single year since EJ was born. It is a fun family tradition that I hope we keep for years to come. I love looking back at the pictures as we see our baby boys grow up.

FLASHBACK 2011

FLASHBACK 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This YEAR! My big boys.

Zippy, EJ’s class pet joined us this year. And the bulldog face is Jack’s cheese face. Hysterical.that.kid.

EJ is totally uninterested in standing still for the camera so the lack of pictures of him are due to them all being a blur.

Momma Monday

It has been a few weeks since I have updated baby girl’s growth. Life has been insane around the Holman household. Typical fall craziness with school and such but throw in a house on the market and a pregnancy and days seem to pass in the blink of an eye. We had our 20 week anatomy scan last week and all was well with our baby girl. She looks great, spent the time fluttering her feet and practicing her sucking skills. I love being able to check in and nothing warms my heart more than truly healthy baby. We took the boys with us so that they could see the baby Leighton. I don’t recommend that. It was romper room. That was the first and hopefully last time I have to bring the crew along.

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

How far along? 21weeks

Total weight gain/loss? up 10 lbs, lovely. And I quote the ob “I see you finally decided to gain weight” Yep. sure did.

Maternity clothes?  Mostly. As you can see in my 21 week photo I am carrying this baby so different. She is making me me wide. I can wear some regular clothes but honestly nothing is comfortable,

Stretch marks? my poor hips

Sleep?  hit or miss either dead asleep or up and down all.night.long.

Best moment last week? I perfectly perfect baby girl showing off for the anatomy scan.

Movement?  Early in the morning and late at night. I love feeling her move around. She also has tendency to react to loudness when her brothers and dad play rough. I guess she is getting ready to join them.

Food cravings?  DOUGHNUTS. Its bad like most days EJ asks when are we going. Opps.

Gender? GIRL GIRL GIRL

Labor signs? None thank god

Belly button in/out? In. It has yet to pop in a pregnancy so I am guessing it will stay in this time too.

What I miss: Wine and not aching at the end of every day.

What I am looking forward to: Almost to viability. WAHOO!

Milestones: Just keeping my eyes to the magic 24 week viability mark.

Momma Monday on a Tuesday

The last week has been completely full of pink everything. My mom came to town last Tuesday and we have spent every spare minute making the rounds to all our favorite baby stores. To say we shopped until we dropped would be an understatement. In a little more than a week we have stocked up Miss Leighton on all things pink. I have loved every minute of it. 

DRESSES!!!

 

Just a morning getting lost in Marshall’s

17 weeks & FALL fashion

How far along? 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? as my ob put it… STEADY. ::side-eye::

Maternity clothes?  Yep.

Stretch marks? First belly stretch mark EVER on my hip. Proof that I am carrying her so different.

Sleep?  awful. the pregnancy dreams are giving me panic attacks this time, not even kidding. It is horrible.

Best moment last week? getting to walk to the girl side of any baby store and actually buy for myself.

Movement?  Most evenings I feel a little movement. She seems to be less active than both her brothers were. I could really feel Jack at this point.

Food cravings?  Nothing

Gender? GIRL

Labor signs? None thank god

Belly button in/out? In. It has yet to pop in a pregnancy so I am guessing it will stay in this time too.

What I miss: SLEEP good refreshing sleep.

What I am looking forward to: Anatomy scan. I love getting to check in on her.

Milestones: Just keeping my eyes to the magic 24 week viability mark.

Tball 2012

EJ is a member of his very first sports team this Fall. He loves tball and Craig is in hog heaven. This is one of the moments that he has been dreaming about since the minute we heard “It’s a boy”. As you all I know sports, especially team sports, was not really my thing so Mom is learning right there with him the art of ball throwing and the rules of the game.

But, one thing I do know is that I die from the cute of the little baseball uniforms every Saturday afternoon.

How I FINALLY got a new washing machine

Last week was seriously long. The week that would not end full of mess really. We got a bs offer on the house spent the better part of the week tap dancing for a guy who simply could not afford the house and thought he could bully us into a deal. Jack ate a rubber lizard and then passed it a day later. I felt like shit on stick. Craig was crazy busy at work. We are still getting EJ adjusted to that of the preschool world and the list goes on. By Friday night we were exhausted, emotionally and physically.

Saturday brought a high like none other with the discovery of a long awaited pink bundle of joy. EJ’s first T-ball game that he was so great in that he was awarded the game ball. We floated through the day happy and really felt the same way Sunday. A typical Sunday for us includes church and lunch out and then rest time for everyone. Momma’s rest is usually spent doing a lot of laundry to get us ready for the week. This week was no different until I walked into the laundry room which is off our garage to find a nasty little creature waiting  for me in the machine.

Yes, you read that right an opossum was sleeping in my washing machine on top of towels that I was about to run. I never screamed, ran so fast in my life. Craig goes to see if I was seeing things gets hissed at and we then do what anyone does… immediately call our parents who thought it was hysterical. We discover that Atlanta is full of a bunch of jerks and has no animal control for wild animals. We can either hire a private critter person for a couple 100  bucks and wait a day (it was Sunday in the bible belt) or get it out ourselves. Craig gets some of poor unsuspecting friends to come over and they drag the machine to end of drive way dump it over and spray water on the horrid little creature until if finally gives up and runs away.

I can not even tell you the odor that was my washing machine once it was returned to it usual spot. DISGUSTING. Of course I had googled the little creature and was so grossed out to find that these things carried an array of diseases and PARASITES. So I gaged a few times discussed poring bleach in it for the night for a week and ultimately begged my husband to agree to just spending the money to replace it. If it had been just us, I would have cleaned it and taken our chances but considering the 2 almost 3 kiddos whose clothes graced that machine I just couldn’t do it.  Craig is saint and totally agreed and we went straight to Home Depot were got terrible service and ultimately bought the same machine we tried to buy there online for a fraction of price with free delivery.  And today  the heavens parted as I entered laundry nirvana…

Please note the glass top so I never have to worry about what I might find under the lid. And yes, I know everyone loves the front loaders but I do not. I have had some experience with them I specifically asked to NOT get them. These babies hopefully will see us through a lot of laundry.

Picture Perfect

Ever since getting an iPhone 2 years ago I have been pretty horrid about using my big camera. Its so easy when the phone is nearby and after having my almost new camera stolen by work men I am not as inclined to just leave it sitting out like I used to. But, after ordering an awesome Blurb book of the last yrs Instagram pics I have vowed to use it more. The book is awesome quality, awesome. HIGHLY recommend them. But, you just can’t beat the quality of a big DSLR camera. I know one day when my kids are grown and living their own lives I will love having these memories in pictures.

I take a pretty decent picture. I am no photographer and I am pretty terrible at manual but I am slowing improving. We have a good enough camera that my artistic eye can get the right angle and the camera can do the hard work. I need to take a class about photoshop I just play with it and more often than not totally over process the picture but again learning curve I will get there.

We play outside most days after nap to burn the afternoon energy so the other day I broke out the camera and got some recent pictures. I really can not get over how big they suddenly are and I really am shocked how much EJ and Jack favor each other. 

EJ 3 years old

Jack 1 year

Momma Monday

What a week it has been with this little bit! It started off at with me up all night last Sunday night with a massive bladder infection. By 8am I was having flashbacks to the early part of my pregnancy with Jack and was on the phone with multiple doctors the minute the boys walked into school. I was not ending up in the hospital with a kidney infection again. My urologist is too popular for her own good and per usual I couldn’t get in until later in the week. Thank goodness my OB office is awesome and I was in by 11 and at the pharmacy with a plan by noon. I spent the rest of week not feeling great but powered through.

Craig and I decided to go to local ultrasound place and pay for a gender reveal a few weeks ago. After the perinatologist told us that he believed this baby  was a girl we just weren’t really willing to potentially wait another 2 months. My kidney issue is a birth defect that they can theoretically catch while in utero so we always wait until at least 20 weeks to do the anatomy scan so they can really see how things are developing and with Jack we waited until 22 weeks. We made the appointment for Saturday morning and really did not tell many. And would you believe it????

IT IS A GIRL!!!

Yes, we are positive. She put up a fight but the ultrasound tech said she was not miscalling this one and she spent forever looking. She had me moving all over the table. I have never been so thrilled have someone point out girl bits to me in my life. Needless to say we are so excited to be adding a daughter to our crew. And yes, I already went shopping for pink. Poor Jack just lost the top of his closest. EJ told me the Monday before I was I discovered I was pregnant that I was going to give him a baby sister. And once we told him that Mommy was going to have another baby he has been unwavering about it being a girl. So I guess we should have just listened to him.

Leighton Annabelle Holman will join our family late winter. Little girl is going to be one lucky lady to have 2 older brother watching out for her and God help anyone she decides to date.

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? up 5 lbs, lovely. Those are all crackers which keep me from paying homage to the porcelain gods.

Maternity clothes?  Yep. Its not that my regular clothes don’t fit because most do. I have just found maternity to give my expanding hips the extra space needed to be uncomfortable.

Stretch marks? YES on my hip. Little girl is being carried totally differently at this point. All wide which isn’t helpful for my poor skin. Its now lotion twice a day to try to limit the damage.

Sleep?  decent.

Best moment last week? FINDING OUT THAT SHE IS A GIRL

Movement?  At this point, I could really feel Jack so I worried that at times that something was wrong. But, she is just much calmer in utero baby. Every ultra sound she has been all snug just chilling. So I am guessing my insides may get a break from the constant flips and karate chops that I endured with her brothers.

Food cravings?  Really nothing. Simply not hungry which isn’t really helpful.

Gender? GIRL

Labor signs? None thank god

Belly button in/out? In. It has yet to pop in a pregnancy so I am guessing it will stay in this time too.

What I miss: still miss my WINE and wanting to workout. Making a human is hard work on its own.

What I am looking forward to: Anatomy scan. Kidney complications are at higher risk since she is a girl and tends to be past down from female to female.

Milestones: Just keeping my eyes to the magic 24 week viability mark.

Brain Dump

I have stop and started writing updates more times than I can count. Sometimes I probably put too much pressure on myself to make words flow and sound amazing. But this is my place and if their are typos and such… really who cares.

I’m almost 16 weeks. Yikes. I can not even wrap my brain around it. It will be d day before I know it. Sometimes I forget I am pregnant which is weird. With EJ once we knew it was all I thought about and Jack made me want to die every day so yeah no way to forget why. I am showing differently this time more wide and less round bump right in the middle. It’s easier to hide. In a lot of clothes I look fat not pregnant. I can’t decide if I like or not. It doesn’t matter eventually it will be obvious.

EJ is loving school, loving. He started and bam grown-up kid. I had to walk him to his classroom today because I had a room parent meeting and you would thought I was killing him. “Mom, I want to do the carpet line (he refuses to call it a carpool line)” “Mom, don’t hold my hand. I know where to go.” Basically told me to go away. Seriously, he’s three.

And the room parent thing. Jesus. I may have over achieved too much this time. I walked into our meeting to an agenda and talks of bringing my family silver pattern to decorate my room’s table for the Mom’s fashion show. Awesome.

I have a bladder/kidney infection again. Manage to catch it in time to avoid spending a week in the hospital on a morphine drip but it hasn’t been fun. Being Mom and being sick sucks because quite frankly no one cares. Needless to say I have been sucking down water and crashing early each and every night.

We got an offer on the house. It was joke, they should feel lucky that even bothered to counter. And then they spent 2 hours pretending to be inspectors and countered again with the same offer. We want to sell but that is rude and ridiculous. When the realtor is saying they are whistling dixie you know your feelings are acceptable. We countered back our original offer told them to take it or leave it. They aren’t our buyers. I was really hopeful they were. We are so ready to close this chapter and start a new one but we do have standards.

Oh and our perfect child that never causes problems is now biting. The tables have turned, EJ got a glowing weekly report and Jack got the pink slip. I suppose it will always be like this. I guess I better hang on.