The Election

Whoa.  Just whoa.  This country is going nuts and every single person knows why, but as I've mentioned before, this is MY blog for MY blog book that I print annually so I'm writing about MY feelings on the election and Trump.  Don't read it if you don't agree.  Simple as that.  Now moving on.

Monday November 7th, 2016:
I tossed and turned all night- I was so nervous.  I had snuck into my sleeping babies' rooms earlier that night and as I stroked their round cheeks and breathed in their sweet scent of childhood/babyhood and watched them peacefully sleep, my heart broke and I just cried.  I was so afraid of Hillary winning.  The corrupt woman that she is and has been PROVEN to be.  The lady who would keep allowing handouts to people who don't deserve them and would further our debt, causing higher taxes and less of a paycheck.  The lady who was in charge of killing others in Benghazi.  The lady who wasn't going to change Obamacare (and Obamacare is RUINING the country!) The lady who rigged the system to get elected INTO the primaries.  The lady who is currently under investigation by the FBI.  The lady who accepts late-term abortion and doesn't care that a full-term baby's brain can be drilled out; as long as they don't take a breath first, it's "not murder."  The lady who had so many people "commit suicide" after they disagreed with her. The list goes ON AND ON.  I mean, really- how could America want her to win?  And the polls were telling us she WAS winning!  So I just cried.  I watched my beautiful sleeping angels and feared for them as we forged on as a country with another Liberal as president and one who would elect ALL liberals in the Justice Department- positions that would last for 20-30 years!  I was beyond fearful and felt defeated before the election had even begun.

This sweetness is what I was looking down at as I worried about what might happen in the upcoming 24 hours.

Tuesday November 8th, 2016:
I woke up and dressed in Red to show my support for the Republican party in any way possible.  I took Piper to vote and we waited in a 2 hour line (but she was happy because there were lots of little kids there and free cookies!).  The people working the polls said that it had been that busy the ENTIRE day!  Everyone was voting!  I live in a red state through and through so it got me excited- thinking YES- we're all voting for Trump!  (By the way, yesterday I didn't LOVE Trump.  But I liked Pence a lot and I liked what Trump wanted to do for America so YES.  I am PROUD to say I voted for him.)

After the kids went to bed, Shawn and paced and nervously started watching as one by one the polls in America were closing and the results were rolling in.  He is a nail biter so he was biting his nails to the quick.  My teeth chatter when I'm nervous and I thought they were all gonna chip and break off because of how hard they were chattering!  We watched as ALL the news channels kept saying "He NEEDS Florida AND Ohio AND Michigan or North Carolina to win." Hillary was projected to blow him out of the water.  The reason she was winning in the polls is this: We found out later that there were TONS of closet Trump supporters who were too afraid to say that they were voting for Trump because they were afraid of the backlash they'd receive :(

Anyway....Trump got Ohio.  What?!  Trump got Florida.  WHAT!? Shawn and I jumped up and down holding hands and yelling!  Then, TRUMP GOT PENNSYLVANIA!  TRUMP GOT NORTH CAROLINA! TRUMP GOT WISCONSIN!  TRUMP IS THE 45th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!  Shawn and I BOTH cried!  We were jumping and shouting and hugging....and it was 3AM at this point and Lucy came downstairs crying and told us we woke her up and then we felt SO bad so we put her back to bed and as quietly as we could, celebrated a little more as we watched his acceptance speech in awe.  (Two side notes here: 1) Trump and Hillary were close in Texas.  It was 53%/42%.  Texas used to be the ULTIMATE red state and now it's not.  Makes me so sad that it's turning into a liberal state.  TEXAS for crying out loud!  and 2) I drifted off to sleep twice during the election results because I was so tired!  But right before the final count came in, Shawn woke me up just in time to watch the Final Announcement! It was SO EXCITING!)  Republican's took the white house!  We got the majority of the House and the Senate, so the things that Trump is going to do when he enters office are gonna be fully backed by the Government and it. is. awesome.  Trump got 276 electoral votes that night to Hillary's 216; he also won popular vote.  #ThumbsUp

Now for the sad part.  America is in ruins.  There are protests and riots and everyone is going bananas.  My heart is breaking.  There have been lives threatened and people being dragged out of their cars because they have a Trump sticker and beat senselessly.  Human's are being brutal.  The democrats are burning flags and threatening to overthrow the government and start a war.  They threaten death on all Trump supporters.  I am blessed to live in a Red state and not have to worry about that near me, but there are others that are afraid to leave their homes in this country.  It is beyond heartbreaking.

Trump is actually a really good guy.  He donates money to SO MANY people and good causes and it doesn't get put in the media because he doesn't want public recognition.  He does it from the goodness of his heart.  When Louisiana was experiencing their record high floods a couple months ago, Trump flew in and visited those who had just lost everything and gave SO much money for relief efforts around the state, but it didn't make it into any of the major news networks.  I mean, that is just one example but seriously....he has done SO many good things that I had no idea about until today even!  He finds veterans and gives them jobs.  He thanked a couple who stopped to help him fix his broken down Limo by paying off their mortgage for them!  He donates money to so many causes in America.  He really is an extremely generous man!  At his rallies thousands and thousands would show up.  And at Hillary's rallies, they couldn't fill the seats even when she had celebrity after celebrity show up to try to get support.

But Trump messed up years ago and said some derogatory comments about women and the nation flipped and he turned into an "extreme sexist."  That was after they had already called him a racist for saying he wants border control.  And now everyone who hates him is calling all the people who voted for him, ME, a sexist and a racist and a homophobe, etc.  I am not ANY of those things just because I voted for him! And the riots are bad, you guys.  It's maddening. It's DEVASTATING.   This didn't happen when Obama was elected! None of it did!  We were upset (I cried!) but I didn't riot.  I didn't scream in the streets and skip school and get passes to be excused from taking tests because I was "in despair" (yes, that is happening at colleges right now)!  I went on with my life and prayed for America because I didn't think our leader was a good one.  But I didn't riot OR protest!... And now I am praying for America again but for a totally different reason.  I pray that no lives are taken over this.  I pray that the flag burnings stops.  I pray that the illegal immigrants here who are BEYOND upset at our new president because he talks about deportation don't follow through on their assassination threats.  I pray that my daughters won't see anyone beat senseless because of who they voted for.  I pray that people who are vandalizing and burning buildings down just because they are angry just STOP. I pray for unity and happiness and grace.  Come on America.  This is not what we have fought for!  We have fought for a beautiful country that allows us to VOTE for who we want to vote for without being targeted for it.  We have people who fought for our rights and died for YOU to live here, and you're spitting on their graves!  This is NOT RIGHT!

When Obama won his first election, we didn't protest.  He won again and we didn't protest.  But we FINALLY had enough of what has become of our Nation, so on Tuesday, we actually DID protest.  But we did it HONESTLY and with dignity.... we voted for Trump; that's how we protested.

 America was ready for change!  Read the following quote:

"The election was decided by the people who are sick and tired of Black Lives Matter, athletes protesting our National Anthem, boys who don't know their gender using women's restrooms, late term abortions and last but not least, white people who have been made to feel like the enemy the past 8 years."

And this one is powerful.
"To those of you questioning how how you will ever be able to raise a child in world full of hate and bigotry, saying this election has provided even a further wedge in our nation's divide, etc., Donald J. Trump will not come into your home and teach your children real values and morals, you will.
He will not hold your hand and walk you down the street and tell you to smile when you pass a stranger, you will.
He will not teach your children to not see color, gender, nor disabilities, you will.
He will not teach your children to be open-minded toward others' beliefs, views and opinions, you will.
WE are the ones that shape our communities.
WE are the ones that can solve this racial divide and WE are the ones that can really make the difference in our lives, our childrens' lives, and each others lives.
But, some things he will do is clean up this mess of a tax system, healthcare system, strengthen our military, back the blue, support our vets, bring jobs back, strengthen our borders and sustain our given rights as a safe and great America.  The rest is up to you and US as Americans.  The days of handouts, the blame game and participation trophies are officially over.
Take on responsibility for your behaviors.  Be an adult.
Now....let's HELP make America GREAT again!"

********************************************

I can't really say anything that "Trumps" that.... (haha, see what I did there?).  So I'll end it here.  But be kind to each other ok? Like, really. Smile at your neighbor and help someone in need. Pray hard.... and finally, God Bless America.

Good night.

Schmidtty the Kitty

So here's the story.... we were out running errands a few days ago and my awesome hubby randomly pulled into a place I didn't recognize and said "do you wanna get a kitten today?" I looked at him all confused and then glared at him saying "that's not a funny joke." See, Shawn hates cats and I looooove them. I could have 14 cats and be happy (🙀). He goes on to explain that he actually likes baby kittens (he likes to throw them around and make them jump and stuff- typical guy) and the girls have been begging forever for a new cat (he's a sucker for our girls) and he just decided we needed one in our house.... the skeptic in me still didn't believe him so I said "ok, YOU go inside and ask if they have kittens and if they do and you're seriously serious, you can come get us to look." I waited in the car with Piper and Sully. A minute later I see him pop back out and wave us in with a big smile on his face and lo and behold, little Schmidt Ferguson joined the Gilley Household. We ALL love this little guy! (While trying to come up with a name, we tossed around a bunch of ideas until New Girl characters came up and then it was a no-brainer😸).

Look at that happy face as she was choosing her new kitty!  He came home weight barely 1.5 pounds :)

6 Weeks old and oh so cute!

 He was a Mummy on Halloween too! Haha!!

The Title of This Novel is: October

*Read at your own risk. It's crazy long!*

October always seems like a insanely busy month (I swear, Halloween celebrations quadruple every year!) and this year has been no different.  But my Mom and Dad came to visit in the middle of month to give me a couple of extra hands, so that was a huge reprieve from the busy-ness of life (especially because it was during a week that Shawn was away in Utah and Lucy had her Fall Break and was home from School)!  It's always SO nice to see my parents.  Especially this time because I love where I live and it was fun to show them around a bit since they've never been to Oklahoma.  Oklahoma isn't pretty, but it's "home" to me and I just wanted them to know where I'm at :)

The girls loved having Baba chase them all around the house (literally, chase!).  They loved snuggling with Ninny.  They loved dancing for her at their dance classes (Piper has a one-way mirror in her classroom but SOMEHOW she kept seeing us peering in at her and she'd start waving and shouting HI NINNY! HI MOMMY! during her class, haha!).  They loved going to see the movie Storks (Lucy calls it Dorks hehehe!) and eating their weight in Popcorn (thanks Baba).  They really had fun at Chik-fil-a.  Hiking was an "experience" for us all (fun for us and Lucy, not so much for Piper because she was in a MOOD that day).  Sully loved playing "pat-a-cake" with Ninny over and over again!  He also loved all the attention he got from them! He is such a delightful little baby! ;-)

It was a short week, but a good one.  Please come visit again soon guys!  I need you in my life!

Shawn and I "adulted" for the first time and hired a babysitter! Yep; we finally paid for someone to watch our kids so that we could go to a Toby Keith concert.  It was SO. MUCH. FUN.  He had never seen him before but it was my 3rd time seeing him.  We both LOVE him and his patriotism and it was just a really, really fun night!

Sully turned 8 months! Such a big boy!  He has fangs right now, he knows how to throw majorly big fits these days, he's still not sleeping through the night, he gets really excited and shakes his little fists, he drops things to get your attention and then smiles big like "GOTCHA!", he claps a lot and eats everything he can get his hands on. He is the sweetest baby (when he isn't throwing a fit) and is super content to just hang out and do nothing.  We drag him along on all these outings for the girls and he sits there just happy to be.  When you pick him up, his face lights up brighter than any baby's face I've ever seen.  He LOVES me. I adore him.  I'm just as obsessed as I ever was.  He is my Sully baby!

Piper is still the best older sister.  Here, she is breaking off tiny pieces of her apple to give to the sweet boy.  She plays with him all day.  Not just a little, but all day.  She will sit with him and play with him and all his toys and interact with him for 30 minutes at a time- no interruptions, just them.  It is the sweetest thing ever.  My heart bursts with love for these two!

My parents left before LSU played Ole Miss, so sadly they weren't able to cheer with us (yeah right....have you ever heard of my Dad cheering for LSU!? HA!) But LSU won, so it was a good night ;-)

There is not much to say about this.  It's just CUTE! So is the one below...haha!

Lucy had Spirit Week at her school (see pictures), plus a Jog-a-thon Fundraiser where she had to run her little heart out to earn money!

Wear Red.

Dress like a Minion.

Wear Class Shirt for Jog-a-thon

So this little girl in Lucy's class has Autism.  Her name is Kennedi and Lucy just LOVES her.  She holds Kennedi's  hand all the time, sits with her at lunch and plays with her at recess.  During the Jog-a-thon Kennedi was too shy to run with the class, so Lucy stopped running and walked up to her and held her hand to walk laps with her.  It warms my heart to see my little Lucy Lu being compassionate to this little girl.  She has a sweet heart, that girl!

Dress like your favorite Super Hero! And Lucy's favorite Super Hero is Barbie Super Sparkle, haha!

The girls got to attend the Jenks High School Homecoming parade and stand on a float that went downtown.  They LOVED that.  They got to stand up and wave to the town and felt pretty darn special.  Of course, I was the proud Mom who took way too many blurry pictures and cheered them on as if they were actually performing or doing something other than just standing there, hehe.

The weekend before Halloween we carved/painted Pumpkins AND baked tons of cookies to decorate!  It's always a fun night in the Gilley house when we do that.  I like the Cider and pumpkin seeds the best.  Mmmmm.  Two of my favorite things.  I might've been sweating while drinking my hot cider this year because- hello- it's still 85 degrees here.... but it was worth it.

Mine is on the left, Shawn's is in the middle (isn't it awesome?!) and I made one for Sully on the right.  I had him dip his hands in paint to put prints on that pumpkin and then I carved it.  It was a cute "First Halloween" pumpkin for my cute boy!

And finally: Halloween.  We were a family of Mummies! Lucy has been asking us to be Mummies since LAST Halloween, so we obliged.  She's been waiting for this for a whole year and finally her little Mummy dream came true (she even said that being a Mummy was everything she ever wanted it to be, haha!).  Not quite sure where she got the idea, but we were happy to support her and we got TONS of compliments all night long.  It was fun to go trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood!  We have some really generous neighbors!

Ok, I can't figure out how to flip this! BUT- our Mummy night started off with Mummy hotdogs, haha! :)

Annnnnd, he's done!

Now we begin November and all I can see in our upcoming month is a trip to Louisiana for Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping we get through this month without hiccups.  October was busy, but it was also full of stress.  Stress with Shawn's job (not job jeopardy, but new positions that will require more travel, sadly).  Stress with Lucy's school performance (she is falling behind in reading and it is a struggle for both her and I. Tears have been privately shed on my end thinking of how this is impacting her at school). Stress with the kids health- they were sick back to back to back....all of them! Respiratory issues, all 3 had pink-eye, non-stop colds.... UGH!  And stress with the non-stop doctor bills that came with all those illnesses :(  The biggest illness (which will be the biggest bill) was when Sully got Pneumonia and a double ear infection and spent 2 days in the hospital.  It was TERRIFYING.  He woke up at 5am on Tuesday morning and could hardly breathe.  He had been having trouble breathing all night but I kept saying "I'll take him to the doctor in the morning."  But when 5am hit and he was wheezing and also pulling in his stomach like crazy to breathe along with rattling sounds and heart racing with fast short breaths. We got so scared and rushed him to the Children's Hospital.  He passed out on the way there and we aren't sure if it was lack of oxygen or just exhaustion, but his breaths were scarce and it was one of my most terrifying hours of my entire life.  Shawn pulled into the ER, threw the car in park, unbuckled him and just darted inside.  They got him into a room IMMEDIATELY and hooked him up to Oxygen.  They said it was a good thing we came when we did because his oxygen levels were way too low.  If we had stayed home, there would have been a different ending to this story :(  The hospital literally saved his life.  So the bills can roll in and we can set up a payment plan and stress a little. But you can NOT put a price on saving a baby.  And that was worth the biggest bill in the world.

The girls had dress up day at dance and came straight from there to the Hospital to visit the sweet boy.  His face lit up when they walked in!  He was SO excited to see his sisters!

See how his foot has a little boot on it?  They couldn't find a vein in his arms (poked his arms and hands a total of 5 times {even brought the infrared machine in to try to locate his veins} before they finally had to put his IV in in his ankle :( SO sad.)

So I pray for a nice November.  A November where we are all healthy (please, PLEASE let us be healthy!) and Lucy's reading just starts to make sense and she can catch up a bit with her peers.  Lots going on in this Mama's head!  If you're a parent, maybe you can understand my stress when her teacher tells me just how far behind Lucy actually is...the worry and the sadness that filled my heart.  All I can do is work hard with her and pray harder!

My wish for you is that you all have a Happy November as well!  23 days 'til Thanksgiving!