Kimber's Navy Family

Shortly after W and I moved to North Carolina, my son and I found ourselves at Chick-Fil-A celebrating his second birthday over milkshakes. It was just the two of us, and I inadvertently eavesdropped on a conversation between two women a few tables over. There were four children demanding food, bathroom breaks, Mommy's attention, and the women were talking across tables to each other. (Or maybe I remember it that way so I don't sound like such a busy body.) Either way, I heard them say they were planning a neighborhood Bible study. Because I was new to the area and knew absolutely no one, I introduced myself. To my great surprise, they actually called and invited my family to their study. I remember when my husband and I were driving to the Bible study, the very first night, and I was reminding him over and over again that we do not want to talk about our next move. If it comes up, we will try to glaze over it, without lying. "Why, yes, he is in the Navy. No, he won...

Today I made a trip out of the house to go over to a girlfriend's for what turned to out to be a made at home lunch (yes, people do that--cook multiple times a day). Since September 2nd, nights at my house have become extremely challenging. The babies are teething and having a hard time at it. I can see the teeth in the gums, the pediatrician can see the teeth in the gums, but they aren't moving. They are just frustrating the babies. My husband came down with a cold two weeks ago. My three-year old caught the cold. I have been drinking Airborne like a fiend and so far (fingers crossed!) have avoided catching it. Luckily we are all getting over it, still, it's been rough. The babies are refusing to nap. Absolutely angry at nap time, "How dare you?" they cry. I stare them down and continue to go in, give a passey, soothe, leave, go in, give a passey, soothe, leave... on and on for almost two hours. Meanwhile, D is being a wild man in his room, running out because ...

We have finally done it. I potty trained D. Last Tuesday, W walked out of D's room holding an empty box of Pampers size 5, "We need more diapers." I pull up Amazon and start browsing... when I think, "Why? Why am I ordering more diapers? Why am I changing these diapers?" I told W, "No. I'm not buying any more. We are out, we are out. It's potty time." On our family calendar he wrote in Sharpie across August 30th: KIMBER PUTS HER FOOT DOWN. I put D in underwear that night and he still refused to use the potty for me. We had our first potty success right before bath time. W, ahem, demonstrated what needed to happen and D followed suit. From there, we were up and running. The next morning, I put underwear back on and there he went! I pulled out What to Expect: The Toddler Years by Heidi Murkoff and started flipping through the potty training section, just to confirm that I was right on target with expecting him to do this. She gives a list of...