Kimber's Navy Family

I wanted to share a blog post about our recently answered prayer. At 22+ weeks pregnant, I went in for my 20 week ultrasound. (This was the earliest my OB could get me in for the ultrasound.) The appointment was on a Friday. The following Wednesday, we received a phone call that they found abnormalities on the ultrasound and gave me a whole bunch of complications it could be. They told me the pregnancy was high risk and I needed to get in with a MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) right away. I met with my OB 2 days later, that Friday (23+ weeks), and they again went over the possible complications and had me go to the lab for blood tests. The earliest the MFM could see me was a week and a half later, when I would be 25 weeks. Our OB told us at the appointment that the pregnancy was going to be high risk. That more than likely I would be spending a lot of time at the OB and the MFM to be closely monitored for the rest of the pregnancy. We were so scared for the outcome of the preg...

I was reading some blog posts recently and they were discussing how we as parents should be more vocal about our miscarriages and open about whether or not we are trying to conceive. There were a lot of points in these posts that I agree with-- how isolating miscarriages can be, how heartbreaking a negative pregnancy test feels, the emptiness and longing as you pass your due date without a baby in your arms. But some of the other points made me think about my own experiences with miscarriages and my current pregnancy. I think I have finally sorted out my thoughts into a blog post... So, first of all, I'd like to clarify that we do not struggle with infertility; my fertility is normal. When I talk about trying to conceive, all of this is within a year of trying to conceive without fertility treatments. I am adding that only because I am not trying to misrepresent myself or to represent a journey that I have never taken. I have many friends that struggle/have struggled wi...

You know what's hard? Life. Marriage. Being a parent. All of that. I've been feeling like a failure lately in my endeavors. People say things to me like, "I don't know how you do it!" and "You are a supermom" and "4 boys? You are amazing." Most of it is lip service from strangers, the go-to things that people say to moms (and moms for 4 boys). It goes in one ear and out the other most of the time, but lately those comments have been giving me stress. This was a crazy move for us, a big change returning to boat life and living across country from my family. I feel like I'm barely holding on and that I'm frequently dropping the ball with our kids. We wrestled with our decision to send our oldest to public school instead of continuing homeschooling him. We wrestled with the decision to homeschool our 4-year old twins instead of re-configuring the budget to send them to preschool. We've been wrestling with the decision on whethe...

I recently posted about how difficult things have been at our house with one of the harder 3-year old phases. Then last night my husband rented " Mom's Night Out " on Redbox. (By the way, if you are a parent, you must watch that movie!) This all got me thinking about motherhood... 1. Talk about your problems. I think so much of the time we don't talk about our problems. There was a scene in the movie where the lead character slowed down and talked to another struggling mom about how hard motherhood is. The struggling mom looked at the main character, " You don't have it all together?" We had spent the majority of the movie watching how this main character was struggling with motherhood and balancing life and happiness and marriage, yet this other struggling mom perceived that the main character had it all together. Not saying that we need to walk around with a sign and tell every Tom, Dick, and Stanley we meet that "I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M...

I sat down this morning to write a blog post on our family schedule and why routines work well for us. However, as I was typing our toddlers kept interrupting me with issue after issue. Whining. Whining. Whining. I eventually felt myself getting more and more frustrated, losing my train of thought and writing long, rambling paragraphs that lead nowhere. I saved the blog post and closed the browser. I tried switching gears. I reached out to a fellow momma and shared my frustrations, got some support; even texting someone can help get some encouragement. I switched activities. Obviously blogging wasn't going to happen; let's color! Let's start school earlier than usual. Let's do something organized together. I called our kindergartner back inside to do some school. He got out his school supplies. One of our toddlers started whining, unprovoked. Literally standing in the middle of the room making high-pitched whiny, screeching noises over and over again. I g...

Our newest family member has finally arrived and we are over the moon for him. Welcome to the world, baby #4! He was born weighing 9 lbs 4 oz! This is a record for our family. His three older brothers weighed 7 lbs 14 oz, 6 lbs 6 oz, and 6 lbs 5 oz. However, they all look like duplicates of each other. I put together this collage of all four of our boys as newborns. I'm obviously over the moon for these boys! Even better, today our boys met their new brother for the first time. My husband and I were very unsure how it would go, not just meeting the new baby, but also bringing 2 3-year olds and a curious 5-year old to a hospital. We were also worried how our toddlers would feel seeing Momma in the hospital and saying good-bye to me here when their visit was over. Our fears were unfounded! One of our toddlers cried saying good-bye to me, but my hubby was quick to pick him up and give him hugs and the sorrow of leaving Momma was quickly replaced with an Altoid mint. :) I...

I suppose every mommy blogger at some point has to write a post on yelling. Is it possible to raise kids without yelling? I'm throwing this out there: no. I know that there is someone reading this right now with a look of indignation on their face, "What?! I would never yell at my kids!" Good for you. Now before I get lots of mommy judging, we really put forth an effort to not be a yelling family. My husband is just naturally gifted at not yelling. His even temper is one of the things I love most about him. It genuinely takes a lot for him to lose his cool, so much so that in our seven and a half years of marriage I can count the number of times that I have heard him raise his voice at me. I mean, we are talking about a very mellow guy. Me? Yeah... I am a lot like that. Except opposite. I would describe myself as a passionate person, which is why my husband and I work well together. I bring the passion; he brings the logic. Frustrated or angry feelings toward our...

I've refrained from writing a post about what it is like being a mom to boys, but I suppose with our fourth boy on the way, it is long overdue. I love being the mother to my children and I love my children with all my heart. Right now, I view them as my children. Yes, I call them "boys" when I am addressing them or talking about them, "Boys, we need to take turns," "Boys, you did a great job following instructions at the doctor's office," "Boys, it is time to go!" "I was out today with our boys..." But I do not-- ever-- use it to corner them into a gender role. "Son, you need to toughen up," "Son, you need to stop crying like a girl," or, my absolute least favorite expression ever, "Boys will be boys." Why does it bother me so much hearing "boys will be boys?" Because, in my experience, people do not use that expression in regards to positive behavior demonstrated by my children. When o...

The year is not over yet, but I have loved homeschooling 5-year old preschool. Yesterday I worked on our curriculum for kindergarten and I'm even more excited for next year. We kept D back a year (a fellow homeschooling mother of boys calls this "red shirting" and not keeping them back-- love it!). Our son's birthday is at the end of the summer so he would either be youngest or oldest kid in his class. We decided he could use another year before we started him in kindergarten. Next year we will start our first "real" year of homeschooling: kindergarten. For us, the emphasis for preschool has been on character and community. We've been focusing on waiting your turn and taking turns, not interrupting, helping others, thinking of others before yourself, listening and following instructions, and following the rules even without direct supervision. Most of this can be taught in everyday life, especially since he has two younger brothers. We apply these l...