Kimber's Navy Family

I love my parents. Not even a little bit, like, a lot. As I've grown up, they have gone from being the World's Best Parents to The World's Best Parents AND My Closest Friends. They are so supportive of our Navy family and welcome us with open arms and an open door anytime we want to visit or even move in with them in between duty stations or during deployments. However, as great as they are, living with family can be a sticky situation even with the closest and most understanding families so I wanted to write this blog post to air some of my complaints that I have with my family publicly without consulting them first (best way to handle family drama, right?). 1. My mom always has laundry for me to put away. She comes around to all of our rooms, finds and collects the dirty laundry we have stashed in corners, washes, dries, and folds it and then puts these HUGE piles of clean, folded laundry at the foot of my bed for ME to put away. Like I have ALL THIS TIME to put away l...

My first trip to labor and delivery for contractions was at 27 weeks. Each week after that I've had to take it easier and easier. I haven't been able to drive the children anywhere or take them out of the house by myself for almost a month. Now we've had preterm labor and steroid shots for baby #5. I've been on modified bed rest for a couple weeks. My OB has told me to keep taking it easy and do the minimum and I'm supposed to lay down and drink as much water as possible each day. My other favorite part of the instruction, "If you have someone to help with the children, you should use them." It sounds easy enough on paper, but our day to day life is not conducive to bed rest. My husband is on submarines and we have 4 boys: a 7-year old, 5-year old twins, and a 1.5-year old. Managing our house (with minimal assistance) and 4 young children while being on modified bed rest has been challenging. So here are my tips on surviving bed rest with 4 children:...

Whenever I look at must-have lists on the Internet, I'm usually surprised to find that I own little of what is on them. So consider this Kimber's Must Have list. What is something that makes it a Must Have for me? For one the cost must not outweigh the amount of time we will use it. I have always wanted a Nap Nanny (like, really, really, really wanted a Nap Nanny... well, two Nap Nannies...), but I could never justify the cost of something that is so easily outgrown that costs over $100 a piece, plus the cost of additional covers-- not to mention the later recall of the product. As long as the cost isn't just totally over the moon, I don't mind an expensive product that is worth  the investment, especially when I can use it from 0-2 years. I heart convenience. Many of the products on this list are overlapped with my past lists. Here are the links to my previous must-have lists: My all-time most viewed post, " I love my stroller ," posted when the twi...

So I've been conflicted for the past couple weeks about whether or not I should blog about our miscarriage. On one hand, I would love to talk about it because it is so isolating. On the other hand, it feels so personal. In the end, I think talking about it is the best thing to do. From the beginning, this pregnancy was showing signs of problems. My OB/Gyn does a first trimester ultrasound. The ultrasound had abnormalities... the weeks weren't lining up right... we did blood tests... the numbers went up, but not as much as they wanted... more ultrasounds... After several weeks of this up and down, one step forward and two steps back, it was clear the baby was not developing and was in fact miscarrying. We decided to try the medication, this pill you put on your cervix, to try and have the miscarriage at home without surgery. This way we wouldn't have to line up a sitter for an early morning surgery with recovery time. The pill didn't work and I ended up still needing a...

  My husband and I have had a tight past couple years. We didn't think we made a lot of money while he was an E-5 on a submarine. We lived in Hawaii with a toddler and-- I admit it-- I am horrible at sticking to a budget. Well, moving to North Carolina for the STA-21 program, we lost our sea pay, sub pay, nuke pay, sea pay kicker, COLA... And then we had twins. And moved locally-- twice. Of course we feel that the STA-21 program is worth it and we are exceedingly grateful that the military is paying Hubby to get his degree. However, we've had many, many, many late night talks about the budget. We've struggled over how we should spend our money and what expenses are necessary. It is amazing what I feel is necessary and what he feels is necessary. For instance, last semester, he took a very heavy load at school, being his senior year. He left in the morning before preschool started and came home after the kids were in bed. Near the end of the semester, he wasn't getti...

Our toddler old was diagnosed with reactive airways disease last spring and we recently wrote an action plan for him with our pediatrician. Looking online, the blogs and medical sites use the acronym RAD (Reactive Airway Disease). There is a lot of conflicting information out there regarding whether or not a toddler can be definitely told he has asthma. Medscape Reference states that a child needs to be "at least 5 years of age" before he can diagnosed with asthma in their December 2011 article " Pediatric Reactive Airway Disease ." Expert Advice in the " Asthma: Difference Between it and RAD " Q&A, February 2002, says the diagnosis can't be made in "children under two years of age." Both pediatricians we saw as well as our CPNP and asthma/allergy specialist told us that O has reactive airways with a high probability of it later being diagnosed as asthma, considering our family history and O's personal medical history. While he does n...

 I just finished the book Ready or Not... There We Go! The Real Experts' Guide to the Toddler Years with Twins by Elizabeth Lyons. I liked the book in a lot of ways (great tips for dealing with two toddlers) and felt the weight of the world on my shoulders in other ways (I will be dealing with two toddlers). One of the things she talks about is "Gotta Get Outta This Place!" on page 37: "Next to childproofing, the most important focus over the next few years is undeniably taking care of yourself. The phrase 'get outta this place' is meant both literally and figuratively. There is no doubt that you'll need to get out of your home every now and then to get some space, some time to regenerate and reflect, and the opportunity to finish a gossip magazine so you're crystal clear on whether or not Brad and Angelina really are engaged. You'll also need to get out of the place in your head that is preventing you from putting a positive spin on less-t...