Kimber's Navy Family

  Sitting down to write a post on feeding newborns, I was surprised at how raw some of those feelings were for me, even years later. Having attempted to breastfeed each of our five children, my experience has taught me that each child is different and that each breastfeeding journey is different. Discovering what worked best for me  as the parent and for each of our newborns in regards to feeding-- breastfeeding, bottle feeding, or a combination-- was not always an easy or simple solution and it often was laden with guilt that I wasn't living up to certain standards, worry that I wasn't making the right choice, and frustration when things didn't live up to expectations I had put on myself. We welcomed our fifth baby to our family this past summer so you could say that I am well-versed in the newborn days. With our first son, I was so nervous about if I was "doing it right." I worried about when I should be nursing him and for how long the sessions should b...

Motherhood teaches you a lot about yourself, about character flaws you didn't realize you had previously. For one, I've had to develop a thicker skin. I know, more than once, I had to consciously not take it personally that our son decided to say "Dada" before "Momma." Ironically, when he said "Dada," he wasn't even spending anytime with Daddy. Daddy was out to sea! As a logically thinking parent, it is wonderful that your son is saying Daddy. As a tired woman balancing a toddler, the Navy, and living away from family, why can't your son recognize all the hard work you put in and say "Momma"? Not only have I needed to put small things like that in perspective, but the larger things have forced me to thicken my skin and stand my ground as well. We recently went to parent orientation at my son's preschool. The teacher explained that on the first day, the students will be given a card to write their name on that will sit on the...

Breastfeeding. I know how I felt about breastfeeding my twins: it was what we were going to do. Hopefully. I told myself that I would give my best to breastfeeding and, if it didn't pan out, that was fine. And here we are, the boys are 14-months and I haven't breastfed them or given them breastmilk since they were 2- or 3-months old. What happened? Home from the hospital The boys were born at 35-weeks, premature, but not too premature. However, neither of them had a very good sucking reflex. C did much better. It only took a little "reminding" each time I fed him of what he was supposed to do. O had no clue. I had to spend a significant amount of time with him every time I fed him to get him to suck. I had a lot of pressure in the hospital to supplement. This being my second successful pregnancy and delivery, my milk poured in much faster than it had with my first son (who was breastfed, but that is a different story). I felt that I wanted to only feed them my b...

For those of you who have been following my blog, you may have noticed a progression towards our more "natural" family diet . While we have always eaten a diet heavy in fruits and vegetables-- fresh seasonal fruits and veggies a large part of my diet growing up-- other aspects in our family diet were lacking, like the allowance of some hydrogenated oils or convenience foods with low nutritional content. We've cut back on food colorings and many processed foods, though I do not ever see us throwing out our cereal or Annie's Mac'n'Cheese . We love cereal. And we buy the best cereal options we can, recently switching to Mom's Best Naturals  when shopping at Target or just about anything sold at Trader Joe's because, well, that has to be healthy, right? ;) Courtesy of Watchculture I also just re-read one of my favorite "diet approach" books, French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano, a book th...

Napping while we are out. North Carolina September 2011 I get stopped all the time when I go out. I don't mind that people want to wave at my babies or ask D if he is a "big help" or throw their hands up in mock distress and say, "I don't know how you do it." Sometimes, yes, I would rather run in and out of a store, but, honestly, even if people weren't stopping me, would that really happen heading out with three kids? I've gotten used to the "you have your hands full" conversations, but one thing I never tire of talking about is my stroller. People stop me all the time to comment on my stroller, either to tell me that they wish they had that stroller back when their kids were young or to find out what it is and where to get it. Let me start at the beginning. When D was an infant we had two different Chicco strollers, the travel system and the Chicco $40 umbrella stroller. Neither was that exceptional, but they both served their p...