Kimber's Navy Family

Mother's Day. I dread it. I feel agitated just thinking about it. Why? First of all, most Mother's Days I am nowhere near my momma. I hate that. And if I'm not near my momma, then I'm not near my grandmother. And I hate that. Being a Navy family, we are usually stationed far away from our families, which is hard over holidays. Second, it is such a let down. The ads always say, "Let her know how much you appreciate her." And, 9 times out of 10, Mother's Day is spent like just about every other day except your family wants you to "relax" (meaning: clean up the mess tomorrow) and "take it easy" (meaning: listen to them all fight while you sit on the couch until you can't take it anymore so you get up and solve the problem). Finally, the gifts. The gifts blow. Sometimes they don't, but most of the time they do. When you have multiple kids, it sucks when one kid gives a really good gift (beautiful painted canvas) and the oth...

I woke up this morning after a long night with baby #4. Everyone seems to think he's teething, but I am not sure. I don't know why baby #4 is off, teething or a cold. So after that night I came out this morning to a kitchen laden with dishes. That isn't an exaggeration. I have dishes on my stove top, piled in the sink, sitting in front of the microwave. Last night we made cookies. And dinner. And applesauce. Dinner required every bowl and blade of our food processor, which is still on the counter. Our kitchen is a mess . Our children aren't eating. I make them food and they don't eat it. After making room in our kitchen to make breakfast, only one of them ate. I gave them whole grain bread with cinnamon and raisins, toasted with lots of butter on top. Eggs made to order. Yogurt with strawberries and a banana to boot. Water, as requested. Our oldest, of course, ate all his food, but left his dishes on the table. One of our toddlers ate his yogurt and played w...

One of my good friends is doing MOPS this year and has been talking to  me about their theme: being brave as a mother. I can think of several times as a mother that I have had to be braver than I thought I could be, the first coming to mind when one of our son's was in the PICU for 4 days with RSV and there was nothing else the doctors could do for him. Since then there have been other things: asthma flare ups, injuries, sickness, late nights, solo parenting ... Then there have been other times where the lines aren't as clear and I'm praying and praying that I'm making the right choice: disciplining a 6-year old {very different than disciplining 2 and 3 year olds}, disciplining 3 children, speaking up for my parenting choices to others when I'd prefer to stay silent... Last night was a new one for me: having the courage to enjoy the holiday. It has been 4 years since my husband has been on a submarine-- 3 years of college and now going through the officer pi...

It's Christmas Eve and I'm loving it. I'm cooking our Christmas Eve feast right now, where we celebrate Jesus' birthday and spend time together as a family, eating cookies, watching holiday movies, eating more sweets, and playing games. I love this time of year and I'm loving it this year, being home for Christmas and embarking on our own family traditions. With all that said, I'm feeling a little down. I keep getting these emails from baby sites (that I keep unsubscribed from!) about the progress of our 4-month old baby, the baby that was never born. Our baby would be 4 or 5-months now (since I've never made it to full term). We would be getting past the constant feeding newborn stage and into the fun interaction stage. We would (most likely) be done having children. We would have a nursery set up in this house. We would be celebrating Baby's first Christmas. Perhaps I'm just looking on Facebook at my friends' pictures of their babies' fir...

As I write this, it doesn't feel like a new year. We drove home from my parents' house today and it was a horrendous trip. I was in the mini van with the two toddlers and the dog. My husband drove the Jeep with our preschooler and our Christmas hoard (my parents spoiled us this year). I'm not sure how things went in the Jeep; my husband said D asked him every five minutes "What time are we going to get home?" or "Has it stopped raining yet?" I can only imagine that that did get grating at some point. I listened to one or both toddlers cry for over three hours. To make it even worse, neither of them napped. I sang Paul McCartney's All the Best album at full volume for nearly an hour to keep the crying at Antsy Unhappiness instead of escalating to Angry Out of Controlness. Ten minutes away from home, the crying stopped-- no fussing or whining. I peered back to their Fisher Price mirrors to see both toddlers had fallen asleep at 1645, well past napti...

My small town, southern husband grew up living near all these different branches of his family. Thanksgiving was a time for them all to get together and cook great big, traditional Thanksgiving dinners. He told me he would then often drive over to friends' houses and eat at there as well. Thanksgiving was a big holiday for his family. At my house, Christmas was the big holiday. Thanksgiving was the last stop before Christmas. We always decorated the day after Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving meant day-after sales (my favorite). You can imagine the look on his face a year or two ago when I suggested forgoing the traditional turkey dinner for something more fun-- something my family often did-- tacos. (Hey, we lived in California.) I managed to avoid any serious Thanksgiving conversations on our old boat because his division was always invited to a big Thanksgiving dinner at his chief's house. Here in North Carolina we are on our own; Thanksgiving became my problem. Last year I w...

My parents let us use their timeshare for a week. We went to the Poconos in Pennsylvania for a low-key, relaxing family vacation. With plenty of room to stretch out and beautiful views, it was the perfect vacation for active little boys! Thank you, Mom and Dad! Our Master Suite. I tried getting a picture of all the boys on our big bed, but I couldn't get them all to hold still! Second Master Bedroom D had his own master suite. We laughed every night seeing our three-year old snuggle right into the middle of the King bed. He sleeps like a starfish! "The Babies' Wing" We brought two Pack'N'Plays for the babies and set them up in the larger bedroom. They had an attached bathroom-- complete with a shower-- that was pretty handy for diaper changes. They loved crawling down the hall in the morning to see what D was up to. "The Laundry Wing" Down the hallway is the fourth bedroom, the smallest. We used it as a luggage ...

 Christmas 2011 When I was a little girl, I remember laying in my pink canopy bed on Christmas Eve counting down the hours to Christmas morning. As I got older, I would sometimes manage to stay awake until "Santa" snuck in my room to place a gift under the small tree on my dresser. On Christmas morning, my sisters and I would eagerly unwrap our little gifts and anxiously wait until our parents were awake, the coffee had brewed, and they were stationed at the bottom of the stairs with a video camera. We giggled impatiently when they would holler, "Ten more minutes!" When we were finally allowed to leave our rooms, we would race down the stairs, round the corner to the family room, and squeal with delight at the glittering tree piled high with presents, my brother already waiting. As we tore into our stockings, we were all wondering what Santa had brought us this year. The night before we had celebrated Jesus' birthday at our grandmother's house over...