Kimber's Navy Family

At the risk of sounding like a crazy Tula lady, I decided to write a blog post on Tulas. A friend of mine was asking me about Tulas the other day and when I started explaining the different kinds {canvas, wrap conversions} and about the stockings and buy/sell/trade pages, I realized there is a lot of information to take in and that I must, indeed, sound like a crazy Tula lady. So here it goes.... {In this blog post, I am only going to discuss the Tula buckle carriers , not the ring slings or woven wraps .} First of all, you are probably wondering what a Tula is. It is an ergonomical baby carrier, along the same lines as a Boba or an Ergo ; all three of these are also in the same price point. I really like this blog post by the Happy Hippie Homemaker that explains the differences between the three, " Ergo vs Boba vs Tula carrier comparison. " The blog post is biased towards Tulas, but it still does a good job showing the differences between each carrier. Why did I c...

Our 2-year olds wrestling on a hotel room couch last PCS ;) I wrote a blog post before titled, " PCSing tips from a Navy wife and mother of three ." We have a PCS coming up in the next couple months and so I wanted to write another blog post about how we start preparing several months before an upcoming PCS. Move Notebook The most important aspect to a smooth PCS is organizing all your paperwork which is why the move notebook is so important. I wrote a blog post called " Write it all down " where I explain how I organize our move notebook. The other day I spent the morning getting our move notebook ready for our next move: throwing out and filing paperwork from our last PCS, printing off new note taking pages, adding sections for our new kitten and baby #4. Move notebook: ready. Donating HHG The next step {and one you can never start too early-- seriously} is going through your household goods (HHG). One of the difficult aspects of being a Navy fami...

Our toddler has reactive airway disease. I did some online research and was unsure as to what kind of medical ID I should buy for a 17-month old (see my blog " Life still goes on "). We knew that we wanted all of his information to be available in whatever situation arises (drop-in childcare, baby-sitter, or even an accident) if one of us could not provide the information when needed. My husband came up with this wonderful idea: clear ID badges. We ran with it. Today we stopped at Office Depot and bought the Office Depot brand adhesive name badges with the red label 100 count (compare to Avery self adhesive name badges item number 5143 ), Office Depot brand plastic badge holders 12 pack , a 10 pack of Office Depot brand black lanyards , and an Office Depot brand credential holder. (The credential holder hung with all the other name badge accessories; I just can't find a link online. The item number is 313-412.) All of this cost around $25. Our first decision was what ...

Yesterday I had a conversation with a woman who has one child, a singleton 16-month old little boy. She kept telling me she doesn't know "how I do it" with two 16-month olds, all that waking up in the night. Truth is, our toddlers sleep through the night. We put them to bed at 8 pm and they wake up at 8 am. Sleeping through the night is a hot topic with young children. The first year, sleeping through the night is a relative term. A newborn needs to eat more frequently than a 10-month old. After the one-year mark, I want to sleep through the night, fully. I don't want a relative term. Sometimes I find that other moms use "sleeping through night" when they don't mean it. I have heard moms say their children sleep through the night when 1. they co-sleep 2. they "only" go in the nursery once or twice or 3. they have no set bedtimes. My first "slept through the night." We usually put him to bed around 8 pm. After a year old, he usually ...

When I first met Real Simple, I was still exclusive with Vogue. I didn't understand Real Simple. Why were the articles so short? Why was there so much about organizing and cooking? Their fashion sections were brief and so... simple. I bought a few because friends of mine were subscribers, anticipating the arrival of each month's edition. Then the babies were born. Vogue started stacking up on my nightstand. Some editions still sit in my magazine rack wrapped in plastic, never even cracked open. I started looking for Real Simple at the check stands near the end of each month. It started slow. I bought them each month and absent-mindedly flipped through the pages, nodding in agreement with a nifty organizing tip or jotting down the name of a cute item of clothing. Around the time the babies were 6-months old, I started really paying attention to Real Simple's recipes. The variety is fantastic. Who knew a fritatta could be such a fabulous one-dish meal? Or that making your...

My oldest is about a month away from turning four years old (where has the time gone?) and my twins are 14-months old. We love to get out of the house, play at a park or indoor play area, walk at the mall on hot or rainy days, and go, go, go! Since my husband is so occupied with his classes , most of the time it is just me and the boys. With such an active young family, I love baby gadgets that make my life easier (in case you haven't noticed all my must-have lists!). Here are my latest trial and error products: 1. Buggy Bench This is my most recent buy... I absolutely love this product. I've posted a few pictures on Facebook  and some of friends commented that there doesn't look like there is much room in the cart. Agreed. It does take up a good portion of the basket. However (a very big  however ), going into the store with the Buggy Bench was much, much easier than pushing a stroller with one hand and dragging a shopping cart with the other or weari...

D playing with iPod (Hawaii April 2010) While shopping for our mini van last year, my husband and I noticed a lot of vans came equipped with DVD players. Initially, I didn't have much of an opinion regarding a DVD player in our vehicle. Then I started noticing vehicles playing movies all over town, in the Target parking lot, at traffic lights, waiting in the drive-through. I came home and told my husband absolutely no DVD player. He pointed out the convenience on road trips, but I argued that is exactly what all those other people said when they bought their vehicles, and there they are, driving around town talking over Nemo or-- worse-- not talking over Nemo and sitting in silence. Knowing myself, I knew the temptation would be too great. It would start slowly, a movie on a 35 or 45 minute drive. Eventually though, we would be the family that plays a movie on the way to the grocery store or in line at the drive-through just to get the kids to stop crying. But it isn...