Wow...

I am beyond shocked at my lack of blogging lately! We haven't had a computer since November...and well without a computer it's tough to blog! I can do almost every other function on my fancy iphone, but taking the time to blog almost makes me hate blogging-which isn't desirable! My in-laws are out of town for the week so I would like to attempt an update, at least for the next couple of days. I'm a super duper computer snob---and wont settle for anything other than a mac...which has left us without. Colin wants to run off and buy a $300 computer to get us by until we can afford to get a new mac (with all of the things that come along with purchasing a house...a computer doesn't rank terribly high sadly..and our money seems to be being pulled everywhere) but I'm so stubborn and snobbish that I cannot stand the idea of doing that. Here we sit, computerless!

Here is the problem with taking so long between blogs....so.much.has.changed! Our boys are new people...it's incredible to me how quickly all of the cliche things become your reality once you have kids...TIME FLIES---THEY CHANGE OVERNIGHT! And it's true! They honestly, honestly do!

Archer is a nonstop chatty cathy. He wants to know "why" everything is what it is, and exactly how things work. He is by my side the entire day, unless he is napping. He wants to help with anything and everything I am doing...which generally makes everything take a greater amount of time, energy, and usually some sort of a mess results. So be it, gone are the days of losing my patience because of the things I WANT (simple tasks, clean house..etc). I have started a homeschool cirriculum with Archer during Holden's 2 hour morning nap on the days Archer doesn't have a scheduled activity. I'm not sure which route we will go down as far as schooling goes. I would love to homeschool Archer...but I see his little social self and I also have so many great memories from school and really loved it (as did Colin). We are attempting to find a happy medium and for now I want to be sure Archer learns the basics and feels like a confident learner...if that makes sense. I would love to keep him home until he has a handle on the basics concepts and will be able to go into the classroom and keep up/excel. My older brother had a terrible time all throughout school and really hated it...I really wouldn't be able to see my boys struggle that way.

What else Archie?!?! He is amazing, funny, and sweet. I would say 90% of the time he is eager to please and super easy to get along with. We did go through a couple of months of roughness which involved lots of "mine" and "NO" and things you really hope never surface....but there they were. It took a tireless amount of consistency for him to realize it just wasn't going to go his way, and that wasn't a way he would ever be allowed to act. The funny thing about it was how almost...natural..it seemed. It was like a right of passage, like he hated doing it,but in order to be sure we really wouldn't let him be a terror...he had to continue to try it out! We have agreed upon a "no spanking" policy for various reasons---and thankfully we haven't found ourselves in a situation where we felt the need to do so. i know it's such a tricky topic---especially amongst my christian friends, but I promise we have talked, prayed, thought about, read about, etc until I almost lost my mind, and this is where we landed.

Holden...dear me my sweet little Holden! Pure joy. Pure happiness. He is sunshine...I sort of mean that. He smiles all day long and is happy being carted around doing whatever it is Archer and I pick to do for the day. What a flexible and mellow guy!!! Another cliche parenting thing..you really dont think you can love another like you love your first-and then you have your second! It is insane the way i love Holden, and it even shocks me how different the love is. I am madly in love with both of my boys, and in love with them in such a different way! Holden still isn't sleeping great, but his pleasantness all day sort of makes up for that...sort of! :) I do long for the day when I can again sleep all night, but for now my sweet interruptions (as long as they aren't too frequent) are pretty darn sweet.

House; we are buying a house. Will write more on that after Monday.

What else...hmmm, haha, see! Dont let yourself ever do this long without blogging!!!

Ok, Im going to wrap this up with high hopes to blog more tomorrow!

-the never blogging mama kimble

bloggy blog.

What a day! We are living in a winter wonderland!!! Add to the hassle of packing two kids up in general...now think digging car out of two feet of snow---scraping windshields, bundling up two boys...stomping through the two feet on snow to get them to the car--life just got a little more challenging. God's sense of humor is starting to take its toll on me quick ;)

IT IS SO FUN TO SEE ARCHER AND HOLDEN'S RELATIONSHIP BLOSSOM! It's wonderful to see a side of Archer that really loves and cares about his sweet baby brother (even though Holden offers absolutely nothing in return at this point). Today Holden woke up and was fussing and I had a few more dishes to wash..the second he woke up Archer ran to his room, threw open the door, and started yelling, "mommy Holden is awake mommy" "mommy he is sad sad sad" "MOMMY HOLDEN IS CRYING MOMMY"...he was so put off by me not responding immediately. He then proceeded to climb into his crib and was saying, "its ok baby brother, mommy is coming baby brother, here take your pacifier holdie." What a sweetheart!!! There are still moments where he requests that I put baby brother down and give him a hug, but overall he seems to be enjoying him! This evening they were laying on the changing table together looking at the mobile and Archer was telling him what color the various fish were...super sweet. Also, as I was unloading groceries today Archer brought about 10 balls over to Holden in his bouncy seat and was telling him what the different balls were for...I instantly envisioned the two of them playing together in a random yard at our future house and my heart melted!

What else, Colin and Archer had a blast tonight! The thing about lots of snow outside if either you bundle up and enjoy it...or you wrestle/combat cabin fever! Colin said, "this kid just gets better everyday."

Last thing because it's 9:30pm and Colin is watching Intervention without me..oh, two more things...actually..THREE. My favorite thing Archie says right now is "my sure do mommy." If asked if he would like to do something that is usually how he responds. Number two, Archer's sense of humor is picking up..tonight I was asking what he wanted for dinner and he said, "mmmm..a pillow mommy..." and then died laughing, and we went back and forth for what seemed like forever saying silly things we were going ot eat for dinner and laughing hysterically! Third, tonight while I was nursing Holden he would stop and just start talking---he is such a sweet boy (when he wants to be).

Oh, Holden's 8 week checkup today-12lbs 14oz. 21.5 inches long! She said, "your milk must be pure cream" I'm not sure how or why, but for some reason that feels good (not that there is a thing I do to make it happen..I suppose because nursing isn't always the easiest option it feels good to know it's growing a little guy).

Wish us luck tonight, we have decided to break Archer's habit of waking in the middle of the night for a bottle--WE NEED SLEEP!!! Last night Holden slept from 9:30-1am, but the power went out (noise machine off) and Archer woke up from 11:30-12:30...YIKES!!!!

Ok, Holden is awake?!?!

Night.

must blog..must blog...

All day I have literally been walking around in somewhat of a daze...Holden does not like sleep. It's that simple, wait, he does, but only in my arms snuggled up next to me! While it was sweet and easy, I really enjoy hanging out with Colin at the end of the day...I really love putting the boys to bed around 8 and having time to play cards, watch a movie, be a couple. Therefore, I have decided to stop putting Holden in bed with us at night. You see, we are currently living in a very cozy two bedroom apartment--which I LOVE-but would love for Holden to have his own room...not our room. Do you know how hard it is to sit up and nurse him IN MY BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?!?!? The whole problem started just like that and now here we are...

ARCHER...let's talk about sweet Archer. He is an absolute joy. He loves his brother, LOVES his brother! Evil is horrible, and on occasion I watch my sweet boy suddenly get this look on his face and then decide to do something terrible or misbehave somehow. Yesterday he was standing by me while I had Holden laying on my lap when I saw his little wheel turn and the look come over him like, "ah ha...watch this!" He then went to hit Holden and for some reason I remained calm. Attempt one, attempt two (Colin is sitting on the couch and just said, "babe I just love our boys so much") let me be more specific...little chubby arm up-a look at me like here it goes, chubby arm down towards baby brother and STOP...he tried 4 times and couldn't do it! I was AMAZED. He genuinely loves this little guy of ours and cannot stand the thought of hurting him, even when he really wants to!!! That my friends is love in a two year old form!

Other than that, Archie talks nonstop and is saying the most amazing things. One of my favorite new expressions, "no thank you please." There are soooo many different ideas about "how to parent" and really Archer was the easiest kid until he hit 22 months. Therefore, parenting has taken on a new role. Archer is still super sweet and spends him time in the church nursery passing toys around to kids and being so loving (I know this because I still haven't let him in the nursery...I'm the annoying mom that just sits by). Part of the reason I sit tight is because I really want to give him immediate consequences if he mistreats someone. I'm not ready to let him get away with being ugly to other kids without knowing that isn't how we treat people and he isn't going to get away with it---call me overbearing (which I wholeheartedly admit I am) but I just have a tough time seeing that side of kids. Blah blah blah, SO-there was a point of mentioning all of this! Tonight Archer went to play with our sweet one year old nephew Crew. Crew and Archer see each other at least once everyday...since May. They sort of act more like siblings at this point! Archer and Crew were playing and Archer discovered his "bee's" soccer ball. He was super excited and enjoying it when Crew crawled over and said "please." Lots of different philosophies on sharing/making kids share, etc. The rule for us (and we were 6 strong) was that you didn't have to share, but not to expect people to share in return--which makes sense! We have tried to tell Archer though, if someone asks you nicely if they can have a turn then you let them have a turn! It's a great feeling to make someone happy by letting them enjoy the same thing you enjoy! Of course, Archer was not in the mood to share today..Crew said please, Archie replied by saying "it's Archie's baby Crew" in a really sweet/innocent/I'm not giving this up voice. SHUCKS! I reminded Archer that Crew asked nicely and if he wasn't going to share then we would go home---no reason to be in someone else's company if you're not going to enjoy it...Archer said, ok...and left. SHUCKS! We got back to our apt and he wanted me to play soccer ball with him--I said no, he hadn't wanted to share so he could enjoy not sharing and play by himself. He kicked his ball around for awhile and then said, "sorry baby Crew, mommy give Crew a turn please." AHHHHHH...HORRAY!!!!! I love that boy. Quickly we went back and he lowered his little self to Crew's level, apologized, and handed over the ball..they then got to enjoy the JOY of sharing something with someone and played back and forth for a moment.

OH MY! Time to enjoy my husband--who finally convinced Holden it was bedtime!

I will update more frequently...I need to to remember moments because with two they seem to pass quick!!!

Love,
The Kimbles.

oh my...

this is an all time low in my blogging. The problem is...our laptop was out of commission for months and I am way too lazy to type a blog post from my iphone!

Since the last post of course a ton has changed including the birth of our sweet son Holden G Kimble! Let us start there so I never forget the details:

It started the night before my due date even though I was terribly unaware! I woke up several times to go to the bathroom--would wipe--leave the bathroom and suddenly question whether or not I had wiped...a strange feeling. Needless to say the wondering kept me up most of the night and then onto September 14th (my due date). Everything was going as it usually did--busy mom...busy toddler boy. It was around 3pm and I went to the bathroom only to realize that indeed-my water had broke! I let my midwife know-she said I could stick around home and attempt to get labor to start on its own. I went into instant nesting mode making sure everything was in line for Archer while we would be away...and then making sure everything was ready for the hospital. I called Colin and he said he had to work for another hour or two (they had rented some equipment) and then he would be home--funny how different things are with the second baby!

When my sister and brother in law came to get Archie (lucky duck got to go to the Utah State Fair) I get fairly emotional! Not only do I never seperate from my little guy---I knew this was the final parting before we were 4--and I also knew that he sort of had no idea what was going to happen/how things would change! I had never been away from Archer for the night (minus work..). I then moped around a bit before remembering I needed to get labor going! I started to pump and do various things---but not much was happening. Colin came home, cooked dinner, we both showered and continued trying to get labor going--it was pouring outside so no walking. Neeedless to say, but 9:30 nothing had happened so my midwife ask that we go in and start some pit. not to mention I was strep positive this time so she wanted to start antibiotics.

We got to the hospital and I was still fearing the pit. We started to walk and started our first dose of antibiotics and sure enough contractions started up!! They were manageable but more intense somehow than I remember them (funny how that works). HOURS went by this way and they decided to check me around 5am...low and behold 100% effaced but only a lousy 3 centimeters. I pretty much lost it at that point. They started pit and I flashed back to my 32 hour long labor with Archer. It didn't help that Archer was sick the night before and I hadn't slept much between sick him and wondering if my water broke. I was exhausted and preparing mentally for a 32 hour labor. The pit hurt like hell, I was tired, I wanted saved---I finally decided I had nothing to prove to anyone (self included) and at 6am asked for an epidural. My midwife was called and said she was on her way. They filled up the bath with water and told me to get in...I refused. Midwife came--before she spoke I said "Don't try to talk me out of this, I have already made up my mind." She smiled, confirmed the obvious that I was getting ahead of myself as far as how long this labor would be, but that she wanted me to be happy with the outcome and if that's what it would take--ok!

Around 7am the epidural arrived---sort of. The MD told me that it could take anywhere from 20-40 minutes for relief to take place or the "full effect" to be felt. Of course, at 7:30am I was sure by 8am I would feel better. NO LUCK! 8am came, 8:30..and the pain was only getting worse! Finally I told Colin someone needed to get in there because this was not an ok way for someone to feel!!!! I was still convinced I was 3cm and going to have to suffer or get another epidural! I remember while it was being "put in" he seemed to be having a tough time---sure enough! With Archie when I got my epidural it was heavenly!!!! I told Colin if I could get one on the streets I would--he replied--but you can't move your legs...to which I replied-I KNOW IT'S THAT GREAT!

So the nurse comes in, says--OH! Time to have the baby! 15 minutes of pushing and at 9:33am (Archer was born at 9:27am) Colin pulled a slimy little BABY BOY out and placed him on my chest! I sat there for at least an hour SHOCKED/STUNNED that Jubilee was actually a boy!!!! 7lbs. 10oz. 21.5 inches long and as hairy headed as they come!!!

The next 2 days were perfect. A sweet retreat (this hospital was pretty much a resort-the food fresh from a local organic farm...a menu in the room where you called down when you wanted food and they awnswered "room service"). Our days were spent with Colin getting Archie and bringing him up until nap-then Colin would take him home and put him down, then pick him up when he woke up, and take him home to play, bath, bed. It was sort of tough on Colin to do the back and forth-but I really think Archer enjoyed being there with us and being a part of the process. He was thrilled to come pick his baby brother up and take him home!!! We spent most of our time agonizing over names!!!! Colin had a few that he stuck by,but in the end it came down to Jesse or Huck. I have always, since the 8th grade when I read The Catcher in the Rye, LOVED the name Holden. It was also a small town off of the interstate between Colin's parents and our house in Baton Rouge...I couldn't let it go. Finally I just told Colin that...and he said ok! I quickly filled out the birth certificate application and we were FREE!!!

Holden Guy Keith Kimble. Holden, a name I love. Guy, an affectionate name I made up/called my mom's 2nd husband Tim who was my step father for 12 years. Keith after Colin's dad. I love this bundle!!!

Ok, must go to bed...will write more later, but feels good to get that part out there!!!

Love the incredibly sleep deprived but beyond happy and blessed Kimbles!

oh my...

This blog needs a facelift!!!!!

I'd like to say I cannot believe it's been nearly two months since updating the blog, but that would be a downright lie---of course I can believe it!

Archer and I have been having the most delightful summer! He is the best kid to be around and I love how Colin and i are constantly saying to each other "we have the best kid." It's an incredible feeling to hear your husband say often "I really love Archer, or I love Archer to death..or he is awesome."

The past month and a half our days have mostly been about waking up, eating breakfast with daddy before he leaves for work, doing our "morning chores" and then heading out to the park or somewhere nearby to play until lunch time. Come home, eat lunch, and then we have been snuggling up TOGETHER for a nap! Terrible habit but soooo wonderful-and totally take the guilt of of getting nothing else done but holding my sweet boy close. After nap we generally head out for another fun activity---the zoo, the farm, etc. Archer is incredibly well behaved and makes most outings a pretty easy time...

oh man, I have to get him dressed for story time...I will attempt to pick up later pending baby #2 due in 5 days doesn't stop me (OH PLEASE BABY STOP ME)


1

baby on da brain...

It is absolutely crazy how time can either drag or FLY! Colin and I were remarking a few weeks ago that it feels like I have been pregnant forever! The second time around isn't filled with all of the emotions you go through the first time--not to mention the period you spend simply trying to wrap your mind around the fact that you are indeed pregnant! The second time that sinks in pretty quick--and really you spend the time just excited...which when waiting anxiously for something 9 months is quite some time!!! In that time, for example, we have moved across the nation....

Needless to say, this morning I woke up and realized that there is the month of August that we can go ahead and say is safe/no baby coming, and then on to September where the final preparations/waiting begins. NUTS! I have one more month with just my sweet baby boy and I before we will work together to grow up another one!!!

In other news, we have a "follow-up" ultrasound on Monday. While getting our 20 week ultrasound the tech continuously went back to the heart and when I asked her about it she said because of the babies position she was having a hard time visualizing the outflow of the heart. Needless to say...I worried for a bit and sort of forgot to worry. Last night Colin and I were watching tv and there was a baby born with an undiagnosed congenital heart defect...it was horrible and devastating and reminded me of the inconclusive findings...THEREFORE, we are going to go on Monday just to be sure everything is ok---especially since the amazing hospital here we are delivering at doesn't have a NICU should something go awry.

ok, archer is up!!

-jenn

It's a shame indeed...

Ok: top picture is belly with Archie, bottom picture is belly with baby #2.


I am terrible at blogging. Rest assured, I do keep a journal for Archer and new babe, plus a very handsome baby book for each---but STILL, I need to stay on top of this! I think I avoid blogging mostly because every time I sit down to blog too much has changed and I must face the reality that my baby boy is actually starting to become quite the big boy!

Archer is the best. I think every night after we put him to bed Colin says, "I just love our kid so much," or "our kid is honestly the best." And he is! He is a joy, and sweet and super duper silly! Lately he has started saying "oh my goodness" and "oh my gosh" which is pretty darn funny. He is obsessed with all things boy, jumping, running, falling down, rocks, dirt, sticks, water, SHOVELS..etc. Everywhere we go he must have a "scoop" aka shovel in hand (in case there is something to scoop of course). I'm going to go ahead and say I think it is about 90% nature, 10% nurture at this point! We have the boat here now and Colin has been getting off of work early lately (with three day weekends) so we have been spending lots of time at the beach/lake boating and playing. Archer of course is in HEAVEN with scoops, sand, buckets, and an occasional boat ride!

The baby is a BUSY baby. It is strange too that I am carrying this baby MUCH differently. Now, I haven't jumped to conclusions that this means GIRL...because I know all pregnancies are different, I am simply remarking on the difference. It probably also helps that this baby is currently posterior. Archer's little butt was always pushing up on my ribs and I was terribly round with him, but this time this babe seems much lower. Perhaps in the weeks to come as it runs out of room I will bite my tongue and once again have a little butt pushing up against my ribs!!! Not a whole lot to do for a second baby when you don't know the sex and also plan on moving a month or so after the babe comes. No nursery, no shopping, etc! BUT, I think the second time around having a baby is much more exciting---you know the goodness that comes along with a baby!

Ok, that was just a quick update, I am going to work on blogging more---but I do always say that!!!

-Love the Kimbles