Archive for 'All Akimbo' Category
All Akimbo: Pretty little baby face
By Kim Blakely Wow. Oh, wow! Just wow. That’s all I could muster when I saw the screen during my very first ultrasound with this surprise baby last week. All points during my appointment had gone from the assumption that I was barely 6 weeks pregnant, based on the date of my last menstrual period, [...]
All Akimbo: Bonus baby!
By Kim Blakely I’ve been feeling really lousy lately. So lousy that I’ve Googling things like “thyroid disorder,” “diabetes,” “menopause,” and “ovarian cancer” (which, by the way, seems to fit my symptoms most closely of all the Googled disorders). I considered whether all of this was just a sign that my endometriosis was back with [...]
All Akimbo: Cafeteria conversations
By Kim Blakely There are plenty of times when I stand in awe of the way a teacher or an aide settles conflict. And then there was this one time, toward the end of the school year, when I stood appalled. I went to Mojo’s school during the last week of school to have lunch [...]
All Akimbo: Two years of Moxie
By Kim Blakely Moxie turned 2 last week, and because those kinds of birthdays tend to have special meaning for those of us who have birthed, I spent a few quiet moments contemplating. I still remember vividly how I longed to have a baby during the more than 2 ½ years my husband and I [...]
All Akimbo: Home school?
By Kim Blakeley Everyone knows that when you have kids, time moves at the speed of light. But since Mojo has started kindergarten, it seems like it’s has moved at least twice that for me. He doesn’t complain about going to school or about anything that happens there, but if you ask him, he quietly [...]
All Akimbo: Family of Four
By Kim Blakeley From the moment I found out Moxie was coming I wondered how – or if – she and her big brother would relate to one another. They are four and a half years apart in age, after all. Mojo has his own interests, his own friends, his own toys, his own life, [...]
All Akimbo: Birthday Girl
By Kim Blakely Remember that baby I wanted for so long? Well, she just turned 1. I know! I can’t believe it either. I went to the doctor’s office a couple of weeks ago (I’ve been feeling kind of crummy for a couple of months now, but it seems maybe I’m just super-fatigued.), and [...]
All Akimbo: Navigating the independent playdate
By Kim Blakeley Mojo has just entered the world of playdates without his mama. And a couple of his friends have started hanging around at our house without their mamas, too. Are there any good reference books out there to tell me how to navigate this unfamiliar territory? I’m just not sure I’m handling things [...]
All Akimbo: Boys and their sports
By Kim Blakely, soccer mama When I learned I was carrying a son, the thought that my presence might be required at a few sporting events did cross my mind. I’m not a big sports fan. I like to go to the occasional Razorback game, and I enjoy a good game of hoops, but [...]
All Akimbo: Breastfeeding in public
By Kim Blakely, mama to Mojo and Moxie Hey, I don’t want to get into the pros and cons or go on a “breast is best” campaign, and I’m certainly not going to judge you if you, for whatever reason, choose to go the formula route, but I am definitely, without a doubt, a breastfeeding [...]
All Akimbo: Fighting
By Kim Blakely, mama to two Watching my superhero-crazed Mojo crashing his action figures into tables, cars and each other makes me cringe. Fighting is just not my thing. He asks me to play sometimes, and I tell him so. “I just don’t like the fighting,” I say. And I try to change the tone, [...]
All Akimbo: Big boy birthday
By Kim Blakely, mama to two Mojo just turned 5. I don’t know why, but I’ve been as nervous at Mojo’s birthday parties as I might have been at my own. Of course I’ve gotten to the venue a few minutes early to get everything ready. And once everything was ready my nerves jangled with [...]
All Akimbo: Cloth diapers!
By Kim Blakely, mama happy to be on diaper duty When I tell my friends I’ve decided to cloth diaper Moxie, the reaction I get is always something like, “Why?!” or “Ewww.” Some of them just look at me, mouths agape, because they just don’t know what to say. I tell them it’s not that [...]
All Akimbo: Vaccinate? That is the question
By Kim Blakely, mama blogger With all the debate swirling around the H1N1 vaccine, I thought long and hard about getting Mojo vaccinated. I armed myself with all the information I could find about what might happen if he got the shot and about what might happen if he didn’t. I kept close tabs on [...]
All Akimbo: Have this wish I wish tonight
By Kim Blakely, mama blogger For so long, I searched every night sky for the first star. When I found it, I would say, “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight …” and I would wish for a happy healthy family of four (or more). It was a silly little ritual, but I [...]
All Akimbo: Sweet Days of our Lives
By Kim Blakely, blessed mama Today has been one of those days. Not one of those days, but one of those days I wouldn’t mind having over and over. I don’t have any more money than I did yesterday (which is to say none at all), deadlines are looming and it’s been cool and dreary [...]
All Akimbo: Crying over spilled milk and everything else
By Kim Blakely Is there something about being 4 – almost 5 – that makes kids exceptionally moody? Or is there something about having a 4-month-old sibling that causes the emotions to go wild? Maybe there’s just something in the air? Mojo has cried more in the last couple of weeks than he did in [...]
All Akimbo: Luck be a lady
By Kim Blakely, mama to 2 Life has been getting me down lately. I’ve been worried about money. Someone rear-ended me while I was driving Mojo to get a haircut a couple of weeks ago – he and Moxie and my mom were in the car with me when it happened. Although none of us [...]
All Akimbo: Light bulb moment
By Kim Blakely, mama to 2 We were blissfully happy when we finally got to introduce Moxie to our families and the next two days in the hospital are a blur of oohs, aahs, and wondrous gazes. Moxie had a gift for her brother – amazing that she had the presence of mind to shop [...]
All Akimbo: The Birth Story
By Kim Blakely, mama of 2 Moxie has been around for eight weeks, and I haven’t yet told y’all anything about the day she arrived … so here goes. My husband and I arrived at Labor and Delivery just after 5 a.m., and I was worried because we were late. I have no idea why, [...]