Kim’s Bio

My name is Kim, and I’ve been a lot of things in my life: daughter, sister, friend, student, amateur photographer, actress, janitor, youth counselor, office assistant, missionary, tutor, graduate, wife, high school Spanish teacher, and the list could go on.

But these days I’ve hit the big time, trading in my accordion briefcase and $30 a week gas budget for a diaper bag and a 15 second commute from flat on my back to crib-side.  I’m a stay at home mom, and I’m celebrating that choice everyday.

I grew up in Vancouver WA, the youngest of three kids and the only girl.  I lived in one house all of those years.  Being born and bred in Vancouver means being surrounded by extended family, farming families, city families that think they’re in the country, and misplaced Californians that are wondering what happened to the sun.  I was a beautiful baby, a sassy youngster, an achieving student, and, for several awkward years, a seriously ugly duckling.

For my HS graduation present I got luggage – a not-so-subtle hint that my parent’s nest was being unfeathered.  I packed up and went away to school to pursue a degree in just about everything.  Those years of study and indecision were interrupted while I spent 18 months as a missionary in the jungles, swamps, and cities of western Bolivia.

Returning from Bolivia proved challenging in a new way.  I had to figure out why there were no longer drives for my zip disks in any of the University’s computers, figure out what people meant by “ipod” and reconcile myself to the fact that my parents had bought a TV that was bigger than me when I laid down in front of it and that had a price tag big enough to feed an entire Bolivian city for a day or two.

Lucky for me, I found a devilishly handsome young man from Middle-of-Nowhere, Ohio who was almost as displaced as I was, having recently returned from Venezuela.  We talked often about our shared love of South America.  I told him that I didn’t know what I was going to graduate in, but most likely Psychology since the University claimed that I had too many credits to keep switching majors.  He told me that he was studying IT, and then clarified that that meant computer stuff.  I told him that he was a nerd in a cool kid wrapper.  Four years after that fateful meeting, I’m still finding out just how cool he really is.

We were married in December of 2006, one week after I graduated (in Psychology).  He still had several more semesters to go and I got hired teaching Spanish in a treatment center for teenage girls.  The job had emotional highs and low, days of triumph and distress, but it was an amazing opportunity for our young family.

Much to our surprise, that job ended earlier than expected.  Despite having more than nine months of school left, Jay* and I felt that it was time for our family to start.  After a year and a half of marriage, nine very sick months, Pregnancy Induced Hypertension, 7 weeks and 2 days of bed rest, 2 inductions, 2 days of labor, and a C-section, our first son, Cee*, was born. It was trying and confusing, but it was also the start of something wonderful.

Almost a year later, we left student life behind us and made a new home for ourselves in San Antonio Texas.

By making this site I’m not claiming to be a Super Mom or an expert on anything besides my family and my experiences.  This site is dedicated to our lives, adventures, my opinions, but mostly to the belief I have that being a stay at home mom is anything but a cop-out.  We are powerful, talented, and we are contemporary even in this age.

*For anonymity’s sake, I’ll just be using initials for my boys.

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