Birmingham Moms Blog :: Introducing Kristin

0

Kristin FieldsGood morning, Birmingham Mamas! I am Kristin and I am so excited to be joining the current contributors of the Birmingham Moms Blog and to begin sharing some of my favorite things about motherhood, life in the South, and expanding our family. I was born just outside the city and have lived in and around Birmingham my entire life.

After college at UAB, I married my high-school sweetheart and we began our lives together in the same small town we grew up in. We’ve continued to call it home and just recently bought the home that I grew up in. It’s been so much fun learning to love it in a completely different way and teaching our girls how much fun it is to live in a log cabin in the woods.

Birmingham

Even though I live almost an hour outside of the city (thank you, Highway 280), any time someone asks where we’re from, Birmingham is always the first word out of my mouth. I lived on campus during my college years and loved how different “city life” was from the life I left behind — four years of yummy restaurants, beautiful museums, and plenty of fun things to do, right in my own back yard. As thrilled as I was to return to our small town after graduation and marriage, I knew that I couldn’t leave the downtown area completely behind and I’ve been working in the business district ever since. Sure, it’s a really long commute, but having that city right outside of my office window makes it worth every minute I spend driving.

Birmingham is the perfect combination of big city and small town. You can’t walk down the street without running into someone you know, but there are wonderful things to discover around every corner!

Moms

There was never a question in my mind that what I really wanted to be when I grew up, was a mom. After only a few years of marriage, my husband and I were ready to start a family, and have since welcomed two daughters into our lives. Ella will be twelve this month and has just started her first year of middle school. She is a bright and beautiful girl, who dances competitively and loves to argue with her mama. I joke all the time that the hardest thing in life is to parent an exact copy of yourself! Sophie is our middle child and is as fun and quirky as they come. She just turned eight and is particularly obsessed with animals, books, and YouTube beauty tutorials. She has the greatest sense of humor and is your go-to girl, when you need a hug or a pep talk.

We always planned to have three children, but the timing never seemed right and life was so easy with only big girls at home. I have been documented many times saying that it would take an actual miracle for us to extend our family and that is exactly what happened last December. We found out we were expecting a baby back in January, and this has been the wildest and most exciting year of our lives. By the time you read this post, we should be home from the hospital snuggling our newest arrival, and we’re all on pins and needles to find out who it is we’ll be welcoming. I never expected to be parenting an infant at the age of 39, but I’m thrilled to see the differences in being a “new mom” at twenty-seven and an “old mom” at thirty-nine. Mostly, I’m terrified of having one in diapers, one in elementary school, and one in middle school, but at least I’ll have plenty of good stories to share with you all here!

Blog

Blogging is something that I love and have enjoyed since my big girls were little. I’ve been documenting their daily lives for friends and family for the last ten years and it has been rewarding in so many ways. In addition to being beautiful, motherhood can be isolating, terrifying, polarizing (there are probably plenty of other ings I could insert here); and finding a tribe to share those triumphs and trials with is so important. Reading about other mothers who struggle with similar issues or who have great advice about something we need help with can be such an invaluable resource. I have loved connecting with other bloggers over motherhood and I know that teaming up with the Birmingham Moms Blog will only increase those connections.