Military Moms: Jan/Feb 2011

[~Katie~]

Happy New Year! May we all have a blessed and bountiful year ahead! 

Congratulations are in order for Adorkable!

[~Adorkable~]

on that note (thanks )

my little girl and boy were born on December 27th at 6:30am and 6:44am weighing 5lbs3oz and 5lbs10oz respectively.

They were right at 36 weeks gestation and were wonderfully healthy. (both had Apgar scores of 8 then 9 and their 1 and 5 min checks)

Everyone is tucked in safe and sound at home learning life together. We ended up at the hospital at 7cm dilated, something in my felt i was supposed to be there, which was a big deal for me since i had really felt i would never want that, but i found out once i got there that my BP had shot thru the roof and i was spilling tons of protein and my liver panel was off the charts, after never showing a single sign of it i developed a really rapid and sever case of Eclampsia or something, I'm glad that it got taken care of, though the help for that cause a chain of other issues which stalled my up till them really impressive labor. i spent 24 hours in the L&D before finally getting from that 7 to 10 and finally having a wonderful really amazing vaginal birth.

I'm still on BP medication and feeling good.

Babies and I are home after close to 4 days of getting watched, but no NICU!

Edited by ~Adorkable~ - 4/5/11 at 8:54pm

[RaeRae91]

Can I join??? I'm not a military momma yet but my DF is army and we are going to be married sumtime before june..Im new to all this military stuff so I figured this would be a good place for help support... we are in alaska right now but in july we have to move to ft. lewis WA.

[MommaKitten21]

Congrats Adorkable!!! What beautiful little babies they are! :)

Sorry I haven't posted much... been keeping to myself lately and really been busy at the same time....and ummmm have an announcement....

I took a pregnancy test and the faintest little line appeared.... This means (if my calculations are right!) When this baby comes, I will have a 3 year old, a 15 months old, and a newborn.... Lord help me! haha!!

We were not trying.... but we weren't really actively preventing.... well, sort of heh. So this is just kind of a huge shock for us both. Especially since we will be PCSing in the spring or summer and no clue where we are going (rumor has it Korea) so I'm just trying to take this all in now :)

And of course you can join RaeRae!! Welcome to the military wife life!! It's a wonderful journey!!

[~Katie~]

I'm so happy for you Adorkable and glad all went well and you and the babies are home and healthy. Enjoy your babymoon!!!

Welcome RaeRae!!!

Kourtney - Congratulations! You will do great, having already had little ones close together you know what to expect. 

[RaeRae91]

Thanks for the welcomes mamas! So I hvae a qeustion maybe you ladies can help me with... I have a son from a previous relationship... his father has givin up all rights to him... It should be no problem for my fiance to adopt him now right?

[MommaKitten21]

Hey RaeRae ..... I would recommend waiting until you get married before you pursue the adoption. You probably will get better advice in the blended and step family forum since it's not really a military issue :) As far as the military is concerned, your son would be one of his dependents. Hope that helps a little!

[gagin37]

Congrats on the new babes Adorkable!  They are so beautiful!  

Not too much new with us.  We're slowly getting ready for our move in April.  We're trying to get our house listed this week.  I'm going through closets, trying to get a little more organized before I get too hugely pregnant and tired to do it.  

[MovingMomma]

Adorkable: Congrats!  What beautiful babies!

We finally got those orders, and yes, they are for Cherry Point.    Only problem is, a move isn't authorized.  DH is working on that & thinks he's got a good chance of getting it funded.  We'll move whether the military pays for it or not, but gosh it would be nice to have that $$.  We're listing our house on Friday, so this week has been busy, busy, busy with pre-packing & cleaning for staging!  And we got our loan pre-approval so we'll start really looking for a new place after we get this one on the market.  

[MaerynPearl]

Ive been gone a fair bit but between Mae almost being mobile now (rolling over) and babyproofing (havent done that in a few years!) plus the 2 week trip we took home (in the car with three kids from 2 1/2 months to nearly 8 years old and it was 2200 miles there and back) and readying for the deployment (which is now under way) Ive been a bit busy.

But trips over, house is almost babyproofed, and deployment has begun... so I guess I'm back!

Congrats Adorkable on the birth and MommaKitten on the future birth!

RaeRae - even if he doesn't adopt him if he is living with you your hubby (when you are married and he is hubby) can claim him as his dependent. I have 2 kids from a previous marriage that hubby has as dependents. However, if you do have the termination of parental rights from your sons father (or there is no father on record... but if hes on record as his father you HAVE to have the termination of parental rights) then your husband should have no problem adopting him

[justKate]

Adorkable, CONGRATULATIONS!  Its so great to see twins arriving vaginally.  Well not seeing, you know.  Yay!  They're beautiful.

MK, congrats to you too! 

[WifeofAnt]

Congrats Adorkable and Hello everyone else!!

This is my last month with DH before he deploys again... then I'll be moving back up to Michigan with my parents.   On the plus side I'll never be alone if I don't want to be.  On the down side I'll be back to doing dishes for 5-10 people, including my dad who will use 5 pans to cook one piece of meat.

So does anyone have any more tips on how to help a baby learn who Daddy is while he's away?

[sapphire_chan]

Question for the Army wives, particularly if you aren't in the service yourself, what do you wear for formal wear when your dh is in uniform? I have to come up with my first modern dress in about 5 years (hang on, have I even bought a dress since we got married? eep!) by March.

I think the dress uniform will be navy blue, so I'm debating between a navy blue that turns bright blue when it reflects the light, doing something in orange (complementary colors, so red if it turns out the uniform'll be the dress greens instead), or a hunter green (which would clash horribly with the dress greens.)

[~Katie~]

How exciting! I normally shop at Nordstrom for dresses, I find that I like their selection the best. Most clothing and sales don't sell greens anymore, so if he's buying a uniform or purchased one recently it'll be blue. If he was issued one it could still be green but they're phasing out the greens. I always wear dark colors so navy, black, dark purple, etc. You'll find that there will be some people who wear really bold colors but I personally find darker colors to be more appropriate for a formal event. 

This is what I wore for the last formal:

This is the one I wore prior to this one: http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3079804?origin=category&resultback=3395

You'll have to show us what you decide on! 

[chely7425]

Congrats!  You can so do it :) I currently have a 3 month old, a 19 month old and a 33 month old... yeah, my oldest turned 2.5 the day after the youngest was born!!  Add in that DH deployed right before the baby was born?  It has been a bit crazy!!  Fun tho... and they are so cute with the baby!
 

Originally Posted by MommaKitten21 

Congrats Adorkable!!! What beautiful little babies they are! :)

Sorry I haven't posted much... been keeping to myself lately and really been busy at the same time....and ummmm have an announcement....

I took a pregnancy test and the faintest little line appeared.... This means (if my calculations are right!) When this baby comes, I will have a 3 year old, a 15 months old, and a newborn.... Lord help me! haha!!

We were not trying.... but we weren't really actively preventing.... well, sort of heh. So this is just kind of a huge shock for us both. Especially since we will be PCSing in the spring or summer and no clue where we are going (rumor has it Korea) so I'm just trying to take this all in now :)

And of course you can join RaeRae!! Welcome to the military wife life!! It's a wonderful journey!!

[kauhoku]

hi. i'm new here. i'm a navy spouse and mom to three. i have a question i was wondering if anyone knows anything about duty swaps?

raerae, my sister and her husband are stationed at ft. lewis. 

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by ~Katie~ 

How exciting! I normally shop at Nordstrom for dresses, I find that I like their selection the best. Most clothing and sales don't sell greens anymore, so if he's buying a uniform or purchased one recently it'll be blue. If he was issued one it could still be green but they're phasing out the greens. I always wear dark colors so navy, black, dark purple, etc. You'll find that there will be some people who wear really bold colors but I personally find darker colors to be more appropriate for a formal event. 

This is what I wore for the last formal:

This is the one I wore prior to this one: http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3079804?origin=category&resultback=3395

You'll have to show us what you decide on! 

Thank you! It looks like regular formal gowns work fine.

[~Katie~]

If the event is big enough people will be dressed in all manner of formal attire from short cocktail dresses to full-on ball gowns. I prefer a middle ground but chances are whatever you choose will be just fine! If it were a smaller event I'd go for a formal looking cocktail dress in a heartbeat. 

[~Adorkable~]

if it is a dinner i always go full length formal, once when it was just a drinks reception i went with a cocktail dress.

the best part of military balls is that if your life is anything like mine you can splurge a bit on a dress because you will be able to wear it again soon when you get posted in a new place!

i have 4-5 very nice dresses and have worm them each many times because they were each worn once at each posting, and then again when we went to his school or to DC or a new unit.

as long as i stay a similar size i can keep wearing them for a very long time, something civilian ladies dont get to do! So i work hard to get beautiful very classic gowns and some i am still wearing and getting gushing compliments on 6 years after the first ball they went to, like this one below. (I will be deleting this picture in a few days to keep my MDC and IRL worlds separate)

this was my very first ball, when my now DH and i had just started dating and he had just come back form his tour in Iraq

(photo removed for privacy) />

 

 

EDIT TO ADD:  

as for general color and style, you might just keep in mind if DH likes to "show you off" or disappear at functions, mine really likes being with the the pretty girl, and really likes to see me dressed up and making an entrance, so i happily do just that. others feel out of sorts at events like that and would rather just slip in and out, dress accordingly, you are their adornment in my mind.

Edited by ~Adorkable~ - 4/5/11 at 8:56pm

[sapphire_chan]

Well, I'll definitely be going with a sleeved dress, my arms and shoulders aren't nearly as pretty as yours! Good point about being his decoration.