Military Moms: March/April 2011

[~Katie~]

Welcome to the March/April thread! Welcome to our new and returning mamas!

I forgot to do my intro in the last thread so I'll post a new one here. I'm Katie, my DH is an officer in the Army and we're currently stationed at Fort Bragg until the end of the summer. He's in the process of deciding what he wants to do career-wise, we're still in limbo land because he's a NY National Guard officer on active duty orders.

His unit does not have a position for him so once his active duty orders are up he'll be in a temporary "unit" that doesn't actually exist (if that makes any sense, lol). We keep hearing different information depending on the source but currently he has the option of going to another national guard unit elsewhere and getting a civilian job. He's also recently been told that his old unit has positions available to him now so he's going to look into that again. Despite being previously told that he could switch to active duty orders, it's only available to captains and he won't be promoted by the NG until June.

[MovingMomma]

subbing!

[justKate]

Me too!

I'm a Coastie wife and mom to a 2 year old DD.  We are PCSing in May to Yorktown, VA from Austin, TX, and i'm super anxious to get resettled and be a SAHM for a while!  We've been in Austin for 2 years; before that we were in Key West for 2 years and before that we were in DC.  With the move coming up in 2 months I'm focusing on decluttering, finishing up my job (45ish days left!), and learning how to be a SAHM.

Hooray for the Spring thread!

[gagin37]

subbing

We're an Air Force family, about to PCS to Robins AFB in GA.  Right now we're at Pope until the end of the month, which is being reabsorbed by Ft. Bragg.  The deactivation ceremony was today actually.  

Just to updates, I did get in touch with my prospective OBGYN in Warner Robins Monday, and I will have to see my new PCM to get a referral before I can be seen.  

[remijo]

Hi! Army family here. We are currently at Ft. Meade as DH finishes up his last month (Finally!!!) of AIT and then DH has orders to Korea. We still have no idea whether we can go with him or not - command sponsorship is the hugest PITA I've ever encountered. So...we are dealing with that. I have a wonderfully high needs 13 month old and a 7 year old. Nice to meet everyone!

[chely7425]

We are an Army family stationed at Fort Polk... right now I am back in WA (DH is deployed) and working on coordinating moving back to LA in May with 3 kids (3, almost 2 and 6 months) which should be.. interesting!!  luckily a friend of mine is driving with me.  We are hoping for orders to Hawaii or Germany when he gets back from Deployment in the fall.. but really, almost anywhere would be better than Polk!!

[~Katie~]

at the Fort Polk comment. I have not been there but my DH has and it is as you say.

DH was offered a job with the NY unit that originally did not have a place for him. They only need him for the deployment in the Fall for 9 months and after that he would be out of a job again. The newest baby will only be 2 or 3 months old when he leaves for training and then deploys right after that. It sounds like a really crappy option to me since we'll be right back where we started after the deployment is over.

[chely7425]

Yeah, Fort Polk really kind of sucks :)  I hope your DH gets a better option than deploying and being out of a job again in a year or so!

[meganjoy80]

HI Mamas!! I am so happy to find you guys!!  I am somewhat new to MDC.  I signed up a lil while back but just finding time now to participate in the fun!!

I am a SAHM to sons Xavier, 2 years and Lucian, newborn!!  I have been a Navy wife for about 2 years.  We PCS'd from Honolulu, HI to Monterey, CA so DH could attend NPS.  I am still somewhat new to the military community since this is my first PCS and we lived out on town in HI.  I am realizing I am going to need a lot of support in the years ahead from other spouses who have a similar lifestyle to me.  Up until now I was still mostly identifying with civilian friends and family since that was the community I had established for myself as a single gal in Honolulu (that is where I meet my DH).  I am excited about our future as a military family as I know there are so many benefits to this lifestyle but I understand that support from other military families is crucial in making the best of it all.  

We follow most AP guidelines and are loving co-sleeping, extended BF, gentle discipline, and delayed vax.

Look forward to getting to know some of you and making the best of what life gives us!!!  

[MovingMomma]

Whew!  Finally found a minute to update with my intro here!

DH is USMC.  He's been in for 12 years and we've been married for 10.  We have two daughters and a baby on the way.  We're in the middle of a PCS from Lejeune to Cherry Point, which involves buying one house & selling another, but only moving 45 minutes down the road!  

I love how so many of us are moving right now or shortly.  

[Lovemytwogirls]

Hello. Fairly still new here to Camp Lejeune NC. Still trying to find my niche. We have been busy moving into a new house, but will be moving again in June/ July.  We are also getting ready for a deployment. The first one since having two little ones.  This should be an interesting next few months.  We are looking to go to a Saint Patrick's day celebration but not sure which one to go to. Let me know if anyone knows of any local street fairs for the celebration. Other than that, just waiting for summer, so we can head to the beach and enjoy the sunshine.

[~Katie~]

Hello, lovemytwogirls!

So it looks like we're back on the path to finding a civilian job. It seems like there are a whole lot of people who think they know what they're talking about but know absolutely nothing at all.

Yesterday somebody asked DH if he'd take a rear D position during their upcoming deployment and stay here at Fort Bragg. It's a captain's slot, so again we're back at the "can't go active duty unless you're a captain" business. Plus the position has to be approved by the XO. This person who asked him is convinced that he can go active duty if there's a captain's slot available to him here. I don't think they know what they're talking about. And I don't want to go making any deals unless they're 100% sure he can have that position.

The unit in NY confirmed that a position was available for the deployment only, and they would promote him to captain. He's fairly sure that if they promote him they're not going to approve him to go active duty because they want him to come along for their deployment. So that kind of makes the rear D position even more unlikely.

At this point I'm just ready to get out of this box. I'll take the good, bad, or whatever happens so long as I have a say in it and everything that has to do with our lives isn't dependent on the decisions of others.

[Mommyofalmost6]

Hey everyone! We are stationed in Hampton Roads, my husband is in the Navy. We have 6 kiddos.... thinking of another maybe..... We love it here. Our kids range in age from 9 to 21 months.

[MaerynPearl]

bak (like nak only shes not nursing atm)

usmc - lejeune

in a deployment. first with three kids. soooooo tough :(

[Mommyofalmost6]

Ugh I am sorry hun. We just went through our first last year. He was gone almost the entier year and came home right before Christmas. It was a long rough year for the kiddos and myself. I remember it well. Here if you need a shoulder. There are some awesome resources on Military OneSource for the kiddos and yourself if you are interested. *hugs* Stay strong mama.

 

Originally Posted by MaerynPearl 

bak (like nak only shes not nursing atm)

usmc - lejeune

in a deployment. first with three kids. soooooo tough :(

[MaerynPearl]

its our second deployment but last one we didn't have baby... so much harder now.

my 5 year old is having issues with it. We had her broken of sucking her thumb and peeing/pooping herself and suddenly now she's doing it again! No problem when the baby came but as soon as daddy left? *poof* set back 2 years in her progress.

[Mommyofalmost6]

Ugh that is so hard! Poor pumpkin. I know we have some stuff from Seseme street that was awesome for the kids. I will look on the shelf tomorrow and see what else. I know some of my kids seem to go a few steps back when he left. Its so hard even more so for the little ones it just breaks our hearts and fustrates us all at the same time.

[BaMo]

Hey Mamas! We are a coastie family, have a DS (almost 3) & a DD ( 4 1/2 months).

[Sarah W]

It's been quiet in here!

I can't believe that I'm already over 34 weeks! It has flown by. Here's my latest belly pic:

[justKate]

Wow Sarah, that was fast!  You look great and I love how your dog got in there for the picture. :)

There is a bit of drama here at my house.  We arranged to rent our house out through a property management company, but then found the renter on our own (our neighbor's MIL).  Now the mgmt co is trying to act like they found her so that they can get the full 65% of the 1st month's rent instead of 35% like we agreed if we found a tenant.  So this should be fun, especially considering they've got $375 of our money already. Grr.  The broker seems to think she can bully us into it....

In OTHER drama, DH and I had an oops this month and my period is officially late today.  I would be thrilled to be pg--DH, not so much.  But it was totally his oops, so?  I got a BFN yesterday (at 10DPO).  Usually I start pre-AF spotting around 8DPO and have a 10 or 11 day LP, but my temps are not falling at all.  So I'm going to test again tomorrow.  We'll see!!  Send BFP thoughts for tomorrow!

We've got our orders in hand, finally.  Moving June 1st-ish.  DH is excited about his new command, which helps a lot.  Our plan is to just go and look for housing once we get there, since we don't really have the opportunity to go out there in advance and look.  That part is not so exciting because we've got a nice place here, and since I'm likely to be a SAH, we want to get something well below BAH.  It's not so much the space that I care about, but the appliances... I know, it's shallow, but it does make life easier to have good appliances!  The plan is to stay in an extended-stay type hotel until TLE runs out and then try to get into a TLF on one of the bases.  When we moved to KW we stayed in a Navy Lodge that was really nice while we found a place.  When we moved to TX we bought our house on a trip out in April, then stayed in an extended stay type hotel until we closed on the house after we got here.  How do you all usually do it?