Get a “kids’ crap” basket. Make your coffee nutritious. Forget PJs and dress your kids in clean clothes before bed so they’re ready for school when they wake up. Fear not, I have *actually* practical tips for the overextended and exhausted mama.
Category: Military
No longer a military wife, but not quite a civilian one either: the in-between life of a contractor’s wife
It’s just another husbandless day. The first question I’m typically asked when people find out my missing husband is deployed: What branch? He’s prior Marine Corps, I tell them, but he works privately now. We did five years in the Marines. Five years surrounded by a community of people who spoke my language, understood the acronyms, knew what it was like for spouses to miss Christmases and milestones and births.tell me the rest!
19 lessons I learned in 2019
2019 has been a year of change. Every part of our lives have changed–from the jobs, to the location, to our marriage, our family, our living situation–everything. The kids and I moved three times. My husband moved four times. From the east coast to southwest to farther north on the east coast. My husband got out of the military and we were a civilian family for the first time ever.tell me the rest!
I’ve never met my civilian husband
Four years ago, an 18 year old missionary kid moved back from England early to marry her high school sweetheart. They had only been together for two weeks out of the two years since he had left during his junior year of high school. In those two years, she finished high school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia working as an English teacher and training in Muay Thai and he joined thetell me the rest!
Ten airplanes by five weeks old: postpartum and alone with my son
I’ve done some impulsive things in my life, and perhaps one of the most impulsive of all was booking tickets from California to Texas when my son was nine days old so he could visit his daddy. We arrived at the tiny airport at 3am and I embarked on a weekend trip to Texas–on my own. With a newborn. What was I thinking? The trip was fantastic and my sontell me the rest!
“Is he supposed to look like that?!”
Yes, this is the story of my son’s birth, and yes, that is the first thing my husband exclaimed upon the delivery of that sweet little boy. Is he supposed to look like that?! I’ll be honest, it crossed my mind too. You see, my son was born with the cord wrapped around his neck twice and a serious cone head, plus as my husband so aptly says, he was coveredtell me the rest!
Almost two years since the pregnancy that made me want to die
Two years ago, when I was pregnant with my son, people used to tell me that pregnancy was the most wonderful time of their lives. I would literally balk. Pregnancy–anything but miserable? Perhaps. But the greatest experience of their lives? Yeah, there was no way. Perhaps some people had okay experiences, but there was no way that pregnancy was the best time of their lives. Now we’re coming up on mytell me the rest!
I forgot how to relax
At home, I can always find something to do. Always. Floors must be swept, dishes must be done, the little guy decided to rearrange the kitchen pantry, my husband’s boots left sand tracked across the house–even when there’s nothing to do, I still find something. It drives my husband nuts and he’s constantly asking me to stop because my perpetual doing puts him on edge, but I feel like I can’ttell me the rest!
Welcome to military wife life: from one extreme to the other
Two days ago, we pulled up to our North Carolina home and breathed a massive sigh of relief. Home. We made it. But at the same time, the tears welled up. I didn’t want to come back to spending my days isolated and alone, I wanted to be around family and friends. I want my son to spend his days wrestling with Pop Pop and brushing his teeth with Grandmatell me the rest!
Is it okay to be happy when so many others are hurting?
A strange thing has happened to me recently. I haven’t had any words. If you know me, you’ll know that is strange. I always have something to say, and especially as a blogger I’ve made it my personal mission to empower, educate, and encourage other young wives and mamas like myself. When I learn hard lessons in parenting or in my marriage, I write about them in hopes that someonetell me the rest!