Deployment
7 months passed since I last saw my husband. I stood in an open field area on base at 3 am waiting in the darkness. All the military homecoming tips in the world weren't helping at that point. Among me stood about a hundred families anxiously awaiting the impending arrival of their service members. I felt giddy with excitement, but at [...]
Archives for July 2016
MilSpouse LifeFor Every Military Spouse Who Tried Direct Sales
When I was a brand new MilSpouse, I went for it: direct sales. I found a company I liked and a product that I loved. I signed up, envisioning amazing trips and opportunities. I naively thought that this business venture would be like collecting dividends on money in the bank. In other words: easy. Instead, I struggled. [...]
Raising Kids5 Highly Effective Tips for Parenting a Strong Willed Child
From the moment he was born, my son made his presence known. My husband and I didn’t know it yet, but we were embarking on a journey of parenting a strong-willed child. As a newborn baby, my son cried for what seemed like hours on end, which as a new mom, brought on the mega meltdowns...you know the ones where you sob that 'nothing is [...]
9 Reasons Why It’s Okay When He Deploys
It's always a shock when my husband tells me he has to deploy. I go through various emotions coping with deployment separation: I cry and ask if the military can send someone else. (No.) I panic and think I can't do it all on my own. photo credit: Kristen Wong After that comes acceptance, but it's generally a nervous acceptance. I [...]
Military ResourcesHow to Save Big on Your Next Military Family Vacation
Our trip was nothing short of a vacation nightmare. We were preparing for a big overseas move, and in the midst of all that stress, we decided it would be an excellent idea to take a military family vacation back to the Midwest before we leapt across the pond for three years. The vacation itself was amazing. But the travel getting to [...]
How to Build a MilSpouse Network That Will Support You
Making friends as a military spouse is almost like speed dating. You arrive at a location. You put your best self out there. You awkwardly approach new people and share personal details of your lives. And just when you are getting comfortable with a person, you move on. It's weird and strange to essentially look at making [...]
10 Things Military Spouses Won’t Tell You About Deployment
I remember the first time my husband called me after returning from Iraq. I was a military girlfriend and living long-distance at the time. Hence the phone call. So…We were chatting away, and I was feeling all sorts of happy butterflies because he was finally home. And we were—finally—going to see each other and spend time together! [...]
6 Reasons Why Tantrums Will Turn You Into a Better Parent
We were in the middle of a brutal honesty moment. I just spent the last hour figuring out how to deal with toddler tantrums, and my friend, who was visiting me overseas in Okinawa, turned to me and asked, “Do you ever have really angry thoughts in your head?” I didn’t hesitate for a second to answer her. “Oh, all the [...]
Mom LifeHow to Give Your Kid a Birthday Party They Will Always Remember
As I was putting a few things together for my son’s birthday, I tried to remember what a birthday celebration was like for me as a kid. Unfortunately, when I sat down and thought about it, I couldn’t remember a single birthday from my childhood. Not a single amazing party, gift or theme came to mind. It’s not because my childhood [...]
How to Unpack After a PCS Without Completely Losing It
We recently moved from Tinker AFB in Oklahoma to JBSA-Lackland in San Antonio. I won't lie, we had some stressful moments. We're still unpacking, because we have a lot of stuff. You'd think by now, we'd learn to read up on PCS moving tips and KonMari our house or at least minimize the clutter. But there are ways to get through all the [...]
