Well folks, He is off. Plans changed a tad bit since liberty was over at a crazy time. We took him to the ship last night. The kids did a lot better than I expected. Princess was asleep when we got there and Prince made sure to stay up to see daddy off.
Sadly, I do not think they get the time frame of the things happening.I tried to explain to them. After birthdays, after this and after that. We will see. I am hoping that it works.
Honestly, This is my first deployment with kid(s). Princess was 18 months last deployment. She did great. WONDERFUL I should say. Prince has had daddy home a large majority of his life so this is really new to him. I will teach him to roll with the punches.
I tried to snap some pictures last minute. They are a bit goofy and everyone is tired.
It is that time again. Time to gear up for another deployment. I have one been on one deployment as a wife and countless deployments as a daughter. I have found some things that made it easier for me to get through both types.
One thing that will help any couple is trust. Without trust you have no marriage. Without trust your marriage will fail on deployment. That is something you need to make it out of this obstacle alive and thriving. Plain and simple.
Communication is not only key to any marriage, but especially a military marriage. Our loved ones are half a world away. We need to be on the same page about home, finances and especially our children. As a daughter I remember waiting on letters from my mom. They were numbered just in case the mail would get weird. Now day’s snail mail is out of the question. We have email. It is faster and cheaper. I understand that there are times where email is not up, where you are not able to get a response back. I went through my share of those times. I still sent emails. When the email would come up they would be waiting for him. Also, just because he was not able to send out sometimes he was still able to get emails. I still send my emails. Even if they were just to say “I love you”, he got my emails.
Care packages are what get the guys and gals through the day. I mailed a lot of non-perishable food to him and lots of stuff from the kids. The USPS has a military kit that has priority boxes so you can stuff it with all you need to for a flat rate. It helped tremendously.
Pictures. Lots of pictures. He would send them home and we would email them to him. I am sure that the Its that review the emails got tired of seeing my daughter then my son. It is okay. I don’t mind ;)
Books, books and more books. Your spouse can read a book on board the ship and record it and your little ones will get it on a DVD. We did not plan for this the right way but the best way to do this is to get 2 copies of the books that will be read. Mom/Dad takes one and the other stays home with the kiddos. They can read along while watching the DVD. This worked out GREAT. My son at 2 months knew his daddy’s voice and face from 3 days old. I also think this helped my daughter remember her daddy.
Money is tight for some on deployments. Make sure you have an understanding of how much will be spent in each port. Remember also that they will not be in port every month. You can always save up for a port. It is important that they get to get off the ship. This is where your trust and communication really come into play.
One thing that has helped me through work ups and deployment is a smart phone. When I first went through this as a wife, I had a Sidekick. Now and iPhone. I need my email at my finger tips. It really helps for me to be able to email him my thoughts and instant pictures of the kiddos.
Map it! Show your children on a map where mommy or daddy is. My dad did this for me and I cannot tell you how it helped me. I was much older, teenager, but my mother was gone. This made it a bit easier.
Tick tock… Time zone maps also really help. My daughter at eighteen months really liked this one. She had a hard time realizing that just because the sun was up where we were doesn’t mean the sun was up where daddy was.
Deployments are not fool proof. You have to hope for the best. I am going through our recent deployment with 2 more kiddos than I had last time. Three years after my last one. I sent SD off with a ton of food, warm clothes, and his computer. Other than his wife and kids, these are all things he loves. I can only hope he has good memories, doesn’t eat nasty food, and gets a good break from us that when we roll to shore he is ready to help out for the next ten months as we gear up for another one.
I will see you later babe, I love you and I will miss you.
I am not only a Navy wife, I was a Navy brat for 21 years of my life. I can actually tell you my mom wore combat boots. I am proud. She wore them well. Living as a Navy brat prepared be for something I said I would never do. I was adamant about not ending up with someone in the military. It happened. Until now I thought I was prepared for everything. Until I became a mom of children who are attached to their daddy. We have been preparing the kids for the upcoming deployment for some time now. Princess gets it, Prince, Yeah not so much. We tell him daily that daddy is leaving. We tell him that daddy will return, It doesn't work. I am not sure if it is his age (will be 3) or if it the fact that daddy has always came home after a week so he doesn't get it. Perhaps he will when we drop him off.
I can honestly say that I am fine. He has only been home a solid year of our marriage. I can honestly say other then my sanity I can do this. Seeing it through the eyes of my kids, that is a different story. Princess is so used to it that she is okay. She knows he will return. Prince, is having a very hard time grasping it.
Here is to lonely nights, lots of worry and staying busy!
Guess what lucky little girl got these socks this weekend!?!?!?
That's right my Munchkin!!!!
We went to the San Diego Kids Expo this weekend. The kids did not have a nap that day so needless to say they were quite tired. They had a great time though. Prince really was not having it with all the people but he just played soccer the entire time. We finally got him in a jump house that no other kids were in. When it got full he had enough. Princess had a blast! She an arm painting a stuffed pink poodle and had a blast with me talking to the people there.
I have been doing some networking on Twitter (@sailorsmistress) and met some wonderful women and we got tickets for the event from a nice lady I met on there. It was a fun time for all!
Our life around these parts has been stressful.
SD works 14 hour days, the kids rarely see him which means I'm what I call "single momin-it". The kiddos are really missing their daddy and of course I am missing my husband. How I do it, I am not sure. I will have a post about that later.
I can tell you that I know once I get through this next 4 weeks I can do ANYTHING!!!
SD has had to learn over the years about birthdays. He had never had a girlfriend before me to buy things for or any female for that matter. He had 8 sisters shop for mom....
This year he did good. I won't show you pictures of my van (that's just crazy),my iPhone is a 3G, my necklace isn't here yet.
There comes a time in every military relationship that "duty calls". It has come this time. Over the next 2 months (8 weeks) he will be here 3. We were ready for this. Honestly, since I am so sick and tired... I am not ready for this. I am at the stage where hormones are nuts and the kids do not help. Princess tries her hardest to understand. Prince, doesn't understand and has NO idea what is going on. I am nervous to even see his reaction to daddy being gone for a week! He doesn't do well with change. I am trying to feel better. I keep telling myself that there is a couple more weeks... Couple more weeks. I have it pretty well under control. As long as I take a Zofran RIGHT when I go to get out of bed.
I have found such good deals on stuff for the munchkin. My only thing is I have a superstition that you do not buy stuff before 12 weeks. I also believe that you do not tell people before 12 weeks. My thing is I was feeling SO horrible that I had to tell people because of a superstition that something could happen. I have began shopping. I am getting the minor things that I might need before we find out the gender. I am still debating on a stroller because we have a sit-n-stand which Ethan loves but I am not sure that he will actually sit in it without the 5pt harness on him! We will find out with time I guess. I have a bit. I would like to wear the baby as long as possible.
I have been catching up with my cleaning very slowly. Laundry is getting done and some cleaning. I still have to clean carpets of puppy accidents from Zoey which will take forever. I have done lots of laundry and trying to clean my room. I will get all this done before the munchkin is here!
The day has come! We are on our way to Florida. I am so excited. I will be sure to have lots of photos.
I did get my hair fixed they way i wanted it! I am happy with it. My friends and i call it the "mom" cut and boy does it make me feel like a mom. I feel like i need to rush out and buy a new wardrobe asap! It will be good for the pool and simple to do for the rush of summer things.
I am a little nervous to leave SD. He always leaves us. We never leave him. I know he will be okay, I hope he will be okay, He has never lived on his own! We will see how much weight he loses if he can't cook!
I will be updating all along my trip. Hope everyone has a safe 4th of July.
He is against my reusable bags. He wont let me save my cans (from my lovely, Coke Zero), paper, boxes NOTHING! He says "it's not like everyone else is doing it". WTH! YES! I want to do my part to at least have my kids future saved. I want my kids to have the resources that we had growing up. BS!
