Life With Little Boys | Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

Should You Go Overseas?

June 13, 2013 2 Comments

Stationed in Germany

In case you are new to my blog, we lived in Germany for four years. My oldest son and I arrived in March of 2006 and we left as a family of four in March of 2010. I had a baby over there and got to travel a little bit.

The last two years there were hard. It could have been the deployment, the fact that I had such young children or even that I was just ready to be back in the US. By the time we got on the plane in March 2010, I was very happy to return home.

I noticed that a lot of my friends who moved back to the US before me really missed Germany a lot. They would talk about how they wished they were still there. They talked about how they didn’t want to be in the US even months later. They talked about their plans to return. I told myself I wasn’t going to be like that. I told myself that US was where I needed to be living. Traveling is another story but I was done living anywhere but the United States of America.

Well it has now been three years and three months since we left. I don’t want to go back. I don’t dream of ways to do that. I don’t long to live there again but…

I do miss it sometimes. I miss the simplicity of our lives. I wonder if that has more to do with the ages of my kids or just the way life was over there. I didn’t have to work from home over there. I didn’t have to worry about making money like I do now. That could have something to do with it as well. When I look back to my time there I think about a simple life I no longer live.

I miss being able to walk around my German village. I miss going to the store and buying baked goods and cheap flowers. I miss being able to see castles and the close-knit Military community that is over there. The states are just so different. We do live off-post here so some of that is because we are not living on-post.

In the last few years I will talk to people who are either thinking about going overseas or have orders to do so. Some of them are nervous or don’t know if they should go or not.

Stationed in Germany

Here is my advice… GO! If you get a chance to be stationed overseas, take it. Don’t be scared. Is it going to be paradise where you will love every minute of it? Maybe not but that doesn’t change the fact that it is an amazing opportunity. You may get over there, love it and try to stay for years and years. You may hate it and be so glad to return home. Still, take the chance and go. And when you are there try your best to make the best of it. Take chances, explore and get to know your new home. Trust me, it will be worth it.

In 2008 I was sad to be back in Germany. I knew we had another deployment coming and I was tired of missing the US. I knew we were going to be there for a few more years. I got back into photography and it really opened my eyes to Germany. I was taking photos everyday and was having so much fun with them. I can look back on that time and remember everything we got to see. I can think about all the different people we met. It truly was an experience.

So don’t be scared, don’t say no to it…say yes and go. I don’t think you will regret it.

2 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Army Wife, Army Wives, Life With Little Boys, Military Life, Stationed in Germany, Stationed Overseas Tagged With: should we go overseas?, stationed in germany, stationed overseas

Wordless Wednesday: Starting A Deployment

June 12, 2013 4 Comments

starting a deployment

Wordless Wednesday: Starting A Deployment

My husband loves his boys so very much.

We were saying goodbye and he just started tickling them to make them laugh.

4 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Army Wife, Army Wives, Deployment, Life With Little Boys, Military Life

Why You Don’t Put Rocks In Your Ears

June 11, 2013 Leave a Comment

My Son stuck a rock in his ear Before this deployment started I was pretty freaked out about going it alone with the three boys. Well…looks like I was right. This deployment started out in a very crazy way and I am still wondering how we are going to make it.

Although apart of me hopes that because it started in such a way, it will only get better. One can hope.

Anyway, last week my 8-year-old went to Boy Scout day camp. He had a blast. I picked him up on Friday and took him home. I noticed he was touching his ear but didn’t think too much about it.

I went about my day. I decided I was going to make a nice meal. I had put a roast in the crock pot and even made cornbread muffins. Yum. I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing while I ate my yummy meal. My kids will eat it too which is a plus. Well I put all the food on the table and noticed my son messing with his ear again. I asked him what was wrong and if it was hurting him. That is when he told me… HE PUT A ROCK IN HIS EAR! Say what? Really? Why? He told me it was itching him. This is the only time he would admit why he did it. Anytime anyone else asked him he said he didn’t know.

Okay…so I take a deep breath. Maybe he means a tiny little pebble about the size of sand. We always get sand in our ear at the beach, no big deal right? I will get my husband’s little flashlight and look.

Man…that is a ROCK not a little sand size grain. It was now 6:00. I had to think about to do. I didn’t want to take any chances but I knew that it would be best if we had food in our tummy. I made everyone eat and I quickly finished my meal. So much for enjoying it. I didn’t even take the time to butter my cornbread.

I called my friend J. She is amazing. I hate hate having to ask for help but I also could not see taking all three boys to the ER with me. She was able to take my other two and we headed to her house. On the way, Drew, my six-year-old told me it was really good that he was going to her house because he isn’t so good at waiting in waiting rooms. So true and glad he can recognize that about himself.

Anyway, dropped them off and headed to the ER. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never been there before except when I had what we later found out was Bell’s Palsy and then it was called Urgent Care. It wasn’t too bad. We checked in and five minutes later they called us to one of the rooms. I was thinking it wasn’t going to be a big deal. They would just pull the rock out and we would be on our way.

Well the first guy couldn’t do it. He said they would need to use water so we would need to wait for a room.

We only had to wait 15 minutes and then they took us back. The first nurse said he didn’t even see a rock. Trust me nurse, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t seen the rock with my own eyes.

The doctor came in, saw the rock and tried a few different things. It really seemed like they didn’t want to try hard to get it out. While I understand this I was just getting frustrated. To me it looked simple with the right tools but the ER didn’t have any of those. They sent in another nurse to try the water. That didn’t work so they gave him some drops and told us to call ENT on Monday if it was still in there. I guess it isn’t a huge deal to have a rock in your ear for a few days as long as it really isn’t hurting you.

I made the decision to not go back to BACH but to call our regular doctor on Monday. So when I woke up Monday morning and saw that stupid rock was still there, I called and made an appointment. I thought for sure they could get it out. A few months ago they had to remove some ear wax build up and I thought this would be easy compared to that.

So Monday we went in and they tried to get it out but didn’t feel very comfortable with it either. They told me they would set up an appointment for an ENT for him. We did have to wait on Tricare. Here I am thinking he would have to live with the rock for another few days. As soon as we got home I got a call that we did get the referral and we could come into the ENT anytime.

I wanted to go ASAP because I was so over the stupid rock. We had to wait for a bit but then once the doctor came in he was able to get it out right away. It was the tool he used I am sure and probably just having more experience with things in ears. I was so relieved. We were able to keep the rock and I plan to frame it as a reminder to my son to never ever put anything in his ear and to remind myself that even though crappy things happy during a deployment, I can survive them.

So that folks is why you should never put rocks in your ears.

PS: I think if this had happened on a Thursday night and not the weekend it could have been taken care of the very next morning and would have been a lot less stressful.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Army Life, Army Wife, Deployment, Life With Little Boys, Military Life Tagged With: Deployment, deployment challenges, My son got a rock stuck in his ear, rock in ear

The Day Before They Leave

June 10, 2013 4 Comments

Due to OPSEC this post was written many many days before it was posted. My husband is not about to deploy tomorrow.

It is the last day. How did this happen so fast? The deployment was coming up for so long and now it is here. He is at work. They have him at work the day before he goes. Why Army why? You get him for the next nine months, why can’t I have him all day today?

I just want to freeze time…but then I don’t. I want time to move forward but I don’t want to have to miss him while it does.

Nine months. Maybe more. Maybe less. I will take each day at a time, each hour if I have to.

Somedays will be good. We will have fun. We won’t miss him quite as much. Other days will be hard. There will be a lot of tears. It will make it seem like homecoming will never come.

Will he be ok? Will we see him again? These are the questions I have to ask. I have to. Not everyone comes home from war. Most likely he will. The odds are in our favor. But still…I wonder. Is this it? Is this all we have?

I dread tomorrow. D day. The day he leaves. The driving to drop him off. The hugs and kisses. The last kiss. The last hug. Seeing the person I tell everything to walk away is heartbreaking. Knowing they will be in danger is scary. Thinking of living apart makes you cry.

Deployment #4. How did we get here? How is it possible? It hasn’t even been TWO years yet. Uh!

So many emotions. So many feelings.

I dread the first day. Walking around the house, seeing his stuff. Seeing the coffee maker he won’t be using for a while. Seeing his clothes that won’t be worn. Remembering how the night before we sat together and watched that movie. How just a couple of days ago we were out back bbqing together. How last year at this time we were getting ready for a family trip to California.

I think about how much he will miss. Summer. The start of school. Birthdays. Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. All that comes with the holiday season. The snow might come and he will still be over there.

I think about what I will focus on to get me through. My boys. My blog. My garden. My books.

I wonder how much I will grow as a person. I wonder how much he will grow.

And when he comes home this time we will have just a few months before we are done with Active duty Army. Wow. Something that has been apart of our lives for years will be over. That chapter will be closed. I still have no idea what the next chapter will be.

As I sit here, the day before my husband has to go, all I can feel is dread. Knowing that this time tomorrow I will probably be in tears. But also knowing that this time tomorrow is one day closer to him returning.