This time 4 years ago our belongings were being packed up at Fort Bragg and being sent to Fort Huachuca. It's amazing to me that we are already at our 3rd duty station since then. We have been lucky enough to be sent to 4 pretty awesome places (well in my mind). Fort Bragg, Fort Huachuca, Fort Bliss, and now Fort Polk. All of these places have been so good to us.
However, now we are venturing into new territory and that is moving with a little one in tow. When we head to Kansas next year we will have a 10 month old and that blows my mind. Adding kids to a military life can definitely be a tricky situation, I have seen some of my friends struggle with constantly moving their kids around and feeling a tremendous amount of guilt.
However, I do believe that not enough credit is given to kids and how resilient they really are. I know that we will have some struggles when it comes to constantly moving with Emersyn but it is up to us to make things easy for her and to ensure that she is given every opportunity to thrive. She will of course spend time away from her Daddy and extended family but she will come to appreciate the time that she does have with them even more.
She (and future siblings) will be able to experience things that not everyone will have the chance to and to me that is a great advantage of this life.While this life is not for everyone, we are determined to make it the best one we can for her.
Life is too short to dwell on the things we can't change so I am excited to embrace this life with her and show her how amazing it really is.
Happy Wednesday everyone!
One of my best friends is a military kid and she is one of the most well adjusted people I know and so easygoing which I think is because of her having to move so much when she was younger. Like you said kids are resilient!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have totally the right attitude towards helping Emersyn adjust. She's lucky to have such thoughtful parents!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of moves, there's still a possibility Andy and I will be PCSing soon. I was already dreading the 2 hour move to Knox, I can't imagine a longer PCS instead!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, kids are SO resilient. I have moved around a lot too with my husband's job. Emersyn will learn so much by moving and will be very well-rounded.
ReplyDeleteYou have such a great outlook on all of it and I know that you and Kyle will be the best parents :)
ReplyDeleteIt'll be okay - and not bad at all when she's young! Our PCS with Annabelle was smooth. :) I just hope she continues to make it easy on us in the future! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI get so melancholy when I think about our girls growing up in this military life. There are so many incredible things about it that I know they'll be thankful for, but I also wonder if it'll affect them in any way negatively too. Such a rollercoaster!
ReplyDeleteIt's challenging for sure and now it's a whole new ballgame that my kids are school age. We never had to worry about that before and now it scares the crap out of me!
ReplyDeleteKansas! That sounds fun! Your child is going to do great. I'm sure will be out running marathons with you.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a great outlook on this!!
ReplyDeleteDamn right! I wouldn't trade my crazy upbringing at all. If I now had the option of having lived in one place my whole life, I wouldn't choose it!! She will for sure be exposed to so much from an early age - that is priceless!!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up as a military kid, I can say it's awesome. Yeah, it's hard not having an answer to "where are you from?" but I have other cool stories, like going to Spain or skiing in Austria. Sometimes, I even think non-military kids (like my husband) are so weird because they literally lived in one house their whole life. LOL Long story short, being a kid in the military is an amazing life experience and I'm sure your kid(s) will thrive.
ReplyDeleteI'm an Army brat and I think I turned out okay ;)!
ReplyDeleteAGREE! We haven't PSCed yet, but we will be in September. Baby boy will have just turned 1 when we move. We have traveled across the country 3 times in the last two months and he really has done amazing. They really are SO much more flexible than we give them credit for.
ReplyDeleteYep, we make our families work no matter the circumstances, and the kids turn out just fine. :) I think the most important thing is buckets full of love and I'm guessing Baby Emersyn has tons of that already. :)
ReplyDeleteI was a military kid and was fine. Yes it was hard to make new friends, but it did help me break out of my shell. Granted, I'm still shy now, but as a kid I knew if I wanted friends, I'd have to talk. So I did.
ReplyDeleteAnd I loved that I could visit all sorts of places.
You will fall into such a natural rhythm. The girls loves the adventures that we go on! Let me know if you need anything in regards to Kansas. We will still be here, so I can help you with any questions or issues (housing) you might have.
ReplyDeleteMoving with a child does make things very different. You have to constantly be stopping to take care of a little. That was the hardest thing for me to get over when we first moved with Bear. I try to push to get everything cleaned or unpacked and put away as quickly as possible. Which takes me 2-3 times a longer now. I'm sure I'll add to that with the next one. That said hubby and I had talked about moving all the time with kids because it's a reality being military. He was a military kid and loved moving and getting to do thing. His parents were great about keeping it upbeat and attempting to make the transition easier. When it comes to our own kids thankfully hubby is half way done. Bear will be around 13yo or so when we stop moving all the time. This is similar to what Hubby's younger brothers experienced. They say it was the best of both worlds. They didn't have to worry about moving in their high school years and really got "grow" in one area. Think in the end it is what you make of it.
ReplyDeleteWe're at Bragg now, so I would love any thoughts!
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