Running Army Wife

Oh gosh. Has it really been a full year? Anyway, I won't waste too much time saying all the things that moms always say. It really did feel fast. This year was just a crazy year anyways (2 moves, one to another country) and in the midst of everything, we are still adjusting to being parents. Star Wars The Force Awakens came out (on the one year anniversary of Jensen's due date!) and we actually got a sitter for the first time. After basically a full year. We'd only been to one other movie while a family member watched him earlier this year and what can I say? I'm kind of a nervous mom and the timing with nursing is always a little tricky anyway. And we didn't live by family the whole year (womp womp, military life). The thing is, you can take a laid back baby to just about anything except a movie theater. Well. Anything that James and I do on a regular basis anyway. We're not exactly clubbers. So yeah, we got a sitter. And went on a movie  date. Jensen wa...

We've been here for about 7 weeks now and now that household goods and our car have arrived, we are somewhat settled in. We are living in an apartment on base, which we love. I might post pictures once we hang pictures on the walls. We live on the first floor, so it's not too hard to take our dog out (something we were concerned about, moving to a city), we live in a neighborhood of other American families, and there are little play parks around the neighborhood for Jensen to play on. What is it like living in South Korea? Well, our experience is a little different because we live on base. It's kind of like living in a little American bubble in the middle of a huge city. It's relatively quiet, the commissary (which takes American dollars) is just like any commissary on base, we have a few Starbucks and all the typical AAFES stuff (post exchange, Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, etc). But then we get to leave our little bubble and step out the gate into another country. ...

We've been here in Seoul for about a week. We already moved into an apartment on base and I've already fallen in love with this city. We left my brother-in-law's house in Seattle-area at about 4am on a Tuesday and we checked into a hotel here in the city at about 9pm on Wednesday.. and it's confusing with the time change but basically we were traveling for about 26 or 27 hours. With a 10-month-old, cat, dog, and ALL the luggage, it was definitely the most tiring travel day of my life. From our hotel room. Jensen looks out on his new city! First impression of Korea: 1) It's a lot more European-feeling and a lot less "foreign" than I thought it would feel.  Granted, we've mostly been hanging out in the Itaewon, the international district of Seoul. But there are coffee shops, french bakeries, craft beer, wineries, and every kind of international food you can think of here. Also, most people in this part of the city speak at least enough English y...

In James's Military Intelligence Career Course, there were guys that were known as "Pure Military Intelligence." This meant that they were MI from their commissioning in the beginning. James was Infantry up until this course, so he switched over branches and became MI. So for James, there is this asterisk. Yep, I'm MI now, but I have Infantry experience.  I feel like I've been a "Stay-at-home mom" with an asterisk. Yep, I stay at home, but I work as a programmer part-time. Well.. unfortunately the working hours of my team in Seattle-area do not translate well to hours in Korea. It's pretty much exactly when I'll be sleeping over there. To phone into team meetings, I would have had to get up in the middle of the night.  So.. I gave my two weeks notice just a few days after we found out about Korea. We are moving soon (just a few weeks now until household goods come) and there is organizing and vet appointments and well-baby appointments and...

Korea. We are moving there. WHAT. I had gotten to this great place where I was happy not knowing where we were moving yet. They kept on pushing back the date when we would find out, so I just decided I would be cool with it.  The Army will tell us when the Army tells us. As soon as we find out, it will get more stressful (It did) . Let me just bask in the ignorance for a while.  I was pretty dang smug about how patience I was being. Then last Monday, James had the day off work. He got back from his run and while he was in the shower, his phone exploded with texts. Everyone in his squad was sending in a group text that people were finally get the email . So people continued to get emails all morning. And we waited. I think I told James to hit refresh on his email about 50 times. And I realized that since other people knew, I was no longer cool with not knowing. We ended up not finding out until the next afternoon. Somehow we were one of the very last to find out. J...

Today, Jensen turns 7 months old. And today, James will interview for his next assignment and location. Together, we ranked a list of jobs at different Army bases 1 to 25. They will place James at one of those locations, depending on where they think he (and the rest of his captain's career course classmates) fit best. In a little over 2 months, we will be packing up to move to one of those places. Some of those places are overseas. Some of them are in the middle of nowhere. None of them are very close to family in Chicagoland (the closest, I believe, is a 6 hour drive). We have no idea which one yet. Four years ago, when I waited outside some gates, waiting for James to come out of Ranger School, I talked to a veteran Dad waiting for his son. He promised me that "life will eventually calm down." After nearly 8 months of living apart and phone calls and letters from the field, I didn't really believe him. We got placed at James's first assignment and he almost...

I finally caved and read "The Fault In Our Stars" like everyone else and their mom, and there was a line I particularly loved: "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."   For me, that was how I feel in love with my baby boy. And I'm just going to warn you right now. This post is pretty dang sappy.  It was different with my husband. James and I had high school crushes on each other that God helped us bake into something more substantial. We've got a crock pot love. With Jensen, I very slowly started to fall in love when I saw him on the ultrasound and then BAM. When I held him in my arms for the first time, the feeling in my heart was explosive and fierce.  In a marriage, you have faith and hope that your spouse will stay with you until death do us part. With a child, you love them knowing that they will very most likely leave you someday. I've tried to explain to a few friends without kids how I feel about J...