~AKO
Showing posts with label Deployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deployment. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Saturday, December 14, 2013
The Date is Set
The deployment date has been set so now starts the countdown. Being that we're dealing with the Army, I know things could change tomorrow, but at least we have a general date to work towards and plan around. We still have a few months, but with the holidays around the corner I know it will go fast and deployment day will be here before we know it.
I've been trying to get us to do as much stuff as a family as we can before he leaves that I am exhausted! I told Freddy that he was going to have so much family fun and activities crammed down his throat over the next few months that his head would be spinning :)
I think job #1 is making a list of the items that we have to get done before he leaves... like getting the gutters cleaned and covered... an electrician needs to come in and look at the light in the garage... things like that. I think I'll need to put my project manager hat on for the next few months and try not to drive everyone else crazy!
Family fun will continue tomorrow when we have to go out and shovel the driveway and sidewalks from all the snow we got today!
~AKO
I've been trying to get us to do as much stuff as a family as we can before he leaves that I am exhausted! I told Freddy that he was going to have so much family fun and activities crammed down his throat over the next few months that his head would be spinning :)
I think job #1 is making a list of the items that we have to get done before he leaves... like getting the gutters cleaned and covered... an electrician needs to come in and look at the light in the garage... things like that. I think I'll need to put my project manager hat on for the next few months and try not to drive everyone else crazy!
Family fun will continue tomorrow when we have to go out and shovel the driveway and sidewalks from all the snow we got today!
~AKO
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Changes...
It has actually been longer then I thought since I've posted anything. The truth of the matter is that I just didn't feel like doing much online over the past few months. I went through (and probably still trying to get out of) a little down period in my life.
I haven't really posted it much anywhere and have really only told a few people, but Freddy is scheduled to deploy early next year. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. We dodged the last deployment bullet that was supposed to happen last year but I have a feeling we won't be dodging this one. The longest that Freddy has been gone since we've been together is 6 weeks back in 2011. But this time we're talking up to 9 months out of the country. Marshall turns 4 next year and, by then, Freddy will have missed 3 of his 4 birthdays because of some kind of Army obligation. Freddy was gone for 3 weeks in October, and Marshall had a really hard time with it. He is at the age where he knows daddy is gone but he doesn't understand why. What I have gotten him to understand is that daddy is away with the Army.
So I've been trying to figure out what I need to do to get through this. I know one thing is this blog. I feel like I will need to get my thoughts and feelings out some way and now sound like I'm whining on Facebook! I know I won't be doing one of those counting up things that some mil spouses do because I KNOW I won't be able to commit to blog every day. BUT, what I'm thinking is, at the very least, doing a monthly deployment recap or something like that. I am a little concerned with trying to hold down the home front with 4 cats, a toddler, and a high stress full time job. I know others have done it before me but I just hope that it won't take us long to get into our new normal.
I'm not sure what they do for Active Duty personnel and their families who are getting ready to deploy, but for the National Guard, they hold what is called a Yellow Ribbon event. It is an all day event that provides A LOT of information on the services and resources that will be available to us while our service member is deployed. Most of us do not live near a base so we don't receive this type of information regularly. Our Yellow Ribbon event was yesterday. I ended up with 2 tote bags full of pamphlets and papers to read through! I think I'm going to have to create a couple file folders dedicated specifically to this deployment in our filing cabinet. Throughout a full 8 hours of briefings and information, one thing stuck in my head. It was during the 20 minutes or so that our FRG leaders had to talk to us with the service members out of the room. Our FRG leader just had her husband deploy for the 4th time 4 days ago. We are the only unit that she is responsible for that is also deploying around the same time but one of the things that she mentioned was about self improvement. She said to focus on at least one task of self improvement during the deployment. So here I am…
I will be working to get myself organized over the next few months. Heck, I may even take the full week that Freddy leaves off from work! But, one of the things that I had set up a couple months ago for fun and haven't really given much thought about until now is the Day Zero Project. I actually got the idea from the blog She Follows The Sun. Basically it is a list of 100 things that you want to do in 1001 days. The site keeps track of your start and end date and also allows you to keep a "Someday" list. So, here we go… I have my list of 100 things that I want to do in 1001 days. I definitely plan to write some blog posts when I do finish any of them. 1001 is about 2 1/2 years. Plenty of time to get some stuff done right?? You can follow my progress HERE.
So that's about it for now… Look for some redesign coming to this blog in the coming weeks so I apologize in advance for any broken pictures or links.
~AKO
I haven't really posted it much anywhere and have really only told a few people, but Freddy is scheduled to deploy early next year. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. We dodged the last deployment bullet that was supposed to happen last year but I have a feeling we won't be dodging this one. The longest that Freddy has been gone since we've been together is 6 weeks back in 2011. But this time we're talking up to 9 months out of the country. Marshall turns 4 next year and, by then, Freddy will have missed 3 of his 4 birthdays because of some kind of Army obligation. Freddy was gone for 3 weeks in October, and Marshall had a really hard time with it. He is at the age where he knows daddy is gone but he doesn't understand why. What I have gotten him to understand is that daddy is away with the Army.
So I've been trying to figure out what I need to do to get through this. I know one thing is this blog. I feel like I will need to get my thoughts and feelings out some way and now sound like I'm whining on Facebook! I know I won't be doing one of those counting up things that some mil spouses do because I KNOW I won't be able to commit to blog every day. BUT, what I'm thinking is, at the very least, doing a monthly deployment recap or something like that. I am a little concerned with trying to hold down the home front with 4 cats, a toddler, and a high stress full time job. I know others have done it before me but I just hope that it won't take us long to get into our new normal.
I'm not sure what they do for Active Duty personnel and their families who are getting ready to deploy, but for the National Guard, they hold what is called a Yellow Ribbon event. It is an all day event that provides A LOT of information on the services and resources that will be available to us while our service member is deployed. Most of us do not live near a base so we don't receive this type of information regularly. Our Yellow Ribbon event was yesterday. I ended up with 2 tote bags full of pamphlets and papers to read through! I think I'm going to have to create a couple file folders dedicated specifically to this deployment in our filing cabinet. Throughout a full 8 hours of briefings and information, one thing stuck in my head. It was during the 20 minutes or so that our FRG leaders had to talk to us with the service members out of the room. Our FRG leader just had her husband deploy for the 4th time 4 days ago. We are the only unit that she is responsible for that is also deploying around the same time but one of the things that she mentioned was about self improvement. She said to focus on at least one task of self improvement during the deployment. So here I am…
I will be working to get myself organized over the next few months. Heck, I may even take the full week that Freddy leaves off from work! But, one of the things that I had set up a couple months ago for fun and haven't really given much thought about until now is the Day Zero Project. I actually got the idea from the blog She Follows The Sun. Basically it is a list of 100 things that you want to do in 1001 days. The site keeps track of your start and end date and also allows you to keep a "Someday" list. So, here we go… I have my list of 100 things that I want to do in 1001 days. I definitely plan to write some blog posts when I do finish any of them. 1001 is about 2 1/2 years. Plenty of time to get some stuff done right?? You can follow my progress HERE.
So that's about it for now… Look for some redesign coming to this blog in the coming weeks so I apologize in advance for any broken pictures or links.
~AKO
Friday, August 23, 2013
Caught in Between
I've been reading Military Spouse magazine off and on for the past couple of years. The articles and columns are usually geared toward spouses of Active and Deployed service members. Every once in awhile I will find something interesting or that pertains to our situation.
Starting with last month's issue, they started a regular column that focuses on Reserve and Guard families. The first article was about the difference in send off between Active and Reserve/Guard service members by a spouse who has done both. It hit a little close to home as we are currently preparing for a deployment starting in February.
This month's column was titled "Welcome to the Civilitary." It really put into words what I've been struggling with over the past 2 years and gave us a title. When I say "us" I mean those connected to the Reserves and the Guard. I never thought about it this way before, but one of the spouses interviewed (an Army National Guard spouse) put it best when she called it "Civilitary." And she is 100% correct. We don't really fit into the civilian world and we don't really fit into the military world.
Freddy was supposed to deploy last October for 11 months. About 4 weeks before they were supposed to report, they scaled back from 48 guys to 15 and he wasn't selected. BUT, we spent the summer preparing for this deployment. Freddy and I have been together since 2005 and married since 2008, but it wasn't until I attended a Yellow Ribbon Event last August that I found out about a lot of military services and opportunities that were available to us. As a National Guard family, we just aren't regularly exposed to a lot of information unless we seek it out.
In addition, there isn't the same support structure. None of my nearby friends or co-workers are military. I even had one of my close friends comment that I'm not the same as an Active duty spouse and why would I think otherwise. Sure... we don't have the same struggles, but we still have struggles related to the military. We have to balance our civilian responsibilities with our military responsibilities. I work a fairly high stress IT job so when Freddy is gone, the stress is even higher keeping up with my work as the Director of a Project Management department (which involves evening and weekend implementations) along with double duty at home completing both Freddy's chores and my chores. There are many nights I'm taking out the trash at 2:00AM because I couldn't get to it before then. I am fairly lucky in that my boss is pretty flexible with me when Freddy is gone. As long as I'm getting my job done I can telecommute a couple days a week if I need to.
I would love to be able to take advantage of the PX or the Commissary more often, but we live almost 2 hours away from the nearest military base. I'm probably going to have to take a day off work just to get in there to get my ID renewed since they aren't open on weekends and only open until 4pm during the week.
Marshall starts pre-school in 2 weeks and I can guarantee he will be one of very few, if any, military kids in his class. He is now getting to the age where he knows when daddy is gone but doesn't understand why. What do you tell a 2 year old who lays in bed crying "I miss my daddy!" :(
And can we talk about my cats? For some reason all 4 turn into holy terrors the second Freddy leaves!
But seriously, as I sit here thinking about the new deployment that is a definite for February and what needs to be completed before he leaves, I'm wondering if we'll be able to hold it together. What I can say is the online Military spouse community has been priceless in the amount of information I've been able to absorb from them. But the reality of the situation is we are caught in between the civilian world and the military world and expected to function full time in both.
All we can do is what any family does... power through!
~AKO
Starting with last month's issue, they started a regular column that focuses on Reserve and Guard families. The first article was about the difference in send off between Active and Reserve/Guard service members by a spouse who has done both. It hit a little close to home as we are currently preparing for a deployment starting in February.
This month's column was titled "Welcome to the Civilitary." It really put into words what I've been struggling with over the past 2 years and gave us a title. When I say "us" I mean those connected to the Reserves and the Guard. I never thought about it this way before, but one of the spouses interviewed (an Army National Guard spouse) put it best when she called it "Civilitary." And she is 100% correct. We don't really fit into the civilian world and we don't really fit into the military world.
Freddy was supposed to deploy last October for 11 months. About 4 weeks before they were supposed to report, they scaled back from 48 guys to 15 and he wasn't selected. BUT, we spent the summer preparing for this deployment. Freddy and I have been together since 2005 and married since 2008, but it wasn't until I attended a Yellow Ribbon Event last August that I found out about a lot of military services and opportunities that were available to us. As a National Guard family, we just aren't regularly exposed to a lot of information unless we seek it out.
In addition, there isn't the same support structure. None of my nearby friends or co-workers are military. I even had one of my close friends comment that I'm not the same as an Active duty spouse and why would I think otherwise. Sure... we don't have the same struggles, but we still have struggles related to the military. We have to balance our civilian responsibilities with our military responsibilities. I work a fairly high stress IT job so when Freddy is gone, the stress is even higher keeping up with my work as the Director of a Project Management department (which involves evening and weekend implementations) along with double duty at home completing both Freddy's chores and my chores. There are many nights I'm taking out the trash at 2:00AM because I couldn't get to it before then. I am fairly lucky in that my boss is pretty flexible with me when Freddy is gone. As long as I'm getting my job done I can telecommute a couple days a week if I need to.
I would love to be able to take advantage of the PX or the Commissary more often, but we live almost 2 hours away from the nearest military base. I'm probably going to have to take a day off work just to get in there to get my ID renewed since they aren't open on weekends and only open until 4pm during the week.
Marshall starts pre-school in 2 weeks and I can guarantee he will be one of very few, if any, military kids in his class. He is now getting to the age where he knows when daddy is gone but doesn't understand why. What do you tell a 2 year old who lays in bed crying "I miss my daddy!" :(
And can we talk about my cats? For some reason all 4 turn into holy terrors the second Freddy leaves!
But seriously, as I sit here thinking about the new deployment that is a definite for February and what needs to be completed before he leaves, I'm wondering if we'll be able to hold it together. What I can say is the online Military spouse community has been priceless in the amount of information I've been able to absorb from them. But the reality of the situation is we are caught in between the civilian world and the military world and expected to function full time in both.
All we can do is what any family does... power through!
~AKO
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Day 29: What We've Been Up To
First of all I have to give props to all of the full time single parents out there! I don't know how you do it. I'm on day 29 and am EXHAUSTED! Most nights I fall asleep with Marshall around 8:00 in the evening. It has been so long since I powered up my personal laptop that the battery was completely dead tonight.
The good thing is that we're in the last week of Freddy's little mini-deployment. I'm actually starting the beginnin stages of a sinus infection so I'm hoping it holds out until he returns next week. I've been sucking on cough drops all day and probably should by stock in Kleenex. I can't take anything like Nyquil because it will put me into a coma and then I won't hear Marshall if he wakes up in the middle of the night.
To make matters worse, poor Harley is having problems ith his back legs again. Back in 2008 when he was still a kitten, Harley had some problems with his back legs. It got to the point where he couldn't put any weight on them and the vet never figured out what the problem was. He tested negative for everything the neurologist could think of and then the issue seemed to resolve itself after he was put on steroid pills. Well, 3 years later and no episodes so the vet weaned him off the pills. After a month of no pills all of a sudden he is having problems again. So I've started giving him his pills in the hope that it will help him. If he doesn't show any improvement by next Wednesday, he'll probably have to go back into the vet.
Since I haven't shared any photos in a while I thought I would share my first video of the Marsh. To give a little background, Marshall LOVES the Fresh Beat Band. Nick Jr plays their videos between shows and before their On Demand programming. Whenever one of their songs comes on the TV, Marshall stops what he's doing and dances to the music.
~AKO
The good thing is that we're in the last week of Freddy's little mini-deployment. I'm actually starting the beginnin stages of a sinus infection so I'm hoping it holds out until he returns next week. I've been sucking on cough drops all day and probably should by stock in Kleenex. I can't take anything like Nyquil because it will put me into a coma and then I won't hear Marshall if he wakes up in the middle of the night.
To make matters worse, poor Harley is having problems ith his back legs again. Back in 2008 when he was still a kitten, Harley had some problems with his back legs. It got to the point where he couldn't put any weight on them and the vet never figured out what the problem was. He tested negative for everything the neurologist could think of and then the issue seemed to resolve itself after he was put on steroid pills. Well, 3 years later and no episodes so the vet weaned him off the pills. After a month of no pills all of a sudden he is having problems again. So I've started giving him his pills in the hope that it will help him. If he doesn't show any improvement by next Wednesday, he'll probably have to go back into the vet.
Since I haven't shared any photos in a while I thought I would share my first video of the Marsh. To give a little background, Marshall LOVES the Fresh Beat Band. Nick Jr plays their videos between shows and before their On Demand programming. Whenever one of their songs comes on the TV, Marshall stops what he's doing and dances to the music.
~AKO
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Day 12: It's Almost Time!!!
The Marsh was 11 months old yesterday! I can't believe he is almost a year old! He is turning into such a little man.
~AKO
~AKO
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Day 8: Grand Plans
Have you ever noticed that your day starts off with the grandest of plans only to be thwarted by life? I had all of these things on my to do listt that I was going to get done today... Not a single item was checked off that list.
On top of it The Marsh has been having some nasty reactions to mosquito bites lately. The one on his arm took almost 2 weeks to go away and now he has one on his face. I am going to try some cortizone cream but if it isn't any better by Thursday we'll be making a trip to the doctor. He ran a fever this evening but the tylenol and a nice warm bath seemed to have brought it down some. He was a little cranky but not too bad. AND he's wheezing again. I am guessing he has seasonal asthma or seasonal allergies since he was fine all summer.
The mosquito bite...
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Day 6: Falling Behind
There was no Day 5 post yesterday because I fell asleep with the Marsh around 5pm and we both slept straight through until 2am!! I guess I was tired...
It really feels like I'm falling behind on everything. I have so many things to get done in the next 6 weeks that I don't even know how to get organized. It doesn't help that with Freddy gone I really can't get started on things during the week until after 8 or 9pm when the baby goes to sleep. I guess I'll get done what I get done...
In other news... Go Lions!! They won again today!
And... I'm thinking the baby gate might lose the battle soon...
~AKO
It really feels like I'm falling behind on everything. I have so many things to get done in the next 6 weeks that I don't even know how to get organized. It doesn't help that with Freddy gone I really can't get started on things during the week until after 8 or 9pm when the baby goes to sleep. I guess I'll get done what I get done...
In other news... Go Lions!! They won again today!
And... I'm thinking the baby gate might lose the battle soon...
~AKO
Friday, September 23, 2011
Day 4: If...
I've seen this floating around and thought it might be fun.
Fill in the blanks...
•If I were to get pregnant again: We would be thrilled that Marshall was going to be a big brother and that our family would be complete.
•If I could have any job in the world I think I might like to be a stay at home mom. I would love to be able to spend time with Marshall all day instead of just a few hours in the morning and at night.
•If I had a day to myself I would probably sleep all day and relax!
•If I could get married all over again we definitely would have done something smaller outside of the city. My brother and sister-in-law got married in Key West and it was so relaxing not having to worry about all the pieces coming together.
•If I could live anywhere in the US I think I would love to live a little closer to my family... but not too close :)
•If Marshall would have been a girl he would have been named Olivia or Abigail.
•If I could have any talent in the world I would love to be more creative.
•If you met me in real life you would probably say wow! I can't believe she's in charge of a portfolio that generates over 500 million in revenue.
•If I could go back to school and get a different degree I would probably pursue a degree in music. I definitely have times where I miss being involved in an orchestra and performing.
•If money were not an object we would have a nice spacious condo in the Upper East Side of Manhattan... complete with parking for both our cars :)
•If I could meet one celebrity I think I would like to meet Tom Hanks. He has always been very interesting and down to earth to me.
•If I could only shop at one store for the rest of my life it would definitely be Target. I can never get out of there for less than $150!
•If we get another pet I would definitely want a dog. I grew up with a dog, but we're just not home enough to have one right now.
•If I could go on a trip, RIGHT NOW, we'd go to Disney World!
•If I had to chose between a house cleaner and a personal chef, I would definitely pick a house cleaner. I need someone to help keep up with the dust and cat hair!
•If I had the option of plastic surgery I would definitely do something like a tummy tuck.
~AKO
Fill in the blanks...
•If I were to get pregnant again: We would be thrilled that Marshall was going to be a big brother and that our family would be complete.
•If I could have any job in the world I think I might like to be a stay at home mom. I would love to be able to spend time with Marshall all day instead of just a few hours in the morning and at night.
•If I had a day to myself I would probably sleep all day and relax!
•If I could get married all over again we definitely would have done something smaller outside of the city. My brother and sister-in-law got married in Key West and it was so relaxing not having to worry about all the pieces coming together.
•If I could live anywhere in the US I think I would love to live a little closer to my family... but not too close :)
•If Marshall would have been a girl he would have been named Olivia or Abigail.
•If I could have any talent in the world I would love to be more creative.
•If you met me in real life you would probably say wow! I can't believe she's in charge of a portfolio that generates over 500 million in revenue.
•If I could go back to school and get a different degree I would probably pursue a degree in music. I definitely have times where I miss being involved in an orchestra and performing.
•If money were not an object we would have a nice spacious condo in the Upper East Side of Manhattan... complete with parking for both our cars :)
•If I could meet one celebrity I think I would like to meet Tom Hanks. He has always been very interesting and down to earth to me.
•If I could only shop at one store for the rest of my life it would definitely be Target. I can never get out of there for less than $150!
•If we get another pet I would definitely want a dog. I grew up with a dog, but we're just not home enough to have one right now.
•If I could go on a trip, RIGHT NOW, we'd go to Disney World!
•If I had to chose between a house cleaner and a personal chef, I would definitely pick a house cleaner. I need someone to help keep up with the dust and cat hair!
•If I had the option of plastic surgery I would definitely do something like a tummy tuck.
~AKO
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Day 1: Gymboree Fun!
Freddy left today for a month long mission in California. He is helping another unit mobilize for deployment to Afghanistan. We've been lucky so far in that he hasn't had to be gone for more than the 2 - 3 weeks for his AT so this is going to be the longest that he is away since we've been together. Marshall is now old enough to realize that daddy did not come back this morning but doesn't understand why. It won't be long before I have to explain to him why daddy has to leave.
So, of course, everyone was acting up today since daddy was gone. On top of all that, I went to draw a bath for Marshall and we had no hot water! I improvised and was able to get some hot water from our Poland Spring dispenser but I hope it is back in the morning. There is nothing worse than having to take a cold shower!
Anyway, I wanted to make sure we were able to do at least one family thing before Freddy left. We were supposed to go to the zoo a couple weeks ago but got rained out. So, I signed us up for a preview class at our local Gymboree. I figured it might be a fun way for Marshall to socialize a bit more with kids his own age. Well, after some hesitation, he decided this might be fun.
We decided to enroll and attend the class weekly. I kind of wish I would have found this when Marshall was younger. What I did learn is that my son is a little bruiser! He was pushing and taking toys away from the other babies. I'm hoping this class will help teach him to share :)
AND if you notice in that last picture, The Marsh has 4 teeth coming in on the top.
~AKO
So, of course, everyone was acting up today since daddy was gone. On top of all that, I went to draw a bath for Marshall and we had no hot water! I improvised and was able to get some hot water from our Poland Spring dispenser but I hope it is back in the morning. There is nothing worse than having to take a cold shower!
Anyway, I wanted to make sure we were able to do at least one family thing before Freddy left. We were supposed to go to the zoo a couple weeks ago but got rained out. So, I signed us up for a preview class at our local Gymboree. I figured it might be a fun way for Marshall to socialize a bit more with kids his own age. Well, after some hesitation, he decided this might be fun.
We decided to enroll and attend the class weekly. I kind of wish I would have found this when Marshall was younger. What I did learn is that my son is a little bruiser! He was pushing and taking toys away from the other babies. I'm hoping this class will help teach him to share :)
AND if you notice in that last picture, The Marsh has 4 teeth coming in on the top.
~AKO
