Military Families
First Military Move With Baby?!
Hello Military Moms,
My husband is in the Navy and we will be getting our moving orders in about 3 months. I wanted to know how was your military move with a LO? Did you drive or fly? Did you move yourself or let the military move you? Just a little nervous now that we have a LO..moving is already stressful and I just wanted a smooth move..if that possible :-)..thanks in advance
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Re: First Military Move With Baby?!
Our only PCS with LO was overseas, so our move was a bit different from our other PCSs.
We split the difference. Monkey and I flew while DH, SS and the dogs drove the car. However, if we had both cars at the time, we would have both driven and just done it in reasonable stages.
On our way back from overseas, we are going to all drive. We get into BWI and will pick up our SUV from the harbor and drive slowly down to FL. It is going ot take us 3 days, vs the two that the two of us would have done without LO.
I get that DITY and partial DITYs can make you money and all that, but honestly, I always have them move us. It is less stressful during the packing and unpacking and if something breaks, its on the movers.
I just ensure that we are extremely organized during the packup
1) I take pictures of EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. I will then put all of the pictures together in a document, and include any vin numbers on the print out. Then I print it out to attach to our copy of the packing/shipping paperwork the movers give to us.
We dont specifically point out that we have this document, but we do put everything together infront of the guys.
2) I pre-organize our stuff.
I combine like items into one room. Ex, we had two bathrooms and one linen closet with our extra linens and towels. I put everything from those three spaces into one room. That way, when I went to unpack, for the most part it was all together in one space vs inside a variety of rooms.
Now, we have a playroom and the stuff in Monkey's bedroom. I will bring everything to her room because our next house may not allow for a playarea. At the least, we start off in one room.
I also did that with all decorative stuff from the entire house. Decorating is the LAST thing I do - you dont know exactly what you are going to have room for, etc. So instead of unpacking and having to move the tchotcke from each room, i can keep it all stored in the boxes marked Bedroom 4 until I want it. ***I actually will take a picture of everything in that room, waiting to be packed. That has actually helped when one of our Swarovski thingies disappeared. The shipping company tried to say that we must have misplaced it somewhere...but since we have a picture of everything together, it helped bolster our claim.
3) Be sure that there is someone on each floor with them. Just having more than one person walking around keeps people honest. And do not be afraid to speak up. I
This also allows you to follow them and write your own list on the outside of the boxes. We have a shitload of kitchen stuff (DH loves gadgets). My first move, I had to open 6 out of 10 boxes to find my silverware.
4) Make sure that the list that THEY write up is detailed. have them list the brand and type of tv and YOU can write down the serial numbers (you have your list prepared remember) on their list if necessary.
5) Make sure that you keep ALL OF YOUR PAPERWORK SEPERATE. We put them in our car just to be sure they dont get packed by mistake. Have your orders, you passports, your medical records, anything that has your SS# or credit card/bank numbers on them, birth and marriage certificates, etc.
If there is too much to drive/fly with you can ship it to your new location and get reimbursed for it.
There are some great lists online that give you tips on what to leave out. So just google it.
Good luck /
DS was 15 months old when we PCS'd
We drove from KS to MD in two cars. Stopped every 2 hours and drove through nap. We stopped at dinner to stay the night at a hotel. The military moved us door to door so we were only without things for one night.
We took everything DS used in a day in our car plus a tote of essentials (towels, toiletries, basic kitchen things, etc) and a suitcase for each of us.
Our next move will have a 4yr old and less than 6 month old, so we'll see how that one goes....
Our first PCS was the week DS turned 3mo old and we did a DITY move! Yup, we were nuts, lol. DH drove the moving truck with the dog and towed one of our cars. I drove our SUV with DS and my mom, towing a trailer with the stuff that we would need to get to when we got to our house. We stopped to get gas and nurse DS so about every 3-4 hours.
We drove from NY to LA and it took us 3 days. I didn't book any hotels or do any kind of itinerary, I figured we'd drive until we had to stop. Big mistake! My gf found a hotel for me online and booked it about 30min before we got there. When we got to that room we booked for the following night. (Now when we do long trips like that I figure out the milage and time on the road and book a room accordingly.) Once we got passed that first day though it went pretty smoothly...
Next time we will be doing a partial DITY. Our kids will most likey be just 4 and almost 2.
DH has been in the Navy a little over 10 years and we have PCSed 3 times as a married couple. Only once with kids.
One thing we have learned as we have gotten "older" and our responsibilities have increased is that we don't mess around trying to "make money" on PCS moves. DITY is for the birds when you have kids. It just simply isn't worth the stress, hassle, and discomfort to pocket any money.
During our last PCS we had a 3 month old and a 19 month old. We were lucky because we were living close to family at the time and were only moving about 4 hours (from NAS Patuxent River, MD to NAS Oceana, VA). So I went to my moms for about a week while my husband handled the packers and such. I then joined my DH in Hampton Roads once the house wasn't a big death trap of boxes and un-baby-proofed items. But even with a short move we had the Navy pack us, the Navy move us, etc.
We will likely be PCSing this winter and going further. Again, I will let the Navy handle everything (packing, moving). We will likely drive (if we get the orders we expect, it is about 22 hours in the car). But we will make it as easy on ourselves as possible - DH will take a bunch of leave and we will make sure to drive at a comfortable pace and not overdo anything. Basically, it will be stressful, but not because we are cutting corners or trying to pocket money or save money.
GL!
Married 6/28/03
Kate ~ 7/3/09 *** Connor ~ 11/11/10
4 miscarriages: 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014
*~*~*~*~*
No more TTC for us. We are done, and at peace, as a family of 4.
"Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” — Charles Dickens
We bought our tickets from Texas to California and planned to get there the night before the mover's came. H already had DD's bassinet and other things set up. I only had to sleep on the floor for one night.
DD was 6 weeks at the time and flying was a breeze! I was so nervous the night before each flight I hardly slept but it was sooo easy! The USO at DFW airport was so nice, I got free meals, snacks for later (ice cream too!) and nursed DD in a comfy recliner while watching MIB 2! DD slept through each flight woke up only once for about 15 minutes to nurse and people around me were very nice and courteous. No one ever gave me a look for nursing and people even helped me with my bags!
The Army paid for my ticket from Ga to Tx, we had to pay for the one from Tx to Ca but my husband just went to finance on Friday and put in paperwork for reimbursement on the ticket and it looks like we might get paid back.
The only down side to the PCS has been that only half of our stuff got here, the other half just left Ga 2 days ago and I've been in California for almost 2 weeks already! But we should be getting paid by the moving company (an inconvenience pay or something). This has never happened to us but I'm used to the unexpected happening when it comes this military lifestyle. If you think your LO can handle the car then more power to you! But I really didn't want to stop every 2 hrs to nurse and I didn't want to put stress on my DD by putting her in the car seat for such a long time. She really hates her car seat. I think it depends on your LO and no one knows better which mode of transportation she will tolerate. My FIL (ex-Army) tried to tell me that flying was stupid and after several rude lectures from him I had to put my foot down and remind him that he never did a PCS with children (since he left my H and his mom when H was 1 yr) and that I am the mom and H and I make the decisions when it comes to DD and no one else.
We flew and it was so nice. Although if you have to go through Phoenix airport I'd avoid it like the plague. It was terrrible. I had to change airlines and they made me go through baggage, catch a shuttle ("Don't worry it's free!"), go BACK through security and then walk a ridiculous length to the gate. I've been through plenty of airports and have never ever had to go through security twice in one trip. DFW is my favorite. I could live there.
Well I hope this crazy long response gave you some extra perspective, your PCS goes smoothly and that ALL of your belongings get to your new house!
I felt the same way. I was due Feb 16th and we were due to move Feb 25th!!! I was induced Feb 17 and moved the 25th. CRAZY I know. We decided to drive, felt safer less germs and we took our time. She was great, slept a lot during the 3 day drive, We decided to have to movers do the brunt of the work
I took care of her in a quite room while they packed up the rest of the house. Let people help!!!
We're PCSing at the end of next month.
We're doing a full DITY move with a Penske truck, car dolly, and then driving our SUV. We're flying my ILs out to help us drive then they are taking the train back to their home (5 hours from the new duty station). Even with paying their tickets we'll make some money.
A friend is going to watch LO while we load the truck. DH is taking an extra 10 days leave so we can pack up the boxes beforehand.
Breastfeeding and pregnant!