Intro - Returning to military life/BOTB

bookgirl717

Hi all! I've been around on The Bump for a few years, but have never posted over here and thought I would introduce myself. My DH was AD Army when we got married, is currently NG, and will be graduating college/commissioning with the Army at the end of the year. We've been through two 12+ month deployments as well. I've been all over the military life spectrum! With his last semester coming up, and having successfully completed LDAC this summer, we are waiting to find out if DH is getting an AD or Reserve/Guard commission, what branch he will get, and when his school date will be next spring. Lots of things up in the air as usual with the military! We have a 22-month-old son and are currently living in our hometown, where all of our family live. We were stationed in Hawaii when my DH was active.

So I'm tentativelly planning on some type of move next year, if DH gets AD. Our first choice is Hawaii again, then Germany and Texas. I'm nervous about the potentional for an overseas move with a toddler as our first real PCS (DH had been in Hawaii for a few years when we married, so it wasn't a true PCS for me.) but think it would be a wonderful experience for our son (and any future children). I work on a local military base as a contractor and have gotten lots of advice from some of the retired military in my office. They all recommend doing overseas tour while your kids are young, so they can be in the US for high school. We'll see, though!

I'm getting baby fever and am considering stopping BC in January. If DH is off at school for months, I don't really see the need to continue taking it anyway. We had originally planned on having kids 4 years apart, but I'm leaning towards wanting 3 instead of 2, and I would be closer to 40 than I'd want to be with my last pregnancy if we stuck to the 4 year rule. Getting pregnant sometime next year would get us in the 3-years-apart range, and I'm happy with that.

I work full time and we have been so blessed to have all of our family nearby to help babysit. I'm nervous about building a new 'family' and being more on my own, and not being able to call my mom or sister when we need a last minute babysitter. I'm not 100% sure I will continue to work once we get settled where ever that might be, and being a stay-at-home mom will be a new adventure too! But, I'm looking forward to the upcoming adventure. I know it can wonderful, even with all the unpredictability that military life brings.