iVillage is one of the first “woman-oriented” sites I became aware of online. I’ve used a lot of their resources, throughout the years, especially once I became pregnant.
I never knew, though, that they had built a thriving military wives’ community! And you can also connect with other long distance wives, some of whom are military and others who are geographically separated for different reasons–because sometimes a fresh perspective is just what you need to sort things out in your head.
I got a great e-mail tipping my off to …

A reader posted this comment:
Does anyone have any advice? My brother is due to deploy overseas within a year and it is causing problems in his marriage. His family (young wife and 2 year old daughter) and my family moved half way across the country two years ago to forge a better life away from the West coast. Our father also lives here. We are all within minutes of each other. Now that he is due to deploy, his wife wants to move back in with her mother out west. …

Wow! I added the contest late in the giveaway and I did not think there would be so many military families and friends of military families playing!
I wish I had forty-four copies to give away–there were so many touching stories about military children who need some support and encouragement while their soldier is away! I would strongly encourage you to ask your local or post library to pick up a copy. If you are near or on an Army Base, Army Community Services and the unit Chaplains …

I’ll never forget Halloween, October 31, 2006…because that is the day that my husband called to say he would be arriving in Killeen, TX, in hours, from Iraq.
A Halloween Homecoming, that was a real treat. However, there was a trick, or a catch, if you will.
He was home a couple of weeks early because my dear little baby was due in surgery on November 6…the day after my husband’s 30th birthday.
My husband never got to journey home with his men, all of whom survived the deployment, thank the Lord. …

Sammy’s Soldier is sweet picture book, written to help young children feel more comfortable with the deployment process. You can have a chance to win a signed copy at the end of this post.
As both a trained family counselor and the wife of a former Marine, Ms. White understands how confusing and trying deployments can be for our littlest patriots.
Her book follows Sammy through the preparations leading up to his father’s deployment, some of the activities Sammy and his mother do during the deployment, and then finally the homecoming. …

“Deploy fifteen months and what do you get? An extra three months older and caught in a stoploss net…civilian jobs don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go, I sold my soul to the Army y’know…”
I haven’t blogged yet about this for a couple of reasons.

Theoretically DH is getting out before his unit deploys again, so I wanted to let others who are definitely directly affected speak first.
I wanted to give it some thought, rather than just respond emotionally. Emotional responses are legitimate, and sometimes necessary; I just didn’t want …

I posted over on SpouseBUZZ about my experience with DH’s Redeployment. I think it will help explain why I have not been posting very much.

As I wrote on SpouseBUZZ, DH came home a little early to be here for Lilah’s surgery. He is with us now, but a big piece of him is still in Iraq.
This blog is not over (there is still so much more to chat about–redeployment, daily life, etc.) but do not expect any updates for a couple of weeks.
Lilah is having her surgery on Nov. 6. Please pray with us.
I hope to be back on in late November.

Sorry blogging has been light…I have been focusing on blogging on SpouseBuzz the last few days since it is just starting up.
I also have deadlines left and right.
And of course, Lilah…she’s getting so big! She’s been getting really upset after feeding and now something is upsetting her even when she sleeps. So, she has gone from pretty much “sleeping through the night” (one shift of 3-4 hours, followed by a 4-5 hour shift) to waking every 2-3 hours even at night.
Which brings me to the subject of this post.
One day …

Lilah’s asleep so I thought I would make a quick post to let you all know that I haven’t been committed to an asylum or jailed for throttling a patient appointments line operator.
DH finally caught me on IM and, after five tries, he was able to see me and Lilah on webcam!
Anyway, I’m curious…how many others out there have had deployment babies? How many people out there think they would never intentionally have a baby during their husband’s deployment? Just curious!