On Raising a Baby in the Military & Why it Doesn't Suck

My little man is now almost 6 months old. 6 months! Can you believe it? I've been thinking a lot lately about the pros and cons of raising a child in a military family lately, and I feel as if I never read any blogs or posts that say this:

Raising a Baby in the Military Does Not Suck.

In the time he has been alive, P has met two grandma's, one grandpa, one cousin, and one family friend. None have been around even 2 full weeks. When he was born we lived 18 hours from all of our family. When he was two and a half months, we moved 16+ hours FARTHER from them to an area where we know no one and have no family and have never been to before. We've been here 3 months and are still working on making good friends.

Up until now, you're probably thinking "and this doesn't suck because..."

It does not suck because we are a fantastic family of our own. We have no help, no one to run to, no crutch to fall on. We have each other and our child (well, and Google). We are only dependent on ourselves. When we got married we instantly moved away from all of our family. We argued, fought, and had our typical tough times as newlyweds and we had no choice but to work it out. We only had each other. I believe we are so much closer as a couple than we ever would have been at this point if we weren't a military family. Even when people do come to visit, we love having them but it's become very clear that we are each other's best friend and, given the choice, we'd choose to hang out with each other over anyone else every time.

Now that we have a son, this still remains true. Sure, there were times (and still are on occasion) where it would be nice to have some help from family, and we haven't been out together, without P, since he was born...but because we don't have these resources, we figure out how to do it on our own--we know we can do it on our own. We're new parents and we are learning how to navigate the world of children, but we are doing it together beautifully. We are fantastic parents and we love our kid so much, and we are doing it alone--with each other.

Even though the military can really mess with our lives sometimes, I credit it for the wonderful family that I have. I wouldn't change our military life for the world. We are the closest and the happiest we've ever been.

It Doesn't Suck.