Whole Again

January 16,2019

                The day our family of five became whole again. A day that Noah and Kynslee anticipated since the day Scott left. A day where happiness was an understatement. Being a military family is a life rollercoaster. And having kids adds to the emotional rollercoaster aspect of military life. This deployment was a very rough one for the kids. Sure we/they handled Korea back in 2015 but Noah and Kynslee were young. Young enough to not really remember Scott being gone. But with them being 5 and 3, they really struggled with daddy being gone. 200 days of the kids asking where daddy was. 200 days of the kids saying they miss daddy.200 nights of holding my babies and wiping away tears because daddy was gone. 200 days of feeling defeated because I couldn’t comfort my children the way they needed. Playing the part of mom and dad is so hard and I got to give props to all the single parents out there who must cope with being a single parent and who keep it together. I honestly can say I had a few breakdowns with trying to handle everything on my own. I grew up being a Navy brat and with my own dad gone constantly and I think I handled it well. But it’s different when your spouse is the one gone. I always thought my mom was a Rockstar to live 4 hours away from my dad and raise my sisters and I and hold it all together. I know there was times where she probably felt defeated as well, but she never showed it! I was thankful for her to be here for me for three months to help hold down the fort. And she kept telling me that I was a saint for having the patience to deal with the kids on their worst days and how strong I was for giving birth by myself, still go on with my day after surgery, and just dealing with this deployment. And I don’t think I told her enough how thankful I am for her and showing me how to be an amazing mom and rock this life like she did. So, mom THANK YOU!! Trust me being a military spouse isn’t a walk in the park or for the faint of heart!

                The best part of the deployment was after 200 days, Scott got to meet and hold Dustin!!!! A moment we (Scott and I) dreamed of the minute Dustin entered this world. There were countless conversations of sadness from the both of us because of the milestones Scott was missing because Dustin is our last baby. But with technology these days we were fortunate to facetime during his birth so even though Scott was not physically in the room for delivery, he was still there through FaceTime. But everyday after that, we would facetime so Dustin could hear daddy’s voice which was a blessing because the first hold Dustin didn’t cry and just had a sense of comfort knowing daddy was holding him. We honestly both thought Dustin would cry the minute Scott grabbed him but to both of our surprise he did not cry, only smiles. The Homecoming is only one of many more that the kids will remember (technically it’s the second homecoming but they don’t remember it) and trying to make them memorable is the best we can do as parents. Surprisingly no one cried which I honestly thought I would ball because seeing my kids “happy” again is all I wanted these last seven months.

 Oh wait!!!! Did anyone catch the date difference? The January 16th and the post date? Yup that’s right Scott’s been home for quite some time and we have been enjoying every minute of it!!! We are just now sharing because we wanted to soak up every minute being together and not be bombarded with calls and video chats to talk to Scott. A lot has changed between all of us the last 7/8 months and we ALL needed to adjust to our “new” selves. Scott is enjoying his time with his babies and getting to know Dustin. I just sit on the couch with that stupid goofy smile on my face, almost in tears knowing that the moment we have waited for is now here and seeing the happiness on everyone’s faces makes it 100 times better.

We just want to thank everyone for following our blog as we share our life and adventures with you through this forum. I promise the blog posts will eventually get better as in grammar and run ons so please bear with me lol. Make sure to subscribe to our blog so you get emails to alert you when we add a new post!

With Love,

Ashleigh