A Brief Study on Military Wives' Personal Vices!

After the month I have had I have discovered a few important things:

1. Never blog when you are emotional. Last night I chose to not be an emotional blogger and instead relaxed and ended my day with the joys of the past weekend! So, that is my goal- to never be the emotional blogger because when I get emotional, it gets messy!!

AND

2. I have finally figured out why military wives are stereotyped as fat and ugly with too many kids! No really, I have just completed a personal study on the subject!! lol So here it is in the easy to follow, scientific format!

Hypothesis Statement:
Military spouses have various unhealthy coping methods for getting through the stresses of being married to the military (read deployments here)!

Background:
1. A box of cookies usually lasts a good length of time in my house. I eat 5 cookies in a day or two with a glass of milk.
2. Raising kids is stressful, raising kids alone while continually worrying over the welfare of your husband is really stressful.
3. Getting to the gym with kids who are too young to be in school regularly is impossible!
4. Drinking alcohol regularly does count as being a drunk!
5. Soldiers tend to deploy for a year, every other year. Due to this, you can easily tell the deployment rotation of any post by how busy it is in the L&D ward!

Research:
1. 5 boxes of cookies have gone through this house in the past month. They usually go in 2 day each! (Half a box per day!)
2. More than half the days in the past month I have desperately thanked God I am nursing, so I did not grab the Jack.
3. I tried going to the gym on the days Keirnan is in hourly daycare and just taking James with me to the base's parent workout room. So not worth it since its the smallest room in the gym and only has cardio machines and no room to even stretch! I have an elliptical at home and room to stretch! It was more hassle than it was worth!
4. The terrible twos don't start when a magical switch is flipped on a child's second birthday! They actually tend to start a bit earlier!

Discussion:
I have never been an emotionally eater. I have also always had a high metabolism. Though, it did slow down a bit in adulthood! While not being an emotional eater, I have been a bit of an emotional drinker- really! Ask any of my college friends! I had a tendency to drink myself into oblivion and cry into random toilets! Yeah, not my best moments, but some do make for amusing stories!
I have had some pretty nasty days in the past few weeks. At one point I actually curled up on the kitchen floor and just cried. (Keirnan saved the day by coming to give me a hug and kiss and just sitting on my lap! Have I mentioned how great my kid is!?) I know I have been blessed with 2 amazing little boys, and I thank God every day for blessing me with them. But it doesn't make days where they are both teething and/or sick any easier! And at 22 months and 4 months, neither really approves, or understands, when I can't make everything all better with a wave of my hand, or why I have to give the other attention also! This of course, means I have to admit I am not a super mom and that just rips me up! So, when the boys are finally in bed and I have a moment to myself, I turn to my good friend chocolate, since Jack is off the table due to nursing James!

As to that, drinking has been off the table for me since I got pregnant with Keirnan in August 2008. I literally had just stopped nursing him when I got pregnant with James! So, I have had exactly 1 glass of wine in 2.5 years! Surprise, surprise, I made a comment as I was drinking it about being pregnant, and a couple days later tested positive! Oops! But, in keeping pregnant or nursing I am not becoming a complete drunk like I think I would otherwise! Really, its a good coping mechanism for me since I don't get hangovers!

So, all this comes together to, in my mind, prove that military wives choose to be fat, but good, moms over being skinny drunks, and most likely not so good moms! Its a trade off I'll take any day! In the meantime, I am going to try to keep the chocolate out of the house most the time and just take it a day at a time!

*Disclaimers: (Isn't sad I am doing this?!)
-Yes, I know I am not fat, but I do have more fat on me than I would like.  As in, I am out of shape!
- No, not every military wife is fat, and yes, some do have the ability to get to the gym. I am not a very motivated person since the gym is not just down the street. (I was doing well in Germany when we lived on post and it was right there!) It takes longer to get everyone packed up and get there than I spend time there!
- No, having kids is not just a coping mechanism for military families! Most of us do actually love our kids and have them on purpose!
-And here it is, the big one: I am SARCASTIC!! This is my highly sarcastic way of making light of my personal situation!! If you read this and feel I am talking about you, guess what- I'm not! Sorry, you're just not that special to me! If I'm talking about you, you'll know it!! (Don't worry, I am sure to eventually touch on the subject of pettiness in the military! lol)