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The Joubert Den

A lifestyle blog about marriage, fashion, beauty, travel, and faith.

In C'est la vie

How to find yourself again

Author Posted on March 30, 2016

Be good to yourself. Take a sick day. Cut your hair. Accept a compliment. Try a new lipstick. Smile more. Start blogging again.

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Welcome

Hi! Welcome to our blog — The Joubert (Joe-BEAR) Den. We are Cristian & Sonja, a newlywed couple navigating married life while adventuring along the way. Here we share bits and pieces of our every day lives, travel, fashion and our faith. Stay a while!

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It’s already time for another #MilsoTipMonday! T

It’s already time for another #MilsoTipMonday! This week I’m sharing 5 things you should do when you become a military spouse! ⁣
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1. Get your dependent ID! It’s like a drivers license but for all things military! It will act as your insurance card (there’s a benefit number on the back), and you’ll need it to get on base and to access the commissary and BX/PX. (More on these in a bit!)⁣
2. OPSEC!!! Learn all about OPSEC and how to protect your servicemember and his/her unit, and your family! Stay tuned for a post dedicated just to this! ⁣
3. Familiarize yourself with TriCare! Learn what your options are. Usually, you can choose if you want to be on Tricare prime or Select. Prime means you need to see the military doctors on base (or get referrals) but everything is free. With Select, you can choose your own doctors but you will have a copay. There are pros and cons to both! (You can only switch during open enrollment or after a qualifying life event like moving or having a baby, etc)⁣
4. Get to know your nearest base/post! Even if your spouse won’t be stationed there. You’ll get a feel for what to expect moving forward with military life! Visit the commissary (military grocery store) and PX/BX (post or base exchange...it’s like a military Walmart. Some are awesome, some aren’t 😂. Just depends on the base!) ⁣
5. Study up on your acronyms! What’s BAH? BAS? TDY? PCS?! The military pretty much speaks in acronyms and it’ll be helpful to know the most common ones!⁣
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Fellow military spouses, what did I leave out? Comment below! ⁣
Now head on over to @darrianchamblee for what to do when you feel “stuck” at a duty station!

Did she only eat the frosting off this cookie and

Did she only eat the frosting off this cookie and cry when I threw the remnants in the garbage? Why yes, yes she did 🙃#toddlerproblems @heytwistedsugar

Military spouses and soon to be military spouses!

Military spouses and soon to be military spouses! My sweet friend @xoxosydneylin is letting me take over the #MilsoTipMonday hashtag. So each Monday I’ll be sharing tips and tricks for new military spouses! ⁣
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Today is all about helping your spouse make the decision to join the military! In my opinion, if your spouse is thinking about joining, you need to make the decision together. It can be such a big lifestyle change! Here are my tips, which are things my husband and I did when he was trying to decide to join the Air Force.⁣
1. Shop around for a good recruiter! If you live in an area that has multiple recruiters offices within an hour or so drive, find the one that you feel will work with you best. Think of recruiters as the MLM boss babes of the military world 😉 Some simply want to recruit and won’t care about your needs. Find one that will help your spouse get the best contract possible and will answer (or at least try to haha) as many questions you have.⁣
2. To follow up on the last one, come along to a few of your spouse’s recruiter appointments. There you can ask questions too and get a better idea of what the process will be like. ⁣
3. Talk to people! Have both you AND your spouse talk to as many people as you can about what military life is like, especially if you can find people who have the same job your spouse is hoping to have. This means you can get differing opinions and specific advice for your journey! ⁣
4. Make a pros and cons list. Decide what the good and bad things about joining the military will be for your family. For us, the free health insurance, housing allowance, job security, etc were all pros, and then the salary 🥴 (for Cristian’s rank, E3) and living far away from family were cons for us. But having this list meant we took a look at our monthly overhead and discussed if we’d be able to make it work.⁣
5. Counsel together! Be open in expressing your concerns AND your excitement. Be a sounding board for your spouse as they navigate whether or not they want to make the commitment. ⁣
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As always, I’m just a DM away if you need help! Now head on over to @melseverydayadventures for tips on putting yourself out there at a new base!

Jett: 😏😏😏”Yeah, I’m in a high chair,

Jett: 😏😏😏”Yeah, I’m in a high chair, whatcha gonna do about it?” ⁣
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Can’t believe this dreamboat is 6 MONTHS OLD!!! Like, hooooow?! 😭 If you caught my stories earlier this week, you’ll also know that I found out that he cut his two bottom front teeth and I had no idea he was even teething! He’s the sweetest boy and I’m so grateful to be his mama. ⁣
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Thanks to @littledovestore for gifting us this beautiful high chair! I love that it’s not clunky or gaudy and has a modern twist. It’s also 3-in-1 and can convert to a chair or toddler stool! Perfect for this little guy who just started solids yesterday!

Holding my babies extra close during this particul

Holding my babies extra close during this particularly stressful stage of motherhood/life to remind myself this won’t last for forever. Tell me it gets easier, mamas?

Milspouses 🇺🇸 and soon to be milspouses! I w

Milspouses 🇺🇸 and soon to be milspouses! I will be sharing military life tips once a week on my feed. Still trying to think of a hashtag buuuut here we go! This week it’s all about how to survive BMT as a spouse. (Keep in mind these are Air Force ✈️ specific!) ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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💙 Start a new hobby! Find something that you really enjoy doing and that you can put a lot of focus on. For me, I decided to workout more. Lifting weights became an outlet for me and I was super proud of the new lifts I learned, and loved showing my hubby when we were together again.⁣
❤️ Spend time with family! This is huge especially if you have kids. We were already living with my parents when he shipped out, but I also went to Nebraska to spend a few weeks with my in laws. It helped break it up!⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣💙 WRITE THEM!! Write them every day! You don’t have to send one every day and instead mail a few in one envelope, but I loved spending some “me time” after I put Jemma to bed every night to write him about our day. Then I’d run out to the mailbox before bed! This meant he got a letter at most every mail call. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣❤️ Join Facebook groups! Since you won’t be able to easily communicate with your spouse while they’re at BMT, you might feel like you’re left in the dark about a lot of things: Tricare, PCSing, tech school, etc. FB groups can really help with this! Yes, there are some out there that can get catty or snarky 🙄, but there’s plenty that are full of supportive spouses. DM me for links! ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣💙 Connect with other military spouses that are in similar situations as you. There are even FB groups you can join for your spouse’s specific BMT flight, so you can meet other spouses/family members who have someone in the flight. I’m actually still friends with another Air Force wife I met in my group! Turns out our husbands were buddies, too. It was so great to have a sounding board who was going through the exact same thing I was.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣❤️ Breathe. It really does end up going by fast. Many joke that BMT isn’t just basic training for the servicemember, but for the spouse too. You’ve got this! ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Fellow military spouses, what would you add? How did you survive BMT? Comment away!

As I was putting Jemma to bed the other night she

As I was putting Jemma to bed the other night she wrapped her arms around me for yet another “HUUUG!” and I thought to myself....”Wow. I’m someone’s mom. I’m a MOM.” ⁣
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To be loved so unconditionally like that....it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. It’s been a difficult last couple weeks and let’s be real...months in the mental health department for me as I’ve struggled with so much negative self-talk. Being a mom is something I dreamt of and yearned for. For YEARS. And yet here I am, oftentimes blind to the beauties of motherhood because of my depression and anxiety. I know so many other mamas can sympathize with me, and I hate that. I know it’s not fair. Not fair to be almost robbed of something you’ve always wanted even though it’s still right in front of you. ⁣
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But I keep going and fighting because I refuse to be completely robbed of my dream. And so can you, mama. ⁣
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#mamahoodinsquares #airforcewife #motherhoodintheraw #messy_motherhood #lifeasmama #mynameismama #realmoms #watchthemgrow #unitedmotherhood
#stopdropandmom #mamasofinstagram #mymagicalmoments #airforcewife #momhood #nestandflourish #honestlymothering #authenticself #simplymamahood #mymotherhood #motherhoodiscolorful #milso #mentalhealthcommunity #maternalmentalhealth #postpartumdepression #channelmumvillage #postpartumdepressionawareness #milsostrong #militarywife #ppdsurvivor #postpartumanxiety

Postpartum emotions...nothing like ‘em. One minu

Postpartum emotions...nothing like ‘em. One minute you’re so happy your baby is growing and growing and out of a certain phase and then the next you want time to stoooooop 😭 Jett turned 5 months on Christmas Eve and I still don’t know how to feel about it! 😩⁣ He is coming up on my favorite phase/stage though... I looove the 6 month baby stage! They become more aware/responsive, and personalities are blooming. What’s your favorite stage of babyhood, mamas?!
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#5montholdbaby #mommyandmefashion #postpartumjourney #postpartumlife #postpartummom #postpartumgoals #postpartumproblems #mommychick #channelmum #babiesbabiesbabies #babiesdontkeep #babiesofinstagram1 #lifeasmama #mom_togs #motherhoodisdarling #momlifeunfiltered #momlife101 #redheads_of_insta #watchthemgrow #realmotherhoodseries #motherhoodinsquares

I was a little nervous to take a little overnight

I was a little nervous to take a little overnight getaway with my hubby last week while we were in Utah for Christmas...because my breastmilk supply has regulated and I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to pump anything OR it would increase my supply too much. ⁣
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But my @Elvie pump made it all so easy! I just pumped after a feeding session or two a day leading up to our getaway to get enough milk for a couple of feedings. And then because we were only 10 minutes away, Cristian was able to make a milk delivery (😂) before bed so Jett had some for the morning! I’ve always loved that with my Elvie Pump, I don’t have to be hooked up to the wall. Makes me feel a little less like a cow. I was even able to pump while getting ready for our dinner date AND while relaxing in bed in the morning! Like, I can’t get over that I was PUMPING in this pic! 🤯😍 Where would you pump if you could do it hands/wall power free?! Thanks to Elvie for gifting me such an amazing and life changing product! #MyElvie #LiveYourBreastLife #elvie ⁣
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#normalizebreastfeeding #breastfeedingmama #breastfeedingsupport #breastfeedingtips #breastfeedingjourney #babyproduct #channelmum #channelmumvillage #motherhoodisthebesthood #motherhooduncensored #breastfeedingisnormal #breastfeedingmamas #breastfeedingawareness #breastfeedingadvocate #breastfeedinghelp #pumpingmama #breastpumping #discoveryunder10k #4thtrimester #motherhoodstyle #realmotherhoodseries #kindredbravely

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