My husband is a public affairs officer in the Canadian Forces. This means his work hours can be long and erratic, moves are frequent and periods of deployment lasting weeks (and sometimes months) are expected. When we first started dating, he was a tank commander. He did a six-month tour in Afghanistan, came back, and then spent another couple months on a training exercise in the California desert. He?s moved six times in his 12 years of service, and has been given his first choice of location exactly one time. I?ve been along for the ride for 10 of those years, from Edmonton to Toronto to Wainwright, Alberta, and soon back to Edmonton.
Add two kids?a four-month-old and a two-year-old?into the mix, and life can get hectic. ?I don?t know how you do it,? civilian moms often say to me. Some days, I don?t know how I do it either. Here?s the best intelligence I?ve gathered. 1. Make friends and do it fast

This is especially important for new moms. When your kids are older and in school, you get to know the other parents at pickup and through school events. But before Kindergarten, it?s all on you. I was 36 weeks pregnant with my first child when my husband was posted to a rural Alberta town where I didn?t know anyone. Up until then, I?d spent my entire pregnancy with a different OB, living in a bustling, trendy neighbourhood of Toronto and working full-time. While the birth at a small-town hospital went just fine, the change in day-to-day life was huge. I started feeling lonely ...