2008 was interesting

  When the kids told us that The Ex was pregnant, just to be amicable, Husband told her congratulations.  The Ex smiled and said, "For what?"  Husband said he had heard some things were changing for her and Boyfriend, and just wanted to tell them congratulations.  The Ex continued this game of asking what Husband was congratulating her for (No, seriously.  Instead of just being an adult and saying, "Thank you," I guess she wanted Husband to say outloud specifically what he was congratulating her on.)

  In the early part of 2008, Husband again told The Ex congratulations.  This time, she thanked him, confirmed that she was pregnant and showed Husband an engagement ring.  The Ex said that she and Boyfriend were planning on getting married in the following year; she said they had to wait for Boyfriend's divorce to be finalized.(That is a completely different can of worms, which will be opened sometime in the near future)

  A few weeks later, Husband was talking to The Ex about his upcoming visitation weekend.  The Ex said she didn't know if she was going to bring the kids by him because they were both sick and that Son had thrown up the night before.  Husband said it was fine and he would still like to see the kids.  Daughter was not sick but Son had a cold that was making him constantly cough and clear his throat.(I gave him some medicine and he commented, "Sometimes I cough so much, I throw up."  I asked him if that was why he had thrown up a day or two ago at The Ex's house and he said yes.  I asked what he had taken for medicine for his cold; Son said no one had given him anything.)

  As the year went on, we dealt with the ongoing saga of Son and Daughter referring to Boyfriend as their "daddy."  When we corrected them, they would reply, "Mommy says [Boyfriend] is our new daddy." (Right.  Your new daddy who's married to another woman.  Got it.)  We maintained that if/when their mom got married to Boyfriend, then he would be their stepdad but not before that.  The exact same way, I was not their stepmom because their dad and I had not gotten married yet.

  Spring rolled around.  The kids frequently showed up with scratch marks which they blamed on their dog (The same dog that The Ex "threw across the room" when it jumped on Boyfriend's pregnant sister).  One day, The Ex asked Husband if he would take the kids to Hometown on a weekday afternoon.  The Ex said they were getting rid of their dog because it was jumping on everyone and she was worried about the dog hitting her in the belly while she was pregnant (So to summarize:  Dog jumps on Boyfriend's pregnant sister, gets thrown across the room.  Dog jumps on kids and scratches them in the face, that's okay.  Dog jumps on The Ex while she's pregnant, now the dog has to be given away.)

  One day, Husband was discussing taking our annual trip to visit family in Other State and said he wanted to bring the kids with us.  The Ex replied, "They're going to be playing baseball then."  Husband said that he wasn't going to deny his family time with the kids because of a sport.  The Ex said, "Well, I didn't pay $100 to put them into baseball just to have them miss it."  Husband said that she was supposed to discuss these things with him prior to signing the kids up.  Her answer: "No, I don't.  It doesn't mess up your weekends so I don't have to tell you." (Ah, yes - the age old assumption that these are "her" children and she doesn't have to consult with their father over anything.  Since it doesn't mess up his weekends, then maybe she should only get child support for those days that his parenting "counts"??)

  Shortly after this, The Ex told Husband that she was no longer working.  He asked why and The Ex said that she was on weight-lifting restrictions due to her pregnancy.  Husband said it would be nice to have some time off of work to spend with the kids.  The Ex laughed and said, "Well yeah, but who's going to pay my bills?" (Money is a common denominator for her.  Anything and everything revolves around how much money she does or does not have)  Not even two months later, The Ex was telling me how she and Boyfriend were so broke, that they were 2 months behind on their phone bills and were praying they wouldn't get shut off, but how they were making sure to stay current on payments for some furniture that Boyfriend had bought because "that gets reported to your credit." (Boyfriend owed over $3,000 in unpaid traffic fines; apparently these are not important enough to pay.  But new furniture, heck yes!) The Ex sat there telling me her tale of woe, how she and Boyfriend were struggling to get by and things were so hard financially.  She said all of this with a straight face, even though she had just gone and bought a brand-new car only two months prior. (She had no income of her own due to her "inability" to work, yet she was able to make a car payment.  Wonder where the child support was going?)

  Summer rolled around.  We took the kids out of state with us.  She decided she was also going out of state with her parents and wanted the kids for a night while we were all down in the same area.  Husband told her he wasn't sure what day/time we'd be in the same area, so probably not.  We picked the kids up; Daughter immediately announced that The Ex had only packed them five changes of clothing so we "were going to have to do laundry" while we were there.

  The Ex called while we were in the same area, said she wanted to come pick up the kids.  Husband told her we were leaving to visit other family a few hours away.  The Ex got angry, said she would "remember this when [Husband] wanted the kids next time" and announced she was keeping the kids on their birthday weekend.  Husband's family stared at him after he got off the phone, asked if The Ex was always like this. (Yup, pretty much.)

  About a month later, The Ex called and asked if Husband would pick up and drop off the kids for his upcoming weekend.  Husband asked why; The Ex said she was getting ready to have her baby and was going to the hospital tomorrow to talk to the doctor. (She didn't deliver for a full week after this conversation) Husband asked if The Ex's parents could drop off the kids on Friday night; The Ex said possibly, since her parents were going to spend the night in the hospital with her (Isn't that Boyfriend's job? I thought she was having a child with him, not her parents) As it turned out, The Ex dropped the kids off herself.

  Literally the day before The Ex delivered her and Boyfriend's child, both kids began telling both me and Husband that they did not want to live with The Ex anymore.  Son frequently complained about it, said he didn't like living in New City and wanted to live with us instead.

  One night after his bath, Son looked at me and asked, "Can I call you Mom?"  I told him that once his dad and I were married, he could call me whatever he wanted - Mom, Stepmom or just continue to call me by name.  Either way, it was up to him but we were going to wait until we were actually married.  Son seemed okay with this as an explanation.

  After school started, The Ex called Husband and told him that he owed her $52.00; Husband asked why.  The Ex said that she had a doctor bill for the kids, Husband's half of it was $52.00, she had already paid the bill so he owed it to her.  Husband told her that she was supposed to give him copies of these bills instead of just paying them herself.  The Ex immediately started arguing, again started her old argument that Husband "never paid any of the kids' medical bills from before the divorce" and that she was tired of paying for all of it. (Originally, it was $600 in medical bills that Husband never helped pay for.  In this conversation, it went up to $700.  This comes up again later, so keep it in mind) Husband told her he would like a copy of the doctor bill; The Ex hung up on him. (I went and asked the kids about them going to the doctor; they both said they hadn't gone.  They said they had gone along with The Ex to their baby sibling's check-ups but that the doctor had not examined them at any point.)

  A short time after this, Husband got a phone call from Son off of The Ex's phone.  Son was crying and saying he didn't want to go back to The Ex's house.  Husband asked what was wrong; Son replied, "I want to come live with you.  Everybody is always happy at your house and they're nice to me there."  Husband asked Son to put The Ex on the phone.  The Ex said she was picking up the kids from her sister's house, that Son was saying he didn't want to go home with her and The Ex didn't know what to do.  Husband told The Ex that maybe it was time they sat down and had a talk.  The Ex asked what they needed to talk about.  Husband said that the kids had been saying for awhile that they wanted to come live here instead without us saying anything to them and if that's what they wanted, then Husband and The Ex should talk about it.  The Ex immediately shot him down: "No way.  That's not happening.  The kids have been in my life for this long."  Husband said that the kids would always be in her life but this was something they both wanted so it should be discussed.  The Ex replied, "No, we're not.  If you want the kids, you're gonna have to take me back to court and get them that way."  Husband told The Ex that he didn't want to go through the court because if he did, then she would be ordered to pay child support and he didn't want that from her.  The Ex said she didn't care, Husband "wasn't getting the kids" and hung up on him.

  I later asked Son about when this had happened.  Son said he remembered calling Husband; he said The Ex had told him not to call but he did anyway.  Son said after he gave the phone to The Ex, her sister hit him in the leg "because she was mad that I called Daddy."  I asked if The Ex said anything when Son said he wanted to live with us; Son said that The Ex told him he couldn't come live here.  I asked if The Ex had given Son a reason for this.  Son said that The Ex had told him that there was no one here to take care of him; The Ex said that Husband didn't know how to treat kids and that I was crazy.  I asked Son what he thought of that; Son said he didn't think it was true.  Son said that he thought Husband did know how to treat kids and that was why Son wanted to live here.  I asked Son if The Ex frequently said bad things about Husband and myself.  Son said yes, The Ex often spoke badly about us but he thought she was lying.  Son also said, "I think Mom says mean things about you because maybe she thinks you're a better mom than she is." (That is, hands down, my favorite quote of all time.  A child had his adult mother pegged when he was a mere eight years old.  Astounding.)  When we dropped the kids off after this weekend, The Ex asked Husband if he had talked to either of the kids.  Husband said yes and The Ex asked what they had talked about.  Husband said we had just talked about different things; The Ex said, "Well, the day after [Son] called you crying, he was like, 'Mom, I'm sorry I was bad and I DO want to live with you and I don't want to live with Dad.'" (Highly doubt this ever happened.  I'm sure this is very much what she wanted Son to say, but I doubt that he did.  In fact, during a parent-teacher conference around this same time, The Ex told Son's teacher she was "sad because [Son] was always saying he didn't want to live with her and wanted to live with his dad.")

  Two weeks after this, the kids brought their backpacks along to our place for the weekend.  After completing the homework, we opened the assignment notebook to initial that the work had been completed and found notes from The Ex to the teacher that said things like, "At Dad's this weekend" or "[Son] left his book at school so I couldn't help him complete his homework.  It's been so long!" (He was in third freaking grade.  The Ex honestly told the teacher she couldn't comprehend third-grade homework.)

  One week, Husband called The Ex and asked if we could switch weekends so we could take the kids trick-or-treating.  The Ex said no, they already had plans for Boyfriend's birthday and Husband "needed to take the kids on his weekend."  Husband said okay, we'd keep the weekends the way that they were scheduled.  Two weeks later, The Ex leaves Husband a message.  Trick-or-treating had already taken place in our city; the kids missed it because The Ex wouldn't switch.  Now, The Ex wanted to switch (like Husband had originally wanted) so that the kids wouldn't miss trick-or-treating in New City; there was an event in Hometown but The Ex "wasn't going to make a trip way out there just for that."  The Ex said, "I already told the kids I'd see if you'd let me keep them"(so now, this is Husband's fault if they miss trick-or-treating).  Husband called The Ex and told her that trick-or-treating had already taken place in our town but that we would do something alternatively with the kids. (After explaining this to her, The Ex had Son call Husband the following day and ask if he was going to buy the kids costumes and take them trick-or-treating.  Because that is what a good parent does, is try your darnedest to make the other parent look like a complete and utter jerk)

  Little things began to build up and started becoming regular occurrences.  The kids would show up with not enough clothing; The Ex said the kids were packing their own bag, the kids would say they didn't have anything clean to pack. (I've fallen behind on laundry.  Everyone falls behind on laundry.  But repeatedly not having clean clothing gets to be somewhat absurd.)  One morning, Daughter pulled a yellow slip out of her bag and said, "Mom says you need to pay for this."  It was milk tickets; the due date was Friday and it stated clearly on the slip that no money would be accepted after the due date.  I tried explaining this to Daughter who said, "Mom told me to give it to you and to say you need to pay for it."(Rather than The Ex talking to Husband about this, she has a child demand we pay for it.  That should do the trick...)  Daughter was in speech therapy because she still struggled with certain words; for three straight weeks, no one had helped her practice her sounds at home (I guess practicing at home is stupid.  That's what teachers are for, right?  Why should the parents have to teach their own children anything?)  At the beginning of winter, Daughter's teacher wrote in her report card that she was still slightly struggling and to "please purchase flashcards as requested in the beginning of the year" and said Daughter needed to be reading more at home.  Son was starting to do poorly in school; not necessarily flunking, but there was a very noted decline in his grades.

  Just before Thanksgiving, The Ex called Husband and told him he was going to have to help her buy the kids snow pants because she couldn't afford them because she was hosting Thanksgiving dinner. (These same snow pants were not allowed to be brought to our house because the kids "might lose them.")  Husband told her that he paid her child support for a reason and that money was supposed to buy things like snow pants for the kids.  The Ex told Husband that she had been talking to other people about this and they all told her that Husband was supposed to be helping pay for these things.  Husband reminded The Ex that initially, their divorce agreement had them splitting things but she had requested more child support; the court set support at state guidelines and stated very clearly that any variable expenses were The Ex's responsibility.  The Ex then claimed she hadn't been receiving child support, that she had only gotten $90 and that Husband needed to call the Child Support Agency to find out where the money was.  Husband told The Ex that the money came out of his paycheck, just like it always had; if she was missing money, then she could call them and ask about it.

  We made arrangements for Christmas; The Ex wanted to meet at 1pm.  We were half an hour early, so Husband called The Ex to find out how far she was.  The Ex said they hadn't even left New City yet.  Husband asked why she had insisted we meet at 1pm; The Ex said she told him 1:30pm, not 1pm (we had a voicemail from her saying 1pm) so it was Husband's fault (of course).  When The Ex finally showed up two hours late, she quickly apologized and said she was having a bad day.

  And that was the end of 2008.

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