First birthday.
Our grandson recently turned one!!! We spent the night at Son & Girlfriend's apartment since they've got room for all of us to fit now. The weekend was really nice, but this blog isn't about my family; it's about The Ex and all the drama that she causes.
Saturday afternoon, we drove up to Tiny City to meet Son and Girlfriend at their place. Then we drove over to the hall where they were having his birthday party to help set up and decorate; Girlfriend's parents were there already. We all helped out and got done pretty quickly. We went back to the apartment. While we were there, Girlfriend started telling Daughter that The Ex wants to buy a house in Tiny City with Ned. (Just a reminder: Ned already owns his own house. It's little but it's his and has been for almost 15 years now. He bought the land, built the house, got married and divorced, and has kept it the entire time.) Girlfriend said that there was a house in town that The Ex had been looking at and wanted to buy, but Ned was apprehensive because The Ex is always threatening to leave. (Which she has done, literally the week after their wedding.) Girlfriend said that they had gone over to The Ex & Ned's house the other day and The Ex was being really nice to Lucifer; she was calling him "honey" and asked if he wanted to watch a movie with them, even though the movie was "aggressive" and The Ex has previously prohibited Lucifer from watching anything with any type of violence. Girlfriend said that The Ex was just being nice because she wanted to buy the house. (Honestly, it's like The Ex doesn't even have a soul at this point.)
Sunday morning, we went back to the hall and met with The Ex's parents again to finish helping set everything up. The party was nice; I think everyone had a good time. We all helped clean up afterward. Girlfriend's mom thanked us repeatedly for coming on Saturday because she said she had nobody else helping her with the party; she also made a comment about how quickly The Ex and Ned left the party. Girlfriend's mom said she was irritated that they hadn't helped set up and had helped very little with the cleaning after the party ended. (The Ex and Ned were out of town because The Ex's son had a wrestling tournament that weekend. Son, Girlfriend, and Girlfriend's parents were taking turns going to The Ex & Ned's house to let their dogs out.) Girlfriend's mom went on for a bit about The Ex, saying that she felt so terrible for Ned because he's a really nice guy; she said some of the things that he tells her about The Ex and the fights that the two of them have are just unbelievable.
Girlfriend also commented later about how quickly The Ex and Ned had left the party; Daughter tried to defend them a little bit, pointing out that they'd been gone all weekend and probably just wanted to get home. (The tournament was an hour from their house. I really don't think an overnight stay was necessary, but whatever.) Girlfriend said that neither The Ex or Ned had said goodbye to her. Daughter said that The Ex hadn't said goodbye to her, either. (We were planning on going out-of-state to visit Husband's family, so The Ex wouldn't have seen Daughter for almost 3 weeks. Yet she left without even saying goodbye.)
Later on, Daughter commented that The Ex had been criticizing her nails during the party. (Daughter had gone a week or so before with one of her friends and had acrylics put on.) The Ex told Daughter to take her nails off and said, "They look gross." (The Ex did the same thing last year when Daughter had her nails done. Read the second part of this post.)
When they were going to open presents, Girlfriend took the baby up to the gift table. Son was talking to Husband. I went over and told Son that he ought to go up and help out with the presents. Everyone was taking pictures of the baby opening his gifts. The Ex was on one side of the group, then ducked down and walked in front of everyone for absolutely no reason. Son grabbed a chair to sit down; The Ex grabbed a chair and said, "I'm gonna sit next to you" and literally pulled her chair right up next to Son's. Like, there was no space between them.
As the day went on, Son was getting irritated with The Ex because she kept calling him "Daddy" and giving him directions such as, "Daddy, grab that paper" or "Daddy, move that out of the way." (Personally, I can't stand when people use the phrase "Daddy" for someone other than their father, or when they're talking to a young child and referencing said child's father. It totally grosses me out when it's used sexually. If you like it or use it, more power to you...I just never have and never will. You might think I'm being dramatic by posting about this specifically, but wait until you get to the end of the blog.) The baby had missed his nap, so by the time the gifts were done and they were going to start the cake, he was beyond crabby. The Ex took the baby and started walking around; he started crying and I heard Son say to nobody in particular, "I already told her, but whatever..." (As in he'd told The Ex, "He's not happy, leave him alone, he's just going to cry if you take him." But of course, The Ex can't listen to anyone other than herself.)
Above and beyond all of that, there were two things that really stood out to me during the course of the party. The Ex "behaved" for the most part. She didn't do anything to really draw attention to herself, as she's done multiple times during her own kids' birthday parties over the years. There was one thing that made me roll my eyes and another thing that really made my skin crawl.
The first was that The Ex had bought quite a few presents for the baby; at least 3 of them were clearance items. Now don't get me wrong because I LOVE a good bargain; I always make a point of looking at every clearance aisle/section of a store that I go to because I've gotten some pretty awesome things at pretty awesome prices. I also really enjoy thrift stores because I hate paying full-price for things like kids' clothing that isn't going to fit them after a year. So I have no issues at all that The Ex bought clearance things for the baby's first birthday. What bothered me was that The Ex is so incredibly gaudy that she left the price tag on every single item she bought. Zip-up jacket? Clearance. Pirate ship toy? Clearance. Lawnmower bubble toy? C-l-e-a-r-a-n-c-e. I think that The Ex bought one single full-price item for her biological grandson's birthday. Again - it's not about the money and how much she did or didn't spend. It's the simple fact that she couldn't even be bothered to take the price tags off of any of it, and basically announced to the entire party that she's a cheapskate.
The second thing was more bothersome. While The Ex was sittingrightnexttoSon during the gift opening, she suddenly placed her hand on his thigh. Son would move his arm or stand up, The Ex would pick up her hand, and then she'd place it back on his thigh again. I was able to get pictures because of the angle that I was taking pictures of the baby. You tell me if you find this creepy:
Her hand looks tiny in the picture; honestly, from this angle it almost looks like a child's hand. I assure you that it's not that small. She's just got her fingers wrapped around his leg so her hand looks smaller.
Personally, I think it's completely inappropriate to put your hand this close to your son's genitals when he's almost 20 years old, has a child of his own, leave it there for almost 10 straight minutes while you're calling him "Daddy," and doing this in front of both Girlfriend and Ned.
Saturday afternoon, we drove up to Tiny City to meet Son and Girlfriend at their place. Then we drove over to the hall where they were having his birthday party to help set up and decorate; Girlfriend's parents were there already. We all helped out and got done pretty quickly. We went back to the apartment. While we were there, Girlfriend started telling Daughter that The Ex wants to buy a house in Tiny City with Ned. (Just a reminder: Ned already owns his own house. It's little but it's his and has been for almost 15 years now. He bought the land, built the house, got married and divorced, and has kept it the entire time.) Girlfriend said that there was a house in town that The Ex had been looking at and wanted to buy, but Ned was apprehensive because The Ex is always threatening to leave. (Which she has done, literally the week after their wedding.) Girlfriend said that they had gone over to The Ex & Ned's house the other day and The Ex was being really nice to Lucifer; she was calling him "honey" and asked if he wanted to watch a movie with them, even though the movie was "aggressive" and The Ex has previously prohibited Lucifer from watching anything with any type of violence. Girlfriend said that The Ex was just being nice because she wanted to buy the house. (Honestly, it's like The Ex doesn't even have a soul at this point.)
Sunday morning, we went back to the hall and met with The Ex's parents again to finish helping set everything up. The party was nice; I think everyone had a good time. We all helped clean up afterward. Girlfriend's mom thanked us repeatedly for coming on Saturday because she said she had nobody else helping her with the party; she also made a comment about how quickly The Ex and Ned left the party. Girlfriend's mom said she was irritated that they hadn't helped set up and had helped very little with the cleaning after the party ended. (The Ex and Ned were out of town because The Ex's son had a wrestling tournament that weekend. Son, Girlfriend, and Girlfriend's parents were taking turns going to The Ex & Ned's house to let their dogs out.) Girlfriend's mom went on for a bit about The Ex, saying that she felt so terrible for Ned because he's a really nice guy; she said some of the things that he tells her about The Ex and the fights that the two of them have are just unbelievable.
Girlfriend also commented later about how quickly The Ex and Ned had left the party; Daughter tried to defend them a little bit, pointing out that they'd been gone all weekend and probably just wanted to get home. (The tournament was an hour from their house. I really don't think an overnight stay was necessary, but whatever.) Girlfriend said that neither The Ex or Ned had said goodbye to her. Daughter said that The Ex hadn't said goodbye to her, either. (We were planning on going out-of-state to visit Husband's family, so The Ex wouldn't have seen Daughter for almost 3 weeks. Yet she left without even saying goodbye.)
Later on, Daughter commented that The Ex had been criticizing her nails during the party. (Daughter had gone a week or so before with one of her friends and had acrylics put on.) The Ex told Daughter to take her nails off and said, "They look gross." (The Ex did the same thing last year when Daughter had her nails done. Read the second part of this post.)
When they were going to open presents, Girlfriend took the baby up to the gift table. Son was talking to Husband. I went over and told Son that he ought to go up and help out with the presents. Everyone was taking pictures of the baby opening his gifts. The Ex was on one side of the group, then ducked down and walked in front of everyone for absolutely no reason. Son grabbed a chair to sit down; The Ex grabbed a chair and said, "I'm gonna sit next to you" and literally pulled her chair right up next to Son's. Like, there was no space between them.
As the day went on, Son was getting irritated with The Ex because she kept calling him "Daddy" and giving him directions such as, "Daddy, grab that paper" or "Daddy, move that out of the way." (Personally, I can't stand when people use the phrase "Daddy" for someone other than their father, or when they're talking to a young child and referencing said child's father. It totally grosses me out when it's used sexually. If you like it or use it, more power to you...I just never have and never will. You might think I'm being dramatic by posting about this specifically, but wait until you get to the end of the blog.) The baby had missed his nap, so by the time the gifts were done and they were going to start the cake, he was beyond crabby. The Ex took the baby and started walking around; he started crying and I heard Son say to nobody in particular, "I already told her, but whatever..." (As in he'd told The Ex, "He's not happy, leave him alone, he's just going to cry if you take him." But of course, The Ex can't listen to anyone other than herself.)
Above and beyond all of that, there were two things that really stood out to me during the course of the party. The Ex "behaved" for the most part. She didn't do anything to really draw attention to herself, as she's done multiple times during her own kids' birthday parties over the years. There was one thing that made me roll my eyes and another thing that really made my skin crawl.
The first was that The Ex had bought quite a few presents for the baby; at least 3 of them were clearance items. Now don't get me wrong because I LOVE a good bargain; I always make a point of looking at every clearance aisle/section of a store that I go to because I've gotten some pretty awesome things at pretty awesome prices. I also really enjoy thrift stores because I hate paying full-price for things like kids' clothing that isn't going to fit them after a year. So I have no issues at all that The Ex bought clearance things for the baby's first birthday. What bothered me was that The Ex is so incredibly gaudy that she left the price tag on every single item she bought. Zip-up jacket? Clearance. Pirate ship toy? Clearance. Lawnmower bubble toy? C-l-e-a-r-a-n-c-e. I think that The Ex bought one single full-price item for her biological grandson's birthday. Again - it's not about the money and how much she did or didn't spend. It's the simple fact that she couldn't even be bothered to take the price tags off of any of it, and basically announced to the entire party that she's a cheapskate.
Her hand looks tiny in the picture; honestly, from this angle it almost looks like a child's hand. I assure you that it's not that small. She's just got her fingers wrapped around his leg so her hand looks smaller.
Personally, I think it's completely inappropriate to put your hand this close to your son's genitals when he's almost 20 years old, has a child of his own, leave it there for almost 10 straight minutes while you're calling him "Daddy," and doing this in front of both Girlfriend and Ned.
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