It's All My Husband's Fault

  Daughter started talking again last week.  I don't remember how we got on the topic, but she said that The Ex's daughter "wants [Ned] to adopt her." ( This girl is 10 years old.  You know what I was doing at 10 years old?  Wondering when I could next have a sleepover with my friends.  The Ex was asking Son and Daughter if they "could see [Ned] as a father figure" when she'd only been dating him for a few months.   Knowing The Ex and how she is, I don't believe this is a genuine thought that this child had on her own; I think it's an idea that The Ex planted in her head and continues to feed. ) I was kind of surprised and Daughter said, "Well, I mean...I get it.  [The Ex's two youngest kids'] dad isn't around, so..." ( A friend of mine commented, "Yes, their dad is not around.  So for all intents and purposes, Ned is already her 'dad.'  Why would she be thinking about adoption?" )   Then, in what was pr...

  The court order has read since 2005 that both parents will provide health insurance for the kids, contingent on it being available at reasonable or no cost.  The Ex used to have a job that, in addition to paying her quite well, offered decent health insurance; she got fired from that job on purpose ( She told people she wanted to get fired just so that she could get her child support reduced. ), lost her health insurance, and collected unemployment for a full year.  After she had exhausted her unemployment benefits, she then got a part-time job and wasn't eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance.  After the judge ordered her to do so, The Ex finally got a full-time job that also paid well and also offered insurance; when she left Boyfriend and moved to Tiny City, she quit that job and lost that health insurance as well.   The Ex doesn't really care about this because she and her two youngest kids are enrolled in state insurance that she doesn't have...

  Since Son graduated and moved into Girlfriend's parents' house, he's contacted Husband a few times.  The only communication they've had that was decent was on Son's 18th birthday; Husband wished him a happy birthday, Son said thanks.  Every time Son messaged Husband, it was always because he wanted something.   The first time Son reached out was to say that he needed his Social Security card and asked Husband to mail it or bring it to Son's court hearing for his disorderly conduct citation.   The second was because he wasn't able to update anything on his phone, so he accused Husband and/or I of turning on the parental controls to his Google account and demanded that we turn off something we didn't turn on.   The third was the message over Labor Day weekend, which I'm still convinced was authored by The Ex, and was when Son told Husband that Girlfriend's dad more of a dad to him than Husband is, and how happy he was now that he was with ...

  Husband emailed a copy of Daughter's basketball schedule to The Ex and let her know about the scrimmage that was on the 10th; he also reminded her of the medical bill balance, that her last payment had been almost two years ago, and asked when she'd be making another payment.   The Ex logged in, read the message, and said nothing.   Husband emailed her again, reminded her that she agreed to respond to any questions within 48 hours, said it had been five days with no reply from her, and asked again when she would be making a payment.   The second email was sent one week ago.  The Ex hasn't logged into 2houses for 10 straight days.   But the holidays are coming, so I'm sure there will be something coming in the next month or two.

  The Ex has been quiet.  We haven't heard anything since the end of September when The Ex had a hissy fit because we wouldn't let her rearrange the placement schedule on her terms. I blogged about it ( You can read about it  here . ), but the summarized version is that The Ex wanted Daughter the weekend of September 29th, asked to switch for a weekend she wasn't even in town, announced we were switching because she was going to leave Daughter here on her weekend, and adamantly refused to switch for the weekend of November 10th that Husband had offered so that The Ex could still have Daughter when she wanted.   Volleyball is officially over for this season, which means basketball is about to start.  We haven't gotten a schedule yet from Daughter's coach so I called him the other day, asking if he had an idea of what days and times practices would be so that I could let Daughter's work know what her availability would be.   Daughter's coach called b...

  Daughter had asked if we would let her get her nose pierced for her birthday.  Husband wasn't thrilled about it at first, but he finally said yes and I took her in.    Daughter has had the piercing for almost 3 months now.   Daughter told me last night that The Ex just recently realized that Daughter's nose is pierced, and told her that "it's ugly."  After getting over the initial shock, I told her that out of everyone, The Ex is the ONLY person to say that; Husband didn't even want Daughter to have it done and now he thinks it looks cute on her.   She also said she had told some of her friends about this; one of them commented that The Ex really seems to be judging Daughter's appearance lately.  Daughter said that this is how it always is with The Ex.   My heart really hurts for her.  She shouldn't have to put up with this.  Daughter is such a sweet, loving, helpful person; she'd give a stranger the shirt off her back if ...

  Last week was Parents' Night at Daughter's school.  The morning of, Daughter said she had asked The Ex if she was coming; she told Daughter that she "didn't know."   We got to the school a little early, I talked to the athletic director for a few minutes.  A little while later, Daughter said she needed to find the AD and talk to him.  Daughter said that she had only listed The Ex as a "maybe" for Parents' Night, but she just found out that The Ex was coming so she said that she "had to make sure" they announced The Ex's name along with ours. ( The way she said it implied she knew that she was going to get an earful if The Ex's name wasn't announced.  Am I the only one who finds it a somewhat interesting that Daughter has them read The Ex's name only if she attends the event?  All of the other events that The Ex has missed, Daughter told them only to read my and Husband's names. )   So The Ex shows up with Ned in ...