It's All My Husband's Fault

  Since we started providing phones for Son and Daughter when they reached 12 years old, we've monitored interactions between them and anyone associated with The Ex.  I could care less what they text their friends or what they talk about; The Ex is sheer evil, her family isn't any better, and I'll be damned if I let them have free reign over these children.  Judge me if you want, call me a helicopter parent; I don't really care.  When you've been through what we have, heard what we've heard, seen what we've seen, then I guarantee you that you're going to start documenting everything until your kid turns 18.  It also helps that recording phone calls without notifying the other parent is legal in this state.   We hadn't checked Daughter's phone in months because honestly, she's already 17 and Son is 19.  Documentation is not nearly as vital as it was when they were 12 and 10, and The Ex was constantly mind-f*cking them.  I've continued ...

  Putting aside the volleyball issue, there was still plenty of drama surrounding The Ex's son's birthday party. Apparently, The Ex had planned this haunted-house themed party and it was going to be a whole big deal and members of the family, including Daughter, were supposed to dress up and be part of this haunted house. ( I ought to upload the video that The Ex posted when her daughter was 4 and her son was 1.  The Ex and Boyfriend decided to take them to a haunted house/train thing; her daughter was scared out of her mind.  As this happened, The Ex filmed it on her phone.  The Ex didn't take her daughter away from what was scaring her, she didn't stop recording; you just hear this traumatized child screaming and crying throughout the whole. damn. video. )   The night before the party, The Ex sent Daughter a long-winded text message complaining about...well, everything: "Ordered 6 pizzas from [local pizza place]. 1 cheese, 3 pepperoni, 2 sausage. I'll ...

  Anyone who has followed this blog for some time knows and understands that while The Ex might say  that she wants her kids to play sports or be involved in extracurricular activities, what she actually means is that she doesn't care what they do just as long as it fits into her schedule and what she wants to do; if it poses any form of an inconvenience to her, then she doesn't want them to participate.   To go back a little bit and refresh everyone's memory, years ago Husband and The Ex came to a stipulated custody agreement.  In exchange for us getting every other placement weekend rather than only one weekend each month, The Ex would get any weekends that included a Friday or a Monday off of school; if the day off of school fell on a weekend that would be Husband's, then they would switch weekends so that The Ex got the extra day of placement.   Daughter had a volleyball tournament scheduled recently; Husband updated the calendar to reflect this on Augu...

  Saturday afternoon, The Ex shared a post that read: "Let this sink in. I gave you $10, he gave you $20. You felt that he was better just because he gave you more. But he had $200, all I had was $10"   I've seen the post before, I get the meaning behind it.  Don't appreciate something because it's "bigger," appreciate the effort that someone makes.  It totally makes sense to me and I agree with it.   But holy.  Shit.   The Ex couldn't just leave it at that.  Oh, heavens no.  The Ex not only had to tag Son in the post, but then she turned a life lesson into an attack on Husband's character and behavior.  And really, it's almost an attack on Son too.   When she shared the post, she also wrote: "Something for people to think on... especially for those teenagers ones... My oldest too...[Son first & last name] YES your dad always had more money... This is how it went in your eyes and heart ALWAYS😔 But I never stopped lovin...

  Girlfriend has continued to tell me throughout the week how frustrated she is with The Ex.  She first told me last Sunday that they were suddenly responsible for watching the kids for an entire week; you can read about that here .   Tuesday, she messages me saying that the two kids refuse to pick up after themselves and she felt like their maid.  She said she knew for a fact that they picked up when The Ex was home, but suddenly refused to do it.  She said that she told The Ex's daughter to pick up her mess and she replied, "Well Mom just normally cleans up after us and doesn't complain."  I told Girlfriend that I doubted that story because I can't imagine The Ex not complaining.   We've had a lot of rain here lately; she said that The Ex's youngest child ( The sick little bastard who watched Lucifer get punished for months on end for hiding toothbrushes when it was him hiding them all along and letting Lucifer take the fall for it ) rolled her re...

  Girlfriend messaged me yesterday telling me that The Ex's son had gotten the baby sick again.  I told her that it's that time of year, it's kind of unavoidable, I'm sick myself and am just getting over it, and that I understood her frustration because it's hard to watch your kids sick when they're that small. ( I really tried to be diplomatic about this.  It's starting to be cold season; you can't always prevent a kid getting sick so I wasn't going to blame The Ex's son for it.  It happens. )   Girlfriend then said she was "SO MAD."  She said that she and Son had gotten stuck watching The Ex's younger kids and added, "Never was asked, was told." ( Again, not going to blame The Ex quite yet.  It's possible that she said something to Son about it and he forgot to tell Girlfriend until the last second.  Probably not, but I'm still willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. )  Girlfriend said there was practical...

  Daughter's volleyball team celebrated Parents' Night again.  And of course, The Ex attended just to get her own 15 minutes of fame.  You can read about the past two Parents' Nights here and here .   The day before Parents' Night, Daughter tells me that The Ex texted her asking if Daughter would make sure to please add Ned's name to the list of parents because she "didn't want him to feel left out."  Daughter replied, "Do I have to?"  The Ex told Daughter that she would pay her. ( No, I'm not making this up.  The Ex is paying Daughter money just to tell people that Ned is her parent.  This is epic. )  Daughter told me that she'd either buy Ned a flower or she'd write his name down, but she wasn't doing both.  I said I didn't understand why The Ex kept trying to force a relationship between Ned and Daughter.  Daughter tried to play devil's advocate with herself and said that she wrote my name down; I told her that I...