Maybe I'm just emotional due to the pregnancy hormones, but MAN I am increasingly annoyed with BM these days. Sorry for a long vent to come....

Rant 1: DF wasn't getting an answer from BM this weekend about seeing the kids for a few hours. I never, ever text her unless completely necessary, but my sister and DF's mother were both in town and we hoped to get the kids for a couple of hours even though it was BM's weekend. Earlier in the week she said it was fine, then after Friday's harsh words (she told DF to shove it), we didn't know what was going on. So I finally texted her, knowing she'd never say anything bad to me. I asked her how SS was doing (he was sick on Friday) and she said he was better. Then I asked her if Sunday from 4-7 was okay to take the kids and she wrote back "No, after your attitude today, you can see them on Monday" - which was our next schedule day to have them, and would completely miss seeing our family in town. According to the stipulation, if there is 10 days notice given for family events, we can have the kids even if it's her weekend. So she would have violated that if she didn't have a good excuse (such as her own family event or being out of town). So I texted back and said, "This is SteppingUp. Don't involve me in the drama -- it is between you and DF. We'd like the kids to meet my sister and to see Grandma on Sunday like we originally planned. Does 4-7 sound good?" Of course she apologized and said she thought DF was texting from my phone, but then added, "If you two don't get off my back then I'm through with working with you two." Hmmm, but that would violate the stipulation!

Rant 2: (although this is a good one!) Today I asked our daycare provider if she could ask BM to make sure SS2 has extra clothes in his bag that goes back and forth. We keep filling it with underwear and extra shorts and socks but every time we get it back, it's empty. Daycare says she hasn't used any extra clothes for awhile. Daycare actually said to me, "Talking to BM is like talking to a brick wall" and she laughed about it. Then she said, "BM can't even find the kids bag half the time and just brings a new one, but it always just has clothes for SD5, so I don't know if me saying something would do anything. Why don't you two just bring a bag here and we can keep it for him and if he uses the clothes I'll send it home with you for washing?" Hooray, another instance that proves that day care 'gets it' and is on our side.

Rant 3: DF and I have known about BM's boyfriend for awhile now, and he hasn't been introduced to him yet, although he sleeps over at her house all the time and is around the kids. The kids don't say much about him other than that he lays on the couch the whole time and watches tv. However, when I was first in the picture, she wanted to meet me the same weekend the kids did. That was fine, understandable, and it went "okay". DF finally asked BM when he would be introduced to her bf. She said none of her boyfriends want to meet him because they hear what a jerk he is. So in her dream-world, people actually LIKE their significant other's exes? Come on, get real. He doesn't have to LIKE DF, he just has to be an adult and be introduced to the father of her freaking children. Her double-standard for things drives us crazy. She insisted that even though I'm a teacher that it doesn't mean I'm good with kids and that was why she had to meet me right away. Haha! We have no information at all about her bf and she thinks it's okay to date him for 6 months without him getting off the couch to walk to the door to shake DF's hand when he drops of the kids?