Sunday, November 10, 2013

Walking down the aisle again, vow renewals.

 Last year my husband and I renewed our wedding vows after 5 years of marriage.  During the planning process a lot of people asked us why we were renewing our vows.  Well, our wedding took less than 10 mins.  It was at 11am, and we were done by 11:07, and we even got pictures! 

Doesn't the magistrate look so excited?!   Yeah, it wasn't my ideal wedding and the husband suprised me during Christmas 2011 and proposed to me again. 

So then came the planning, and the money, and everything that went in between.  It was quite hectic, but I wouldn't have traded anything for it.  It was my dream wedding and it was my dream day. 

So that brings me back to my post, why have a renewal?  You got married before, why do it again?  There are a lot of reasons why, and what a lot of couples do is the one that I just mentioned.  Another one, is, to celebrate a major wedding anniversary.  The 25th, 50th, etc.  It's also a great way to re-connect with your spouse.  

Not really talkitive tonight, but thanks for listening. 

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Favoritism

Hey look at that, another post! Woot keeping my resolution… all right! Ok, onto something serious. I started thinking about this reading a post on Facebook the other night.    

Favoritism, we know it exists, though a lot of people don’t want to recognize it. In my little blog this is when the birth child is favored over the step child. Most step-parents that I know don’t do this, but there are ones that are out there. Sometimes it only seems to happen at the beginning of the relationship, and as the blended family becomes one it goes away, sometimes it’s the family of the parents; the grandparents, the aunts and the uncles. This is normal, the relatives have a deeper connection to the birth child and do not spend a lot of time with the step-child, it’s hard to just see someone a few times a year and have that connection. The problem comes from when they openly show the favoritism in front of the children, both step and birth and that’s what I want to focus on today.

What the step parent and the new relatives of the step child need to do is NOT to do that. No matter how they feel they need to treat each child exactly the same. If you buy something for one kid, then you need to buy something for the other kid, of equal value. If your parents buy something for your child, they need to buy something for your step child. If they have pictures all over of their grandchild/niece/nephew, well it’s time to put up pictures of the step child. They may not like it, but they are now step-grandparents/uncles/aunts, and the children have them as step grandparents/uncles/aunts through no fault of their own. Step kids are thrown into these relationships whether they like it or not, and they will feel insecure about spending time with them. To fawn all over the birth child and ignore the step-child will only increase their insecurity. The children will think, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I left out?” So if you see this happening, you need to tell your family and your friends, “These are all my children and you will treat them as such”

A co-worker of my mom overheard her talking about her grandchildren and said, “I didn't know your daughter had kids” Looking all miffed that she missed this big event. My mom says, “Well she didn't she married a man that had two boys, and those are my grandchildren” This woman had the nerve to say, “Well they’re not really your grandchildren.” When Mom told me this I wanted to find this woman and punch her in the face. My mom loves the boys and spoils them absolutely rotten, they so look forward to going to my parents because she gives them toys and money and treats, and basically spoils them rotten like any grandparent. I told my mom, “Technically they are your step-grandchildren, but they love you like a grandma and you love them like a grandma henceforth you are a grandma.” It’s people like my mom’s co-worker who cause me to write this particular blog.

Now another part of this is the inadvertent favoritism. You don’t mean to do it, but you do. The way I see this happening is when the step-child goes to spend some time at the birth parent, the step-parent and spouse and birth child go do some activities, and when the stepchild comes back you talk all about it, and how great it was. Think of it this way, you go to visit a friend, and while you’re gone your family goes shopping, goes out to dinner goes to an amusement park, or goes to sports game. When you return they tell you all about it, how great it was, and all you did at your friend’s house is normal every day activities. Now that wouldn't feel the greatest now would it? Everyone had a great time while you were gone… why don’t you just stay away?

But, I bet you’re saying, “Well we have fun when they’re here, we go out to dinner, and play games and go to sports events, so why does it matter that we do the same when they’re not here?” Key words there are they are not there. You can do something right 99 times, but the 1 time that you do something wrong, that is what everyone remembers. Just ask skydivers, 6 years later and I’m still reminded on a regular basis about my malfunction that was caught on tape. The same goes for kids; that one time will stick in their memory forever. Now I’m not saying do nothing while your step kid is with their birth parent, but don’t dwell on it, and don’t mention it that often. Also try to save the big things for when everyone is together. Is that inconvenient? Is it annoying? Yeah it’s annoying to schedule things around when you have all the kids together, but guess what you’re in this situation and you need to make it livable for everyone.

So in conclusion, if you or your family doesn't feel that special connection with the step-child, it’s time to fake it till you make it. There have been studies that even dogs will feel envy and jealously if another dog is getting more attention than them, how much more intense are those feelings in young children? When kids feel ignored, or when they think everyone likes their step-sibling better than them, this leads to hurt feelings and resentment, which in turn leads to behavior issues, which causes everyone stress, and no one wants that. 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Holidays and Listening

Well the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over.. and my resolution is to be more organized and be more motivated.  To do that I've moved my computer into the back computer room and not have it out in the living room to distract me as much.

Now I'll tell you how the holidays went as a step parent - before I do that remember, we have an awesome relationship with the boys mom.

By the way - Reader's discretion - We will be discussing things little children may not want to read or hear.  You've been warned

It went great, the boys loved their presents and they were very happy.

This year we dropped the Santa bomb.  The boys Mom and I had been discussing it for quite some time, and I was really nervous about it.   I knew that we couldn't afford to get a big present from Santa and from us, and Gina (not her real name, but don't want to say her name if she doesn't want me too) was feeling the same thing.

The thing was, I didn't want to do it and their dad was just going to tell them (the same way he told them about sex... oi, but that's another story) and I said, no we have to do this gently.  A few weeks after Halloween,  I started talking about Santa, and Nicky just bursts out. "That's ok, Mama told us about Santa, and how you guys buy the presents" Ben pops up, "Yeah there's no Santa"

Ok great, we'll just go ahead and go along with that, and I was grateful Christmas wasn't going to be as expensive (at least I thought that then).  Anyways, the weekend before Thanksgiving my mom's work had a package to go view the lights before christmas at the toledo zoo.  She bought tickets for the whole family, and we went down. Walking around, I ask the boys if they wanted to see Santa, Nicky shook his head, but then Ben got all excited.  (I realize that I probably shouldn't have asked that)  So I said we'll see if we have time, and Ben got distracted by other things that night.

So when Gina came and picked up the boys on Sunday, I told her about it, and she let me know that Ben's Para Pro had told Ben that she believed in Santa and that was enough for Ben.  (His morning para pro can move the earth and stars in Ben's eyes).

So then over the course of the next few weeks, I found out that Ben had a little girlfriend and that Nicky had been missing homework.  We only found out because the boys got in trouble, and I was a little irked by this. I was like we need to know these things, but then I realized.. we hadn't asked. Every time the boys would come to our house, we would ask them about school, and when Gina would come pick them up. We would say hi, here's their stuff, they're homework is done... and bye.  That's it. So I realized if I want to know more about what is going on in school. I need to ask.

I realize I don't tell the boys mom if something happened on our end, and she doesn't do the same because in the whole 5 mins that we spend together when switching kids, it has to do more with what's going on right then and there and saying goodbye to the boys.  When I ask the boys what's going on in school, I usually get a shrug, most kids are the same and they'll tell you stuff but not the whole nine yards.

So my lesson from that, was simply, we need to ask about the boys and what is going on in school.. if we don't know, it's our own fault.

So, you want to know what is going on with the kids, ASK... talk to the ex and go in with calm and respect. Will it work right away?  Probably not.. it's going to take some time, because there are hurt feelings there.  Yet, you are in each other's life for the rest of your lives and well you better get use to it so learn how to talk to them, and keep learning because it is easy to forget as I am showcasing this right now.

Well, until next time, if I can keep my resolution.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Being a Step-Parent



So far my blog has been mostly me talking about my life, and what is going on.  Nothing too extreme or interesting in any way shape or form.

Well for a while now I've been looking on Facebook and seeing a lot of my single parent friends make comments about the non custodial parents, and other step parents make posts about dealing with baby mama, or baby daddy drama.

Now, I'm a step-parent and have been officially one for 5 years, unofficially for 7.  Lots of time I like to offer advice to others about how to be a step-parent.  So I thought about turning it into a blog, but before I get into all of that.  Let me tell you the story of how I came to be a step-parent.  It's not pretty, I'm not proud of some of the things I've done, but it all turned out beautifully and I love my life.

It all started about 7 years ago.  I was married to a man who was still a child, and was looking for someone to take care of him.  His weed and his friends meant more to him than I did.  I worked a full time job, and went to school full time pulling 13 hour days Monday - Saturday.  During that time I meet my current husband, and he was still married to his first wife.  Things weren't going great in their marriage either.  I won't go into details, that's her story to tell, but we were both looking for ways out.

Things came to a head with my husband and I, and I left him.  I had other places to stay, but in my short sightedness, I did not think I had one so I went to live with my current husband and his wife.  Let me tell you something, this is a BAD idea.  The drama that ensued afterward probably took about 15 years off everyone's life that was in that house, however I meet the boys for the first time, and even changed my first diaper, while everyone laughed at me because I was 25 years old and never changed a diaper.

7 months later things came to a major head and everything came out in the open, and everyone officially knew everything.  I am almost positive that my husband's ex-wife knew, but she didn't say anything.  My husband said that he wanted to work on the relationship with his first wife, and I had to go.  So I went with a broken heart and started to live life on my own.  Then about two weeks later, I get a call, his ex-wife said they needed to talk and he thought this was it.  Now during my stay there, they said this pretty much every month and they always worked it and I said so, but if he needed a place to stay, to call me to get directions.

I did not expect to get a call, and was planning on heading to bed, when I got a call and he was on his way. So I gave him directions.  We spent the weekend together and we've been together ever since. At the time Dan was wanting to just leave everything behind and start a new life, it seemed easier.  Thank goodness for his ex-wife who said NO, these boys need you and you will be a part of their lives, and so it began.

At that time we all kind of made a silent agreement to do stuff for the kids.  Both my husband and his ex-wife  went to the SMILE course that was required for their divorce and they actually paid attention to it.  Now the emotions between us and her were a roller coaster, but we always made sure to do what is best for the kids.  

I can not tell you enough how important it is for everyone to make sure what they are doing is what is best for the kids.  

In my blog I will still talk about my day to day activities, but also my adventures as a step-parent and the adventures of the other step-parents I know.   So my first word of advice is that you will never match up to the birth parent.  No matter what.

There are a few exceptions to the rule, but for the most part the kids will always want their birth parent.  I've seen this in a lot of different aspects.  No matter how the step parent is far superior to the birth parent in parenting skills, the birth parent is before you.  I have seen where the birth parent has said that they do not have time to see their children to the actual child, and the step parent comes in and saves the day.  The second the birth parent says yeah I'll see you if I have to, the birth child will go with the birth parent.  You could be the most awesome step-parent in the world, but kids want their mom or dad.

Sometimes this is not the case when the child doesn't know their parent.  When the birth parent has never even met the child.  Unfortunately this happens more than not, and it irks me that people are like that. That's another rant for another day.

Here's the thing, no matter what do not try to be the parent because you are not the parent. You are the step-parent.  By trying to be the parent or be better than the parent because you are just putting the child in a spot that is not good for them.  You're forcing the child to choose between two people that they love.  Don't ask them what their parent is doing or who do like better, or anything that would put their parent down, because they are just going to say what they think you want to hear because they do not want to make you mad or hurt your feelings, and then if you bring it up in front of the parent that really makes the child uncomfortable.

The most important thing you can do in this situation is to simply be there for the kid.  Listen to them, do not be judgmental and do not speak badly about their birth parent in front of them. When was the last time you wanted to hear something bad about the person you love and love the person saying it too much that you didn't want to say anything to stop them?  Sounds like an awkward position right?  Do you want to put a young kid in that position?

Well what about when the kid doesn't like you?  Well that's in our next installment.  Have a great week!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Just some random musings

So it’s been a while since I updated… and I figure that perhaps it’s time to write something, though I’m not really sure what to write.   I’ve discovered the wonderful thing of pinterest, and I have to say I love it.  Though all the easy projects that are on there, that I say I have to try, will probably never be done because well I am pretty lazy, and I come home from work and all I want to do is crash.
Is it my depression?  Probably.  What do I need to do to get over it?  Who knows… I just feel so.. blargh lately.  There’s nothing that really make me depressed, in all honesty I should be really happy.  I have a loving husband, a few really good friends, an awesome family, I own my home and it’s not getting foreclosed on,  I own the two cars in my driveway, and I’m keeping my head above water.  As long as I keep ignoring all those medical bills. 
Yet, I still feel depressed.  Is there something out there that will fix it?  Probably not, it’s probably chemical, or at least need to come to grips even more that I really will never have my own children.  Most days, I can handle it, most days it doesn’t even phase me, but I find myself looking at my surgery scars lately and sighing.   Physically my life is SOOOO much better since I’ve had my hysterectomy.  I’m no longer completely disabled whenever my periods start have hardly missed a day of work since then. Which is a minor miracle for me.
More than likely I probably need to go to a therapist, but I HAAAATTE talking about my feelings.  I’m so very much like my father in that aspect.  My folks always taught us, just deal with it, move on.  Don’t get hung up on things, and in classic Burchill fashion I’ll grumble and make a face and walk away.   Unless I haven’t had my anti-anxiety pills for a while, and if I have an attack the tears and emotions and words just come flying out of me.
Wedding planning is going well, and I have everything pretty planned, just need to get a few more decorations, and pay for everything.  That’s the hard part, paying for everything.  I’ve done really well, I have a $5000 dollar budget for the wedding, though about 2300 of it is paid for my by folks which will be paid back slowly over time.  
There’s stuff going on in the news that just makes me roll my eyes lately.  People are just getting all bent out of shape over the littlest things.   We had brunch after church on Sunday with some friends of ours, and we started talking about the presidential campaign.  The thing that irks me is all the e-mails and rumors about this that and the other thing about all the candidates.  My mother in law and father are prime examples.  Just because it comes in an e-mail, does not make it true!! In fact if it does come in a forwarded e-mail, I would be extra cautious because of the simple fact that people are stupid.  A person is smart, but people as a whole are stupid.  The whole mob mentality thing, where people justify themselves because someone else did it or sent it, look if you forward an e-mail with crap about Romney or Obama, that means you believe it.  Take 5 mins, and do some research and see if it really is true!   Heck, my father with a master’s degree still believes that Obama swore in on a copy of the Karan, heck 5 mins after looking up things on the internet find out that another republican senator was sworn in on the Karan, and Obama swore in on the Bible in both the senate and as the president. 
And to be honest with you, to me, it doesn’t matter who is president, because The House and Senate are so bogged down in partisan bull crap that nothing gets done anymore.   Each person in the House and Senate are so worried that come next election cycle their opponents will look at them and say, “See he compromised, he’s not a real democrat/republican don’t vote for him, vote for me!”   It’s stupid, and it’s sending this country right to hell in a handbasket.
You’re supposed to be there for the people, to find the best possible solution for all parties involved, and guess what that means?  You have to compromise sometimes, heck you might need to compromise all the time.  Republicans, democrats, tea party, etc etc etc, we all live in this country together.  For the past 100 years we’ve been the epitome of power and strength in the world, and now we’re like the laughing stock, while other countries are taking our jobs and our security.   So grow some balls, and figure out how to make things work.  Plan and simple.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Mr. Limbaugh am I a Slut?

Ok, I don’t normally like to get on my soapbox because everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when you make yourself look like a complete idiot, I need to step up.
Everyone knows Rush Limbaugh, the man is an icon, and self-proclaimed spokesman for the republican party.  Now I’m not republican or democrat, I’m what you call independent.  My vote swings back and forth each election cycle, and I vote for who I think will do the best job, not whether they call themselves republican or democrat (which is a whole other post in and of itself). 
So part of Obama care is that employers pay for birth control for the employees.   It’s the relatively inexpensive pill form.  Not the shot, not one of those thingies you put up your vagoo, just regular help control your hormones birth control.  Yet, many people are quite up in arms about having to pay for this.  Many say it goes against their religion for any form on contraception and others think it’s just a free reign to have sex. Rush Limbaugh seems to think along both of these lines.
There was a law student by the name of Sandra Fluke, who went and testified before congress that having employers or schools pay for birth control helped her out basically saying that a year’s supply of birth control can costs over 3,000 dollars.  She got some flak for it as any one goes before a committee hearing does, but good ole Rush took it to a whole other level.
What does it say about the college coed Susan [sic] Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.
She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps.
The johns, that's right. We would be the johns — no! We're not the johns. Well — yeah, that's right. Pimp's not the right word.
OK, so, she's not a slut. She's round-heeled. I take it back.

Ok Rush let me tell you my little story, not glamorous, but one that many a woman in this United States, including republicans I assure you, has experienced.
I give fair warning, I’m going to be talking about my girlie time. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
I did not start to have my first period till I was nearly 16.  I was the epitome of what you would call a late bloomer.   My parents and I started to think something might be wrong, but we waited since I had some spotting here and there over the last year.  Finally my real period hit at a summer party at my aunt’s house, and that’s when things started to suck.   
I hurt very badly that day and the cramps were horrible, at least I thought they were.  My mother on the other hand just figured it was because I’d never really experienced them before.   I went through one of my aunt’s regular pads in an hour, and then she gave me a super and I made it home and then I went through supers about every two hours.  Next day, just a little bit of bleeding, and then the third day nothing. 
My period continued like this for the next several months, except I had no symptoms of my period coming until the day of.  I would have horrible fatigue in my legs that it felt like I just ran a marathon.  (on a short side note, the one or two times my periods came during track meets I would run awesome that day).  I would having severe nausea and vomiting, and would go through those super pads in two hours.  Heaven help me, if I had forgotten to bring some pads and would get the ones from the office, and those things didn’t do crap because they would leak through.  I would also have to go home from school for these symptoms, which shot my attendance record all the shizernit.  When I got home, I would be taking 4 ibuprofen every 3 to 4 hours, hot baths and heating pads and sleeping where the only things that would ebb the pain.   After 4 months of this, my mom took me to my first girlie doctor appointment.   Doctor said that my symptoms were not that atypical and that birth control would fix it.  So there I was on birth control at 16.  The difference was sublime.  My periods lasted longer than two days, but I could wear a normal
I was not what one would call one of the “cool kids” in high school.  Several girls would torment me on a regular basis, and I was not asked to hang out with them, and so I spent most of my time in honors bands, or track or swimming, or some other extra-curricular activity.   So I COMPLETELY oblivious to anything about sex.  
Now eventually my senior year in high school, I did have sex, but I didn’t have it because I was on birth control.  No, I succumbed to peer pressure.   By my senior year I had finally grown out of my awkward phase, and I had a steady boyfriend, and a cute one at that! My naïve little mind was way happy about that, considering I’d been called big lips Burchill and a dog since I was in elementary school never thought I’d get one of those.   He’d been around the block a few times, and to impress him I said I had been too.  Finally one day after a heavy make-out session he said want to go into the bedroom, and I said ok.   
Anyways, by the time I got to college I’d been on BC for several years that was covered by my parents insurance.  However, I went through what one would call a personal growth period and dropped out.  There for I was no longer on my parents insurance, and my naïve little mind did not realize this.   So my job sucked, paid just over minimum wage, and it was all I could do to pay rent (was learning how to budget my money the very hard way) and could not afford birth control.  So my wonderful symptoms came back.  My poor ex-husband didn’t know what to do, and my employer was not thrilled about it either as I would have to miss work  However I worked into a routine, I would start to recognize the symptoms and get some Motrin in me and a hot bath to relax the muscles or a heating pad.  I always had lots of back-ups in my car in case something would happen.  I was even starting to work it down to the hour.  After 18 hours my symptoms would improve, and I was normal again.  However if I was somewhere where I could not do my EXACT routine, I was S.O.L.   The vomiting, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, was horrible.
When I got my life back around and got a halfway decent job that offered birth control I was able to get back on them again, and life was WAAAAAAAY better. 
Mr. Limbaugh, as you can see there is a definite cause and effect to me taking birth control and not taking birth control.  Without the birth control, I would miss days of work, ruin clothing, ruin my liver, and be completely miserable 12 days a year.
Now, do you want to call me a slut?