Monday, July 18, 2011

Co-habitation

MB "officially" moved in last weekend. By officially, I mean we emptied out his house and moved it all into my house. I'm excited and feeling positive about the future we are working on building together. He had been at my house pretty much non-stop for a few weeks prior to the "official" move.

What has changed since the move? I feel like I have a real family for the first time ever. Not that XH, BB and I weren't a family, but it didn't have this feeling. The other thing that has changed is that for the first time since I've had my own place, my house feels like a home.

There are a lot of adjustments… I've never tried so hard at a relationship. Once upon a time I would have said that you shouldn't have to try at a relationship, but I feel differently now. Children throw a whole new dynamic into the whole thing. Compromises need to be made on everything from parenting styles to TV watching to the type of food we eat. Butter vs. margarine has become a debate that we joke about but yet it feels like we're both a bit sensitive about it.

Even though I know better, I have moments where I feel like I'm the one making all of the compromises, but then there's mornings like today and I'm reminded that no, he's making big ones too. The alarm went off at 6:00. I hit snooze at and it went off again at 6:09. I had to shower, get the kids up, dressed, and fed, make my lunch and be out the door in an hour. I told MB that we had to get up right away because we slept in later than we should have. He asked for just 15 minutes more of sleep because he had been awake since after 4:00… The baby monitor and my phone had kept him awake. (I forgot to turn off my phone last night and my mother was commenting on my FB pictures in the night and my phone kept notifying me of her comments.) Normally I would tell him to go ahead and stay in bed, but there was no way I would make it make it to work on time without his help, so I told him no, I needed him to get up. He seemed shocked and upset. It's hard to blame him since he has an all-day drive ahead of him today and being tired for it wouldn't be good. So when I saw he was upset, I told him fine, stay in bed, I'll just be late for work (if you know me, you'll know what a HUGE deal that would be. I've worked here for 13 years and I've probably only been late twice.) He said no, that he would get up. I headed upstairs to get the kids up and dressed, expecting that he probably would fall back to sleep and I really would be late for work. But no, by the time I had them dressed he was up and working on breakfast for me in the kitchen. He's used to sleeping in and getting up when he's rested… not being slammed into reality at 6am. In my world, it doesn't matter if I didn't sleep at all that night. If the kids are up, I need to be up. End of story. Throw work into the mix (I can't just walk in whenever I feel like it and make up the time later – that isn't type of culture we have) and I really have no choice but to get up and get moving.

He does so much for us… he prepares most of our meals. Even though he's going to be away this week, he prepared extra food last night for us to eat this week while he is away. I'm not used to having someone take care of me like this. He has encouraged me to strengthen my relationship with my parents… It had really deteriorated over the past few years. The past two weekends that I've had the kids, we've spent time with them on both days. I get a day to either sleep in or take a nap on the weekends that we have the kids. This is something I've never had before. Sure, I haven't really taken advantage of it, but that's my own fault. :) He will stay with the kids so I can run errands, and he's even become okay with changing BG's diaper so I can be away for longer. I can rely on him. He's there when I need him to be. This is huge.

BB & BG have really bonded with him – BG especially. This makes making it work seem even more important. I do not want to be the mother who brings men in and out of her children's lives. I can see now how easily it happens… everything is justified. You try to be positive that this one is the one.

I'm a bit sad that I won't have the same bond with MB's son. He's older than my kids, so it's too late to really form any sort of a parental bond with him. I'm finding it hard to get close to him, even though I desperately want to develop a connection with him. I don't want to push it though, so I kind of hang back… try to take opportunities when they arise. Sometimes I need a push from MB… a reminder that I need to try. MB claims that his son really likes me. I hope it's true. On the weekends that we have kids, we have all three of the kids. This past weekend though, we only had mine as his guy is away with his mom. It felt so weird not having him around… I really missed him. I think that's a good sign.

We're living in a period of adjustment right now. We're trying to get his stuff unpacked and our house settled. We're looking at having renovations done so that he and I have a proper bedroom and family room. We're learning and building a new life together. This is huge.

4 comments:

The Original Princess said...

I'm really happy for you and glad to hear things are going so well!!

cuddles said...

Thanks, Princess! :)

Independent Chick said...

Been a long time since I've caught up here. I see what's up on FB but to read your words here, I can almost see you smiling and it makes my heart happy. XOXO

cuddles said...

Thanks, Independent Chick! :) I can only imagine how things must look from FB... the way he and I tease and carry on there. :) I definitely AM smiling a lot these days. :) Thanks for stopping by - it means a lot to me. :) xo