Monsters birthday has always been a weird day in our family, especially for my other half. Previous arrangements have been unsuccessful and I spent a day watching his heart break last year as he waited on a call which never came. This year, with more formal arrangements in place, we were SUPER excited that Monster … Continue reading Monsters 5th Birthday
It's a difficult and loaded question - when you do you stop being Dads girlfriend (or Mums boyfriend) and start being a step parent? There are many definitions of "step mother", most of these are specifically related to marriage; many are very longstanding and therefore traditional in their perspective. A couple gets married, buy a … Continue reading When do you become a Step Mum?
When I first became an "unmarried step-mum" Monster didn't have a huge time impact on my life, my partners access was minimal and we had a lot of "free time" to be a couple in our own right. As you will know from my previous posts, this changed - in different ways both gradually and … Continue reading Always be prepared
As it's St. Valentines day - a celebration of love and affection, I decided to dedicate this post to all the men who make being a Step-Mother seem like a wonderful idea! More specifically to my man, who washes out all the negativity and makes our life amazing through the most trying of circumstances. I … Continue reading The Man in the Middle
Ah - the never-ended and never-answered question for a lot of people with Step-parent roles. How do you know when to stop "stepping-up" and step back instead? As I've mentioned in previous posts, the great thing about meeting Monster when he was so small is that I really am part of the furniture, there was … Continue reading Learning to step-back
One of the challenges of a (part-time) blended family dynamic is the many stakeholders and family members who want to be involved. My partner and I are both very lucky to have nearby families who want to be a regular part of not only our lives, but monsters too. In many respects, we are extremely … Continue reading Keeping in Touch
A fellow step-mum recently prompted me to look back on our first overnight with monster, its very easy now to forget that we haven't always had overnight visits with him and take for granted that at that time.. it was a very big deal. When we first moved into our new house (3 years ago … Continue reading The first overnight
I wasn't intending on a New Year post at all this year, but as always the dawn of a new year has got me thinking about the 365 days past and those to come. 2017 was definitely a year of extremes in our house, with some of the happiest times of my life and with … Continue reading What I did wrong in 2017
Never make a promise you can't keep, a broken promise makes a lie. I'm a big believer in the words above, and the most important of my personal values is honesty. I can't stand lying, no matter how big or small or innocent it may appear - if you can't or won't admit something, you should never … Continue reading Broken Promises
Ask any stepmum about their most stressful time of year and I'm confident the vast majority will mention two things; Step kids birthdays..... and...... Christmas (I'll include thanksgiving here too for the USA based) As it's December and monsters birthday falls in March, of course I'm talking Christmas today. Christmas/ the whole festive season is … Continue reading Christmas Chaos
Love and living as a bisexual bonus mom.
What if stepmom-hood was a calling? A purpose, and not a position?
{ an advocate for wisdom & growth }
Life as a stepmom dealing with a not so friendly biomom.
The truth is, I've never done anything so difficult in my life!
