Welcome
I've been dreaming of starting a blog for working parents and blended families for a few years, but have been anxious about being able to put in the time that matches my passion to make it work along with the rest of our crazy life.
However, there is no time like the present, and I am SO EXCITED to be launching this blog, creating a community, and sharing and learning with all of you. So read on for more of our blended life trials and tribulations!
On Blended Families
Before my own divorce, I had very little appreciation for blended families or the process of divorce and custody. Going through divorce was the hardest thing I had ever experienced, and navigating custody was confusing and overflowing with emotions. After my now-husband's divorce and custody shenanigans, my appreciation for all the tiny pieces and parts that make blended family units work increased exponentially.
Together, we have 3 of the best kiddos in the world. The oldest 2 are mine biologically, and our youngest is my husband's biologically. However, you'll rarely hear either of us refer to any of our kids or their siblings as "step." In our home, we are simply family. That is not to say that life is always easy--our youngest splits her time between our state and her mother's. This has caused tremendous logistical and travel changes to our household, not to mention incurred much expense. However, through it all, we are figuring out how to make it work for our party of 5.
We keep legal shenanigans and discussions among adults away from little ears, and are learning to balance the unexpected, legal filings, new-partners for our exes, the changing needs of our kiddos, full time workloads, multiple households, too much travel, and a whole lot of love.
As you'll find here, blending a family is so much more than custody arrangements. Read on for more on what a blended family is, and how we make it work.
On Being a (second) Wife
I don't believe anyone gets married thinking it will end. For my now-husband and I, that was the case for us both, and we found each other in midst of our respective relationships failing. Being a second wife is full of so many things...we both bring baggage, history, complicated family dynamics, KIDS, ex-spouses, custody arrangements, and more with us to our relationship. Thankfully, we have also found that we bring with us learning from our past mistakes, and a deliberateness that neither of us had experienced before--we invest in our relationship and each other, and every choice is made consciously, with forethought about how it will impact our fivesome family unit; from buying a condo in a secondary state, to school schedules. That is to say, there is very little happenstance these days--we talk it all out--the good, the bad, the ugly--and while we come with complications, we also come to everything by choice, choosing each other and our family every day. Cheesy? Maybe. But true for us, and we have found our little patch of bliss in this life together. Plus, I've actually figured out what the saying "marry your best friend" means, because I found mine, and he makes me belly laugh every single day.
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Working parents, making blended life work.