The Joys of Stepmotherhood

I am one lucky girl. When I married my husband, I got a package deal. I got Z and Deejay too. Deejay has no strings attached. She's a yellow lab/chow mix and she's very soft and cuddly. Deejay is VERY protective of her territory and she won't let a stranger in the house if we aren't there. J has had her going on 14 years and she shows no signs of slowing down. Now enter Z. He'll be 6 in June and he's simply amazing. He has these huge blue eyes and the sweetest personality. He loves to help us around the house and he's SO thoughtful. (Yes, this is the same kid that told me I have "big ones.") Last night, we let Fletchy back into the house and he immediately jumped on the couch with J and snuggled. (Traitor dog. *I* am the one who cleaned his poo and didn't even yell at him!) J's the one who made Fletchy sleep outside that night.

So then Z runs over to cuddle with J and Fletch and I'm all alone on the loveseat. Poor me. I commented about how Fletchy didn't love me anymore and so Z comes over to me and snuggles up to me on the loveseat. How's that for a thoughtful, sweet 5 year old?! :)

People always ask me what it's like being a stepmom. Well, everyone is different, but in my situation, it's a great job. My husband thanks me and appreciates that I treat Z as if he were my own child. Z loves me and calls me, "my Jennifer." Very sweet. I have the greatest stepkid in the world...and Z doesn't know another situation. J and I began dating when Z was 6 months old and we got married when Z was 2. So, I am not walking in and confusing the child. He knows "Daddy and Jiffer" and "mommy" as separate entities. So it's pretty easy for me. However, I do have to walk on eggshells because Daddy and Mommy do not like each other and have a VERY bitter past between them. Thankfully, they are pretty civil and I am the mediator. I usually talk to Mommy and relay info between Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and I get along well enough and so that makes things so much easier.

It hasn't all been rosy, as we've been through restraining orders, drug through court, and talking through lawyers. Let me just say that it's just not worth it. The court system is not fair and they ALWAYS think the mother should have custody. Do I agree with this? Absolutely not. I think if both parents are willing and able to provide a good, stable environment then it should be joint custody. But NOoooooo. Not in the eyes of the court system. I won't get myself started, because I am very passionate about this. Let me just say that J is treated VERY unfairly and I don't think one parent deserves more time with their child more than the other parent. J is a WONDERFUL father and Z adores him. Okay, done with that.

Here is a pic of J and Z walking down the street to a pond in our neighborhood. Ignore the big red cartoonish redneck truck at the neighbor's house. We don't like them. They are new and loud, obnoxious, and well... rednecks. We hope they move eventually. Like, really really soon.

Here is a pic of J showing Z how to hold a bat. This was taken a couple of years ago. Sorry I can't show Z's face. Our lawyer told us back during the court battles that we should NEVER post Z's picture online. And since he's not technically MY child, I feel I would need the permission of Daddy and Mommy first.

OH...speaking of MY child... I finally took pictures of our unfinished nursery last night, per Courtney's instruction. I am in love with the new carpet, as we have pulled up all the carpet in our house and will be tiling the floors. So I can't get enough of it in Z's room or the baby's room. All we have in the nursery are a basket for dirty clothes, a print on the wall, some new bamboo blinds, a dimmer switch so sweetly installed by my sometimes thoughtful hubby, and a black glider rocker. Our furniture will be in soon, so when that comes in, I'll post pics of that too.

Not very exciting, but I love to go in there and dim the lights and just sit in the rocker. Figure I only have a few more months of peace and quiet, so I had better enjoy it now. (And those spots are from my camera lens needing cleaning. Sorry!)

And I just HAVE to show off the cutest little coat on the face of the planet. It's a 18-24 month coat, so baby (if a girl) will have to wear it next year instead of this year, but I could NOT pass it up.

So my weird pregnancy thing for yesterday: I was walking down the hallway at work and thought I was walking funny. I look down and my right foot looked like it was turned out a little. SO WEIRD. And I had a little trouble catching my breath. I'm not big enough yet to justify being all out of breath, unless you count my being overweight before getting prego. I did get a shipment from Old Navy.com last night and I was SO excited!! I am actually enjoying getting new clothes now, cause I can say, "I'm not fat, I'm prego!" And I haven't gotten any maternity tops yet, just pants. I have about 4 pairs of pants that I wear the mess out of. The tops are pretty much empire waisted so I can fit my belly in them. The Old Navy stuff isn't empire waisted... just sweaters and stuff. Got a little bigger and stretchy so I could wear them. Now I'm having an interesting issue. I was rather, um, large chested before getting prego. So now my tummy has outgrown my chest and my chest hasn't gotten much bigger (THANK GOODNESS!!) so my tops aren't filled out and I find myself having to wear camis or tshirts underneath tops. I'm NOT complaining, because I'd love to have a normal size chest and get the cutest little maternity clothes. My mom said, "Honey, you will expand up there once your milk comes in." Great. NOT what I wanted to hear. I read Jenin's blog (http://jenacide.blogspot.com/ ) where she talks about jogging without a sports bra and I about shot my drink through my nose! If you haven't read her blog before, you HAVE to. She's hilarious. I feel pretty lucky that she occasionally reads my pitiful blog, so hi Jen! :)

So anyway, I guess I'll find something productive to do. Like WORK. After all, that's what I'm paid to do, right?