So happy for you judithn...took me back to when my kids were in college in our city, but living on campus. Sounds like a great conversation, and something she needed to hear, and you were able to do it in such a way that she really listened, and matured enough to apologize. You obviously have a great daughter, there, and now you have practice for when your son leaves home...heh heh!! We Moms have to support one another...our kids are in their early 40's, so a lot of this type of thing is behind us, but there are always things to work out. We do have very thoughtful children now...they just weren't so much at your daughter's age!!

Just looked at a house where there were outlets in the ceiling corners of almost every room in the house. The house was built in 1979, but has been heavily remodeled. Some of the outlets were in the new rooms, but many of the original rooms also had the plugs. It was a mystery to me, as well. I thought about Christmas or decorative lighting of some type, but it just doesn't make sense that they would be in EVERY corner of almost every room. I also wondered about some type of speaker system, but it didn't seem appropriate to have speakers in ALL those rooms and there were no other panels for speaker wires. Has anybody figured out what somebody would want to have those ceiling plugs for?

This is ego driven and entitlement based. I have a little girl from my wife's previous marriage. She used to call me Mike but through love, caring, and being present she sometimes calls me Daddy. I am not entitled to this name but it was earned for me. I also have a son who I fathered and I am very much his Daddy as well. We went through this same issue when the lil' girl started calling my mom/ Mamaw...because her bio grandma was also called Mamaw. My mother has 6 grandchildren and you expect the lil' girl to call her Memaw instead of following suite with the other children is ego based. If a parent can love more than one child why can't a child love more than two parents. I am raising the child. I don't say "she's like or as my own" she has a good relationship with her father...we can both be dad. My biggest issue is when a parent is too shortsighted and starts coaching their child to say anything other than what is in that child's heart....if I earned the title daddy then so be it. You don't need to sit there and coach your child telling them all the things that I am not...just be happy that I love this baby too, that I'd never hit her or hurt her, that she is the apple of my eye and that my family openly embraced her and her mother without any stigma attached. Check you ego, bio parents. When you decide to divorce you need to understand that that means that things change. You are only going to get to enjoy 1/2 of the kids childhood if you are lucky. Instead of 18 years with them you will get a total of 9 years worth of days raising your baby. Get over titles, ranks, and labels and get along for the sake of the children and if that means letting them love and assign as they see fit then so be it.

Hi, Adam: Hey, it comes through that you are struggling with what's going on with your parents (dad and stepmom, I think). It is hard to do sometimes, but it's OK to scroll on past unhelpful posts - AND not all shared here has been about your marriage status. Also, I am honestly confused about the topic of babysitting ---- maybe for some here having kids picked up at school by 'non parental units' equates to baby sitting while for you and others (and you) it equates to visits. I think that distinction doesn't have to be important. And agree with you that these two issues are clouding things and keeping the people from reading carefully (I do see posts that refer to your two as boys, etc.) I am just one voice. Your work to build / keep the 6 of you a strong family is important - so very important. You are right on that. And not unusual - friends have a daughter whose significant other has two kids from a previous relationship and the couple now have two of their own. These friends (the grandparents) do treat all the kids as family and have fun together and help out as much as possible. I thinkit odd for a grandparent to exclude siblings of their grandkids. A lot of grandparents do work at the relationship. Others don't. I never had a relationship with my grandparents - spent a lot of time at their house, but it was all during big events. Us kids were enjoyed, but at a long arm's length. Don't ever recall a gift from them. No trips to bowling alleys, out for ice cream, and so forth. I do think I did help with picking blueberries from their hybrids (big bushes). I find it odd that your father did that awkward thing about sharing a motel. (It would have made so much more sense for him to make that a 'boys get together'.) I find it odd that your dad wants time only with your daughters. But I suggest including your parents in family events - formal and informal - and often. But on your terms -- and you should be with them during visits now so there's total confidence on your GF's part that her boys are being well treated. I hope I've helped -- just ask if I seem to have muddled things a bit. Being a grandparent is a gift to me. My kids may owe me, but they don't owe me grandkids. My grandkids - it's all about them.