This is kinda funny because BM wants me out of the picture SO bad it seems. I think mostly she's living in constant fear of me making her look like the bad parent she is.

A few weeks ago, DH had finally had it with BM and basically told her that SS's had indicated to him that they're always starving over at her house because she doesn't let them eat enough. She tells them "If you eat too much food, you'll get sick to your stomachs." Fine...only any time they're anywhere BESIDES BM's house, they eat like the total pig pre-teen growing boys that they are and they never get sick. Ever. Even MY mom commented on how much food they eat when we're over there, which is relatively frequently. So she started flipping out and told SS11 that he needs to watch what he's saying because if the wrong person heard him say that, they'd never see her again. Apparently she thinks I'm going to call CPS on her (she must think that because I'm a teacher with at-risk kids that I must have CPS's phone # programmed into my cell), because ever since then, she's been making SURE to let DH know that she's feeding the kids. He brought up the whole thing about how they're never sick when they eat everywhere but her house, and she was swearing up and down that when they come home from being at neighbor's houses, etc., they're always sick from eating too much. I WILL give her that yes, eating a bunch of JUNK food WILL give you stomachaches...because THAT'S all she feeds them! Everywhere else, they eat pretty healthy (SS9 even said he loves eating healthy), which is probably why they don't get stomachaches with us. I never threatened her ONCE, BTW, with CPS because I can't prove that she's starving them, and let's face it, my SS's are known for being melodramatic too...mostly because whenever they have even the slightest complaint, she babies the crap out of them and they love it. Also, I don't need for her to catch a case with them because the last thing I want is SS's living with us full-time.

Anyway, the point is, now she's living in constant fear of one of us calling CPS, even though we never said we were going to. She's been saying things like she doesn't want me to have access to the kids' grades online (which I haven't checked in a year +, so that's funny to me), and things like this, but she won't tell us directly, it has to come through SS11. Mostly because the last time she tried getting me un-involved with SS's by trying to tell DH that I frame SS's in order to get them in trouble over at our house, DH yelled at her so hard that she hasn't done it since. (SS's are big enough screw-ups without my help.) Plus she knows that the next time I'll be the one talking to her and I WILL make her cry on the phone. Also she's totally paranoid because she knows I'm smarter than her (not hard to do) and that I don't like her, so apparently she thinks I'm gearing up to make her look REALLY bad. The best part was when she told my FIL (who likes me and doesn't like her) that she'd see the kids go into foster care before she saw them come to live with us if they got taken away from her. I chuckled because both DH and I have clean backgrounds, are upstanding citizens, can provide SS's with more than she can, AND my Master's Degree is in children! Please believe me, the only reason she wouldn't want to lose her kids is because it would make her look bad, not because she would miss them.

Having her living in fear is SUPER awesome, though, because now she's actually doing what she's supposed to do as a parent, so I think I'll just perpetuate it as long as possible.