This month has been super busy for me so I haven't been able to keep up with StepTalk at all and I miss you guys! Thanks to all who have sent me private messages, it just warms my heart to know you're thinking of me. You are also in my thoughts, especially on Mother's Day.

I had a lovely Mother's Day this year. We had SD the weekend prior and when we dropped her off, she came over to me with a hug and a "Happy Mother's Day next week!" with a big grin on her face. I just about melted. She has never acknowledged Mother's Day to me before and I never have any expectations from her because I know how it is with BM. So it was a sweet moment. Then, on actual Mother's Day, we had a great brunch with my mom and step-dad, grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin and then spent the afternoon with my dad and step-mom who unexpectedly dropped everything and drove 12 hours to come see us and my step-sister's family for a couple of days. I have NEVER known my dad to be spontaneous, so it was quite the surprise! We had a lovely visit and our daughter took to Grandma and Grandpa like a bee to honey, even though she hadn't seen them in 8 months. My fiance's mum came over from England last week for a visit as well, and our daughter just loved her Nanny too! She got to be with all of her grandparents this week. It was great!

So I'm feeling good, the pregnancy is going well, I'm 7 months along and finally just last week I retired all my regular pants and moved into the maternity wear! I think people were beginning to wonder if I was lying about being pregnant! I finally have a bump now. SD still isn't satisfied though. She says "I can't wait till you're huge!" I'm with her - I want to show off a big pregnant belly! (I could do without the back pain and swollen feet though!)

BM is still up to her same tricks, but I take joy in small steps forward. Like just last week, we went to SD's spring band concert and there was no drama. Wow! That's a first. At her winter concert last December, BM had SD in such a state over our (ie MY) presence there that SD was on the verge of nervous breakdown before her performance, tearfully begging her dad to come with her and her mom and leave me and her baby sister at home because BM didn't want us there. This time, BM lied to us about what time it started (she told us 7pm and it started at 7:30pm) and wouldn't let SD come see us beforehand, essentially shoving her and her cello through the door as SD tried to run toward us, saying "get going or you'll be late!" - but at least she didn't totally sabotage the evening.

As for family therapy, BM has been consistently cancelling appointments, so I don't have much to report. The therapists are concerned with her non-compliance with therapy, so if she keeps it up, maybe she'll speed up the prospective change in custody. We'll see!