I'm over it now - it took a couple of days, and we worked it out. But man.

SO and I had a pretty big blowout over the weekend, about many things. One of them was the expectations of me as a stepmother. I won't get into the details; it's too familiar to all of you I'm sure. But I will tell you this.

At one point in the argument, these words came out of his mouth, in regards to him "having" to do most of the child caring, discipline, etc., all on his own:

"I am doing you a favor."

True story.

SO: "Who was on the phone?"

Me: "My dad. He wanted to get my mom's phone number or email address because he heard someone from their hometown died."

SO: (looks like he's going to cry)

Me: "What's wrong??"

SO: "He doesn't know her number or email. (wishful sigh) How long before I get to forget BM's?"

Me: (hugs)

First, BM decided not to come visit for SD10's birthday, which is on Tuesday, and the party is today.

While the SDs were away at BM's last week, SO and I talked about the issues they are having lately - with grades, laziness, talking back, and "forgetting" rules (they are 10 and 13). We came up with some new rules, and thought it would also be a good idea to finally get them all down on paper so we can have them read through them and reference when needed. What we've put together is certainly not ALL the rules, just the new ones (like the earned TV time) and those they have been slipping on lately.