Change of Plans

Apparently the plans for Superman and Lexie to meet with their attorneys is not an option anymore. Her attorney couldn't find the time. So our attorney called the judge and got an order for mediation. This is what we were going for anyways. We still don't know if Lexie agreed to it or if she is being forced to go.

Hopefully come Monday this little drama will be behind us.

On a different note, we went to parent teacher conferences last night. Krypto has a different time scheduled. Every year we ask the teacher if she is willing to meet with us separately because Krypto doesn't want me going. The teacher has no problem accommodating us. During kindergarten Krypto tried to convince Superman the school wouldn't allow separate conferences. Of course, we saw through that one.

I am always nervous before going to these kinds of events for Clark. I always feel like the teacher is somehow judging me. I just want to blurt out, "I'm not the bad guy here. I didn't steal him from her. I didn't break up their family. She did that all on her own." I feel like I overcompensate because of it. We make a point not to mention Krypto in our conference. This is not the place to air grievances between everyone.

In order to prevent Krypto from painting us in a bad light we have started something new this year and I think it worked. We had Clark when the sign up sheet went out. We provided a copy to Krypto as required by the date required. We then sent an email to his teacher asking for separate conferences and advising her Krypto would be turning her form in later. His teacher responded the next week with a time and stated Krypto had not turned in another sheet.

This is the sneaky part. We sent an email to Krypto reminding her she needed to send her sheet in if she wanted a conference and referenced the previous email we sent her 5 days earlier. We blind carbon copied the teacher so Krypto had no idea the teacher received a copy of the email. The next day Krypto contacted the teacher to schedule the appointment and claimed she just found out about it because Superman doesn't communicate with her. Now she looks like a liar.

The teacher told us Clark is doing very well and continues to improve in his reading. We have been struggling with him on his reading and writing. She showed us some of his work to compare and there was a significant difference in his writing. He has been working really hard and we are very proud of him.

His teacher is very strict and I think that has helped Clark stay in line. Clark tends to try to push his boundaries with women. I think it's because his mother doesn't seem to follow through with the punishments or limits she sets. His teacher pushes him just enough without being harsh or mean. She knows when he can't and when he doesn't want to.

Back from the Dead

Well I made it. It didn't kill me. It tried and failed. I have been sick and trying to figure out how it is possible to be stuffed up and have runny nose at the same time. But I am finally recovered. I call it a sickness because the plague is too harsh. But only slightly. At the beginning of the week Superman was sick and I spent most of the week trying to keep the kids quarantined and away so they didn't get sick. It worked. For them.

So I got to the spend the rest of the week in bed trying to recover myself. I'm almost 100 percent. Some new developments have happened in my absence from the blogosphere. We decided to get an attorney instead of pushing for mediation with Lexie. The attorney seemed pretty certain we would get the increase in visitation and the child support wouldn't go up any significant amount since Lois is no longer included. Superman and the attorney are supposed to sit down with the other side sometime this week.

Lexie is not going to be happy when she realizes increase will not even pay for her attorney fees.

On the other end, Krypto has yet to respond to the mediation request. We've heard she is attempting to file contempt charges. For what I don't know. Her definition of contempt is not doing what she wants. We'll see what happens with that.

Milestone

Clark lost his first baby tooth last night. He pulled it himself. He was very proud because he didn't even cry. We caught the entire affair on video. Clark had been asking us to pull it all week but after discussing it we decided we would encourage him to do it himself. We wanted the decision to pull it to be his not look like an attempt by us to exclude Krypto from a major milestone. After returning from midweek visitation with her on Tuesday, Clark informed us he was told not to pull it until Friday when he goes back to her house.

Clark was working up the courage last night and was trying to get one of us to do it. He was drilling us about hard we would pull and if I would be easier. At one point he asked me directly to pull it and attempted to hand me the washcloth. My first thought was I would never hear the end of it if I was responsible for his first tooth being pulled. By the time she got done with the story I would be holding him down, prying the tooth from his head with pliers all the while he screams for his mother. No thank you.

In an attempt to purge myself of the guilt I surprisingly had over Krypto not being present for the event I spent close to an hour trying to edit the video to send to Krypto. By the time I was done I was tired of hearing my own voice on the tape. You could tell I was excited and apparently I turn into a tweaking chipmunk with a southern drawl when I get excited. Who knew?

After watching the newly edited video, Superman commented on my voice in the tape and how much she is going to hate hearing it. I ended up not sending the video yet. I have to decide if it will come across as a nice gesture or will she perceive it as an attempt to gloat over her not being a part of it? Or am I screwed either way?

Superman sent an email and some photos we took. Is every milestone going to be a race between us?

Taking the BullS*&@ By The Horns

I hope we didn't make a mistake but we decided to attack on both fronts. We already had a court date set for October with Lexie regarding the child support and visitation issues. Well, we decided to quit playing games with Krypto also. Superman sent her attorney a letter advising of 3 mediation appointments his client needs to choose from. If she refuses we will be filing contempt papers.

Krypto has a history of scheduling mediation and then backing out once she cools off or she gets distracted by something else. She did it in November 2008 (when she found out we were having a boy) and this year in April (after Kent was born). Both times she has not followed up on the appointment and they are never rescheduled. This time we are calling her bluff.

Superman called Lexie's attorney yesterday and advised her he was seeking mediation either by Lexie's agreement or he would request a court order to force her into it. She seemed receptive and stated she would contact Lexie to see what she says. In the past she was not interested but we will see what she says.

I think in order for us both to stay sane we need this to be resolved. I know I do. Some days I am too focused on them to concentrate on my own responsibilities and priorities. They are already a bigger part of my life than I want and I definitely don't need them taking permanent residence inside my head. So they are being evicted. Now I just have to figure out how to do that. Surely there's a twelve step program out there for it.

Surgery

Clark had surgery today. He had tubes put in his ears for the 4th time. It's our week so we got up and took him to the outpatient clinic this morning. Superman called Krypto yesterday and told her he was supposed to be there at 7:15. He confirmed she would be coming. We decided I would come and wait in the waiting room. I was not going to the recovery room. We didn't want to cause Clark any more stress from the tension that would no doubt be created by me stepping on Krypto's "mom space". No big deal. I am there for Superman and Clark not her. He wants me there. So that's where I will be. She of course didn't stroll in until 7:30. She lives exactly 3 miles from the clinic. But we have grown accustomed to her being late so we expected nothing less from her.

He came through with no problems and in less than 40 minutes from start to finish. The doctor said everything looked fine and this should stop the ear infections again. Hopefully this will be the last set. He made it 3 years since his last set.

As soon as they went to the recovery room to wait she asked if she could change her midweek visitation to another day. He told her he would have to get back to her. Krypto hates this. She doesn't like it when he consults me about the schedule. We decided along time ago this was a necessity if things were going to work smoothly in our household. I have a right to decide who and what affects my schedule and Superman agrees he should not be making the decision without at least consulting me.

Now normally I would have probably wouldn't have cared but not today. Just last week Krytpo scheduled his dentist appointment on our midweek before Thanksgiving and he is having a cap put on a tooth at noon. Superman asked if she would be willing to change it. Her exact words were "He will be fine. He will waiting on you at 3." So I told Superman I would be ok with her switching days if she was willing to switch ours. She, of course, was caught off guard. She was stumbling trying to come up with a reason why today is so different than the dentist apointment next month. Her argument of him not feeling and not being fair was quickly quieted by the sound of karma. Needless to say she will be having her midweek tonight because she refused to switch ours.

Facebook Friends Obsessions

Like most people I have a Facebook. I don't use mine to network or keep in touch with acquaintances from preschool. I use mine as another way of staying close to family and friends. A one-stop shop for pictures, videos and quick updates. I am very particular who I allow to be my friend.

While browsing my family and friends updates and such, I notice my sister-in-law has a new friend who commented on her status. IT'S KRYPTO!!! What the hell? They hate each other. I can't help myself. I start looking some more. Superman's niece and Kent's Godmother are also her friends now.

This really wouldn't be such a problem if any of these people liked her. They all know the turmoil she has caused and all were there when she stole from Superman while he was recovering from brain surgery. I am hurt. I instantly feel somehow this is a stab at me. Am I really liked by these people or would they rather have Krypto back? Surely not.

On a separate issue I know Superman's niece has pictures of Kent on her Facebook and now Krypto has access to those. Normally this isn't that big of a deal however there is a very concerning back story.

About 2 months after Kent was born we took him to see his other Aunt and Niece. They both have stayed in very close contact with Krypto. Because of this we limit the time we spend with them because they report everything to her. We know this but we still want them to meet their newest nephew/cousin. Unfortunately the Niece was not home when we went by. In the next couple of days we send a photo to her phone of Kent because she desperately wanted to see him. No big deal.

Fast forward one month. While changing Kent, Clark makes a simple unprompted statement. "My mom has a picture of Kent on her phone." My first thought is, of course, what is that crazy bitch doing with a picture of my son???. Superman calmly responds, "Really, where did she get that?" Clark not realizing anything out of the ordinary replies "My Cousin". Steam shoots from my ears.

What kind of person carries a picture of her ex-husband's new child around on her phone??? She doesn't even like me or the thought of Superman having another child. She is seriously disturbed. Superman approaches his Niece later and asks why she gave a picture of Kent to Krypto. She denies she did it but Kryto did have her phone and was looking through it. She was told no more pictures would be given to her or her mother.

Now back to the Facebook dilemma. When the sister-in-law and Niece come over for dinner Niece actually brings up the subject. Superman asks her why she did it. She is concerned by our reaction but admits it was for a business opportunity she has with Krypto that she already asked us about. She wanted to make sure we didn't feel like it was a conflict of interest. We told her back then if she could make money off her then she could do anything she wanted with our blessing. We told her the story regarding the phone pictures and she offered to take Kent's pictures off her site.

My sister-in-law denies she is on her friends lists but after logging in she finds it to be true. She continuously goes on and on about how much she doesn't like the woman. But I think she is protesting too much. I think we have another person on our hands who is obsessed with her friend count and is willing to add her just to increase her number.

So the pictures have been removed from Krypto's access and hopefullly no damage has been done.