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muddling through's picture

My husband and I have been married for 6 months now. I have some feelings that are driving me nuts and it is to the point that it is causing us problems and I have got to find a way to deal with them. My problem is that I feel his ex-wife has no boundaries. My husband has his daughters every Friday and every other week-end. Since we have been married, we have had one week-end that the ex-wife isn't calling for some reason(she calls saying they are crying for him, she calls wanting to know if they have any summer clothes in the attic to which even if there had been the girls would have outgrown them and this call is at 9:00 p.m on a Saturday night that we don't have them, she calls to say the 3 year old has peed in the potty) and she plays a huge role, I feel, in our marriage. I feel that my husband bends over backwards to accomodate her and it is really taking a toll on our relationship. The first time that we came to blows over this was Valentine's week-end. We had gone to a movie and when we came out, the ex had called saying her husband had left with her keys, she remarried around the first of the year, and wanted to know if my husband had any extra keys and if so would he bring them to her. I said, "let them deal with it, even if her husband has to take her keys back to her" his response was that his kids were down there and which I responded, "it is not an emergency, they are not locked out and they can handle it". Needless to say....our Valentine's dinner was ruined. Last week-end, he took them home on Saturday morning and early Sunday morning she is calling saying the little one is crying for him. So, he goes down there. Later that evening we are at my in-laws and she calls him because the girls are fighting. I know that his ex is going to be in our lives but all that I am asking is that on the week-ends that she has the girls that she shouldn't be calling and now realizing just how much she does call, I wonder how much is too much? I have tried to discuss this with him and I told him I don't think he realizes how much she does call,they communicate and said, why don't you keep a log for 2 weeks and you will see that she doesn't call the week-ends that we have the kids, its the week-ends that she has them. Yesterday, I was with him when he exchanged them (my first time) and the ex gets out of her vehicle and he gets out and puts the kids in his ex's vehicle. I just really feel that I am 2nd to her. He tells me that this is my problem as it doesn't bother him so it shouldn't bother me and that this is my own insecurities and that I had better be dealing with them and that they are getting along. He had talked to my Mom and my Mom tried to help him see that there is too much interaction and he justifies his ex by saying, she don't call that much. So, what I do? Has anybody had similar problems. I love my husband and this is something that was so small but it had turned into a mountain and now my husband and I aren't even speaking. I don't feel that I am asking for much. The week-ends that we have the kids, she is free to spend it with her husband and I feel that I should get the same thing. If I am wrong, how do I resolve this and if not, how do I get my husband to see how I feel. I think that is the other factor is that he just dismisses it as being "my" problem.

Comments

folkmom's picture

how long did you date before you got married? how long has he been divorced? how old are the kids?

muddling through's picture

Steperg,
That is what I have tried to tell him. Let them go to voice mail and if it isn't an emergency then don't call her back. It is a learned behavior and after she sees that she isn't going to get a response from him she will quit.

muddling through's picture

folkmom,
We dated through most of our twenties, split and then he married his ex and had two kids, they divorced 2x and the final time was last March. We started dating again in the summer and married in the Fall. They have been divorced a little over a year and his kids are 6 and 3.

folkmom's picture

ok. hate to say this...but with blended families...dating longer than one season is kind of essential to figure these things out. now you married him but all these issues existed before hand.

this mess might not be reversable. he is still attached to that family.

pat's picture

It took me a while to relize that blending in with families is difficult. I am in the same problem. But, I stopped my ex from making me jump. As long as the kids are not bleeding or in need for medical attention or are in any danger ,she has to deal with it because she wanted to be the custodial parent. You HAVE to seperate the attachment or all the families will break apart.

muddling through's picture

steperg,
I just never knew it would be this hard. I am glad that my husband and his ex are able to get along because from what everyone says they didn't when they were married. I have begun to feel that she controlled everthing in the marriage and he never stood up for her and now he still can't stand up to her.All I am asking him to do is set some boundaries and he won't. My husband won't let the calls go to voicemail or if she leaves one, he calls her back and now after we have fought so much about it, he has started deleting her calls from his call log. I just don't know how to resolve it.