The use of Day Timers

When it comes to dealing with your ex, whether you get along or not, it is very important to be sure that you have all of your information correct. We are only human after all and it's easy to get lost in life and find ourselves overwhelmed. You also want to be sure that you don't miss anything involving your kiddos - parent-teacher conferences, specialty fun nights at school, important doctors appointments for your kiddos and especially, when your visits with your kiddos take place.

You want to have at hand a calander, I chose a medium day timer (like the ones they sale all year and especially during back to school season), which you can keep track of everything. I also use it for my own personal appointments but you may choose to use something else for that.

I keep my appointments in the daytimer because the shared calendar Jake and I have for the Boys shares aabbsolutely everything you put in there. Including any person appointmeans, which I personally feel Jake has no business knowing. Plus I can keep my daytimer in my purse and with me at allt imes should appointmentes for myself come up. Again, I also keeps Jake from knowing my personal business, and allows me to keep track of things with the Boys.

Not only does it help keep things straight when making appointments for yourself while being sure they don't conflict with your visitations, but it also helps when there if there is a conflict between you and your ex as to when visitations are scheduled etc to take place you are also documented for court if necessary.

Love & Support,
Molly-Ann

Let the Nightmares Begin

When I was going through my first divorce (yup, this is my second time around), I used to have these horrible nightmares of my ex-mother-in-law taking me to court and the court simply gave her custody of all three of my children. Even though she only had a genetic tie to one of them. She only had rights to see one of the three. Yet, she was still given all three of my children.

I've honestly lost track of how many times I've had that nightmare, or some version of it. In fact, I still have this very nightmare to this very day. The custody battle involving AJ was over long ago. It's like a sick, twisted version of PTSD. I hate it. The worst part is when the nightmare morphs into a night terror and I wake up screaming or fighting off a non-existent assailant.

Drawing Credit: rayon2lune.deviantart.com

My current divorce was supposed to be semi-friendly, if such a thing exists. Last night, I had my first nightmare involving this divorce, which I was hoping to avoid this time given that we are trying to go a more positive route. I don't remember the exact details of the nightmare. All I remember is waking up terrified of losing my children and never seeing them again. If it hadn't been 2 o'clock in the morning I would have called my children simply to hear their voices. It's bad enough that I was unable to go back to sleep for two or three hours because I was afraid to go back to sleep. I was afraid the nightmare would begin again. My body finally won out at 4 o'clock AM and I fell asleep in the position I was in once my body quit and gave in.

I had sincerely hoped that I wouldn't have dreams or nightmares this time around. The details of the relationship and the divorce are different. I truly had hope. Looks like it was wasted hope because the whole cycle has begun again.

I don't know if the rest of you have had similar experiences, but I'd love to hear about them. It would be so nice to know I'm not alone with this bizarre side effect to divorce, and perhaps we could support each other through this difficult time.

Love & Support,
Molly-Ann