Today is my one day a week without both kids. I still struggle a little with it, particularly explaining to the girls who is picking them up, when they are getting dropped off etc (It's just too vivid of a reminder of their change in circumstance). D6 is old enough to understand but D3 has to be refreshed every time.
And then D3 did her usual chirping of "I get to see Lisa!". "She is so kind and boo-tiful " (Darn her precocious 3 year old way with words!). This doesn't bother me like it did previously. I've embraced that its better for them to like her and be ok with her rather than hate her and dread visiting with their Dad.
Will spend my free evening filling out some required legal paperwork (just a formality) and then I have to take a fine tooth comb through my budget. Beginning next month STBX will be paying me child support that is basically half of what he previously contributed on a monthly basis to the household. By refinancing the house, restructuring some debt and my improved tax status, I will be able to make up quite a bit of that, but will still have a delta of about $500 a month. Time to tighten that belt to its last notch. They are reclassifying my position at work (after they found out I was looking for another job) so I will be making that much as soon as it gets through budget committee. Even so, I need to build up more of a safety cushion - so here comes the knife!
And even though I spent the last paragraph hand wringing about finances - I'm also looking at the price to have someone build us a chicken coop. I pinkie promised D6 before BD we would get one this spring. A little reluctant to take on any more dependents, even feathered ones, but a pinkie promise is a pinkie promise.
