Life is kicking my butt

[qt4x11]

My wife is primary caregiver, she has moved the kids to the suburbs. The drive to their new house is brutal, especially during rush hour, which is when I'd have to drive out there.

I used to see the kids W, Th every week, and then F, Sa, Su every other week - so 7 days out of every 14 days, which is fair. Now that they have moved so far I can only see the kids overnight W-Th and I have to bring them to school in the morning - so they have to get up earlier so I can drive them an hour to their school.

My wife's lawyer is saying that they don't want the kids to drive so much. They are proposing - instead of taking the kids overnight W-Th and driving to school - they want me to agree to just 'spend a few hours with them' Wed night - maybe doing homework at a coffeeshop or library, then drive them to their mom's home Wed night in time for bed . So their proposed child care schedule for me would be - a few hours spent with them every Wed night, then F, Sa, Su every other week. That's a total of less than 3.5 days out of every 14 days. I will see my kids only 6 days out of every month with this schedule.

This is killing me. I want to spend as much time with them as I can. I don't want them to grow up knowing their dad is there for them, and to have a real relationship with them. I don't want to be just an every other weekend dad.

The alternative is - I move closer to the suburb my wife moved to, so that the long driving is not an issue. This also infuriates me, I never wanted to live in this suburb. I hate how due to her decisions, I now have to consider living in a place I never wanted to live. FYI she is required by law to stay within 25 miles of the other parent only. She can keep pulling tricks like moving farther and farther away, forcing me to either move closer to them, or to accept less parenting time.