Getting ready for the kid exchange was rough. S15 took care of his own stuff, but S10 had his things scattered all over the place. I hear this gets easier with time, but d@mn if this didn't svck.
My D only takes a couple of things to/from (school bag, and typically either a specific toy she wants to take, or her tablet, or bows, etc, and I expect the things she takes to come back) you may want to look into whether you can do the same. Having "stuff at mommy's" and "stuff at daddy's" makes it easier.
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After they left I noticed she'd set up her account on the website we'll use to communicate and schedule events. I don't know why, but just looking at the calendar on the site really got to me. Like, this is our kids' lives now. This is the result of our M... I feel awful for my kids.
I felt the same the first time I saw the model parenting plan. To me, it says, "if you want your child on arbor day, in the year 2022, plan for it now." I thought it was ridiculous, and two adult humans should NOT have that level of difficulty with their child. And then here I am.
I still feel like I let her down, sometimes. Like I should have done better. Like I failed her by having her life turn into this. I always wanted to give my daughter something I never had: an intact family, and I couldn't.
But it takes two. Remember that. You played your part in the end of your M, but so did your ex, and you CANNOT take all of it on yourself. CANNOT. So just be the best dad you can be, and trust that things will work out for your children, and that they'll end up thriving, because you work hard to make sure they can.
