u/Main-Branch9919

I’ll go first!

CLOTHING. And no, I’m not just talking about laundry. Hear me out: tracking sizes, putting too small clothes into some sort of storage or donation, dealing with gifts, cutting off tags, organising clothes by season, managing clothes that your kid hasn’t grown into yet, rotating, etc.

It honestly is such a task and it’s something that has fallen on me as a mom (my husband does A LOT, don’t worry there), but just isn’t talked about enough!

I just got back from visiting my husband’s family with our two year old and the amount of gifts I got for him in size like 3 or 4T! Omg, I’m 28 weeks pregnant with my second and already drowning in clothes for both of kids, now I need to find a place to jam these clothes that he can’t even wear for 1-2 years!

Not to mention when my son was 3 months old, my MIL’s friend got him an outfit in size 18-24 months - which I packed and brought with us (internationally) and when I put my son in it, my MIL says “wait… didn’t this come with matching socks? You forgot? She’ll be so disappointed”. MADAM. IT HAS BEEN 21 MONTHS. SOME SLACK PERHAPS?

Anyway whenever there’s a season change or growth spurt, you better believe my cortisol is spiking.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

This is just a quick post for us all to giggle at. With my firstborn, my MIL turned absolutely insane and effectively ruined her relationship with me and deeply damaged her relationship with her son (my husband). She stayed with us for a month postpartum (lesson learned, I know), and her behaviour was just appalling. She ticked every box: unrelenting (outdated) unsolicited advice, consist criticism, baby snatching, centering herself and her emotions during my difficult postpartum, talking badly about me behind my back to my husband to sew the seeds of doubt that I couldn’t do this alone, tried taking impotent moments from me like his first bath and first stroller walk, etc. Finally, constantly referring to my son as “my baby”. This one really got to me. She would say things like “what’s OP doing with my baby in the other room” or “my poor baby” when I would do something she deemed dangerous (no socks in the house in August) or “can I have my baby now” when trying to take him from me after nursing.

Anyway, I’m 6 months pregnant with my second and she has been heavily excluded from everything. She gets bare minimum updates, and understands she’s not staying with us postpartum or even seeing the baby until minimum 6-8 weeks have passed (we live in different countries). We just visited during this pregnancy with our son and the visit was overall fine. On our last night, the baby was kicking a lot and she was sitting next to me. I was kinda like… ok maybe I can let her feel the kicks for a second? Maybe I’ll be nice?

She comes and feels her moving and says… can you guess? “My baby, my sweet baby in there. You’re my baby! Do you know that? Do you know you’re all mine”. Ladies. I literally just looked at her like she was insane and told her “don’t scare the poor fetus into thinking her mother is a random 63 year old woman! She’ll never want that be born!”.

Anyway that’s it haha. I don’t really care ultimately, she can say whatever she wants. She’s unhinged and very insecure - so I refuse to let it get to me this time around. I will be babywearing this child every time she’s around lol.

So I guess the title pretty much covers it. My MIL is your typical problematic MIL - there’s no nuance to her in that sense. It’s actually quite comical how she ticks all the boxes. Boundary stomper, wildly entitled, always the victim, nothing is ever fault, if you call her out for something - she will be hurt and take no accountability, only had sons, thinks her grandma experience is the most important thing ever. You get the idea.

My husband and I live abroad with our two year old son but try to see family whenever we can. Whether they visit us or we them, but there are sometimes long chunks of time where we don’t see family and our son will forget his grandparents, etc. We just got back from a FIVE WEEK stay with my husband’s family extended family in their home country. Mind you - I am 27 weeks pregnant. The whole visit was fine tbh, his mom was alright, just annoying. No big events. My husband’s cousins have a lot of kids and our son played with them almost daily. He obviously had a lot of fun and it was nice.

Since we’ve been back, my MIL has messaged my husband constantly about heartbroken she is for our son now that he’s not here with the kids anymore. How he must be sad, lonely and bored. But we have community here, we have a playground downstairs in our building where kids (his age) come and play daily. We literally have his birthday party this weekend and tons of kids are coming. We sent pics of our son playing at a soft play where he’s having the time of his life and she responds “and here I was thinking he actually missed us and our stupid backyard with the kids”. But like… aren’t you happy he isn’t sad? Do you wish my two year old was in mourning? She did the same thing when we took him to the doctor the other day, she messages saying “how did it go? I’m assuming he cried a lot and was inconsolable. I’m beside myself just thinking about it”. LIKE GIRL RELAX? He did cry when they took blood was otherwise utterly FINE.

I do think it was nice for him to spend time with family and he did have an overall good time. But he has a really nice life here honestly. He plays with kids, we go to restaurants, he has a sitter he likes. I feel like her messages ALWAYS have this undertone or implication that he has a bad or lonely life here. I wear to god she wants him to be miserable as some sort of validation for her own importance. She would do this thing when we were visiting where she would always make herself visible whenever we’d leave the house to see if he’d react or be upset that she wasn’t coming in the car. She would always draw attention to the fact she wasn’t coming to see his reaction then IF he indicated wanting her to come she’d be like “OH MY HEART IS BREAKING HE WANTS ME” and would like climb into the car at the last minute. If he didn’t react then she would try to get him to.

My husband doesn’t breathe life into this behaviour and will always ignore her but he thinks I’m cynical for believing she genuinely wants him to be upset.

So I want to just gauge how other people would feel about this as I’m trying to just keep my zen. We’re currently visiting with my in laws (abroad) with my two year old son and I’m 6 months pregnant. Today I had a shower and my son was playing in the backyard with his cousins and my husband and his parents. I got out of the shower and couldn’t find my son but my husband said he’s in the front yard with my MIL. I couldn’t find them but figured maybe she took him to her mom’s house on the property. Her mom is unwell and didn’t want to disturb her so I went back to the backyard.

About 10 mins later she comes pushing my son in his stroller while he’s eating a bag of pretzels (which is annoying in and of itself) and says she took him down to the local store, about 5 mins away. I had no idea this had happened but I figured my husband did. I just found out now that she didn’t tell him either, so she just went and took him. Not only that but the stroller was tucked away in the car, had to be assembled. Meaning this was just a quick situation where they plopped into the stroller and went for a quick stroll. She literally had to set up the stroller and leave without telling a single other person.

Here’s the thing - she and I have a really strained relationship and I feel like she constantly oversteps. So sometimes maybe I’m not fair when I’m bothered by her behaviour. But it’s not like this is a grandma he sees all the time since birth. He sees her a few times a year. She isn’t necessarily a “trusted” caregiver the same way other grandparents are. The only time she was alone with him this entire visit was when I fell on my belly and had to go to the ER. And he was upset the whole time I was gone.

I’m trying to understand just how inappropriate this was. Should I just say whatever and move on? Or would this upset other parents? I would have been fine with her doing this, but I really feel like she should have asked or said something. No?

Ok so quick post. Me, my husband, his parents his extended family went to this petting zoo thing with lots of animals. We also brought our two year old. There were these tiny kittens and my son kept grabbing them and being way too rough with them and I got freaked out. He doesn’t know any better but come on, they’re tiny little babies and he could accidentally hurt them. Also I’m due with my second soon and sometimes get freaked out by how rough he can be, obviously I’m nervous for my newborn lol.

We’re working so hard to teach our son to be gentle to remove him from situations where he can’t be gentle. He was with my MIL and she wasn’t really enforcing this and I turn around to find my son carrying a kitten by its NECK with both hands, gripping tightly. The cat was totally stunned and its eyes looked panicked. I started grabbing the cat and telling my son “no stop cat doesn’t like it. Give it to mama” and my MIL looks at me very dismissively and tries moving my son away and says “OP it’s fine honestly”. I felt white hot rage in that moment and snapped “NO it’s NOT okay. What are you talking about??” In a very stern voice. I then grabbed my son and we went to another area so I could chill.

I was pissed that she tried dismissing this thing and then try to move my son away from me. She has spent the rest of the day wandering off, disappearing from the group and acting like some kind of victim who was verbally assaulted.

Like ok I did kinda snap and it wasn’t her fault that he was rough, but don’t be patronising and dismissive when I’m parenting my son and teaching him to be gentle when he is notoriously rough.

Was I too harsh maybe? The reason I use this sub is because she and I have strained relationship and her trying to parent my son while I’m there is a common issue we face.

Ok so maybe I need a reality check. Maybe this is a me problem. But does anyone else get really overstimulated or uncomfortable by how some people interact with your young child? I’ve felt this way since my son was born, but found people are generally relatively calm around newborns and young babies (for the most part).

I’m currently visiting my husband’s family for a few weeks and they’re all genuinely very nice people. But sometimes the way they interact with my 23 month old sets me so on edge. It’s like they can’t tell when their behaviour isn’t landing well with him? They get in his face, try to force affection, talk or sing LOUDLY, try to get his attention, try to take him away from me (mom). And for the most part it’s very harmless and they’re just excited. But some days I genuinely can’t cope and feel such exhaustion and feel so drained. I’m pregnant with my second and my first is quite sensitive and can be clingy. So it’s like I’m working overtime x2 some days. Like I need to constantly be regulating my son as well as my self.

What is it about young kids and babies that make people behave so weirdly? If you were meeting someone for the first time, would you want them trying to grab you, kiss you, scream in your face, take you away from whoever you were with and try to shove food in your face. Like NO adult would like that, why do we do it to kids?????

I’m so tired lol.

ETA: I sometimes feel bad with how annoyed i get because I KNOW people are trying to bond with him and give me a break since I’m pregnant. But I also wish people would try to understand his cues a bit better.

I really just need a vent session friends. My husband and I have travelled internationally with our 23 month old to visit my in laws and extended family. There are lots of small kids around and it’s a great opportunity to for our son to spend some time with kids his age. I’m also 23 weeks pregnant (lord help me). I had the foresight to imagine all the potential things that would irritate me before we came. We’re in the balkans where EVERYONE smokes EVERYWHERE so me and my toddler often need to isolate when people are smoking. I don’t really mind much. Also most of the family are nice enough to not smoke in front of me (despite most women here smoking during pregnancy). It’s just cultural, I try not to judge.

My husband’s parents are also both incredibly difficult people. His dad annoys him and his mom annoys me. His dad is just very clumsy, abrasive and loud. He’s very argumentative and stubborn and it drives my husband insane, me less so. He also inadvertently scares our son a lot. He’s very clumsy and anxious around our son, and is terrified of him getting hurt so he’ll grab his forearm or yell for him to stop running near water or whatever. This has caused our son to be on edge when he’s around. My MIL and I have a generally very difficult relationship. She stayed with us after our son was born and was a very typical boundary stomper and made my postpartum really challenging. I will say that she has made efforts to improve greatly though. I just find her a bit overstimulating around our son, she wants to be the centre of his attention and wants to be his “favourite”, and handles his rejection very poorly. She’s just emotionally immature and often treats our son like the “cure” to her life’s problems. And when he fails to fulfil that role, she handles it badly.

Ok SO. Our son has struggled with this transition and is in a really intense mommy clingy state. It doesn’t really bother me and I get it tbh. So many new people, a new room, etc. Of course he’s gonna cling to his safe person. But because I’m pregnant, everyone seems to be taking a major issue with this. They get angry that I carry him places and hold him when he asks me to. They’re taking his clinging to me as a rejection of them and I can see people are judging me for “coddling” him. My husband is also incredibly frustrated with how irritating his (aging) parents are and our son’s clinginess is bothering him too. He’s now being harsh with our son and showing a massive lack of patience with him. He keeps suggesting there’s something wrong with him, he’s massively delayed, and he isn’t normal. I am at the end of my rope. He isn’t even two!!!!! The only area he’s perhaps mildly delayed in is his speech - and our paediatrician already told us it’s very mild and we can have him evaluated after his second birthday.

I am fed up y’all. My husband is a really good father but I can see he feels a bit ashamed of our son because he’s more sensitive than the kids here (could it be the lack of exposure to constant tobacco while in-utero? Who knows). I’m doing what feels natural to me and if that means “coddling” him while he’s having a tough time, cuddling him a bit more, letting him stay in my arms, playing with him and just overall giving him some more grace. Then sue me. Not to mention there have been multiple occasions where people will physically remove him (screaming) from my arms, prevent him from coming to me, or say things like “no more mama” “mama needs a break” “mama has a baby in her belly and can’t hold you”. wtf is going on here? What the hell do people expect?

ETA: I just want to add that I do genuinely think everyone is coming from a good place. I know they want to help and spend time with our son, but I also feel like it should be up to me to request the kind of help I want? It makes me feel really sad for our son because this is all new for him and he’s going to need time to adjust.

I just need a small rant here. My husband and I are currently visiting his family and his family home with our almost two year and I’m 5 months pregnant. So far everything is fine for the most part. But since his family are long distance relatives - he obviously hasn’t warmed up to them all fully yet. He’s typically clingy to me or my husband. But out of everyone, he knows my MIL best other than my husband and I. So while he’s not fully comfortable with her, they do know each other and he can play with her alone for a bit or will give her small bits of affection (run for a quick hug or smile when he sees her).

I have literally zero issues with anything that’s going on, it’s all very developmentally normal and expected. It’s her erratic and intense behaviour that has already drained me after only week. She is desperate to have our son’s attention on her specifically at all times. She will scream his name over and over again (even in public), wave toys and constantly repeat “come to grandma”. When he ignores her or “rejects” her, she becomes rejected and hurt. When he does respond and come to her for some affection, she will behave like a lunatic on crack and make a big of scene of it. Half the time this winds up scaring him off and he’ll just leave and return to playing. She will often force affection on him, sometimes he allows it and sometimes he’s pushing to get away. I often need to bring to her attention that he probably just wants to go play right now so she’ll let go.

She will also constantly try to remove him from my arms under the guise that I’m pregnant and shouldn’t be carrying him. First of all, I’m young and my pregnancy is healthy - I am fully capable of holding my son when he wants me to, women have done it for centuries. Second of all, he’s not even two. He doesn’t understand the concept of me being me being pregnant so he becomes really agitated and upset when she tries to take him for me and makes it seem like me holding him is wrong. Another family member had to point out to her and my FIL yesterday that this was clearly upsetting my son and it’s going to reinforce his clinginess to me.

She’s also just weird and competitive. If he ever does go to her briefly before coming to me or his dad, she will try to draw everyone’s attention to it, as if he “chose” her or something. My husband and I are both secure in our attachments with our son and dont see his bonding or momentary in other people as threatening. It just screams insecure and quite frankly, pathetic.

This whole rant is essentially just that I feel like she’s placing her own emotional baggage and insecurities onto my son. He’s too small to fully understand, but I sometimes do see the way that she overstimulates him or dysregulates him. On the one hand he likes the attention, toys and treats - but I can also see him pulling back from the intensity of her at times too. I feel sometimes like she’s actually trying to goad him into negative emotions too. Like she knows he’ll cry and run after me if I leave the room, so she often tries to draw his attention when she’s leaving to see if he’ll do the same??? Maybe that part is in my head - but she will literally make a big scene every time she leaves to see if he’ll react or follow her.

Ok friends so I wanna be brief because I can ramble on the topic of this woman, so let me just vent about something small: buying clothes for my kid.

My relationship with my MIL is strained, but I try my best to tolerate her a few times a year for my husband and I like the rest of his family. This usually involves us staying with them for several weeks in the summer. We have an almost two year old who she is, no exaggeration, obsessed with. It’s creepy. Anyway - one of the most mildly irritating things she does is the way she shops for him. She will literally buy him an entire wardrobe of clothes for the entire stay that were staying with them, without even mentioning it to either of us.

I was packing today and asked my husband to just touch base with his mom about what kind of stuff she has for him (because I know she has some things) and she sent a picture of literally piles of clothes. 15+ t shirts, shorts, PJs, sun hats, socks, etc. She then tells my husband to tell me that I can pack “sweaters and pants” because she’s got the rest. The place we’re going is roughly 32-39°C daily. My toddler isn’t going to be wearing fucking jeans and a hoodie and she knows it. My husband says it’s great news that I have less to pack but I can’t help but feel like this is her way of exerting control over him. Like she’s using him as her little baby doll to dress up for 4 weeks. Also, I’ve already bought him an entire summer wardrobe and summer end at the end of August for us. I should just not use any of the cute clothes I bought because she went and spent likely over 1000$ on clothes he doesn’t need??

Like ok yes, I can just not use the stuff right? I can just bring my own stuff. Trust me, I will. I just feel like she does this on purpose so every day that he isn’t wearing she bought she can say “oh I see he’s not wearing the nice set I bought him”. She also will constantly make comments about the sizing of his stuff. Like she thinks he’s constantly growing out of things??? She came to visit in April and brought this cute set in size 18-24 months (he was about 20 months) at the time and he’ll turn two this summer. When I sent her a pic in May of him wearing it she said “ok so I guess it’ll be too small for him this summer. I should have brought more summer things since they won’t fit him this summer”. HOW IS THAT MY PROBLEM? Like I can’t control what size he wears.

Anyway I’m just annoyed because the stuff she buys is genuinely nice quality and I know I can get use out of it. I just can’t stand the amount of stuff? I hate how she has no hobby outside of shopping for my kid.

ETA: ok just wanna make sure I’m not being totally tone deaf here. Yes I understand this is minor and I am genuinely grateful for gifts given to my son. I love when people who love him buy sweet outfits and I always make to send a pic to the person when he’s in it. This post is about the excessive nature of her shopping. Buying an entire wardrobe of clothing is such a massive burden on me, a mom who already has a huge mental load. Guess who washes, folds, stores, makes room for, tracks sizing, dresses him, rotates, sends pics of him in special outfits? Me! Also it takes some joy from me as a first time mom who personally loves shopping and styling her child. It’s not like she’s buying super special outfits. She’s buying essentials and everyday basics which feels like an overstep into parenting territory. She doesn’t need to do that because he has parents who have already done it. Finally, I’m so lucky that my husband and I are in a financial situation where we really don’t need help with buying clothes for our son. The excessive clothes are purely wasteful.

I hesitate to even post this because I feel like I might be met with some backlash… but I need to get this off my chest somewhere.

I have a 22 month old toddler and I’m 20 weeks pregnant with my second. For well over six months now, my son has been in a “daddy phase”. I don’t want to misrepresent the situation and say that I have been consistently rejected for the last six months, my son does have mommy-forward or neutral days. But it just seems that when he wants dad, he really wants dad and wants me to know it. He will fiercely cling to dad and reject me (mom) with a passion. Throwing my hand off him, avoiding my eye or even cowering from me.

I am and always have been a SAHM, I breastfed him for 20 months and have done the lion’s share of his car (especially the first year). All night wakes, bedtime routine, naps, etc. It’s becoming harder and harder to not become defeated by son’s near constant, at least slight, preference for his dad. Crying and running after him when he leaves the room, seeking him out, demanding he do diaper changes, put on his shoes, etc. I know a lot of this can be chalked up to the fact that dad is more novel than I am as he goes to work, and just goes out more than me in general. I don’t typically leave my son often. We have a sitter once a week who stays with him for a few hours so we can run errands or go to the OBGYN. But that’s it.

It feels like when dad is home, I am the second choice. It’s plain as day. When it’s just the two of us, things are really easy and peaceful. He’s so affectionate and sweet with me and he even loves to play independently when I’m around. It’s like as soon as it’s me and dad, he’s completely different. Fussy and emotional, clingy to dad and won’t let me help I’m even basic tasks. Again - this isn’t always… but sometimes more often than not.

The part that’s shameful for me to admit is that it’s making me resentful of both of them. I feel embarrassed and unappreciated, then I feel ashamed for allowing a toddler’s whims make me feel this way. I hate how insecure I am and how much this is impacting my mental health. I cry in the shower, hide how shattered I am when he reaches for dad after the nap and pushes me away, I recoil into myself and become distant with rejection. I even find myself (and I’m ashamed to admit) feeling less connected to my baby that I’m pregnant with. I catch myself thinking “well I shouldn’t put my heart and soul into her the way I did with my son as she’ll probably love dad more too”. I know this is unhinged and immature, and I hate that I feel this way.

Everywhere I go I’m faced people talking about how their toddlers are mom obsessed or how this is just a phase but it doesn’t feel like one anymore. It genuinely feels like this is his temperament and I’ll fall into second place most of the time. I can only imagine things will intensify when the second baby.

I just feel like I’ve somehow failed at motherhood. Like I’ve given this my all but somehow my son doesn’t feel it?

Would love some gentle advice here as I’m feeling like a sack of shit today.

ETA: we’re also visiting my husband’s family in two weeks for a whole month and they typically make that a worse. “Wow he’s such a daddy’s boy” “wow my boys were all about mom at that age” “oh wow haha mama you must be so happy to have your hands free” “wow what a great dad! He’s all about dad” “see how all the other babies are looking for their moms, not him” “he didn’t ask about you at all while you were gone! So unusual to not miss mom”.

Like ok thanks friends let me just go die

I’m honestly anxious to even post this because I’m questioning my sanity and maybe I’m fully in the wrong. Be gentle with me because I’m pregnant lol.

Ok so I have a colleague who’s also my neighbour. I have a 21 month old and he has an 8 month old. Today I saw him and asked him an affectionate way how his “sweet little chubby girl” is doing. She is absolutely precious and in that amazing phase of total roundness. My son was so similar! All cheeks and thighs and big smiles. She really is cute as a button. My tone was very light and affectionate. He proceeded to show that he was offended and made a remark how that was a bizarre adjective to use and I was calling his child fat. I was a bit taken aback because I CONSTANTLY got this comment about my son and always thought it to be compliment. I tried to play it off and say it’s just a testament to a well fed baby, which we love to see. His irritation remained and he told me “my baby is fine”. Anyway he’s British (I’m not) and has a bit of a weird sense of humour so I thought maybe it was just a misunderstanding.

A few mins go by and we’re part if an unrelated conversation and I made a joke about myself regarding something saying that I’m “just some random woman”. Then he chimes in and says “just some random FAT woman”. It was sooooo uncomfortable and multiple people were visibly uncomfortable. I’m 16 weeks pregnant and it just felt a bit odd to say in front of a group of people. I think maybe he thought he was being cheeky because I’m slim and not really showing so he thought it would land well? I just got awkward and he made some comment about how I started it.

The whole thing has left me questioning if I was in the wrong and my comment was inappropriate? I try not to conflate intention with impact - so even though I meant it as a term of endearment (calling the baby chubby), I suppose maybe I shouldn’t be commenting on anyone’s body? Do you think I should apologise? The whole thing has left me feeling very strange and a bit sad.

Ok so a few things to note here, bear with me. My MIL and I and my MIL and my husband have had a super strained relationship since the birth of our son (21 months old). There have been a number of blowups between she and I and she and my husband. Around fall of last year she and I hashed things out over text (we live abroad) and kinda reached an understanding. Essentially that we don’t see eye to eye and there’s a lot of hurt on both sides (hers is less valid but whatever) and essentially she and I are just cordial and polite now. We can spend time together but we’re not BFFs. She and my husband are on better terms BUT still often fight. She has come to see us twice in the last 5 months and both times were fine and she and I got along fine and I would say I was a lovely host. Especially the second visit when I was in my first trimester dying.

She is very enmeshed but he is less so. A lot of it is cultural, etc. I should also mention she is not proficient in English and our understand of each other is sometimes limited. She’s very much into guilt tripping, playing the victim, “after all I’ve done for you”, “I guess I’m just the worst person in the world”, “I won’t ever call you again and bother your perfect little life”, etc.

Yesterday my husband went to the playground with our toddler while I stayed home, innocent and pregnant and cleaned up the house. He FaceTimes his parents and I guess our son went down the slide alone and his mom made a comment about this in an accusatory way. I’m not entirely sure what happened because I WAS NOT FUCKING THERE, but I guess he ignored her or rolled his eyes or something as our son is almost two and this slide is very age appropriate. Later that night she texts him and has this big meltdown about how she can’t say anything blah blah. He didn’t tell me much about the fight so this morning I snooped their convo (sorry pls) and I can’t help but either laugh or cry lol. Every single one of her messages was something like “it’s clear to me everything I say is wrong to you and your WIFE” (not my name btw), “I know in your wife’s eyes I can do nothing right” “it is is clear to me you have been poisoned against me by SOMEONE”, “your wife has me on the black list”.

Now here’s the thing, I do indeed dislike her. I find her toxic and problematic and would love to be NC with her. BUT, she’s also not my problem. I refuse to spend mental energy on her when I’m pregnant and chasing a toddler. My question is - this fight had literally nothing to do with me. I wasn’t even there. WHYYYYYYYY are you bringing me up? Why are you calling me “wife” when I’ve known you for 11 years and married for 5. Even after I did the noble thing and tried to patch things up with her so she could be a part of her grandkid’s lives… she’s bringing me into these random fights?

I know it’s common and toxic MILs do shit like this all the time. I’m not unique here. I guess it’s just exhausting when I’m literally out here being fat and pregnant and minding my own damn business and she’s involving me in these narratives. The funniest thing is that earlier that day I had told my husband that this second pregnancy has allowed me try to understand his mom’s insane actions since our son was born and that I’m working toward forgiving her and trying to move on. I’m literally not even mad or disappointed at this point, just so disinterested in even playing nice when it seems I get dragged into their toxicity regardless lol. If she’s gonna treat me like the villain in her story, maybe I should acquiesce and play the role? :)