Life has been so different in 2016.
It all started with moving out of the house we built in 2013. The moving date into my apartment was January 1, 2016. New year, fresh start. This is the first place I've ever rented all on my own.
The girls and I made this place ours. Everything in it was paid for by me. The girls helped me decorate. We looked online together and ordered our dining room chairs. They picked out their bunk bed and dressers.
Today I got a compliment from a friend I haven't seen in over a year, "You're amazing, you make being a single mom look easy and you do so much for the girls, they're so happy."
I've tried. Over the last 9 months I've made sure to keep them away from too much drama. Made sure they talked about their feelings about not living with their dad.
And while dating I kept them away from people that I knew wouldn't be long term. I knew when I met Nice Guy that something was different there.
Over the past 6 months Nice Guy has become a great support and father figure to the girls. While he knows that he'll never replace their dad, he's become a huge part of their lives.
A few weeks ago when school was canceled Annabel spent the day with him and his kids and a few days later told me she loves Nice Guy. Sweetest thing ever. She told him and he told her that he loves her too.
Another time we were talking about how Annika is boy crazy already at 6 and Nice Guy said "well whoever dates her is going to have a hard time having to deal with 2 dads". Again, so sweet.
Nice Guy is fantastic and the complete opposite of anyone else I've ever been with.
I'm sure you see where this is going.
I have to renew the lease on my apartment and ran into an issue when they raised my rent almost $200 which would mean I have to downsize and most likely live in a not so nice area. Combined Nice Guy and I pay a lot for rent in our own places. We talked about moving in together in June. Lately we've been spending so much time at each other's places, including having sleepovers with the kids (which they all love) that it makes sense to take the HUGE step of moving in together.
We've had all the conversations about splitting bills, room assignments (Annika gets her own room, his son gets his own room, the two little girls already asked to share), how we're going to tell our ex's (should be interesting) so we started looking.
We also had conversations with our kids separately. Mine were thrilled with the idea of living together. His daughter was thrilled and his son too a little convincing but now he's on board.
We found the perfect 4 bedroom house (with a den which will be the "man cave") and the best thing of all, it has a pool!!!! We were approved to rent it today and we move in November 15th.
2016 has been a great year. Probably one of my happiest ever.
OK so the post about telling the exes should be really fun. LOL Does seem fast, but then again at least you are only renting right? If it doesn't work, you part ways in a year, so not permanent. Splitting the rent/utilities/food, etc. should help you on the budget side of things. I had to chuckle when you said that the son wasn't on board. After seeing a pic of the kids and him on the polar opposite side of the fountain I could see he was outnumbered! Maybe you guys should have a boy LOL Does he have his kids full time too?
ReplyDelete