When last I left you, we had just discovered that Infuriating BM's new husband, who she glorifies with the skids (SS 11 and SS almost 7) and thinks should take custody of skids during her upcoming deployment, has a heretofore unknown child (3.5 years old) for whom he pays nearly $1000 a month in child support, but does not see. He was also headed to court with his ex-wife (who we know) to increase visitation and decrease child support (which is how the existence of this other kid came to light).

So much more has happened!

First, Infuriating BM announced on Saturday (before Memorial day on Monday) that she would be in overnight training on Tuesday and Wednesday, and she would prefer that her husband have the kids, but DH could have them if he wanted, but that she wanted them back on Memorial Day on Monday for the overnight. Even though it created another transition for the skids, who are having a hard time with transitions and SD has testing this week, she wanted them. But crisis averted. She took them for the day, but they slept with us on Monday night. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. And Thursday? Yes. Even though she was adamant that she would be picking them up on Thursday from her babysitter, she sent an e-mail at 4 saying she wasn't sure she'd be back, but she might be, but DH could pick them up if he wanted. On the condition that if she got back "before bedtime" that she would pick them up from us. He said to let him know if she wouldn't be back by 7 PM (bedtime is 730 at our house), to let him know. She said she wouldn't be, so we got skids for another night, making it the 8th consecutive night they were with us.

Ever-so-glorious stepdad was in court on Tuesday about his custody case with his ex-wife. DH was in attendance as a possible witness, but was not used, but BM was no where to be seen. Apparently their judge wasn't impressed with glorious stepdad and openly questioned the stability of their home, since glorious stepdad is involved in so much litigation and because infuriating BM is about to deploy. LOL He got two more weeks with his kiddo in the summer, but he can't use a babysitter during the day at all because his ex-wife is available to care for their kid. If they lived close, that would be fine, but they live about 30 minutes apart, and traffic SUCKS, so it could easily be more in the morning and at night. And he has to do all transportation, of course. But Glorious stepdad also has overnight duty as part of his job, so every 6 days he's not even at home, so the kiddo would stay with her mom during that time, too.

In the midst of all this, we received Infuriating BM's response to discovery relating to the trial coming up on 6/28, in which she has asked that DH's time with the kids be reduced from 4 days out of every 14 to 2 days out of every 14. According to her, DH is unable to meet SS almost 7's emotional needs because he didn't get to go to a water park with DH when he was 5 (but his sister did) and because if he cries, he's sent to his room. Apparently, she's also worked "exhaustively" to compromise with DH because he causes unnecessary conflict between them. Uh huh.

And as a kicker, Glorious stepdad petitioned the court to have custody of the kids during the deployment. So now we get to malign his character in court and feel good about it! Our lawyer already has the case information for the child he's all but abandoned, a fact he admitted during the hearing on Tuesday. Since he's now a party to the suit, we should also be able to get financials and interrogatories from him, as well.

Fun fact, though. Glorious stepdad didn't mean to let anyone know about his secret child and child support order. He accidentally sent it to his lawyer in the materials for discovery with his ex-wife. They tried to pull them back, but it was too late, so the cat's out of the bag. We honestly don't even know if Infuriating BM knows about the kid. I can't imagine that she doesn't, but we don't know. I was sure to let SS's therapist know about it on Tuesday, though, just in case they drop the bomb on the skids.

Right now, I'm finding the humor in this situation, but to be honest, I feel more and more like I'm trapped in an episode of Jerry Springer or Maury Povich. Granted, I'm in the audience, but I'm mortified to even be present on that level!