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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be furious with DH over party

336 replies

SilverBirchTree · 03/01/2018 10:43

Been with DH for over 4 years and currently in the middle of our first ever fight.

We have 3 month old DS and it’s been a rocky few months. Massive trouble breast feeding, and health scares with the baby including an ER visit. In the same period of time we moved house and we now live in an area that is completely new to me and 30-45 minutes drive from family.

I have been looking forward to having him baptised. I was so worried and unwell myself at the time of his birth, so missed the initial joyful ‘the baby is here’ time. I saw his baptism as the event for me to quietly celebrate my beautiful baby and how far he’s come.

My mother lives down the street from our family church. We’ve had family weddings, funerals, baptisms there for decades. Mum offered to organise the baptism then serve tea and cake at her house afterwards. Perfect.

DH said no. He wanted the baptism to take place in our new community. He made a little speech about how we’re adults and we need to throw our own events, how his parents shouldn’t have to drive so far to get to it etc. He said he’d do most of the work. I very very reluctantly agreed to have it in our new area and host our parents and siblings at our new home.

Once it was booked DH tells me that actually he needs to invite all his aunts, uncles and cousins. A week later he says that tea and cake isn’t enough- it has to be a cooked lunch. And his grandparents are too old to eat on their laps so it has to be a sit down lunch. Plastic cups are no good, we have to rent glasses etc etc etc. meanwhile he has done sweet FA to make it happen. I even had to repeatedly remind him to tell his grandparents the time.

Then at Christmas he took to bed with a migraine. The reason - he is so stressed about the party, he won’t be able to ‘help’ anymore. It’s up to me. Oh, but his mother (a whole other story) will ‘help’ instead.

I’ve spent the week beside myself with stress (made worse by Baby induced lack of sleep). I am furious that he insisted we turn down my mum’s offer to host and then left me high and dry with his family’s demands and the mental load of trying to please them all.

Today I finally cracked and accused him ruining something that was important to me. We had a full argument with raised voices and me crying. He continued to spout his views about hosting our own events like a broken record, seemingly not caring that I’m the one doing to heavy lifting to meet his directives.

He’s now off sulking and probably texting his mother about how mean I am.

AIBU? Any advice on what to do now? I’m new to arguing with a spouse and not sure what happens when neither party is willing to apologise.

OP posts:
Corneliasedet · 06/01/2018 19:20

Good luck tomorrow. Take no shit.

Lweji · 06/01/2018 20:26

Take no shit

Or chicken nuggets.

BadlyParkedRangeRover · 06/01/2018 21:40

Good luck!

Cuckooclocks · 06/01/2018 21:43

Omg that sounds really upsetting OP, I would be furious at him! He basically wants it to be a huge do that he can take credit for but doesn’t want to do the work. Shame. I hope it works out, don’t let it worry you. Xxx

Cuckooclocks · 06/01/2018 21:46

His point about hosting things at yours as adults is valid, but he seems to be completely missing the point that doing that will require a whole lot of work and with a tiny baby it’s just not opportune right now.

InfiniteSheldon · 06/01/2018 21:47

Is he still lying on the sofa?

C0untDucku1a · 06/01/2018 22:15

A man who runs a section of a company and couldn't butter toast due to stress of you being ill?

Migraine at organising a buffet?

Has he ever looked after hkmself or has he always had a mother / girlfriend / housekeepser?

ChishandFips33 · 06/01/2018 22:17

Hope you manage to have an amazing day Flowers

rothbury · 06/01/2018 22:30

I also think you need to lose your keys, change locks and insist to Dh that PILS do not get a key.

Can you explain why only DH name is on deeds? I would get your interest registered with Land Registry as DH wife. It's a marital asset but it just would make me feel uneasy as it is - it's your family home isn't it?

Be prepared for MIL to throw a huge ridiculous drama if you start enforcing boundaries. She may even develop "The Mystery Illness" which can only be cured by everyone giving into her and restoring the status quo Grin

HiggeldyPigsinblankets · 06/01/2018 22:37

I hope you enjoy your special day and its not chicken nuggets at dawn

tillytrotter1 · 06/01/2018 22:58

An alternative motto for your escutcheon

Nemo me impune lacessit

broadly speaking, Don't mess with me Jimmy! It is a Scottish thing.

As an almost 70 year old I read such posts and thank a deity that I had our children when working overseas, no parental 'help', bliss. When we broke the news to my MIL that after 8 years we'd decided to dust off the womb her first words were 'How will you manage his meals when you go into hospital?.
The news of No2 15 months later heard her refer to us as rabbits.

BareBum · 07/01/2018 10:36

Hang on, tillytrotter, did she mean how will you manage DH’s meals? What did you say to that? What did your DH say? Shock

DartmoorDoughnut · 07/01/2018 17:55

Hope everything went ok!

WasDoingFine · 07/01/2018 19:02

@SilverBirchTree - how did it go?

44PumpLane · 07/01/2018 19:56

Hope all went well today and that you have had a lovely (stress free) day!

SauvignonBlanche · 07/01/2018 21:08

Hope there was none of this?

To be furious with DH over party
SilverBirchTree · 07/01/2018 22:56

Hello from the other side. It’s over- thank god!

It went really well. The service was lovely.

The party afterwards was fine. Because we served almost entirely cold food it was 80% set up before people arrived, with very little faffing needed. Everyone seemed happy with the food and drinks.

Came, drank, cooed over the baby, chatted, ate cake and left (or fucked off, as it were! Wink)

Not a nugget in sight. I actually barely saw MIL all day because I was busy tending to guests and the baby.

DH was a huge help. He did all the running around the day before and morning off. He did all the clean up afterwards, I literally have not washed a single dish.

I am so relieved it is over. It will be a long time before I host another party.

I want to thank everyone so much for their advice. Both about the party itself and the relationship issues that led to it. I seriously implemented a lot of it.

I read back over the comments just now and I am amazed at how many people twigged that it was MIL who started the whole issue about not having the party at my Mum’s and how it should be. I had no idea at the time but that’s exactly what it was!

It feels strange because we’ve never met but people on this thread seriously helped me pull it together while I was losing my mind with stress, supported me through my first big marital spat, and you were all in my thoughts on the day.

Thanks so much!

OP posts:
hollowtree · 07/01/2018 23:00

So glad it went well for you OP! Well done!!

YouTheCat · 07/01/2018 23:05

I do like a happy ending. Grin

lynzpynz · 07/01/2018 23:12

Really pleased for you it went well and you had a lovely day, great news!

CassandraCross · 07/01/2018 23:31

So pleased to hear it all went well and you had a good (and nugget freeGrin) day, OP.

Megs4x3 · 07/01/2018 23:32

Im so pleased to hear that you had a lovely day!

Saffronwblue · 07/01/2018 23:46

Well done! am so pleased that you enjoyed this special day for you, your DH and LO. Keep reminding DH that your unit of 3 is the primary unit of his life.

ChishandFips33 · 07/01/2018 23:57

So glad you had a day memorable for the right reasons!

Here's to a life of your own, with your own family, making your own rules and sticking to them 🥂

Talkingfrog · 08/01/2018 01:41

Glad it all went well.

Sandwiches are fine after a christening - we had afternoon tea at a local hotel after our daughters.
Hope things work out as you want for the future. Not sure how long you are off for and what your plans are when you return to work, but having a routine of activities you want to do (whether that be parent and toddler, meeting a friend for coffee etc) so that MIL visits have to fit in with your and babies' routine sounds a good start.

Makes me realise how fortunate I am - not only do I get on really well with my mother in law (phone each other several times a day), both she and my mum get on well, and are more likely to try to accommodate each other than the other way around.