Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be peeved of that we're still not engaged

174 replies

isitsummeryett · 17/01/2019 11:54

We've been together a year and a half we have dd together and he has taken my DS on as his own.
He says he wants to get married but wants to be able to afford a proper ring.
Where as for me I'm not really bothered I just kind of want all of us to feel connected and have the same last name and also start the adoption process as he wants to adopt ds.

Aibu to feel annoyed by this? I feel like it's just never going to happen.

OP posts:
Myheartbelongsto · 17/01/2019 16:31

Might e proved Christmas morning, so happy. Sorry, not helpful.

I would slow down op especially re the adoption.

Ellisandra · 17/01/2019 16:33

I swear the Depo (and other contraceptive) failure rates are anecdotally far higher on MN than the NHS ever claims.

Cheesenacho123 · 17/01/2019 16:33

I’ve been waiting 8yrs also with a child plus live together and still no ring because he ‘wants to be able to afford a decent ring’ :( i told him if he doesn’t before we are 40 then I’m leaving him for someone who does, half joking half serious.

PurpleDaisies · 17/01/2019 16:34

I’d be deeply suspicious about “wanting to buy a decent ring”.

User758172 · 17/01/2019 16:36

@Cheesenacho123

Why is marriage to a man, any man, more important than giving your child an upbringing with both parents? Confused

Cheesenacho123 · 17/01/2019 16:40

It isn’t more important, I never said that. I’ve waited 8yrs, we only had a child in the last 2yrs. I’m sure I can wait 10+ more years. It does make me sad when I see all my friends getting married. I just chose a different path, I love my son to bits.

WaterOffaDucksCrack · 17/01/2019 17:02

You're already living together so getting married won't impact the kids lives as it won't mean anything for them so fair enough.

However why do you both want your boyfriend to adopt your first child? It just sounds like wanting to rewrite history and I don't think the child will thank you for that in years to come. I was raped when I conceived, my partner brings my son up just like he brings his son up but we wouldn't go through adopting him because there's no need. My son knows my partner isn't his dad but he knows he loves and cares for him as a dad should.

AmIRightOrAMeringue · 17/01/2019 17:05

If you'd been together 5 years I'd say Yanbu. But after 18 months yabu sorry. It's way way earlier than average so I don't think he's 'making excuses'

howmanyusernames · 17/01/2019 18:03

Noeuf - Ah sorry, genuinely thought you thought it was that easy! Wink

FlipF · 17/01/2019 18:40

Blimey, you are in a rush? I'm curious how old you both are (roughly so as not to out yourself).

Bumblebee39 · 17/01/2019 19:06

@Ellisandra I don't believe in their contraception rates anymore after my personal experience. I swear when I talk about it people must assume I'm lying but I'm not. I have never TTC and am pregnant with DC3 despite always taking hormonal contraception. Unless I'm just unlucky and always get the duds

SouthWestmom · 17/01/2019 19:19

@howmanyusernames if only! The interrogation for months scarred me - bank balance, savings, attitudes, references ! I'd have loved it to be a couple of days and a tick box 😁

howmanyusernames · 17/01/2019 19:58

Noeuf - I know, right! But all worth it in the end! Wine

Bumblebee39 · 17/01/2019 20:04

@Noeuf that's not step parent adoption though I am assuming?

MrsJane · 17/01/2019 20:12

18 months?? Hmm I think you need to slow down and take a breather.

GrandTheftWalrus · 17/01/2019 20:13

DP moved in with me after being together 17 months and then I fell pregnant that month! However we've only recently got engaged and might be getting married this year.

2nd wedding for us both so thinking of just going to registry office with DD and my parents then a nice meal.

pintsizedblondie · 17/01/2019 20:18

I was with my OH for 7 years before he proposed so 18 months isn't much time really at all.

GrandTheftWalrus · 17/01/2019 20:32

Oh and I was with my ex for 12 years before we got married. Split up before 5 years married but that's another story.

BejamNostalgia · 17/01/2019 21:04

I think you need to accept that he’s not ready to get married yet and stop pressuring him.

I actually think he’s probably being quite sensible from his point of view. You’ve already split from the father of one of your children. You got pregnant very early in the relationship, you’ve bought a house (is it in both your names or just his, did he own it when he met you?) and you’re talking about adoption. He really is sensible to put the breaks on here.

You are still in the fairly new stages of a relationship where that ‘in love’ feeling still lasts. You have a young baby. There is a high probability that when the ‘in love’ feeling wears off and the reality of parenting a young family kicks in, the wheels might come off. I think from his point of view, it would probably be prudent to wait until you’ve been together for 3 or 4 years, particularly if most of the financial assets come from his side. You might not like him much when the ‘in love’ feeling goes. He might not like you much. It happens a lot.

With the rush to adopt, and him paying childcare bills etc, I don’t think you could blame a man in this position for considering that part of the rush might be to make him fully financially responsible for both your children before he has chance to breathe, so that a split would leave you in a good financial position.

The whole point of getting married before you have children is that you have both agreed pre-children that you are both financially responsible for each other and for your children, and that your property, cash and assets are shared. If you have children before you marry, you take the chance that your partner will not be prepared to make that agreement. Rushing into a baby and a wedding and an adoption, one failed relationship with a child behind you. None of these are very good signs the relationship will be a long lasting one.

I know people on here won’t approve of it. But a man in your DPs position would need to consider that if you split up in 12 months time and you’re married, is he going to be in a position of handing over a lot of his assets to a woman he had a brief relationship and an unplanned baby with, who rushed him into marriage he wasn’t sure about, and financially responsible for a child who isn’t biologically his and he only lived with for a brief window of his childhood. Or if you’re not married, he will walk away with most of his assets intact, access to his daughter, and access to your son too, if you really are serious that he views him as his father.

Much as people on here might not like it, many, many men will go for the second option. People do have the right to protect themselves from unfavourable financial fallout from failed relationships by choosing not to enter into marriage if they choose.

Probably, in a few years, if your relationship turns into a solid one, he will be much more open to the idea of marriage. If you keep on trying to railroad him into it, you may well find that he finds walking away a preferable arrangement to being railroaded into a marriage and adoption he isn’t ready for. Especially when they offer lots of benefit to you, but only risk to him.

Tjzmummabear · 17/01/2019 21:06

He's just not that into you...

BejamNostalgia · 17/01/2019 21:07

Sorry if that sounds harsh. But I’m just trying to be realistic about how the situation is from his point of view. If one of my DSs was in this situation, I’d be very, very worried.

Wallywobbles · 17/01/2019 21:09

My engagement ring is my great grandmothers. Love it and way nicer than anything DH could have afforded.

Allthewaves · 17/01/2019 21:09

Say to him lets book registry office, her legal bit done then save up for a 'wedding/blessing in couple if years'

goingonabearhunt1 · 17/01/2019 21:23

Won't the ex have something to say about his DS being adopted by another man?

SandyY2K · 17/01/2019 21:47

18 Months in and you already have a DD together and you want him to adopt your other child? Jesus. You need to slow down

^_^100%

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.