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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Is love ever enough :(

58 replies

MilieJones · 17/03/2018 15:16

Hello,

I’m look for some impartial useful advice if possible.

Me and my partner live an hour away from each other. He has an 8yo. I have a 6yo and 4yo. We all merge together as a family well and it’s lovely.

Like with all - In the beginning we saw each other constantly - he would travel to me as I have my own home and he lives with parents so we only get alone time at mine.

Him coming here has got considerably less now it’s maybe once a week if that. He works shifts as does his ex wife and I work mon-fri 8-4. My children don’t have a dad in their lives so they are in my care consistently. My partner and his ex have a slight routine of every other weekend Friday night-Monday morning school and every Wednesday night-Thursday morning school but the ex then also calls on him most days to have the 8yo from school or over night or till late when she’s working. So no routine really.

For three months I’ve been utterly horrid blowing up at him constantly that I never see him, we never have sex etc. I get that that it is a pain for him but I’m reslly hurting. I’ve tried to chill out. I’ve let it be and I’ve waited around now I need some progression or do I need to find someone else with the same vision for life as me. I don’t know which?

My sex drive is very high and my want for a partner in life is high. Ive got the house the career the kids and the lifestyle now it’s time for a person to share that with me.

With the distance, work patterns, lack of physical contact in all sense of the meaning. I want him to move in but he is very much like ‘I want to be where my daughter is so I’m there at all times when the ex asks and I want to be with my family and friends as she never let me be’ but in my head I’m thinking: this can’t be your life plan and you have been living with family and/or friends for two years now and you’re 34...

I blow up and then we’re ok again and I ask him to sit with her and look at shifts and make a plan so I’m not constantly wondering when I’ll get to see him but he doesn’t do that either. He says it’s not like that. I’ve said (with shifts) he’ll see friends just as much and I don’t care if he stay out late ... it’s the fact that his stuff is here ... WE have OUR home and ultimately he calls it home and he comes home to me but it all falls on deaf ears.

I make it sound awful but, together we are a great couple, we click, sex is amazing and the kids all love one and other. He is my future in my eyes but I’m very very very lonely and I become resentful and horrid and we argue because I don’t get it and nor does he...

I feel like I’m asking him to pick between his daughter and me. I’m not. But I see it looks that way - but does that mean we can never live together because he is at ex’s beck and call as to when he can see the 8yo? Is that right??

Am I right to put it out there that I want a partner and family life (Work, kids, dinner, chats, tv, bed, sex and repeat..) and if he isn’t going to do that then I need to find it else where or should I hang around waiting because I rate the actual relationship highly even though time spent together is minimal?

we’ve already established that even when we live together he will have to stay at his parents every Wednesday and every other Sunday to take 8yo to school so even if I get him I’m already having 1-2 days a week without him.

Next week he is planning on doing ‘a weeks move in’ hes already said he isn’t going to move in after that so I now know I’m going to have to watch him go again although it will be harder as I’ll have had him everyday. I doubt I’ll react well to having him gone again...

Basically should I forgo my happiness to keep on waiting around feeling lonely to suit him because he should be at the ex’s beck and call due to 8yo and living with parents and seeing friends...? if not what’s the compromise...he can’t be here because of 8yo needing him (I think in the beginning he chose to see me instead to have the 8yo and that didn’t go down well understandably) I can’t be there because he lives with parents and nowhere for my kids to sleep if we went there and he won’t get his own place and I can’t move because my house is here kids schools etc... so, should I thank him for the wonderful time but say I need to find someone who wants to make a life with me. (I have done this before and it didn’t ‘make him realise he wanted me’) I’m making myself unhappy for his wants but he doesn’t give in. Then he’d be making himself unhappy for my wants and I don’t give in to letting it be that I’m last on the list of priorities and he may never live here...

So could someone give me any advise please? who should give? What should give? What should I do?

Thank you xx

OP posts:
Abitlost2015 · 17/03/2018 15:21

If you have a partner and he needs to go away for work regularly would you not let him because you want him to watch telly and have sex with you?
He is away to be the best dad he can be.
Sounds like you want more than he can offer, and you are not very understanding of his needs.

userxx · 17/03/2018 15:23

He can't give you what you want. Find someone else that can.

MilieJones · 17/03/2018 15:33

So you think it’s right for that he is at the ex’s disposal for childcare ...
it’s not dinner and sex ... it’s our life together it’s a relationship it’s making a home and everyday life together ... not partying holidays and those types of expectations is what I mean ... surely I also have the need to share my life with my partner which includes all the children within that .... but you seem to think, like he does, I should just cater to his needs...?

OP posts:
Inthedeepdarkwinter · 17/03/2018 15:45

He's not just 'doing childcare' to some random child, though, he's looking after his own child! Like a parent.

I do agree though that it would be better to have some routine and stability as in agree times, but that just doesn't seem what he wants. Ultimately you can't make him want to change this.

AJPTaylor · 17/03/2018 15:59

move on
he is happy with the status quo. he is available for his child and is enjoying seeing his friends.
he does not want to be a blended family.
he wants a girlfriend.
you want a partner.

Dozer · 17/03/2018 16:02

It’s parenting not childcare. Good on him for prioritising that. You are U to want him to move in to the likely detriment of his relationship with his DC.

Impractical relationship given both your constraints and the distance.

cuddlymunchkin · 17/03/2018 16:03

AJPTaylor has it spot on. If you want a partner this isn't the man for you, he wants life to carry on the way it is right now.

category12 · 17/03/2018 16:10

What are the options for moving closer to his dd?

Tbh it doesn't sound like he's as into you as he was, but if that's not the case, would moving half-way or to his town be an option?

ALittleBitConfused1 · 17/03/2018 16:15

You seem to want him.just give up how his life is because you want you want you want.
You say he has no routine with his ex but he does. They have a routine of him seeing his daughters daily if need be. That's their routine and it clearly works for them. You do need to fit in with that, and may mean you can't have it all your way. Just like he has to accept that you will always be with your children because your ex doesn't see them.
You can't just expect him to slot into your life.
I get you want a partner to share things with, it's understandable but I don't think that's going to be him. It seems that his responsibilities and life pattern is not compatible with yours.
You say you won't get him all the time. He isn't a possession to own and the way you talk is screaming something like jealousy.

MilieJones · 17/03/2018 16:15

Ah ok yes the girlfriend / partner thing figures ...

I’m quite shocked that I’m so wrong over the 8yo he is often called at 10pm to have her so she can go in and do ‘cams’ or cover a slot (babestation type work) or for her to date in the past so it’s not quality time with 8yo often ... I agree it’s parenting but also feel there should be routine and he shouldn’t have to be at her disposal for the sake of him being able to move on and that if there was routine she could stay here or be here I love her to pieces she has her own bed wardrobe full of clothes food etc I love nothing more than her being here and all of us together but they’d have to be leaving here at 7:45 to get her to school for 8:45 and that’s not fair!

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 17/03/2018 16:19

He's happy being there for his daughter. He doesn't want the routine you want. This is how it is. You need to move on.

Huntinginthedark · 17/03/2018 16:19

Unless he wants to make the changes then you’re just going to end up resenting him

Sadly love is rarely enough on its own. Everyone needs to want the same shared goals. This is going to go on for at least another 5 years

Chienrouge · 17/03/2018 16:20

The detail is irrelevant. He is happy with the status quo, you aren’t. He can’t give you what you want. You can accept it or move on.

Faintlinesquints · 17/03/2018 16:23

You want him to move an hour away from his daughter, to be with you and he is (rightly) putting her first. He isn't at the beck and call of his ex offering childcare, he is involved in his daughters life which is admirable. I don't think you can get mad at him for that.
It sounds like you both want different things, and perhaps this has run its course.

Wherearemymarbles · 17/03/2018 16:26

He has a daughter, he is at his daughters beck and call - he is being a parent.

I bet you wouldn’t compromise if your ex was on the scene and had to share access nor would you move.

Find someone who can devote 100% of their time to you.

MilieJones · 17/03/2018 16:34

Wow I’m really shocked that I am such a monster ... My friends male/female all see it to be important that you have a routine with children ... that the ex isn’t fair that she keeps him close when she has to fill in at work/go out on dates or stuff and that she should prioritise her child and not expect our plans to be changed for her plans but ok, i don’t expect him to be my possession - im happy for him to go out ans he is happy for me to go out ... we do that anyway and he has my kids and I have his if they are about ... it’s more out Home together and his stuff here ... however it seems to be that yes, I am the horrid one expecting our relationship to move forward or for him to now, after all this time, to make some routine with the ex so that we all know where we stand but yes, I shall put this to him that I was wrong and it is me that’s unreasonable and maybe find someone nearer... I shall me him and his beautiful 8yo too because the children (all three of them) and him are my whole existence ... I was clearly the mean one and I genuinely didn’t mean to be at all!! I’m so shocked with myself that I didn’t see that I was so unreasonable! Thank you everyone!

OP posts:
dragonwarrior · 17/03/2018 16:37

He's not providing childcare he is a parent fgs. How as a mother you can be so selfish I have no idea. I'm surprised he hasn't left you already, you sound like a bunny boiler

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 17/03/2018 16:39

You’re not a monster. But everyone (especially him) are being pulled in different directions. He’s only an hour away - but an hour is huge for someone so important to you. I think you care for him very deeply, as he does you, and if you want to make the relationship work it’s just a question of inconveniences now for a long term future. Easy to say.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 17/03/2018 16:40

Don’t be so mean dragon. She’s trying to do her best, and qualifying that here. Fair play to her.

SchnitzelVonKrumm · 17/03/2018 16:41

Why don't you move closer to him?

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 17/03/2018 16:43

Good idea Schnitzel. Have you considered it OP?

category12 · 17/03/2018 16:43

You're just expecting him to slot into your life tho - why don't you respond about potentially moving closer?

AJPTaylor · 17/03/2018 16:48

nobody thinks you are mean or a monster at all.
you are not wrong for wanting more. but you are the one that will be hurt here. my mate had a very similar situation. she simply realised that he was dead happy with having a nice home to take his daughter and a girlfriend. She wanted someone to share all aspects of her life, good and bad. she split up concluding that she had spent enough of her life compromising. 2 years later she met the absolute love of her life. moved in together, totally on the same page.

MilieJones · 17/03/2018 16:50

I suppose I could move closer ... I have a home that we’ve just spent thousands on doing up and I got cheap to do the work to - he has been involved in the process - lush area etc moved my kids already out of area to be where we are ... they are settled ... it’s hard and expensive to move and given we’ve just done my house it’s financial and circumstancial ..

If my kids dad would have them it would be great as I could go and stay with him at his parents every other weekend / was be night a week ... we’d probably not be on this thread so yes, I would adapt ... it’s juat his parents can’t be expected to /have the space to host my children so yes, there is the expectation he comes here - again circumstance ...

Bunny boiler ... gosh ... that’s awful ... if it helps, I care for him and my ‘stepdaughter’ a huge deal ... is do anything I could for them ... but maybe that is what I am ... I’m really judging myself, don’t worry!

OP posts:
Ryder63 · 17/03/2018 16:53

I undestand your frustration, it does seem like his ex has him on a string re having care of the daughter. That could be sorted into more of a fair routine, but it sounds like he's enjoying life as things stand.
This isn't what you want. You want a more stable life with him. being a real partnership, not just a gf who fits round his lifestyle - but I don't see that happening. Look for someone who suits you better and offers more commitment.

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