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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

Glam & fab part 7 - from strength to strength

1000 replies

UC · 31/07/2008 22:16

Thought I'd start this one off on a positive spin? Hope you all find it..

OP posts:
HappyWoman · 08/09/2008 10:20

Dior - no it did not seem like that at all. And i may not be right here at all.

Without it sounding harsh ernest needs to tell her h what she wants - men are not mindreaders at all.

But we have all been there - we need to know ourselves and our boundaries first.

Dior - how are you getting on with your routine? Are you sticking to it? Cos i could do with some help there too.

ErnestTheBavarian · 08/09/2008 10:23

no, we had a row, thought we'd made up, he got totally hammered. If I ever bring it up, like this woman at picnic, he just says along the lines of well I don't see where we go from here if I can't even talk to a woman blah blah blah

like a not-so-cloaked threat to get over it, shut up, stop mentioning it or else

HappyWoman · 08/09/2008 10:31

Then ernest i think he does need to have some counselling. It sounds as if he is saying 'thats just the way i am' so just put up and shut up.

We somehow need to get him to fully understand what he has put you through.

My h has a female collegue who has just gone through this and my h is being great it helps for him to see it not just from my pov but from other woman who have been through it too. We also have a lovely neighbour, her h has left and her life is getting back on tract - she has a georgous new man. Again my h sees it so very differently now. Hearing from other woman that the pain does not just go away has helped him see how to make it better.

Of course he is still a man and so will still get it wrong. But we have trained him to recognise this and be aware of it iyswim - (and that was said with tounge in cheek btw - i am not man bashing!).

ginnny · 08/09/2008 11:58

Ernest . I agree with the others that you have to tell him what you won't accept. It's not unreasonable to expect that he doesn't flirt chat with other women in front of you (or anywhere for that matter). He should be more aware of your feelings, particularly since you have not long ago had a baby and are feeling vulnerable / not at your best. OK there was nothing going on with the woman at the party, but it set your mind thinking about the OW and that was just bloody insensitive of him. Hope you feel better about things soon.
MHIS - I think he's not cutting contact with OW so he can keep her on the back burner in case you don't have him back. Typical man keeping his options open. You could say to him that all the time he is in contact with her you will definitely not have him back, but if he stops there is a possibility you will. He then has to decide if its worth the risk..
UC - Sorry i wasn't having a go at you about taking the blame. I just meant to say that as women it is in our nature to shoulder the responsibility for everything and although there were problems and you maybe weren't as attentive as you could have been, an affair obviously wasn't the solution to the problem, he just created an even bigger one.
Its my day off today and I've spent all morning doing housework and now I'm off to meet my Mum for lunch. XP is phoning every 5 minutes giving me a run down of his day to prove he's not in the pub. Its starting to get on my nerves but he is very trying.

ErnestTheBavarian · 08/09/2008 12:24

Ginny "Its starting to get on my nerves but he is very trying."

YOu sound good. All morning doing housework.

MHIS, I agree with what Ginny said. My dh also wnated to keep things open with OW "just in case".

YOu need to make him understand it can't work like that. Good luck xx

Bastartds.
¨sorry.

Baffy · 08/09/2008 12:57

Ernest I hope you're ok. Totally agree with HW's advice.

I am a total wreck after just dropping ds off for his first afternoon at pre-school. Bloody hell I think that's the hardest thing I've had to do in the past 2 years!!

Dior · 08/09/2008 13:22

Message withdrawn

Baffy · 08/09/2008 13:31

The house just feels empty!

I'm trying to work but can't concentrate!!

Being a mum is so much harder than I expected!!

ErnestTheBavarian · 08/09/2008 13:33

Baffy, just look forward to your cuddle when you collect him

Dior · 08/09/2008 13:33

Message withdrawn

Baffy · 08/09/2008 13:47

He told the teacher his name and then she said ok say bye to mummy and he was off! Didn't even say bye or look back!

I was most upset in case he stopped a few minutes after I'd left and wondered where I'd gone

I'm a big wuss aren't I!!

Can't wait for 3 o clock!

Dior · 08/09/2008 13:48

Message withdrawn

ginnny · 08/09/2008 13:53

Oh Baffy - at least he didn't cry, that's a lot worse. When ds1 started they used to have to peel him off my leg every morning, I used to go home and worry till it was time to go and get him, then they'd tell me he stopped crying the minute I'd left the building!!!
Ernest - it sounds good but if you had seen the state of the place before I started you'd have been

Baffy · 08/09/2008 13:54

Off for a strong cuppa! Is it too early for wine?!

HappyWoman · 08/09/2008 16:29

Baffy - it gets even worse when they go to big school - and i am not sure if it is best if they cry or not.
Mine never did and i think that made me feel worse - as if they never missed me.

I meant the housework routine dior - i think i need to set aside days for things - but also dont want to do anything.

Dior · 08/09/2008 17:03

Message withdrawn

Lilyloo · 08/09/2008 17:06

Baffy bless him tough little fella it's great he is confident enough to run off though Hope he enjoyed it!

Ernest you sound generally down which is to be expected. Agree with others maybe tell him how it makes you feel and if he had maybe introduced you and involved you than you would have felt much better about the situation.

MHIS i am afraid i think you are going to have to spell it out more bluntly. Esp the no contact with OW.

Tanee58 · 08/09/2008 17:40

Halloo girls

Baffy, aah hope ds enjoyed his first day. Mine's just started 6th form at my old school and seeing your entry reminded me of her first day at playschool. Where have the years gone??

Ernest, hope you are feeling better. It does sound like you need to work on getting him to understand that you are feeling particularly vulnerable at the moment, and it's not that he's got to avoid even speaking to another woman, it's that he has to be more sensitive to your feelings and not FLIRT. He may not see it as flirting (I know, DP has complained that I sometimes flirt with his friends, and since I realised it bothered him, I flirt with him instead) - but he has to realise that if YOU see it as flirting, he's hurting YOU and if he cares about your feelings, he just needs to watch himself a bit more.

Sorry he spent the night on a bender - don't I know about that! But it maybe shows that he realises on some level that he WAS wrong. Nothing like guilt for making them drink.

Ginnny, keep up the good work - he needs to keep of the alcohol for MONTHS - not days - to prove his intentions.

Ratty and MHIS - you are doing so well. I would always say, listen to the counsellors, but you have to do what you instinctively feel is right. You can't hug when you don't feel like it - the hug would just feel wrong to him. And if you feel like hugging, do it. I hugged DP last year when he first said he didn't want to live with me any more. He tried to shake it off and told me not to touch him - but I did it anyway and it really, really melted the ice that night. He's finding it hard to accept that I greet his bad moments with love, but I'm just doing what feels right.

We have our first proper Relate session tomorrow - wish us luck! DP said the other night that he realises the initial counsellor was right, that he needs to address his issues - mainly problems with his father. He said that ideally, he would have liked us to have kept our own flats, that he really wanted us to buy a place together so that DD could have her own room at last (she and I shared, not ideal and it probably helped kill my marriage). However, having done the deed, he's will to try Relate to see if it can help him deal with moving forward.

His mum gave us a hooge box of plates and cutlery last week - housewarming gift - so he's better shape up as she's treating us like newlyweds .

Oh, by the way, I wasn't chosen as a councillor candidate. Phew. After the grilling I got last Thursday I guessed I wasn't up to it. They still want to 'groom' me for the 2010 elections, but I'm not sure anymore I want to be groomed .

I have a new lodger - a super intelligent uni professor from Geneva - Russian/Moldavian/Roumanian origin. She was delighted to find herself lodging with an historian, but she is SO eager to talk that we are finding her exhausting! She never stops talking & she's only been studying English for 2 months! Ovbiously has a gift. I just googled her and found she has a brain the size of a planet. I really hope she makes friends in her class and goes out with them, or we aren't going to have any time to ourselves for the next fortnight!

Dior · 08/09/2008 18:19

Message withdrawn

MyHeadIsSpinning · 08/09/2008 20:49

Hello everyone

feeling down again tonight. Not sure what has triggered it TBH.

I'm so confused about what to do for the best atm. I want to do like Lilyloo and others say and spell it out to him exactly what I need him to do (esp no contact with OW) but by doing thta I am saying that we have a chance and I don't know if that is truely what I want. Kind of feel like I can't tell him no contact cos not my place to do so if we are not together but then I think that's stupid he's my DH!

Then I think about what my counsellor says about not telling him what to do.

When he was round yesterday I so wanted him to hug me and kiss me and say he loved me but TBH if he had actually have done this I'm not sure how I would have reacted.

And then I think surely he knows already what he has to do? Surely he knows it's not going to help us if he stays in contact with OW in any capacity.

ginnny · 08/09/2008 21:02

I'm in a similar situation MHIS only my 'OW' is drink. He says he'll do anything to get me back, all I ask him to do is stop drinking, but that's the one thing he can't (or won't?) do.
Now I can see he's really making the effort, but I'm not sure if I want him back after all the things he's done, so like you I'm starting to think why make demands if I don't really want him, but I'm not sure how I feel.
I think we need to stop overthinking. If your H wants you back he knows what he has to do. Its up to him whether he does it or not. It is a leap of faith for him, and he might face rejection at the end of the day, but if he doesn't take that leap then he definitely knows what the outcome is. He loses his family. Its a no brainer imo.
Sorry I'm probably not much help just waffling on about my situation, but I do know how you feel.

MyHeadIsSpinning · 08/09/2008 21:08

Thanks Ginny You summed it up well. They DO know what they have to do and I feel that by speklling it out to him he isn't puttin gany effort in. If he reallyisn't sure what to do he is an adult and can ask FFG!

How long has your DH had an issue with drink?

ginnny · 08/09/2008 21:52

All his life I think! Its been worse the last year or so though! I should have trusted my gut instinct about him when I met him but love took over and my brain flew out the window
I keep thinking if it was the other way round and I was in danger of losing the man I love (and the kids) I'd walk over hot coals to get them back.
Its not rocket science is it? But they are unable to think of anyone except themselves.

MyHeadIsSpinning · 08/09/2008 22:05

I feel exactly the same Ginny I would do ANYTHING for DD and, until this happened, DH too

I can't help thinking that there should be someone out there who would do the same for me and why the hell am I waiting for DH to do it when surely if he loved me he would have by now

ratbunny · 08/09/2008 22:09

mhis - these bad days can just trun up out of the blus cant they Its the whole thing of would you ever really want to be back with him anyway? would he be able to work things out so you felt secure and comfortable again?
and so frustrating when they cant even take the first step!!

Ginnny - so agree about the walking over hot coals.

had a horrible dream last night in which h took ds to macdonalds for a happy meal (the irony of the happy meal ), as he was the saturday dad. it was awful. felt so sad when I woke up. but theres only so much I can do for him. h is fucking his life up so much - getting into debt, losing his house (to me), hit that dog and messed up his (new) car with no money to repair it (cos of all his other debts), losing his friends, looking 17 ffs. he cannot see what a fuckup he is making. I want to help him, and tell him I am here for him, but he just thinks he is doing nothing wrong and its all 'bad luck'. what else can I do? which is why I have to step away.

but it's SO hard to watch someone you really care about become so self destructive.

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