A year and a half ago my step children came to live with me and their father and our 8 months old. Their mother chose a bad boyfriend over being a full time parent. It turned very nasty and she put me and my partner through hell plus in effect gave away her kids and they knew this. The boyfriend ended up beating her up and she is now single. They used to do lots of drugs together but I believe she is now clean of that. She now lives in a bedside and in the last couple of months the children now see her every other Saturday. They now go shopping trips and lunch out all things we can no longer afford to do now as we had to buy a bigger house a accommodate us all. I am really struggling with the role of a step parent. I've gone from fun step mum to moaning step mum having to do all the normal things at home and generally feel unappreciated where as every time they see their mum they come back with presents having had a great time. My partner and I have nearly split up several times because of the situation she has put us in and I am just really struggling with being happy for them. I know it's best for them to have a relationship as in effect she amandended them and when they are not here me and my partner have lovely family time with our little one. My step daughter is 13 and had all the symptoms of a classic teenager which doesn't help. In summary, can anyone offer me any guidance on how to deal with all of this, it is doing my head in and I just want a happy family, all 5 of us! Thank you in advance! X