Tracey's Tempo
His, Mine, and OursOur Life as a Big Blended Family
Every parent knows that raising a family of any size and structure is a challenge. Every child has their own personality and the bigger the family,the more of a Master Schedule/Juggler you become.Then there are mixed families; couples that marry, or remarry, partners that have children from a previous marriage or relationship. This is the case for our family. In fact, in our case, things are even a little more complicated.
When I was introduced to my (now) husband, Mark, I had two young children, a five year-old son, Garrett, from a previous relationship (one of those short-lived “what was I thinking” relationships that change the course of everything), and a three year-old daughter, Ainsley, from a previous marriage.
Mark also had two children of his own, eight year-old daughter, Emma, and six year-old son, Alex, both from a previous marriage. Almost six years later, we now have a four year-old daughter, Olivia, and one more on the way, due in late September.
As you can imagine, schedules often overlap and clash and it is just something we have to work through. Sometimes it is asking for help from one of the kids other parents, sometimes it is Mark leaving work early to help, and sometimes we just have to let something slip through the cracks, which is always a disappointment but sometimes just needs to be done.