Five Months

It has been five months since this adventure began. Ups, downs and all, we are making it.

The boys are doing great. School is almost out for the summer and both boys have adjusted well to their new school. Each of them won an award in their class, which made them and me very proud. I have to hand it to them - so much upheaval in their young lives and they still manage to be good kids and do a good job with their school work.

Their dad has not called here since he left. He has called their mom a couple of times while the boys were with her and talked to them briefly. I am still not sure what he intends to do long-term, but I do not think he will ever be a meaningful participant in the boys' lives.

At this point mom gets to take them for 12 hours per week unmonitored. This has been the case for the last 3 weeks, and I must say it has been nice to have that break each weekend. The next step will be an overnight visit each week, then progressing to her having them for the weekends.

This all sounds great but the reality is that she is still doing classes every weekday. This means the only time she can work is evenings and weekends. So even though she has increased visitation with the boys, we will still have them here the majority of the time while she works.

She will be finished with her classes in late November, barring any hiccups along the way. At that point she can look for a day job and, when she finds one, she can then resume parenting the boys on a full-time basis.

When all is said and done, we will have them for a full year. Wow.