Life as a Young Single Mom

Yesterday was one of the hardest days I have had in a very long time. My heart was completely shattered by Ayla's father, Seth. For a few weeks now, he had made the choice to be in Ayla's life and pay child support and work together with me to raise Ayla so that she had both of her parents in her life. Everything seemed to be going well and we were kind and I even let him meet Ayla. It was only for an hour at a McDonald's, just so he could see her and he and I could have our first face to face interaction since I was 3-4 months pregnant. It was nerve wracking to see him and I had to rein in a lot of harbored anger I had towards him for abandoning us. I had decided that forgiveness was the best way to approach the situation, for Ayla's sake. This man is a runner, so I knew if I confronted him on his inappropriate behavior he would just walk away again. This entire time I have been kind and understanding, and I had made the choice to put the past behind us and try to ev...

Tomorrow I meet with Ayla's dad to talk everything over... to say I'm scared is an understatement. People kept telling me what I should do and what I should say and whether or not I should ask for child support and how much and how often I should let him see her, if at all. People just have so many opinions on what they believe is the right thing to do. I just want to say that I understand you are just trying to help and be kind, but you have to understand that it's my choice. A lot of people say "just take him to court, they'll figure it out." But why would I do that if he and I agree on what needs to be done? Everyone wants to tell me what to do and while I am a patient woman, my patience is wearing thin. I'm going to do what I believe is right. I'm not asking for your permission or your opinion when I open up to talk about what is going on in my life, I'm just looking for someone to listen. Listening is such a huge thing! It's the majority...

I apologize for not posting in a while. The last few weeks have been a lot. I finally contacted Aylas grandparents on her fathers side and they are AMAZING! We are so lucky that they are such kind and generous people. They instantly welcomed Ayla and I into their family and made it clear that I was as welcome as Ayla was. We talked at length and spent time getting to know each other before deciding how we wanted to proceed. It turns out, Aylas father, Seth, never told his parents around Ayla so they were completely shocked when I contacted them. They were angry and hurt but also so excited to meet their granddaughter. Everything has been so crazy since then and my stress level has been unreal... there have been a lot of tears and breaking out and breaking down from everyone involved. Seth and his fiancé just had a bevy, Adella who is only a few weeks old. His parents knew things weren't going to be pretty when he told her the truth but we have all been praying for the best. Abou...