Let’s start by introducing ourselves and those 8 amazing kids. We are Nick and Annie Rees and between us we have 8 busy, beautiful, healthy children. They are oldest to youngest, Wyatt-24 (hers), Austin-22 (his), Natalie-20 (hers), Brandon-19 (his), Isabelle-17 (hers), Clayton-17 (his), Isaac-13 (hers) and Bailey-9 (his). That’s right 8 kids, ages 9 - 24, and we make up our family of 10. These kids are not his & hers, they are ours. We both love all of these children as our own.

Reconnecting

So, it’s hard to decide how far back to start in our story. So, I might just skip to us reconnecting. After 20 years of only randomly running into each other every couple of years, it was so weird to see him again. When he arrived at the party, I barely even noticed until someone made a big deal about him being there. He hugged me, for the first time, ever. And it was the weirdest thing because it was like in that tiny, minuscule moment, no body else existed. That was it, 1 single hug and we both just walked away and didn’t think either would look back on that moment. But there he was… We started our relationship in so many wrong ways. And we made so many mistakes starting out, But it didn’t matter how mad I was or how many times I said I was done, I just couldn’t walk away. This man had my heart from that first hug and sealed the deal with compliments that I wasn’t used to getting. Once the text messages and phone calls started between us, they never stopped. 

Starting over…

So, as I said in the previous post, we started our relationship on not the best foot. Total transparency here, I was still married and he was in another relationship. So, together we made the decision to leave these unhappy relationships. I’m totally taking fault for the failure of my marriage, but can’t speak for him and what happened in his relationship (but very soon we will get his side and her side of that relationship). Things were tough the first couple years, but especially those first months. We didn’t plan this well and I jumped right in (I am in no way recommending anyone else end a relationship the way I did). So, over night I went from a stay at home mom to a single, working mom (his job keeps him away from home all 5-6 days per week). I had always been the one at home with kids while my ex worked, so I was used to being the primary parent, but wasn’t prepared for anything else that was headed my way. We moved into moved in together right away (or in my mind that’s what was happening). I really struggled those first months. He was never home, I was taking care of everything at home, figuring out the co-parenting thing and working too. We ended up in my childhood home (this idea had never even crossed my mind until there was no choice). I’ve always struggled with my mental health, but during these first months and even years, I struggled more than I ever had before. So, with all the struggles we were facing, our relationship suffered. During all of this, I was coming to rely more and more on Natalie, not even considering the toll this was taking on her. At the time, it didn’t even hit me that everything I was doing and struggling with, was taking a toll on not just Natalie, but all of my kids. Without those kids though, I would have never made it through. So that was 2019, then 2020 and the pandemic and that’s when shit got real. Realizations came to light, some that I’m not getting into, but we continued to struggle, both individually and together as a couple. My kids came to like Nick and I might possibly even go as far as to say love him. But more struggling and trying to decide if this was worth fighting for. I kept fighting for I what wanted (and maybe I should’ve just walked away). But years went by like this…then, then came 2022…everything changed! Not getting into all the details because something’s need to be left in the past and out of the public opinion. From 2019-2022, I had only seen his boys 1 time and Bailey only a few. But then in comes 2022 and things finally begin to start going in the right direction, he finally seemed to be all in with me. And I didn’t know it, but all this time Natalie and Brandon had still been in touch, they both knew more about our relationship than either of us meant for them to know, but hindsight’s twenty-twenty. To be continued…

Continuing to blend…