Life just is not giving us a break: relationships are ending.

The past few months have been incredibly difficult. The best news was Georgia starting her new school. She loved it, was happy there, and had settled in well. Then I was told that, at the start of this term, she would be moving classrooms and the teacher she had bonded with was leaving. Since then, this term has been unsettled again.

Even when school was going well, home life was becoming harder. Georgia masked all day at school, then released everything at home. It is painful to see her struggle and equally difficult to watch the effect on the other girls.

I was worried about how the twins would cope with attending different schools, but Dakota is doing well. Although she is still behind, she is making progress, and Georgia is progressing too.

People do not tell you how deeply having two children with special needs can affect a family, especially a blended one. The twins came into my wife’s life when they were six months old, and she is the only mum they have really known, but that bond has never fully developed. It breaks my heart to see someone feel they must cover their hands to touch my child. It is also painful to watch someone who lies, creates conflict, tries to divide the family, and bullies relatives be celebrated and supported, while the twins are treated as they have been.

Enough is enough. We have decided to end our relationship, and I honestly think it is better for everyone. For now, we are still living in the same home but separately. There has been no major fallout or ill will, and she remains the mother of two of my girls.

To be honest, I have always wondered whether we were meant to be together. I think she needed a way out of her situation, and I became that way out, but the love never felt complete. She often told me that, at her first wedding, her husband spent the evening at the bar talking to another woman and buying her drinks. At our reception, she spent much of the time in our hotel room with her “girl crush.” I even planned almost the entire wedding myself, apart from the invitations. I do not blame her: the twins need a great deal of support, I am stressed most of the time, and having parts of her life kept separate from me placed even more pressure on our marriage. She has always said that, if she had not met me, she would still be with her ex. Deep down, I have always felt that I did not measure up to him in her eyes, and I have made peace with that.

Now I need to find a new home for me and the girls. I will make it the best home possible and do everything I can to ensure they never lose it.