I’m kind of lost on what to think or what to do here. I’m currently 2 weeks postpartum with our second and I’m not sure if it’s my hormones or what but here we go.

My MIL is a wonderful, church going, giving and caring woman. My in laws have supported us in so many ways and I’m really grateful for them. With that being said, she is extremely overbearing. She still coddles my husband (30yo), meaning she is always asking him if he’s taking his vitamins, getting his exercise, etc. and as a mother of a boy, I sort of get it. But I was never raised that way - during my childhood and most of my teen years I had an alcoholic mother and my dad was very distant. I was very independent and took care of myself mostly. So her constant checking in and hovering over my family is extremely uncomfortable and weird for me and I can’t seem to get over it for some reason.

During the pandemic, we were forced to move into their basement suite downstairs from their home. I thought I’d be okay with it, but I’m finding myself more and more agitated with my MIL. I feel as though she’s trying to win more influence than me with my 2yo son. I see my boy get so excited when he sees her all while not really caring for me at all. She talks about all these things she wants to do with him and I almost feel threatened that she’s trying to take my boy away from me because her only son grew up and got married. I feel SO bad for saying it but I really truly do feel that my sons relationship with me is threatened by her. Is that crazy? Before we moved here, we lived in a different city and him and I would always go exploring and do lots of stuff together. The pandemic hit, we spent most of our time inside, and then we had to move in with the in-laws in a new city. We didn’t get to do much here. Being high risk, we never got out much. But my MIL takes him for walks every day snd now she expects to go every day with him. I want to do stuff together without her tagging along but I can’t help but feel guilty because she loves hanging out with her grandson.

I’m in such a pickle. I hate feeling this angst towards her but I also don’t know how to communicate my feelings without hurting her or sounding absurd. Because I do sound absurd. I’m sure it’s all just my hormones or whatever. At least I’m hoping it is. Idk.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for listening to me rant 💕