Interview in 3 Weeks

[texasadventure 0]

I am the immigrant. My wife and I were married in March of 2008. We've been living together since February of 2008 and have a lease with both of our names on it since that date. We also have pictures, joint obligations (own a car together, joint insurance, that sort of thing). We don't have a joint bank account because we simply don't want one.

Anyway, we went thru a year long battle to get her kids back from CPS. We got them back in August of 2009. Since the kids have been back, I have spent several nights away from our apartment. It's been difficult for me adjusting to having her kids in the house. I don't know them, they don't know me, and we've just had some issues. I've been spending about 4 nights a week with my wife and her kids, and about 3 nights a week with friends. For a couple of weeks after we got the kids I went back to Los Angeles to be with my family.

I think it's understandable that I've had some trouble adjusting to all of a sudden being a father of two kids I don't know. I'm working on it and my wife and I are working thru it. My questions are as follows:

1) Should I be upfront about this with my interviewing officer? Should I explain that I have spent some time away in the past few months due to the fact that the kids are there and we're all still adjusting?

2) Can the interviewing officer request to interview the kids? They are not my kids, per se, and my wife and I are both worried about putting them thru that, they've had a very rough couple of years what with being in foster care, and one of them was raped, and it's just been difficult for them, and my wife does not want them to be interviewed.

Please advise!