When Bruce called back he said that he needed more money in order to represent Stewart for the CPO hearing. I offered to pay.

Dad and Rita, however, now claim that they are too broke to pay for it. I spoke with Rita on the phone about it. She said she was concerned that if we paid the lawyer, Stewart may end up in the hospital from the stress and not even go to the hearing. I was upset with Rita for telling Carmen last week that she would mortgage her house if she had to in order to beat Carmen in court if things went to court because now she claims they are too poor. I asked, “Is Carrie as important to you today as she was last week when you said those things to Carmen?” She said that Carrie was important, but insisted that they were “financially embarrassed” at the moment.

I have decided that I don’t want them involved anymore and will tell Stewart what I think. I’m not going to talk to them if I don’t have to.

Mom, Stewart and I went to Middletown to pick Carrie up for Stewart's weekend visit. We arrived at 7:50PM and rang the doorbell. No one answered, but the dog was barking. Carmen’s car was in the driveway, as was Dave’s truck. At 8:05 the police showed up and served Stewart with a Civil Protection Order (CPO). Carmen had called on Thursday, August 26, 2004 to report that Stewart was abusive and threatening to her on the telephone on August 23, 2004. The CPO restricts Stewart from being within 2 city blocks of Carmen or Carrie. The CPO stated that hearing was set for September 9. With the new semester just starting I told Stewart that I probably wouldn’t be able to go. Stewart left a message for Bruce about the CPO.

I think all hell broke loose today. Carmen left me a message that she got a message from her attorney about Stewart filing a motion for contempt. She said that she was beside herself in anger.

Stewart left me a message that Carmen called him saying that she would take Carrie and disappear if she had to. She would never let Stewart see her again.

Carmen left another message saying that she was going to fight to have Stewart’s rights taken away. She assured me that she wouldn’t punish me or Mom or anyone else because “Stewart is being such an unreasonable…..person.”

I talked to Stewart and helped him to calm down. I explained that there wasn’t anything we could do about her threat to disappear. We could only go to pick Carrie up and take our chances with whatever happened. He asked me not to talk to Carmen about it anymore. He believes that when I talk to her it’s like putting a band-aid on a stab wound. I agree.

Carmen left another message saying that she had talked about it all with Rita and was making arrangements for Carrie to come down this weekend. She said that if it has to go to court, then so be it. She said she’s tired of fighting.

I talked to Rita. Apparently she told Carmen exactly what she thought of her and pledged to mortgage her house if she had to in order to help Stewart beat her in court.

During their conversation Carmen accused Rita of reporting her to Children’s Services. Rita told her that it was the hospital and that the staff had been watching her for some time. Evidently, what Rita said made a difference in how Carmen is thinking and that’s why her last message to me said that Carrie could come down this Friday.

I talked to Carmen on the phone today to find out about the tests. Results won’t be available for a week or so. In other conversation I became angry and accused her of deliberately sabotaging Stewart’s weekend visits. She got upset with me and ended the call.

Later in the day she called me back to say that she talked to her dad about it. He told her that she should demand an apology from me for saying such hurtful things. I explained that I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. I was just frustrated because every time we get close to having a visit something comes up. I tried as hard as I could to make her feel better before I ended the phone call. I need her to believe I’m on her side.

I talked to Stewart later and advised him to go ahead and call his attorney. Now that the divorce is final, Carmen is clearly obstructing his weekend visitation.

It turns out that the test ordered by Dr. K will be on Saturday, August 21. Who schedules diagnostic tests on a Saturday? That means Carrie won’t be coming for a visit unless we go to the hospital and bring her home after the test. Carmen said that we shouldn’t come to the hospital for Carrie’s test because it’s so early. She also said we can’t come get her after the appointment. Our family reunion is on Sunday, and we wanted to take her.

I talked to Stewart today and convinced him not to rock the boat as far as Carmen is concerned right now. If Carrie really did have a bad week at daycare then perhaps this wasn’t a good time to get her for the weekend. We talked to Carmen on three-way and agreed to a visit on August 20.

Stewart and I traveled to West Chester, OH to Carrie’s appointment with Dr. K, a neurologist.

In the waiting room, Carmen told us that Carrie had transitioned to a new daycare that week and was not adjusting well. She recommended that Carrie not come to KY for her weekend visit that Friday. This upset Stewart, who accused Carmen of trying to block visits. He insisted on sticking to the schedule. Carmen stated that everyone had agreed to be flexible, and that this was a time to be flexible. Stewart got mad and walked out for a cigarette. Meanwhile, Carmen made a statement that if we didn’t want to cooperate, she would just tell her lawyer to nullify the agreement. I told her to shut up and be more mature than that. I insisted that there was no reason to involve lawyers or courts any further. She screwed up her face in anger.

During the visit she inquired about Carmen’s reports of “stiffening spells”. Her ultimate “guess” diagnosis was that perhaps Carrie has reflux disease. She ordered a test to determine and prescribed a low dose of Zantac for the meantime. Dr. K also suggested that Carrie be in an upright position for at least 30 minutes after eating and sleep on a slight incline to reduce reflux. I’m afraid Carmen will use this as an excuse to strap Carrie into a chair more frequently than necessary.

I asked Dr. K about Cerebral Palsy. She said that she does believe that Carrie has Cerebral Palsy “by definition.” I asked what she meant by that. She explained that she based her belief on symptoms such as high tone in the back and low tone in the legs coupled with her developmental delay.

Stewart and I joined Carmen for lunch at a Chinese buffet and then went to her house to spend an hour or so with Carrie. I always love spending time with Carrie, but don’t really like the side effects.

At the restaurant Carmen told us how much she liked Dr. K because she was the one who treated her twin sister. What? I didn’t know she had a twin sister. Carmen told us that her sister died from Rett’s Syndrome when she was almost 21. None of us have ever heard about her twin sister before. She always led us to believe that, besides foster siblings, she is an only child.

I went back to Dad’s today because I forgot my camera on Saturday. Dad & Rita reported to me that Carmen was livid because we were gone so long yesterday. She “threw a fit” and said that Carrie would have to go to bed without a bath. Rita and Stewart gave her a bath, fed her and put her to bed. She spent the night in the room with Dad & Rita.