Stewart called me today. He was basically in a rage because he had received some sort of notice that the state is pursuing child/medical support for Carrie. The case was opened up automatically when I applied for her medical card. I really can’t remember everything he said because he spoke so rapidly. He called me several times, said quite a few things, and then would hang up. Among many things he said that he didn’t have any money to give the state because Gilda S is taking $100 per month for her GAL fee from domestic relations court. He said that he wasn’t going to go without groceries just because “somebody thinks Carrie needs insurance coverage.” He made a comment that he was tired of the court system telling him to “f*** off”. He also said that he would just do what Carmen did and give up. He also said that he didn’t want a visit this weekend. His first call was at about 3PM. His last call to me was around 7:30PM.

Carrie got up at around 6:15 today. I took her to daycare as usual. The director called me at 12:45 to say that Carrie didn’t sleep very long during nap and that she was sweating a lot. When she woke up she just laid on her cot instead of getting up. I took the rest of the day off and picked her up.

Once at home she fell asleep at 3:15 and slept until 5PM. My dad and step-mom came for a visit around 5:05PM. I told them that Carrie had not been feeling well, but she seemed fine after her nap. They took her to Bob Evans restaurant to eat dinner. I went out with some friends to eat dinner. When I got home at 8:30PM, my step-mom had changed Carrie into her pajamas. She went to sleep around 9PM, which surprised me because of her second afternoon nap.

Carrie’s speech therapist, Trisha Bernard came to our house for therapy today. She usually does her sessions at daycare, but I have arranged to have them at home at least once per month. She worked with Carrie on using phrases of at least two words, making “S” sounds and a little on “CH” sounds. Carrie seems to love working with Trisha. She remembers their activities from week to week. According to Trisha, Carrie likes to do things in the same order if possible. Trisha introduces new things occasionally, but Carrie doesn’t embrace them right away. Usually by the next session she remembers and wants to do it.

Dr. Matheny wasn’t in today so Carrie saw Dr. Hauk. Her lab coat said that she was in sports medicine, but I suppose she’s qualified to examine a child for causes of a fever. In any case, Carrie didn’t have a fever today and no other symptoms except for a slight cough. Dr. Hauk said to keep her home for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day was pretty normal with lunch and nap. The only thing unusual was that Carrie went to sleep (bed) at 6PM.

Carrie was in a good mood when she got up this morning, so I took her to daycare and went to work. Hazel from daycare called me at 4:45PM to tell me that Carrie had a fever of 100.8 degrees. I called the doctor’s office and scheduled her for an appointment at 10:15AM on Tuesday the 28th. Once we got home I gave her a dose of children’s Tylenol and she went to sleep by 6PM. She has also developed a cough so I gave her some generic robitussin.

For the most part, Carrie slept all night, but I gave her robitussin every four hours to ward off the cough.

Kent got up early this morning to go on a bike ride. When I got Carrie up she had a fever again. It was less than 101 degrees, but she obviously felt bad. She had no interest in eating breakfast and insisted on being held. I gave her children’s Tylenol again and lay on the couch with her. We both fell asleep and slept until 10ish. By that time Kent was home again and Carrie was feeling well enough to eat.

I talked to Mom about her plans for bringing Stewart for a visit with Carrie. I told her that Carrie had been sick and that they should probably plan on staying at my house rather than taking her out anywhere. Because Carrie slept late, they came on up between 11AM and 12PM. Kent and I went out shopping so Stewart could visit without feeling like I was intruding.

While we were in one store I forgot my phone in the car. When I finally got back in the car to check I noticed that I had missed a call from Mom. We had only been gone about 2 hours. Mom didn’t leave a message but I called her back anyway. She told me that Stewart had been arguing with her and accused her of trying to control the visit. He told her to call me and ask me to come back home because he was ready to leave.

By the time I got back to my house Carrie was asleep. Mom was sitting on the porch and Stewart was on the 3rd floor. Carrie had begun to feel bad again and went down for a nap. After checking her temperature, Stewart checked his own. He had a fever of about 102 degrees.

Stewart came down to complain about how he thought Mom was controlling his visit. The only specific example he gave was that Mom took Carrie back downstairs to play when Stewart wanted her to watch a DVD. (It’s always a puzzle to me why Stewart wants Carrie to watch TV when she doesn’t watch TV on a normal basis.) As part of Stewart’s complaint, he said he would like to have someone else supervise his visits because he is tired of Mom dictating everything. He said that his visits are really Mom’s visits with him tagging along. I listened in silence.

They didn’t leave when I got back home, so evidently they decided to stay until after Carrie woke up from her nap. And shortly after she got up, they left.

The last several weeks have been very busy for me. I started my new full-time position at UK in July. I finally finished with school last month. Because of school, I missed work during regular hours that I had to make up. Thanks to Kent and my mom I was able to get through it. Kent picked Carrie up for me when I had to work past 5PM. Mom came up to be with Carrie when I had to work a few hours on weekends. In any case, we all survived it and life is beginning to appear normal.

Today Kent, Carrie and I went to Mammoth Cave National Park for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the hike-and-bike trail. The trail is 5 miles long (and mostly uphill one way). Carrie rode behind me in her Burley trailer. She seemed to enjoy it. The whole roundtrip ride took about an hour. Once we loaded the bikes and other equipment back in the truck we headed back to Lexington stopping in S Grove for lunch. We also went to a couple antique stores. Carrie tried to touch as many things as possible, but we managed to get out without her breaking anything.

We had been home about an hour when I noticed that Carrie had a slight fever (about 101 degrees). I gave her some children’s Tylenol and some juice. She took a short nap in addition to her naps in the truck. When she woke up her fever was gone.

We went to Will & Toby’s house in the evening for Toby’s birthday party. Carrie did really well in the crowd. She wore the black and white dress that DeShae bought her in July. Nearly everyone made a big deal about how cute she is. She ended up in the living room “playing” the piano most of the night. She ended the evening in the family room playing with a set of coasters. Jay taught her how to toss them like a Frisbee.