Sabrina and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Week!

This week has been one of those weeks where you wonder if somehow you forgot and actually spoke the words "What else can happen?" or "Can it get any worse?". We have no money, and when I say no money that's exactly what I mean. When Ross retired on April first we received our last check from the military. We will be getting some retirement but we have no idea what that will be. Most of our bills come out on the first so we were ok until Ross started his new job April first. Except that he didn't start on April first. They did call to make sure he was still interested but we have yet to receive an offer letter. So we can live off what I bring in from day care for a month right? Wrong. Enrollment is down and I only have two full time kids and three part time. This also means my USDA check has taken a big hit since there are not children here to provide meals too. So we are trying to squeeze by when we find out that the first premium of our retired insurance has to be paid out of pocket...ok, $115 that we don't have, then realized the dental premium is $219 for one half of the coverage and there is not a network dentists or orthodontist within forty miles. Then yesterday the fuel pump goes out in Ross' truck. We still haven't heard back from the prospective employer so Ross takes more shifts at AMR to cover but they are all in May and we are only half way through April. Another day care child drops hours. We have less than no money. Holly need a dress for band banquet. Then comes two bills that we did not expect but are of the necessary variety. We had been paying them on the fifteenth, but now we do not get a check on the fifteenth. I have no idea how we are going to make it through this month. Ross has picked up fifteen shifts for May but that is still way short of full time and making much less per hour than we are used to. I have an inspection coming up and have no clue how to pay for the dogs shots which were due April 6 or the repairs on the fence. I want to scream but I have no doubt it will just make things worse. I am sure there is more I am forgetting here, but at least it has slipped my mind for the moment. All the kiddos are asleep right now so I am trying to breath and maybe convince Bucky to buy me a candy bar. Chocolate always helps, right? RIGHT?

Today has been an extremely light day, A. is not here so I only have two children. I am going to have to boost enrollment soon or we are going to have difficulty keeping our doors open. C. will not be here after school anymore as he was accepted into a special school for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I hope they are able to give him the help he needs. Iowa Park Schools are absolutely horrible with special needs children. I have seen example after example of the school system refusing services because it would cost too much time, money, or inconvenience to provide the children with the programs they need and are entitled to. More on this topic later as it looks like I can get a whole weeks worth of articles on the subject.

R. is having some separation anxiety issues this week. His grandmother is worried and his fits get worse and worse. Today he tried twice to run back to his grandmothers car, all the while kicking and screaming. After I picked him up and brought him inside I sat him on the step until he could stop crying...that took about 30 seconds...and then he was ready to play. I need to come up with some way to reassure Grammy that he is not crying all day and in fact he participates in everything as soon as her car leaves the driveway. I will have to think on that one. O. has an awful cough today but no other symptoms. I am hoping it's just allergies.

I am still composing the letter to parents about the sign-in/sign-out sheets. There are a couple other issues I have to throw in there so maybe it will lose some of it's bite amongst the other business. Vacation is in June this year so I am trying to give as much notice as possible and I am considering going to scrubs for a day care "uniform" to save a bit of wear and tear on my clothes. Only problem there is finding a company that sells capri scrubs because it is just too hot for pants here in Hell, Texas.

Day Care Dilemma

Ok, so it's not really a dilemma because I have no alternative choices here. Child care licensing has just mandated that I have a sign-in/sign-out sheet for my child care kiddos. This means an extra few minutes in the morning and evenings for the parents and lots of reminding on my part, creating a sheet to record all of the ins and outs of the school age children, and storing the sheets for the three month mandatory period. My main concern, however, is that the parents will see this as an issue of me not trusting them. Licensing seems to think I need this to protect me from false accusations but I am not sure about the whole issue. Anyone have any comments from parent or provider point of view?

So thanks to an awesome emergency room doc, Will is on Atarax until the pediatric allergist appointment on the 20th. Getting it filled now so we can see if it works better than the Benedryl. Only problem is it's expected to make him sleepier than the Benedryl. Is it possible to sleep through seventh grade and still pass. Maybe for the girls but Will seems to struggle more. Thus adding to the stress, thus adding to the reaction.

Will's Allergy Adventures

Will, my 14 year old,, was diagnosed five years ago with angioedema. Basically, when he gets upset and/or stressed his body produces a chemical that it mistakes as a foreign substance and initiates an immune response. He then breaks out in hives and his lips and tongue swell. He was seen at Wilford Hall's Allergy Clinic, and we were told with meds it would be manageable for a few years and he would grow out of it. He did eventually stop having the reactions and we assumed we were over the hard part. We did not have any type of reaction for four years, then on March 4th we went to see Alice in Wonderland's midnight showing and Will started complaining of chest pain. As it turned out the chest pain was caused by bronchitis and esophageal reflux, but when he was having the chest pain he broke out in hives again. Since then he has been covered in hives nearly every day with occasional bouts with swelling of the lips, tongue, face, etc. We made the appointment with the pediatric allergist but can't get in until April 20th. We have been managing with Benedryl but he is increasingly having worse reaction with less improvement with Benedryl. Last night we had to give him 100mg of Benedryl to counteract but that is the max he can take. He is still sleeping this am which means another missed day of school which the Iowa Park School System hates and another trip to a generic doc because he has to have the school excuse so IPCISD doesn't try to take us to court again for truancy! So...I call to make his appointment on base and find out that since Ross didn't do what he needed to do to switch our insurance from Tricare Prime to Tricare Retired that we have been kicked to Tricare Standard and Will can not see his primary care doc. Ok, time to regroup and make a new plan. Will has to see a doc and he can't be seen on base, but I need to see a doc who will prescribe Atarax so we can make it through to the appointment on the 20th. I don't want to transfer all his medical records because he will be back on base on May 1st. I feel a headache coming on.

Introduction:

My name is Sabrina Caston. I live in Iowa Park, Texas with My husband, Ross, my three children, Kara, Holly, and Will, one step daughter, Jessica, and my ex-husband, Bucky. I have another step daughter Alyssa who lives in Wichita Falls, Texas (our neighboring town) with her mother. We have seven dogs, six cats, a bearded dragon, and a hedgehog. I own a home day care which means I have 3 - 12 kiddos from other families joining us each day. Needless to say I live in a mad house most of the time. I will be talking here about the trials of being a family day care provided, my walk with Christ which is sometimes a roller coaster ride of it's own, my relationships and family dynamics (otherwise know as drama), and anything else that gets me excited. I look forward to getting to know you all and hope you enjoy walking along side me in a day in the life...