Oops, its been a while!

So it's been a little while since I've last written and I noticed that no one came running to my aid when I went missing after the last stomach virus....hmmmm. Since I last wrote, we've had 4 more children come into our home and 3 leave. We currently have 6 kiddos at the following ages: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, and 5....we're like a mini-Jon and Kate Plus 8 (only without the adultery and bad haircut).

It seems like ever since the last stomach virus, we've all been walking a fine line between healthy and the ebola virus (leaning more toward the ebola virus lately). Rex* got sick on Tuesday and STILL isn't well. We had our first visit with our CASA worker today and I THOUGHT he was well enough to meet her and enjoy playing....WRONG! He was coughing during the morning, in fact, at one point he was coughing so hard tha this breakfast came back up...but I was sure that this vomit was induced by an overly-vigorous cough. Well, 30 minutes into the visit, Rex* came into the kitchen and asked for some more water. He no sooner swallowed his water before he barfed ALL over the kitchen floor (I mean ALL over)....awesome. So after our visit, I called our caseworker and told her that we needed to cancel the visit with Rex's* father this afternoon and that we MIGHT have to go to urgent care if he's not doing a LITTLE better by tonight.

Caseworker calls me back and says that his dad was exercising his right to attend the doctor's visit....so now, if I take this child to the doctor, I have to do so WITH a convicted felon who has a history of drug-use and battery of women. I am seriously irritated. I understand that these parents have a right to be informed of any medical appointments BUT Rex* hasn't seen his dad since he's been sick - Dad has NO knowledge of symptoms or behaviors but is so over-bearing that I KNOW I wouldn't be able to talk to the doctor with him there. He is also insisting that if we just go to the regular pediatrician that he be given a phone call afterwards so that he can talk to Rex* (a 3 year old with such severe speech issues that you almost cannot recognize words you haven't heard before). I am MAJORLY irritated - as much as I DO want to support re-unification, I also believe that there should be an essential separation between foster parents and birth parents. I don't want this man to have our phone number nor do I want to open the door of him calling us whenever he wants to. What's a parent to do?

Anyway, we are going to visit the doctor at 7 p.m. tonight and hopefully, Rex* will be back up to speed in no time at all and the Ebola outbreak fo 2010 will be over or at least kept at bay for a while.