Where to begin?

Jenny has quit calling every three minutes and our phone is back on the hook. As a matter of fact I have had no calls from “Inmate” for over 24 hours. They moved her to maximum security so she is in “lock down” 23 hours per day. (Isn’t it cool how I have this lingo down?) I took the phone off the hook after talking to Jenny and listening to her cry and beg me to bail her out. She told me it wouldn’t cost me anything and all I had to do was sign a paper. How could that be I asked? “Because you own a house” was her response. Right, I’m going to put my house up to bail her out. I think NOT. I told her no and she just kept crying and begging. It did leave me to ponder who I would bail out of jail.

I haven’t talked to DCFS since yesterday. The worker told me she would let me know today what is going on. I am still waiting. In the mean time the girls are at my house. They had been with Heather but she now has stomach flu. The girls are doing amazingly well. They did ask about their mom last night. I told them I had seen their mom yesterday (ok so it was really on closed circuit TV from the jail, but nonetheless I saw her) and she wanted me to give them kisses. I kissed their heads and feet and said it was from their mom and that was enough to satisfy them. There haven’t been any tears. (Except when I wouldn’t let her eat the entire box of oatmeal pies) I would think they would be very stressed being shuttled between me, Sabrina and Heather but they seem to be holding up. I took all the kids to daycare today because I wanted peace and quiet.

Brie hasn’t had much to say. I let them all talk to their dad on the phone yesterday and their conversations were “hi daddy, we are at Grandmas, we’re playing games, bye!”

I still don’t know what really happened at their house Sunday night. Friday when Jenny was begging me to bail her out she was insistent that the girls go to Ryan’s. I told her I didn’t think that was a good idea and I was worried Ryan would be drinking. She kept saying he’ll drink if he doesn’t have the girls and I want them home. Friday I met Sabrina and she took the girls that night with the plan they would come back to me on Sunday and I would them give them back to Heather. Ryan and Sabrina had words on Saturday and Sabrina took the girls back to him Saturday evening. I didn’t feel good about that and neither did Sabrina or Heather but we really didn’t have any choice. On Sunday Ryan left me a message asking me to come get the girls because he had things to do. I was kind of annoyed and ignored the message for awhile but I just had a really bad feeling I should get the girls. I texted Ryan about 6:30 and asked if he wanted me to get them then or in the morning. He said now if I could. I took AJ with me and we drove over. Ryan and I didn’t say much to each other I just asked for some clothes for the kids and left. Once in the car Kylie started chatting. The first thing she said was “Daddy hit Brie in the head and made her nose bleed everywhere.” I was processing that when she said “Oh, Daddy said DON’T TELL GRANDMA.” I asked Brie if she was ok but she wasn’t talking. I asked Kylie if her dad hit her and she said “No, just Brie, Kylie wasn’t bad.” When I got over to Heather’s with the girls I noticed that Brie had red marks all over her left side. I checked the car seat to see if there was anything in the car seat that could have caused them but couldn’t find anything. Kylie didn’t say Brie got hit anywhere else so I don’t know what’s up with the red marks. I can make some assumptions but I don’t really know what happened.

When I talked to Ryan about it he explained that Brie ran into his hand. That’s kind of a funny comment. I guess Brie ran into Ryan’s hand just like Ryan ran into the brick Jenny was holding in her hand. There seems to be a lot of people running into things in that family.

DCFS called Monday morning and wanted me to bring the kids in to be seen. Heather picked me up and we took the girls over. The case worker talked to all of us and then she wanted to talk to Kylie alone. Kylie didn’t want to be alone so I sat on the couch with her. The case worker asked her if she knew the difference between the truth and a lie. Then she started talking to her. She asked if she like Grandma’s house and what she liked about it. She said my house is white and there is a round thing she can jump on. She then asked who lives at Grandma’s house. Kylie said “I don’t know.” Then she said “daddy.” I thought she was talking about Don. The case worker said “tell me something you like about daddy.” Kylie said “Daddy hit Brie in the head like this and made blood come out.”

I’ve talked to Ryan more in the past 36 hours then in the last 3 years. He left me a message saying that while he was a father he wasn’t capable of being a parent because he doesn’t have a job….. It was very sad. He said he and Jenny are over. I don’t know if I believe it because they are still talking every day and if it’s over I’m not sure what there is to talk about. He also shared some whopper lies Jenny has told him. The lies don’t really explain anything or change anything but they just add to the soap opera of their lives. I told Ryan the same thing I’ve always told him “I’m sorry you had a crappy childhood but you need to get your life together because you are destroying your kid’s lives…” I told Ryan that I don’t know what happened at his house on Sunday before I got there but I appreciate him calling me to come get the girls before something really bad happened that we would all regret. Ryan told me this morning that there is going to be a hearing about the girl’s future but doesn’t know when or where.

I think that covers most of the highlights.