I have a couple times already today. I'm so mad and sad and feeling helpless, that I can't even think about it straight. I hate this. Why do I always want to cry when something doesn't work out. It's so childish.

Rob works part time (prn) at the hospital. Our day care was affiliated with the hospital. At the time we started there, Rob worked full time. Then he dropped down to prn to work for the ambulance. No problem. Last year, we got a notice that the day care was now directly run by Memorial (the hospital) and not just affiliated with it. No problem. Then we got a notice that the waiting list priorities were changing with full-time being first on the list and prn last (actually it wasn't even on the list). Anya had just been accepted, so it was kind of scary that they might back out of our agreement, but it worked out fine. This morning, we got a notice saying that all prn employees must work a minimum of 50 hours a quarter in order to retain eligibility for the day care. How can they do this? Rob doesn't come close to that now. He works 40 hours a week at his real job and at least a day or two with the ambulance. He doesn't have a lot of time left for the hospital. Especially as it pays the least. So, anyway. They're trying to kick us out. They start evaluating the second quarter and then will give 30 days. Most likely we will have to find a new place come July/August.

I am so upset by this. I love the place. Ally loves the place. She gets her feelings hurt by the littlest things. I can't even imagine making her leave all her friends and trying to settle in to another place. I've tried so hard to give her a stable life and things that she can count on for stability. How am I going to pull her out of that and take her someplace else? She's going to be so hurt. She doesn't adapt well to things like that. She still asks about her old dance class, and we haven't been there since at least November. And the only reason that she's settled into this one is that she knows 2 kids there (One of whose parents don't work at the hospital at all, so I wonder what they are going to do). How can they do this? Aren't day cares supposed to have the kids' best interests in mind? This is going to crush Ally.

She loves it there and they are by far the best option for care in town, I think. I had some issues with the first place I took Anya, but since she was only there for the 2 months I was waiting for a spot it wasn't too bad. I won't take the kids there permanently. I like the big centers bersus home day cares. I'm not judging anyone else's choices, but it works out best for our family. THe other centers don't look clean tome. They don't have a lot of space, and just don't feel right. Our day care has 3 or 4 separate playgrounds for the different age groups. It's big and spacious for hte kids to have enough room to run and play, The kids and teachers know us and love my kids already, and Ally is comfortable there. Anya probably would adjust pretty easily, but I odn't know. Maybe I should just take their asshat-ishness regarding this issue as a sign and walk away, but dammit I like it there, and I don't want to stress out my kids. I can't imagine causing Ally that sort of pain. I just keep thinking there's got to be something I can do. But I don't think there is. Rob could try to work the hours, but that sucks too. Take his time away from the kids in order to make the time they spend away from him during the week more bearable? It just sucks.

The best option I can see today is that maybe I can bring them to work with me. There is a day care in my building for state workers, but I dont' really like it either. They play downstairs in a big gym a lot. There is a playground outside, but isn't very big. All age kids are in one big room, separated into age groups by partitions. I've never toured it, but from what I've seen in the window, I don't like it. Regardless, I got on the waiting list today and will tour it tomorrow, just in case.

I'm so sad about this. I see how happy Ally is there , how much fun she has with all her friends, and it just makes me cry again.

Rob's not sure they can legally do this. When he took the prn position, the availablity of the day care center was a benefit. He says they shouldn't be able to rescind benefits without compensation, but I really don't think they would have changed their policy without looking at the legal aspects. I don't think we have a leg to stand on. He's going to review his employee handbook and stuff, but I'm not really hopeful.

I don't know what we're actually doing to do. Besides cry about it that is. if we have a day care switch coming up, I'm sure there will be a lot of crying in our future.