Maaaaail Time!

Mail was probably one of the most exciting things in my life when I was in college. Every birthday and holiday I’d check the mail to see if I got a package. I think my being gone was so new that I got extra mail, but as time passed my family got use to me being gone, thus the packages decreased.

Next thing I know I’m married and you know what that means in the package department?!? Presents! Well first we got lots of letters and things, wishing us well and whatnot… but those slowly trickled away to few and far between! I was an adult now, which apprently means no more packages on my birthdays… mostly just cards.

A year later we were blessed with Baby Carter! Man did he make a killing! People just can’t resist an uber cute baby! He got diapers and clothes galore (we are still using gift diapers)! Buuuut those were mostly in person…

But wouldn’t you know, we also started getting LOADS of mail after Carter was born. LOADS! I mean everyday we’d have like three letters from our insurance company, with our explanation of benefits. I thought, wow these are fun. Then we started getting actual bills… not so fun… More and more bills! They never end! I got two last week and one the week before. Carter is almost six months old, why are they still coming?  Most of them aren’t too bad, so I can’t complain too much. In fact, we just got one for $6. I was like seriously??? Can’t you write off $6? Or at least wait until I come in next? Needless to say, I  haven’t paid that one yet.

So looong story short, I didn’t like mail anymore! It was dead to me on sooo many different levels, we weren’t even speaking.

However, I’ve recently found a new love for all things mail! It started about a week ago when Daniels mom got a unmarked letter to us! It was all typed with no return address. There was a note in it that was also typed and said they thought we should have “this”. We look inside and find an unusually large bill in there. Someone sent us money! Who??? I looked again for a return address. None. There was however a postage stamp. It was mailed from Provo… Provo?!? Provo is a college town… who has this much money in a college town? Try as we might we have no idea who sent it to us so…

If you’re out there and reading this, thanks for the anonymous letter/gift! It meant a lot to us.

However, my love for mail doesnt stop there! Today I got a package from my family in California. As I was frantically trying to open it, I was going through all the holidays in my head… My birthday? No I just had that. Halloween? Too Soon… Daniels birthday?? Not til February (but only like two months away from mine)… WHAT IS THIS PACKAGE FOR???

Finally open, I see bubble wrap. I couldn’t get what was in it free so I put it aside and looked underneath… Bahahaha! Raiders stuff for Baby Carter! Raiders are my Dad’s favorite team, and while they don’t necessarily win (ever), he is a true fan through and through. I may or may not have woken Baby Carter up from a nap to try these on… In my defense he’s a looong naper, it would’ve been alll day before I could see him in them!

What can I say? He’s adorable. I had to take the hat off because it was cutting off circulation to his brain. Who knew Baby Carter had such a big head? He also had some trouble with the shoes.  He just kinda stood there like he was glued to the floor… a limp noodle of sorts.

We also got (and by we I mean Baby Carter) a onsie from disneyland annnd a mickey mouse picture frame.

Which left me wondering… did my family go to the happiest place on earth, without me???

Thanks for the package! It made my day!

p.s. Never, EVER wake Baby Carter up from his nap! This kid needs his beauty sleep…

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Farewell Facebook

Facebook, oh how I love you! I like to go on and read the news feed all day long. Sometimes I find a person I knew back in high school and learn all about them… (secretly of course) I might even friend request them. I like to post pictures and wait to see who likes it. How many likes did your status get? Mine got 20. Nothing’s official until its Facebook official….

Facebook is taking over our lives! It really is! Especially with the new smart phones that allow you to sit there mindlessly pa-rousing Facebook all day long. That’s not to say Facebook is the only thing we do on our fancy electronics (my vice is an ipad). There is also Pintrest, Instagram, Youtube, Myspace(do people still use that?), Twitter… the possibilities are endless! And what does all this technology leave us with? Endless time wasting capabilities! ENDLESS!

I was thinking about it the other day and I have wasted hundreds to thousands of hours on Facebook since I got it my freshman year in college. What could I have been doing with all that wasted time??? Maybe I would’ve gone to the gym more…although very unlikely. Made more real life friends? Got more sleep? Learned a new skill? Actually have done my college readings?

I definitely wouldn’t of known that so and so is in a fight with so and so… Or that Mr. whats his name has a new girlfriend… OR that she got engaged to a guy from where???

What good is any of this knowledge really?

Also this is kinda of embarrassing, but during my sophomore year in college… I would actually think in Facebook status’! Its true! Back when it would say “Chelsea is….” and you’d fill in the dots. Anything exciting that would happen to me I’d suddenly think oh that’s a good Facebook status or oh I could word my new status like this. It was my Facebook addiction at it’s finest

Maybe I’m a little bit extreme, that wouldn’t be too hard to believe, but I don’t think I’m too far off.

[Source]

Many a times I’ve seem people glued to their phones, surrounded by family or friends, only to be too involved in Facebook or Pintrest (or texting, but that’s a whole other post) to even take part in real life interactions. It’s like real life is too boring! Sadly, I’ve done it myself… Only to Daniel, but that’s probably the worst person I could do it to. He’ll be talking to me at night and I’ll be listening /Facebook stalking. It makes me sick to think about it… What kind of person does that make me?

Talk about a double standard on my part. I hate, absolutely HATE, when people don’t look at me when I’m talking. It seems like some people are more concerned about whats going on across the room or on their phone than what I have to say. I actually went though a phase where I stopped sharing things with people. If they weren’t gonna listen, I wasn’t gonna talk. I still sometimes go through phases like that. I guess you could call it a pity party, but seriously, why talk to me if you’re not gonna listen?

Some people are really good at multitasking. I’m not. Some people can be doing other things while listening at the same time. I can’t.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t expect people to stop everything they are doing just to look me in the eye and listen. If you are doing something like cooking, cleaning, eating… by all means continue…  just don’t sit there reading about other peoples lives on Facebook when I’m right there trying to share mine.

Okay this post may have gotten a bit out of hand. Everyone needs to vent a little right?

I don’t mean to offend… all the things I’ve talked about are as real in my life as they are in anyone elses’. However, as a result of how all this makes me feel, I’ve decided to make a change.

The other day I was reading a Facebook status (big surprise huh?) by a young boy. I taught his Sunday school class a year or two ago and he friend-ed me on Facebook. His status was really weird to me. It had abbreviations I’d never seen, and funny wording. So I googled it because I was curious as to what it meant. It wasn’t anything bad, but the website I found the answer to what it meant, was a dad asking why his kids kept posting “this” on Facebook and what it meant.

It was scary to think that my Baby Carter will someday be old enough to have a Facebook… and write secret messages on it? No way! Carter is NOT having a Facebook… EVER!

Then I got to thinking, how in the world am I gonna tell my little boy that he can’t have a Facebook, when all I do is endlessly check it? No bueno.

So I’ve decided to cut Facebook… cold turkey.

While there are many good things that can come from Facebook, I just waste too much time on it and am setting a bad precedent for my kids. I know tons of people who don’t have Facebook, or who have them and never check them. It is possible. Their life is not at all affected or stunted by their lack of Facebook. Right?

So this is my goodbye to Facebook. I’ll post this blog one last time in my status and hopefully that will be the last you see from me on there. I’ll still keep up my blog. I want to print in out at the end of the year and use it as a sort of online journal. If you need me you can always find me here, e-mail me (cmmz88@yahoo.com), or call me. I’ve tried to cut Facebook before, but it never stuck. This time I hope that a written promise will hold better. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!

~Chelsea

5 Months

Our little munchkin is 5 months old! Wow, has it really been that long already? He’s changed so much over the past few weeks it’s ridiculous.

Tummy time is starting to look a lot closer to crawling time. He can even wiggle himself in little circles. He also just discovered that if he leans his head over just right while on tummy time he can flip on his back! He is even getting pretty good at sitting on his own… for a few seconds at least.

His hand eye coordinating is getting a lot better too. He likes to reach out and grab everything (especially if I’m holding it). It’s a lot more controlled and deliberate, as opposed to when he would flail his hand wildly until catching onto something (usually my hair) and holding tight.

He finally jumps in his jumper. I was a little worried when we first got it because I thought he couldn’t reach the bottom. I later figured out he could touch the whole time he just didn’t want to! Lazy baby! He is even starting to get the hang of spinning in it… really slowly. That’s still a work in progress.

Eating is his favorite thing. He loves to eat rice cereal especially with bananas. A lot more of it ends up in his tummy now, and not just on his bib. I’m pretty sure he just love to eat. Yesterday, we let him suck on some watermelon and he proceeded to bite a big piece off! Such a piggy.

Did I mention how much he likes baths now? Ok, that’s a lie… He tolerates them. But that’s definitely a step in the right direction. He will now sit semi-pleasantly in the bath. Horrified by the fact that the water is getting him wet, he spends the whole time just counting down the seconds til I take him out…lol But as long as there is no screaming involved, I’m a happy momma!

My favorite new thing that Baby Carter does is laugh! I just love when he laughs. At first it was only Daddy who got all the laughs (talk about unfair) but now pretty much anyone can make him laugh if they act silly long enough. He loves to talk and squeal. It’s very cute. He’s just such a happy baby!

Carter is still a social butterfly and loves smiling at everyone. He has however become a little picky when throwing tantrums… Which means I get to deal with the screaming cranky tired baby. I guess that’s what being a mom is all about… I don’t mind so much though, because once he wears himself out, he’s super cuddly.

Speaking of tantrums, lately he will just randomly start screaming. Nothing calms him down, he just screams! I suspect he might be teething…. who knows? But if this is what teething is like, he can just keep his gummy smile forever.

All in all, he is just growing-up too fast! Soon he’ll be crawling, and while I’m excited for it, I have no idea how I’m gonna deal with a mobile baby. Especially when that baby has as much spunk and energy as Baby Carter. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

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When life gives you lemons….

…have a hysterical breakdown and call your husband.

Well at least that’s what I do when I get a lemon.

So I got home this morning after an exceptionally good birthday weekend. We had homemade sourdough pizza Saturday night, delicious fish and chips Sunday night, and a birthday peach cheesecake for dessert (all gluten free). Besides the food, it was regional conference so we got to go to a meeting Saturday night and Sunday morning. Both phenomenal!

Anyways, when I got home I decided to check the mail. I was hoping for a birthday card from my parents. I saw two bright colored envelopes which could only mean…. Birthday cards! Yay!

However, sitting on top of the birthday cards was an ominous looking letter from the dentist. Well, Daniel may or may not have been avoiding going to the dentist to get all his work done… Only because it would cost like $600, which is not exactly the type of money we have laying around. With that in mind I opened it first, thinking it was a reminder to come in and get the work finished. Boy was I wrong.

It turned out to be a bill… A big bill.  A $1,500 bill. Fifteen HUNDRED dollars. Fifteen hundred dollars! FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS! It doesn’t matter how many times you say it… It’s still a lot of money.

So me being the level headed person I am, I immediately went hysterical. How dare they charge us this much after they told us it would be covered by insurance up to this point. We’ve already paid like $500 dollars toward dental work this year. (As a side note, dental insurance is terrible… at least ours is…. A cavity is like $70 “after” insurance) So I called them up, somewhat calm, with the intent to chew them out, demand they fix it, and get all our medical information switched to a new dentist!

Well, I call them and a sweet lady answers the phone… From that moment on, I’m sunk. I can’t yell at a sweet lady… I just can’t. If only a grumpy lady had answered… Or a man… I could have yelled at a man. Nope just my luck, a sweet old (she’s probably not that old like 45) lady. So I explained to her my confusion about this bill and she explained that it’s the insurance company’s fault.

Well hating insurance companies is a band wagon I’ve jumped on looooong ago. While we did end up getting quite a bit paid for Carter’s birth, it was a fight. I called both insurances no less than 5 times each. They kept taking payments back. Refusing to cover us… It was a nightmare. The last time they took back a payment I just paid it. It’s not worth calling again only for them to repeat what the paper says…

Long story short, I hate insurance companies.

Well this mess is sorta the insurance companies fault and sorta the dentist fault. They gave us a quote that said we wouldn’t have to pay, but now we do. She said there was nothing she could do about it and even if we appealed the insurance company, that probably nothing would come from it.

At this point I lost it. She was basically affirming what I already suspected… We had to pay it. So I cried. I cried to this random lady on the phone. I tried not to let her know at first, but how do you hide silent sobs when she says something that requires a response?

Well I think she took pity on me(or didn’t want me to post crazy things about their dentist office all over the internet). Either way, she said we could make monthly payments, interest free, for as long as we needed to. She said she would also talk to the doctor and see if some of the fees could be waived so we didn’t have to pay quite as much.

She was such a sweet lady.

After I hung up, I was still hysterical. Even with all this leeway, it was a lot of money. We’ve been trying to pay off my student loans before Carter turns one, so we can be essentially debt free when Daniel graduates. But that means all our extra money has been going to that and not to savings. Basically we’re broke.

So I texted Daniel and told him to call me if he had a chance. He called immediately (Man I love him!) and sat on the phone with me while I sobbed the whole story to him. He calmed me down and told me we would work it out. How can I ague with that?

I’m so grateful for Daniel. I don’t know how I ever survived anything before I met him, I’m such a pansey. He is so calm and reassuring, I can’t help but trust that everything will be okay as long as I have him. He pretty much turns all of my life’s “lemons” into lemonade.

The End

p.s. Here are some pictures of Baby Carter (and my birthday food) . My Mom complained that I haven’t been posting enough pictures of “her baby” lol

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As of late…

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I guess life just gets busy sometimes. All in all things are good! Carter is still growing even though I keep telling him to stay little. School started, which means Daniel is gone a lot more now. It makes for some lonely evenings but I know that him finishing school is the best thing for our family.

Carter is almost 5 months old now and I realized, I never did a 4 month update post. Trust me when I say he is getting big. He’s probably about 14 pounds now and is definitely too big for most of his 3 month old outfits.

He’s been doing really good at sitting up now and can even sit up on his own… when properly balanced 😉 The days are just whirling by and becoming one big blur.

The last three weeks I’ve had the chance to watch a friends kids a couple hours a week. I love it! There are four of them, a 2 year old, a 3 year old, a 5 year old, and a (7?) year old. They are the cutest kids! Super full of energy, and they love Baby Carter. It is such a tender mercy in my life. It makes my days seem a little more worthwhile and breaks up the  monotony of being home alone with Carter 5 days a week.

Carter also loves it because he get to watch the kids run around, talk, and play, which sure beats sitting at home with me all day!

In other news, its birthday week! I’ll be 24 in a few days. It’s crazy how fast time has gone by. I was recently looking though some messages from my sophomore year in college. Everyone has changed sooo much. It’s probably a good thing, we were all a little dramatic. However, I did also see maturity in some of my past roommates which I didn’t then.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is the blessing it is to have the gospel in my life. Daniels’ brother is leaving on his mission in a couple of weeks. It’s crazy to see how quickly time has passed. He will be gone for two years! Two years seems like a lifetime away. In two years Carter will be a toddler. Walking, talking,… Eating real person food! In two years Daniel will be done with school, who knows where he’ll find work. Maybe we’ll end up in California! 🙂 Who knows?

Finally,  Daniel and I officially have  church callings! I got called to the  senior nursery….yes!!! And Daniel got called as the executive secretary, which means he will be extra busy! I’m excited for him, it’s a great opportunity, he’ll learn a lot, and it just fits.

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