The Adventures of Lil Mouse

I got candy, magazines and MONEY in the mail. The candy, well it’s from The Wisconsin Candy Dish, soon to be renamed something (hopefully something to do with taffy, mm, taffy!) more appropriate. Learn more about that here. I volunteered to sample, er, to have my family sample some candy and get back to her. It arrived just in time to wire the kids’ jaws shut for graduation of the oldest. Awesome. Well, maybe we’ll wait until after graduation. Sticky hands do not happy parents make.

Magazines, well they finally caught up with us I guess I will have to get the address change to them, and money, well that is the longest story.

After the baby was born, I called my obgyn in Iowa, as they still had my 20% prepay for labor and delivery. My baby was born in MO, therefore, no play, no pay. They told me once the insurance went through that they would forward any money on to me (that was when we were in Iowa). I called again immediately after the baby was born, forseeing huge bills, as our baby did not wait for our insurance to change over, bless her heart, and the lady told me if I was owed anything, which she didn’t think I was, as the appointments would probably eat up the cost, well, then I might get a small refund in the mail. I was confused, beyond, WAY beyond insane with hormones, told my husband and he said they must be right. After I got my final (thank god!) bill from the hospital (that’s another story-they neglect to send me a bill until May for a baby born in October and somehow that’s MY problem? I thought I had paid them, as I got a bill, not so, I got a bill for HER care, not mine, I digress) then I talked to the insurance, figured out that I really did owe the MO hospital money, and asked her about the Iowa one. I was just asking for her personal opinion, as we signed something that said for labor and delivery and should we have paid that much. She said including copays we should only have paid about 99$. Hm. My wallet is considerably fatter today, thanks to the insurance lady (THANK YOU!) that told me to call them back and tell them the insurance company didn’t think so, and if they disagreed to let them know and they’d take care of it. How you like that? So what I got back was about 1/2 of what I had to pay out JUST to the hospital for me only. That doesn’t count baby costs, anethesiologists, etc. etc.

Still, though, a small victory is a victory nonetheless! I worked hard for that money, and saved every penney to pay off the baby bills I anticipated, and even though we definitely went over what I anticipated, what with all the bilirubin heel sticks and extra doctor’s trips, I’m very happy with the insurance company we left behind. Hopefully, I’ll be equally as happy with the one that we have now. We pay a lot less thanks to Matthew’s employer, and I’ve already met my deductible, and Keeley is half the way there. Matthew, well if he’d go get a checkup, it would be free except for co pay. But still, even if we don’t meet it at all, it will be a lot better than the ouch we took on her coming early and the associated costs, both to our wallet and our minds with her ‘preemie’ status, and I use that term lightly now. She is now ‘moose’ instead of ‘mouse’ –lord have mercy on us all, and hot diggity! Mama needs some..well, a little bit of everything.

The Baby Led Solids post has a video now. Sorry for those of you that looked at it without it, it really is kind of cute.

I’m going shopping this Friday with my friend Tricia and her baby Ben (5 weeks older than Keeley). God knows how we’re going to manage. Anyway, point being. Any suggestions on what to buy? None of my clothes seem to flatter me in the slightest anymore. I only have one pair of shorts, so I should at least get one other pair probably. The ones I have are baggy. I donated about 6 pair from several years ago to the Salvation Army when I found out I was pregnant. I had no idea I MIGHT have gotten back into them by now. Dang. Anyway, other suggestions? I thought my flowy black maternity dress might be okay on me, but it still looks like a maternity dress, I was hoping without the bump it would be alright, but it’s clearly not. I still have a chunk of a belly on there pooching out (now I know why people dread the post baby belly!) but luckily most pants nowadays fit below the waist, so it would be shirts (accounting for the lactation stations to fit underneath) including maybe some tank tops that would be the problem? I mean, let’s face it, I’m a SAHM, I want to look good, but not have to try too hard. I don’t get spit up on that often, but I don’t ‘do’ dry clean clothes. What looks okay (I gave up frumpy about 3 weeks after she was born) without costing an arm, a leg, and her college savings? Wait, she doesn’t have any. But that’s besides the point. When I worked, I did a lot of mix and match. I had a handful of skorts (those things that look like skirts but have the damn legs sewn in them—can you get rid of those, anyone know? I’d love them to be just skirts!) that I can now get back into and mixed those with suit pieces and nicer tops. Most of them long sleeved or I wore shells and jackets.

What will carry me through the summer? I have several old tops that still fit okay, but by old I’m guessing I got them in…2004. Some earlier. A few later. Most of what I have I’m sure I bought when I got my job at unnamed university all those years ago. Most of it was on the clearance rack for under $3. That’s how I got most of my summer wardrobe was gleaning the shelves in the fall. I hate to pay full price but I’ve been given an ultimatum. Charge my credit card or else… I only have 2 things going for me right now that can be taken away. Caffeine free diet pepsi and, well, the other. You know, I really don’t want either one gone, so I’m giving in and going shopping. YEAH! Now, spill, please suggest something I can wear for the summer! I have ONE family reunion to go to, in JULY. Outside. I will still be nursing baby. Suggestions?

The idea of BLS is to let the baby feed itself. Does it sound extremely lazy? Yes. Does it sound a little bad on the part of the parents? Maybe, as you’re playing fast and loose with ‘big’ pieces of food instead of mush. Does it work? A lot of people say so. Here was our first try.  The second try, well, it went much like the first, but without the actual putting of food in mouth. Maybe she’s just not quite ready yet.

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If you read, please post a comment, even a smiley face would be nice. Seems like I get a comment every 3 or 4 posts. Do I have to ask ya’ll to chime in or what? Boring you to death? Speak up. Even though this is a pretty good outlet, it’s also good to know if I’m reaching my target audience enough. Am I being too whiny? Not putting in enough baby pictures or stories? Too many? That goes for my hubby too. Since he doesn’t post to his own blog anymore, the least he could do is chime in every now and then…

This question was posed on cotton babies blog (clothdiapers.blogspot.com)  as to why (environment, money, etc) and here is my answer: It’s a little bit of everything I think. We live in such a wasteful society. I’ve been a blogger for a couple of years and read a testimonial from someone using cloth and i thought, wow. this normal person is using cloth and its working for her. neat. I began researching. I was pregnant of course and just about made my eyes bleed looking at everyone’s comments on diaper pin, and found out i basically had to try some things on my own to see what worked. Once we started using them, my hubby jumped on board the bandwagon and started screaming from the drivers seat. He loves them. Of course he doesnt change as many as I do, but still. He does mention that they’re cloth anytime anyone gets a peek. He thinks the disposables smell awful, and of course we’re both concerned about what our kid(s) environment will be like in 20 years. And although we’ve shelled out some big bucks, we never have to run to the store for diapers. We’re definitely throwbacks. We like it that way. The other day I gave my niece one of my baby’s diapers after her inquiry and she looked it over and said, so you just wash them? And I said, yes and you get brand new diapers. She of course didn’t see the genius in the simplicity of her statement.

Also, there is supposed to be an explosion in coming weeks of the disposable diaper industry flooding mommy bloggers with samples of diapers and asking them to rave about them on their blogs. Read up on it here. Cotton Babies asked us all to go ahead and blog about cloth to kind of put up a flood wall so to speak to ward off the incoming tide… if you ever have any questions about cloth diapers, let me have them. If you live nearby, I’ll even let you take a peek (although you can do so at a store near you as well)…until later, my dear readers (CHOOSE CLOTH [hint if you're a first time mom, you can even register for cloth!}) Oh and did I mention they're cute?

Keeley under mountain of new diapers (cloth and SO cute!)

It’s Feed your Stash Friday again. We haven’t gone to the pool yet, although my hubs will be sure to coax me into it this summer (in the midwest its still considered too cold for a few more weeks) so baby can get used to the water. Having a swim diaper will make it easy, as it can be washed with the rest of the cloth instead of thrown away like the other disposable swim diapers. So if you’ve got a baby and would like to have a swimsuit/diaper all in one, that you can reuse again and again, go on over and try and feed your stash. If you don’t win, look up swim diapers on any of your favorite cd’ing websites!

I have realized for quite some time that people don’t ‘get’ me a lot. For instance, if you look at all the Fun Monday posts from the other people, 99% of the moms do SOMETHING for themselves. They say it’s an essential part of their lives (and that was the premise of the hostess, too, that it’s important to take care of YOU)–however when I faintly lamented that I don’t get a bath every couple of weeks with a chance to read, it was as if I had said I regret having my baby. Um, hello? Did I say anything about that? No, I tongue in cheek said that my baby was the one pampered and treated royally and said I would take care of myself when I could, but now was not the time basically (and hey, my hubby reads this blog, maybe he’d get the idea that I’d like to be able to get a haircut as I’ve been talking about it since before we moved)… all the comments basically say that I should enjoy the time that I have, that it goes too quickly..well I’m a SAHM, yes, it does go by pretty fast, but for me it’s kind of slow, and I enjoy all her smiles and giggles and putting her up into a sitting position for the 20th time, only to watch her fall on her ring of pillows ONE MORE TIME and reach for her again. Believe me, I’m getting full satisfaction out of it. I love that she doesn’t well up and cry when she falls down. That I’ve made her feel safe and that it’s okay to make mistakes and fall and that mommy will take care of it and you can always try again. Immense satisfaction there. She feels safe, she feels comforted, she feels loved. I would not trade that for any of the fancy massages that anyone else gets any day of the week. But if my hubs did want to drop me off at the local snip snip shop and take the baby to look at tvs in walmart, well, that would be okay with me, you know? If everyone else ‘deserves’ it, then why can’t I say it would be alright with me if I got that every once in a while too? Everyone else that got a comment it was to the tune of ‘I’m SO glad you’re taking care of yourself’ –hello? I’m not taking care of myself and wish I could a tiny bit, so I must be wishing time away, but everyone else goes and gets massages and they get a pat on the back for being so sophisticated?

People just don’t get me.

It happened this past weekend too. My mom was trying to give me her wooden chair with the nice soft padded seat cushion at the table. I was reaching for the folding chair. She tried arguing with me, until I physically took it out of her hands and made a sarcastic comment about trying to give my mom the nice chair. Apparently everyone at the table (except my  husband) misinterpreted it. They acted like I was yelling at my husband and that I was really mean to him. I was REALLY confused, but just shrugged at him and sat down and ate. On our way home I asked my husband and he said he knew perfectly well what I was doing and that’s why he didn’t say anything. He gets me. I mean, would YOU take a nice squishy chair when your mom, who is twice your age, sat on a hard folding chair? If so, then you SUCK! People just don’t get me, people I grew up in the same house with don’t have a clue who I am or my sense of humor. Every once in a while my oldest brother K responds as if he gets it, and his wife can read my face pretty well when I’m joking, but most of the time, it’s lost on all of them. No wonder they don’t talk to me much. The funny thing is, most of my friends know when I’m kidding and laugh, and I was only around them for 3 or 4 years in college…they DO tend to get me.

Karmyn had a post this week about field day for her kid and how everyone gets a participation ribbon. It made me ponder and instead of leaving written projectile v0mit all over her comments, I decided to make my own post about it. 

I can’t decide if a ribbon for just effort is a good thing or not. I guess for something like that, if you participate, yes, because it’s the whole school and you’re forced into it. It’s not like you have a big choice in the matter. But I hate it that every kid, whether they sat the bench or not in whatever sport when they’re young, ends up with an 8 inch tall trophy just because they showed up. Soccer, dance, t-ball, not to mention contests of various flavors.  To me, it’s enough to know that I tried my best and have good memories and learned something. I don’t need a trophy for that.

I remember I got a trophy for sportsmanship the first year I was in 4-H with the horses. I don’t know why I got it, as that was about 20 ish years ago, but I found out what sportsmanship was after that, and began cheering on the other members with their participation, and although I never won again, I was glad to cheer them on, and whether they knew it or not, someone out there was rooting for them. However, I participated in a beauty pageant (shut up, I KNEW I wasn’t beautiful, but my point of doing it was forcing myself to get over my shyness of speaking in public, yes I tortured myself like that several times). One year there were only like 4 girls participating and there was the winner and first and second runners up and then of course the last girl didn’t get anything (well everyone got some prize packages like dollars off of tanning certificates and lotions and stuff), but she didn’t ‘win’ anything. So the next year, when I did it, they gave away a trophy to everyone who entered. I have it, boxed up somewhere, it doesn’t mean anything to me. What means something to me is the fact that I got up, knowing I could never win, I did a little dance thing, I modeled a gown, and I answered my question like everyone else. I was nervous, but I beat down the nerves and did it. I was proud of myself for it and didn’t need a trophy for that. Any suggestions on how to recycle it?

What exactly ARE we teaching kids when they get a trophy for everything? That even if you sat the bench and were sullen the whole time because you didn’t get to play, you get the same shiny reward to keep forever and ever as everyone else? Wouldn’t something like a free ice cream cone from a local store be better? Everyone gets together after the game to rehash the season and everyone has a feel good ending, whether it was a losing season or not? Occasionally the ball club leader we had would buy all of us a soda after t-ball at the concession stand. That would have been impossible for my family, but for them it wasn’t a big deal, so it was a nice treat for me. I always appreciated it and said thank you. The fact that we tried hard and hit the ball and ran and basically didn’t pick dandelions out in the field was good enough for them, and I liked that. We didn’t need a trophy to remember the fun.

There’s my 2 cents.  Now leave yours in the comments.

Mariposa is the hostess for FM this week, and her topic is pampering, how do we pamper ourselves? Pampering huh? The baby is the only one ‘pampered’ around here, and I don’t mean her bum! She gets a manicure and a pedicure several times a week, and a bath every day or two, or three, let’s face it, she doesn’t get real dirty. Her clothes and diapers are washed for her and she is dressed by her servants, fed upon demand, whisked to bed at a moment’s notice for a lovely sleep, and then awakens to be fed yet again, lest we (I) feel her wrath. Her toys and other accessories follow her wherever she goes, and if she’s not sung to every couple of days, she gets in a royal snit.

Me, get pampered? Get real! 2 weeks ago I managed to get my badly chipped nail polish off my piggies and get them trimmed, then last weekend I managed to get polish reapplied. It’s not that I don’t have TIME to do it, it’s just that I’d much rather be doing a million other things than taking care of myself. Who is supposed to pamper me? Anyone know? I haven’t had a haircut or my brows taken care of since October 2007. I have to keep my nails short so I don’t scratch the baby and forget any new jewelry, it would just get slobbered on. No, I don’t get pampered around here. BB (before baby), my idea of pampering was getting to have a bath every week or so and lazily reading a book. Sigh. Not anymore!

He got a B, his project earned him a high ‘A’, and although the final didn’t seem to go as well, it saved him, which is fine by me! We’re both ecstatic, of course, especially that it’s over with! You know how sometimes you’re in such a hurry to get out of someplace that you accidentally run into the door? That’s about how I feel right about now…Just glad to be out of it, no matter the bumps and bruises.

Now, if the baby would decide that she didn’t need to wake up and whine 4 or 5 times a night (that’s a brand new thing) before going back to sleep, that would be awesome, because you know, I really need more than 3 hours of sleep a night to take care of her every day.

Cheers everybody!