Category: courtney

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Bub courtney Ev General mom mother

Buyers Beware

Today was a bad day. We got another bill in the mail for Lennox’s surgery… another very large bill. So I call and hope that maybe there was a mistake and there is actually only one bill. No luck there. Then I hope maybe it hasn’t been submitted to insurance yet…. yeah no luck again. So then starts the negotiations… I tell her(employee of hospital) what we can pay and she says how bout this much- 4 times more then my offer -and I say no this is what we can pay – same amount – I get put on hold – she comes back ands says Ok how bout this much? Almost 3 times more then my offer. Again I say NO WE CAN PAY THIS MUCH… and really we CAN’T pay that much but we are going to skip eating for the next 2 years so that we can pay you this amount you won’t except. She puts me on hold again – comes back and says ok, we’ll send you a financial aid application (which I already have for the other half of the bill that we can not pay off in 2 hours) and you can apply for prolonged monthly payments. WELL GEE maybe we could have come to this conclusion the moment I told you HOW MUCH I COULD PAY and you decided it wasn’t enough instead of trying to barter like I’m on the street in mexico. I mean it’s not like we are trying to get out of paying or pay less WE JUST NEED MORE TIME TO PAY.

Maybe if you had let us in on the cost of the surgery (like you said you were going to) before it actually took place, maybe we could have planned better and maybe able to pay what we deemed worthy of your services. It’s not like I bought my 18 month old son breast impants… HE HAD TO HAVE THIS SURGERY regardless of the cost. It’s just so frustrating!!!! I mean I understand their end services rendered and all but doesn’t that also usually involve knowing the cost up front or at least having an idea of the total cost. So you can then discuss it with your insurance provider and get an idea of what will be covered. Sure it does… you said yourself someone would sit down with me and figure that all out… but guess what? That never happened. I called and tried to get the information on my own… “Sure Mrs. Eckard it’s just going to take me a few days…” I get a call back 2 WEEKS AFTER his surgery has already been preformed and told the cost. How was I supposed to know that Lennox’s surgery would cost more then giving birth to him.

In the end, it’s all my fault for not being a pain in the butt and bugging them everyday until they gave me the info I needed… it’s all my fault for not being able to afford the good insurance… it’s my fault for growing a baby who would need surgery. So now I’m in tears and thinking this was supposed to be funny but it’s not, because I’m really mad at these people and at myself.

My husband leaned over and says you spell machette, m-a-c-h-e-t-t-e. So there’s the humor in it. I’m so angry I want to take Evan’s m-a-c-h-e-t-t-e over to the hospital and demand a more reasonable payment plan. But I can’t even spell machette.

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Bub courtney General mom mooshoo mother pregnant the kiddos

Ranting

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about being a stay at home mom – the pros – the cons. How we are perceived by the world…our peers. Usually there are 2 views to this topic…the “how nice you get to stay home with your child” and the now defensive feeling insignificant stay at home mom who feels like she has to defend herself and goes into the how hard it is to be a stay at home mom at which point the other person/ people shut off and begin to think about how full of poo we are. So yeah it is nice to stay at home with my child because I know where he is…know he’s getting enough to eat and drink, enough kisses and hugs, enough diaper changes, enough fun inspirational educational activities. And yeah it’s nice not to have to get up and rush out the door in the morning only to sit in the sh*t ass California traffic. I don’t have to get out of my PJs or fix my hair, put on makeup..even shower for days at a time. And as cliche as it is I can and do watch a soap – All My Children – which I have watched since before I was born(it’s required in my family) Yes I go for walks to the park and sometimes(rarely) get to take a nap in the middle of the day. But on the other hand I provide all the safty and security for my son, my husband, 2 dogs , and turtle….I make all the meals, change all the diapers, provide the endless kisses and hugs, come up with and execute all the fun inspriational educational activities. And yeah I don’t have to get out of my PJs which is good because some days I can’t there is to much else to do….no time for a shower and even if I did get to have one it’s not alone. And let me tell you the pjs no shower thing isn’t great for the self esteem. And no I don’t have to get up and rush out and sit in traffic..but that doesn’t mean I get to sleep in and drink tea while reading the newspaper. I don’t get to sleep in ever. I am the first one up getting everyone else ready for their days. Yes I watch All My Childern but is usually while I’m doing 8 other things and the TV is turned up so loud the people down the street wonder if anyone will figure out it was Johnathan who drugged Greenly. Oh and those naps in the middle of the day…from time to time Lennox will fall asleep on me and I have no choice but to sit down and usually just end up falling asleep then being woken up by what ever part of my body I can no longer feel. I do all the shopping, pay all the bills, wash and put away all the laundry. I’m on 24 hours a day 7 days week… no vacations, no lunch/coffee breaks, no thank you-great job on the laundry today – no verbal validation. So for as many ways as my job is easy it is also hard…just like yours. Stay at homes are lucky to get to stay home with their kids…but not because it’s all bonbons and soaps but because it’s hard as much as it is easy and it’s life changing as much as it is fullfilling. It’s not only a job it’s a life!
Now having gone back and reading this it sounds defensive but I don’t mean it that way…I just mean it’s a whole different world with different rules. Stay at home moms just want the world to reconize how significant our job is. We have a partnership with our husbands and both sides are equally important. Money makes the world go round….but you still need someone to prepare the food you buy. Homemaking is a real profession that deserves respect.

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courtney General mom mother pregnant the kiddos

Pregnant

Man did I wake up hungry this morning…..strong intense overwhelmingly hungry…if I don’t eat I’m going implode hungry. So while making Lennox some cereal I also make myself a bowl. It was the best cereal I have ever had…just a little sweet and soft in the gloriously cold milk. I’m surprised I was able to taste it at all–I pretty much just tipped the bowl up and slurped it down. It was so good…I considered using one hand to pour the cereal in my mouth and the other to pour in the milk. I feel like a bottom less pit that aches to be filled. The joys of pregnancy! I’m sitting here now thinking I am hungry again and it’s been about 10 minutes since I put down the cereal and milk. Aidan must be growing. He’s definitely a busy little monkey. You can already see my stomach moving from all his gymnastics. I love feeling him move it’s like constant reassurance that he’s ok in my tummy. It would be hard if I couldn’t feel him beacause what you get at the doctors visits are a quick listen to the heart beat and that’s that. I feel like he’s a summer camp and I only get a quick phone call to let me know he’s ok. I wish we could do an ultra sound every time. That way in addition to hearing his heart I could see it moving. Speaking of ultra sounds I have a question for the world…when we found out his sex the ultra sound was done in the radiology dept instead of my docs office (a new one for me) apparently they can take pictures of all the organs and the doctor can see if everything is developing correctly. The pictures are so detailed that he can even see all the chambers in Aidan’s heart. Crazy huh?!? Lennox was born not even 2 years ago and they weren’t doing this then…is this something new or was it just because I was in Virginia and they are a little behind the times? Oh but back to my real question…we were given x-rays (real honest to god x-rays) as our take home pictures honoring his manhood…does anyone have any idea how to scan these in? We have tried a number of different things and nothing seems to work. So if you have any suggestions please send them my way. Then I’ll post his picture here too!

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Bub courtney General mom mother the kiddos

Rain

Rain rain go away DON’T COME BACK EVER!!! I think Valentine’s day is a little over rated. Evan and I do nice things for eachother every day. And we definitly don’t need a holiday to show how we feel for eachother. It’s funny though how it makes you feel obligated. Like if we don’t do something special we don’t really love eachother. Or even though Evan married me and takes care of my every need, rubs my back every night (that’s right every night ) because he didn’t get me flowers and or chocolates for Valentine’s day he no longer loves me. Dumb! In our house everyday is Valentine’s Day. Lennox and I had a really good time today. We went the park like we always do except this time I did my first of what I’m sure will be many boy things. We played in the dirt…dug holes and made dirt piles. It was so much fun and we got really dirty. He’s growing so fast. We weren’t playing next to eachother we were playing together…interacting. He’s past the only entertain me stage. Now he wants to and does entertain me. It so exciting and sad all at once. My baby is becoming a boy. We also sat down and made valentines for Evan. I sat him in his high chair at the kitchen table and cut out a heart from printer paper and handed him a couple crayons and he colored! So smart coloring at 17 months. It’s no surprise there is a lot of artist ability running threw his veins. Evan and I both went to art school. Man oh man is he attached to Evan these days…his daddy. He cries when he leaves for work and doesn’t leave his side when he comes home. Tonight he didn’t even want to go to bed – well unless Evan was going with him. He’s always been a character but it becomes more pronounced every day. I am lucky to be his mom.
silly lennox
He’s just so damn cute!

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Bub courtney mom

Happy Valentine\’s Day

Well it’s raining again….ish. Looks like we’re going to walk around the mall. Lennox loves it he gets to ride in those car shaped strollers with a ballon. There is even a playground in our mall. Granted it’s packed when it rains…but he’s a tough kid and can stand a little knocking around! In honor of Valentine’s day I’m making a romantic dinner for Evan after Lennox goes to bed. The romantic part will be that Lennox will be in bed. We so rarely get to eat together-ALONE. This is our 4th Valentine’s day together….we had our first real date on Valentine’s day. We made dinner at his house – always a crazy place to be with 4-5 people living in a 2 bedroom place – we ended up drinking champagne and eating strawberries with all his roommates and their girlfriends. It was a great night. It’s crazy to think about all the Valentine’s days we have ahead of us. I am very lucky to have found Evan. He is an amazing man and I don’t think I could love anyone more then I love him. Everyone thought it wouldn’t last, that we rushed into getting married. I know almost 4 years doesn’t mean that we have lasted…but I have never been happier in my life and don’t see that changing any time soon. Marrying so quickly after meeting didn’t feel rushed, it felt right. I remember the moment I realized he was the one… He was giving me a ride to work and we stoped at starbucks (he was so addicted then) Evan decided he was going to run in I was going to stay with the car(I think we were double parked). He asked what I wanted and I said oh nothin, really wanting a chai latte but I didn’t have any money and felt weird about him paying for to much but didn’t tell him that… so in he went and out he came with his mocha and another cup which he handed me….it was a chai latte. So not only could this guy read me like a book but he knew what I always got from starbucks. I think we are just lucky…we are always on the same page. We know how to talk to eachother. We balance eachother out and calm eachother down. I miss him when he’s at work and look forward to him coming home every night. I am blessed with a perfect husband who has given me a great life with a beautiful son and another on the way.
lennox and evan playing video games
I love both of you very much!!