The Case of the Mixed Up Mailboxes

So, I mentioned a few days (or was it weeks?) back that Alex and I were moving. We literally moved just down the driveway. Our address change? It consists of two numbers and a letter being changed. Sounds easy, right?

Well, apparently it's not. We've had trouble from week one. This driveway with all eight apartments, one duplex, and one house shares a large mailbox with multiple compartments. Sort of like a mini P.O. box wall.

Like this!

We got our new mailbox key and within a few days we got a bright yellow slip of paper in our mailbox saying that if the address was vacant, tear of the perforated edge that said "Vacant!" and leave it there. If not we were to put our names and address on the paper and return it to the mailbox. So we did, the same time as we filled out a change of address form for the post office. Apparently I put the wrong apartment number on the yellow paper though. B rather than A, so it ended up in our Grandma's box (she lives in the other half of the duplex). So a few days later when we got another yellow slip of paper we filled it out correctly and put it back in the box.

A week or more passed by. We still hadn't gotten any forwarded mail. Just a letter saying that we had requested a change of address and needed to confirm it, but they had spelled our last name wrong. So we went to the post office and they filled out a form that they said would fix it
We still had the key to the old mailbox and occasionally got something there. But then we returned the key with all the old apartment keys, only to realize a few days later we still hadn't gotten any mail in our new mailbox except for junk mail or mail addressed to the previous tenants. Then we got a third yellow slip of paper, the same as the first two. For some reason it took until this point to realize that things still weren't straightened out.
So one day last week while Alex was at work I walked to the post office and told them the trouble we were having. The lady told me that it can take 5-7 days for the address change to go into effect. When I explained that we had filled it out almost 3 weeks prior, she just kind of shrugged and said that I was at the wrong branch to get it straightened out.
When we realized that this wasn't going to fix itself Alex and I talked to our old landlord and he graciously let us borrow our old mailbox key again. We were still getting mail at our old address. Also, on Saturday Grandma brought over a package that was addressed to us, and had our new address on it, but it ended up in her box.

Yesterday Alex got home from work early enough that we could drive to the other post office building to try to get this mess straightened out. Before we left I checked both mailboxes. In our old one was a whole stack of mail. Three things addressed to our new address, one with a forwarding sticker to our new address, and two with the old address. In our new mailbox was another of the yellow slips. Only this one had sharpie on it. Scrawled across the top were some questions marks and the phrase "No name, no mail". We were so confused, and so frustrated. We've done everything we could think of to make our new address obvious. So we just took the mail in with us to the post office, hoping we could finally get this mess fixed.

We were not so fortunate.

The lady working behind the desk listened to our little story and said "You need to fill out a change of address form."
We told her we had.
"Well, you need to fill out the yellow paper"
Again, we told her that we had. Twice.
"Oh, well, maybe the carrier is just confused because you weren't picking up your mail, so he though it was vacant."
Umm, what?? We told her that we hadn't been getting any mail in our new box to pick up.

So, she made a copy of the envelope with the forward sticker on it and said she would talk to the mail carrier.

Right now as far as we know nothing has been resolved. The lady pretty much said it was our fault somehow and shrugged off the problem. A new tenant will be moving into our old apartment and I'm starting to feel more than just a bit anxious to get this all taken care of. Especially since Alex's pay stub, and my driver's license change of address sticker were both put in the old mailbox despite having the new address on them. Not exactly the kind of things we want a complete stranger being able to get a hold of.

I guess we'll find out how things are going when I check the mail today. Wish me luck!

*Update*
When I checked the mail yesterday I was relieved to discover that the problem has been fixed. There is now a yellow vacant slip in our old mailbox saying that we have moved to this address. Yay! The old keys have been returned (again) and I'm hopeful that we won't have anymore problems.

What I've learned so far: the cloth diaper edition

When I first found out I was pregnant I decided that I didn't want to do cloth diapering. I remember helping out with some of my younger siblings who were in cloth, and I remember hating it. I have vague memories of having to stand over the toilet swishing a diaper around until it was sort of rinsed off, and then holding my breath for that awful few seconds it took to put it in the pail...I just didn't want to have to deal with it.

And then I had my baby and realized how expensive disposable diapers are, and how cloth diapers have changed. I decided it might be worth it to give it a try. At first I was going to make my own. An endeavor that resulted in a bag of thrift store cotton sheets and shop towels sitting in my craft room closet. I tried to make two different diapers just to see if it would work, and got so frustrated I quit.

The test run of making my own. I used one of Alex's old t-shirts. Classy, huh?

So a friend was kind enough to let us borrow her stash of FuzziBunz until we can build our own cloth diaper stash. It was a HUGE relief. If you have ever had with zero knowledge of cloth diapering and just started looking at things online, you understand why I was overwhelmed. I had no idea how many kinds of diapers there were, specific soaps, dos and do nots, opposite opinions, etc.

I've had a lot of help though, my sister in law has answered many questions for me, and a blog I've been following since last September, The Accidental Wallflower, just finished off a whole month dedicated to cloth diapering.

So here's a few things I've learned:
* A removable shower head makes the poop rinsing way easier than the old swishing method. Turn the nozzle to the power spray setting. Rinse it all down the drain. Done.
*Cloth diapering is not as difficult as I expected (once I finally got the hang of it) and I feel good knowing I'm doing what I can to save some money and not produce as much waste.
* Cloth diapers are expensive!! Cheaper in the long run, of course, but I still haven't saved up enough to start buying my own. They can be anywhere from $6-$18 per diaper!
* An open diaper pail actually makes a lot less of a stink. Don't believe me? I have an open trash can for dirty diapers sitting by my nursery doorway and you can't even tell it's there. (Unless you get really close and inhale deeply. But really, who would even want to try?)
* You have to change cloth diapers a little sooner. I usually change Jacob every 3 hours or so, unless he's poopy, then I change him right away.
* Cloth diapers do not work for night! At least not for my little guy. I tried double inserts, I tried rubber pants, I tried pre-fold with rubber pants. He woke up soaked every time. So I still buy about one pack of disposables every month because we use them for night.
* It's not as hard to keep up with as I thought it would be.
* I can understand the addiction to buying cute printed cloth diapers. I keep planning what patterns I want to buy once I get my own stash.
* The homemade laundry soap I use for diapers works so well and is so much cheaper, I now use it for all my laundry!

And lastly, there's just something so satisfying and domestic feeling about seeing a clothesline full of freshly washed cloth diapers drying in the sun.

Do you cloth diaper? Let me hear your experience!

Just a thought

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)

Ramblies

My last post was full of whining. Something I am a bit ashamed of. I'm just glad it doesn't happen often!

Things are going much better now. It's been a crazy, busy few weeks. The day after I published my whine, I did end up going to the doctor at immediate care. Just to clarify: some people who know me well know that I usually try to tough things out. This was not one of those cases. The only reason it took me a week to go to the doctor was because of finances.

Anyway, once I went I was diagnosed with conjunctivitis in both eyes  (which I already knew) and an upper respiratory infection that had caused ear infection in both ears, and tonsillitis. I was relieved to find out that
1) the shakes, chills, and fever were just from the respiratory infection
2) that the antibiotics should clear everything up in just a few days
3) that the antibiotics they were going to give me were perfectly safe for breastfeeding. I'm so glad I remembered to ask, because at first the doctor wasn't sure, and he ended up switching me to one that pediatrics said was safe. Let me tell you, when I first asked and he wanted to know if formula was an option my heart just sank.

I started on the medicine right away, but it took two days before I felt human again...
and then things got worse.
Tuesday morning I woke up and my eyes were so sensitive I couldn't even open them! Have you ever been suddenly poked in the eye and not been able to open it for a few moments? It was like that, but it didn't get better after a few moments. Alex and I looked at the large paper covered in fine print that comes with every prescription and found a line that said to call a doctor if I was experiencing light sensitivity.

To make a long story short(er) I went back to the immediate care, where they looked at my eyes and sent me to the medical eye center. They looked at my eyes with their microscope thing and said I had spots on my corneas. Told me to stop using the eye drops I had and wrote me a new prescription. I was constantly wearing sunglasses/squinting/and dimming lights the next few days. But I am finally feeling back to normal.

We took Jacob to his doctor on Monday. He's had a cough and a runny nose for almost a month now, and we wanted to be sure it wasn't turning into something worse. They told us that he just has a bad sinus infection, and gave him a prescription for antibiotics. His cough is already better!

In other news, Alex got a job!! God has truly answered our prayers in this area. It was a leap of faith to move into a bigger place when we had no idea how or when we would be getting more income. Alex started work today, and I am so proud of him! It will be an adjustment for us as this is the first time he has been working since we go married -up til now he has been a full time student- but I'm sure we'll do fine.

I've also been doing a bit better with my homemade headbands. I've been working with the owner of a baby boutique in town and she has rented me a space in her store where I can display my items. I feel like I've done really good! I sell 1-4 headbands a week. I really need to make some more, my inventory is getting low. So I've been trying to focus on getting the spare room ready for me to start crafting again! I would love to do a giveaway of some sort really soon, whether through my blog or my business page. So keep your eyes open for that.

I've been so busy, and have so many projects going on, besides being a mommy, trying to get everything in place at a new home, and getting over being sick. I love that I'll never be bored. However, it means that I keep putting off writing blogposts. Hopefully you'll see a few more in the near future, but for now...my sweet boy is napping and I am going to go do some cleaning!