Opinions

Isn't having your own opinion great? Yes! So have caution as you read this blog post. It isn't anything except for me venting about things that are annoying me lately. I want to have a blog, so I can print it out every year and have a journal of our lives. Right now I'm annoyed! So, if you don't want to read about my problems, then don't continue. I might also add if you don't like Obama or you're planning to vote for Romney or you're conservative in any way, this would also be a good time to stop. So now the only people reading this blog post are probably my immediate family and me. Don't get me wrong; I love all of my Romney voting friends and family. In fact, some of my best friends will be voting for him. One of the best things about living here is that we all get to have opinions and vote the way we want. Yay! I also get to write about whatever I want because it's my blog. It is sort of Matt's too, but he doesn't write anything or have strong opinions about much, so for this post we will call it mine. I'm going to say it one more time, don't read this if you're going to hate me for not liking Romney.

In the upcoming election, we have President Obama seeking re-election, and then opponent Mitt Romney. Because Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, people seem to think that anyone who is LDS is voting for him. I write this to say that this assumtion is not true. I love my religion, but I do not love the politics of Mitt Romney.  Luckily, I haven't heard much talk about it at church, which is great. I hope that continues through November when Romney loses. What I object to are the little Facebook comments that assume all LDS people are in favor of Romney, not the comments simply supporting him. Those are great! I'm just glad people are voting, regardless of whom they support. It's the comments like "God will make sure Romney wins" and "It will be so great to have someone of our faith be in charge." In our religion we believe in a current day prophet. If God wanted us to vote for someone, we would know! However, our prophet does not tell us how to vote. He encourages us over and over again to read and study both candidates, their views on the issues, and then to vote for whomever we think is best.  Also, just because someone follows one particular religion does not mean he or she would be the best president. I wonder if I ran, if all LDS people would vote for me.

My love for President Obama began almost four years ago when he won the election. I think his views are in the best interest of people of this country, ALL the people: the homeless, the rich, the immigrants, the U.S. born citizens, everyone! My most recent love for him has come with his passing of Obamacare. It is about time our country becomes like every other civilized country in the world. I mentioned in an earlier post about our hospital bills. I am finding that I have more and more bills coming! I have been paying $400 a month for insurance for the past four years. I think I went to the doctor once for strep throat, and Matt has never gone. Therefore, we have spent $6400 on insurance that wasn't for us. I know how insurance works, and my money is going for other people when they need it. That is wonderful, and I'm all about helping out other people. But then after paying all this money towards insurance, I have a baby, and now I owe tons more! I thought my out-of-pocket maximum was $3000 (this is what they told me on the phone). This information was only partially correct. As I kept getting bills, I called them again. They then told me that for ME the out-of-pocket maximum is $3000, but then Swen's is $4000 and Matt's is $3000. So insurance will pay 80% and we pay 20% until $10,000, and then they will take over. Right now we are up to $6,000.

I'm not writing this for pity because we can make small monthly payments and we'll be just fine. I'm writing this because there are so many things wrong with this.

1. I was a public school teacher, and my insurance was $400 a month. That was 20% of my monthly income.
2. Our out-of-pocket maximum is $10,000. Really? Where would a teacher get $10,000? That is 1/3 of my yearly salary.
3. Having a baby costs over $50,000.

Obamacare will not help our situation right now, but maybe in the future as it progresses it will help with future babies. While it isn't helping us immediately, it is helping so many other people in hard situations not even comparable to ours. People no longer are getting rejected from insurances due to illness. People aren't getting kicked off of insurance because they've reached their life maximum. The best thing of all is people are required to have insurance, which will then lower people's bills because we won't be making up for the bills of the uninsured. I am fully aware that taxes will go up because of this, and I am happy to have an increase in my taxes to help people in need.  Okay, enough of that. I hope nobody gets offended when reading this. I would be happy to read your blogs on your opinions :) Freedom of speech is the best.

On a totally different and maybe lighter note, something else bothering me is all the negativity towards moms who nurse their babies. I feel like everywhere I go, someone has something to say about why I should give Swen pumped milk in bottles or stop nursing and give him formula. Just think, I wouldn't have to nurse in public, and I could leave Swen whenever I wanted. I wouldn't have to worry about him when I'm out at the gym or running quick errands. I hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice. First of all, I don't mind feeding him in public (I'm getting used to the bad looks). I have a cover up that works wonderful, so it is very easy. I find it a little annoying that our country has such a problem with it that we need to cover up, and no other countries do. But I do live here, and I like it here, so I am happy to cover up if it makes people feel better. However, I will not go into bathrooms and hide. I've written before that I prefer to have Swen with me, so when I do leave, it is for short periods at a time. Usually just to go work out as I try to lose my last 5 pounds of baby weight. About 90% of the time he's fine the hour I'm gone, and when he gets randomly hungry, I am more than happy to speed home to feed him.

Being a mom could be comparable to voting. The best thing about it is that you get to choose to do it however you want! I think that as long as you are feeding your baby the way you want, then you are doing what's best for your baby. It doesn't matter if it's bottle or breast. If mom is happy ,then baby is happy. I wouldn't think to go up to a mom with a bottle and say, "Have you ever thought about nursing him?" or "nursing worked way better for me." Those are the kinds of comments I get, and I wouldn't be surprised if  moms who bottle feed get these kind of comments too. It's sad because as a new mom, all you think about is doing what's best for your baby, so any sort of comment makes you doubt yourself. Here are some little pictures I've seen that make me laugh.

If you have survived reading this blog so far, I'm impressed! I will try not to do another complaining blog for a while. In case you were wondering, our little family is still doing great. Matt and I love being parents more and more every day. Swen is the cutest thing ever. Matt's sweet cousin took some pictures of us. Here are a few of my favorites.

We also had a much delayed baby shower, and a wonderful blessing. Here are some of those pictures.

 That little white suit he's wearing was made by my grandma out of my wedding dresss which was also my mom's wedding dress. I love it!