Good customer service moments

Today I have been delighted to be the benefactor of two good customer service moments. Often we remember the bad customer service we get so I thought I'd take a moment to remember the good ones. I sent two emails yesterday to two different companies and got responses back from both of them this morning.

• First one was sent to Bright Starts (makes baby toys for those not familiar with them) regarding a toy carrier bar that we had been using on Carter's bouncy seat that had stopped working only a couple days after opening it. Of course it was a gift so we had no idea where it came from and knew the stores probably wouldn't take it back (We won't even get started on our experiences with trying to return stuff at our Target... because I'm talking about good customer service today). So I just emailed the company with our dilemma that it "appeared" that a wire had come loose (fact: Lance the handy husband had taken it apart and discovered that a wire had come loose but couldn't figure a way to get the wire to stay where it needed too) so the music was no longer playing even though the lights still would flash. My email back today said they wanted to know when it was purchased and from where and they said a new one was on its way and should be here within a week. Sweetness!! I was so glad to hear because I love this cute little toy too! We always love the ones with music and sounds that don't drive us crazy! I emailed back my thanks and explained my best guess as to the where and when. Lesson from this one: it pays to email companies nicely to let them know of your disappointment in their product (great word to use!) and most will do all they can to change your bad experience into a good one.

Here is mentioned toy bar.....and Carter trying to wiggle out of his bouncy seat.

• Second experience involved Microsoft. We've been having some issues with our computer and for days I have being trying to figure out the problem myself but found nothing on online help that was relevant to our problem. Yesterday decided to email the company and this morning I found an easy to understand step by step explanation of how to fix our problem with much reassurance that if this didn't fix it to let them know. Well luckily it fixed it and our computer is back happy and so are we! I guess lesson two I learned today is: I really like people in India who speak better english than I do - Thanks Kundan! Also emailed him my thanks in return to let him know the problem had been solved so he could close my service case or whatever he called it.

Fun Weekend

This last weekend we were able to meet up with my family (except my oldest brother - missed you Mike). It's the first time all the grandkids have been together. There were a lot of little kids running around! In fact 6 under the age of 3 1/2. I don't have any of the pictures with all of them on my camera but here's a few of the pictures I have. Carter with his 2nd cousin....I think that's what they are. Two cute boys in blue! It's was Carter first time in a swimming pool. He enjoyed it, just like a big bath tub. He did lots of splashing. I think if we do more swimming we might have to get one of the neat floating seats like his cousin had - I think Carter would have fun in it. We went to a great park/farm in SLC. Here's Carter learning how to ride with grandma and grandpa. Sitting on some stairs. Looking at the baby goats. Here's the two oldest boy cousins. I'll post some more pictures when I get some other ones from the family.

Another couple milestones

We've been wondering for a while if he was teething just because he's been much more clingy to us lately and has been taking long naps, for the most part. He's always been a drooler, so that wasn't anything new. I wonder if his recent cold has to do with it to? Anyway, I just thought I'd feel in Carter's mouth to see if I could feel any teeth (we've been checking every once in a while). And Carter has his first tooth coming through! It's on the bottom right (his right) side. I can't get a very good look at it because he just tries to suck on my finger. Also, last week he started saying mom. It sounds more like "mum" or "um." I really want to get that on video but he only does it when he's tired/hungry/sad and reaching out to me. Maybe one of these days...

Cute picture of the day

Warm weather

We finally have had some nice weather. I had to work over the weekend but we tried to enjoy it as much as we could. Carter hasn't screamed when we put him on the grass like he did with his first few encounters with it. However, he still doesn't know exactly what to think of it. Out of his usual character when he's on the grass he sits still in whatever position we put him on it and sits staring at it with his furrowed brows. One afternoon when I woke up I looked out the back window and saw this. It was pretty cute! Lance put Carter on the grass like this....and that's the position he stayed in. Just like daddy. I think it will be a few years before he can actually mow the lawn though. He was lightly touching the grass with his fingers, not to sure what to think about it.

New Job

Lance started his first week at his new job. We now work for the same company! Lance has a temporary position at the hospital working with the grounds department. Since the new hospital is set to open next summer there is a lot of work to be done. Lance is working with the landscaping, putting in drip lines, sprinkler systems and planting things. He's just working part time for about a month until he finishes school then he'll be working full time during the summer. It's going to be a busy schedule for us this summer. Lance has to be to work early which will make the mornings I'm getting off work a little interesting since I don't get home until after he leaves. We're glad we have good friends to watch Carter! Hopefully it doesn't throw him off too much! He's been sleeping great the past few nights for about 11 hour straight! Speaking of Carter this morning he ate a little bit of cheese! He actually kept it in his mouth! He couldn't quite get it picked up so I put it in but he kept reaching for my hand and pulling it to his mouth. I guess we'll see tomorrow if he still likes it or if it was just a fluke. After the cheese I tried a spoonful of applesauce which lead to the usual disgusted faces and pushing it out with his tongue. We have a silly boy! Oh and to answer some questions about Carter's feedings... we tried pre-made baby food at first but after the first couple times started just smashing up things we were eating. We've tried letting him feed himself (he bangs the food off his spoon or fingers) and tried using one of the mesh bag feeder things since he like chewing on things - he also flings that around once he discovers there's food inside. One day he'll get it......for now we just keep trying. :)

Who said there was nothing to do in Southern Wyoming?

So we won't name names but someone recently informed us there was nothing in Wyoming. :) We tend to disagree. This past weekend we went to said nothingness to see Lance's parents and one of his brother's and his fam who all live there. Carter had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. He showed them how good he is at rolling and talking. He also had fun watching his cousins who all wanted to take turns holding him (I don't think he always knew what to think about that). You may remember we went up a while back so Lance could help with their concrete counter tops. I know some people were wanting to see what they looked like all done. Playing on the floor Some of Carter's cousins. Having fun with Grandma and Grandpa. Being happy and cute one morning. Trying to get the camera after being happy and cute. Carter reached out a lot for Grandma which she liked. I love his face in this one with his tongue sticking out.

Success!

You may remember a while back I asked opinions on infant hiking backpacks. After looking and talking with people and reading reviews, I settled that I wanted either the Snugli Cross Country or Snugli Cross Terrain. Only problem, I couldn't find one in the stores or online anywhere. Apparently they're out-of-stock or they're not making them anymore or something. So I started searching on ebay and for weeks I have been "watching" and biding on some of these backpacks. I was starting to get so frustrated because every time I'd start bidding, I'd either be outbid or the price would go up too high for my taste. However this morning I finally was able to actually succeed in getting one for a price I liked! Yeah! Here's what we got: Now we just need some warm weather so we can go hiking!

The day of our 7 month old

Carter is a pretty busy boy these days. He also has been doing very well with naturally falling into a routine of taking a couple naps a day usually a hour or longer and going to bed by 7 - 7:30 and then wakes up anytime between 3-5 to eat and then goes back to sleep for a few more hours. We still find him in some funny positions when he sleeps. Carter LOVES bath time!!! He throws a fit when we get him out (one of the only times he has fits so I guess we can handle that). He recently in the tub has figured out how to turn himself over without getting a face full of water. Usually this is due to the fact that he chasing his rubber ducky. He still splashes away and has been known to splash us on our faces when we're standing next to the tub. He's going to have some strong legs! Carter is great at rolling all over the family room. He often gets himself back into corners. Today I found him sucking on the coffee table leg. Nice! On that note we are really wondering if our boy is thinking about teething - we can't feel anything yet but he's been gnawing on everything. He also seem to have a knack for finding the remotes and cords if we accidentally leave them within reach. Carter demonstrating his great concentration with the Easter eggs. Whatever he picks up he studies and concentrates on for a long time. It would be so nice to know what he's thinking! In between studying the object of the moment he also takes time to "eat" it too. To bad we still can't get him to eat any real food. He hates it all and pushes it out of his mouth or tries to cough it out. We've tried letting him feed himself, used those mesh bag things you put food in. Nothing seems to make a difference. He thinks he just wants to live off milk. Carter loves playing this game with dad. He's gotten great at balancing and gets so excited during this game. He also loves his doggy and watches him where ever he's at. Once again backing himself into something. He hasn't figured out why he can't turn over sometimes when he's backed into things....

Projects

I decided to make a tag blanket for Carter to play with since he loves playing with the tags on all his toys. I finished it while he was sleeping so we haven't seen what he thinks of it yet. It's the first one I've ever tried making, so I learned a few things I'll do differently next time. I think it turned out pretty cute though, even Lance said it looked good and he even knew what it was! Here's the finished product. Now I just have to finish up his curtains in his room. Finally, I know! Don't remind me how long it's taken me to do them, I have Lance for that. :) I'll make sure and post pictures of them when I'm done....hopefully they turn out cute too. The animal print fabric on the blanket is some of the extra from one of the fabrics I'm using on his curtains.

Happy Easter

Carter hopes you all had a very Happy Easter! Lance wanted Ace to say Happy Easter too.... Ace wasn't to thrilled however.

It's no joke

Our baby is 7 months old today, no joke!! Carter is a BUSY boy!!! We love his smiles and laughs! I love this picture of Carter! This is how he spends a lot of his days lately. He's spending his day with a little runny, stuffy nose but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Here's what he's been up to:

• Weighs 17lbs (according to our scale at home)
• Rolls all over the place ALL the time
• Great at pushing up when he's on his tummy and has been trying to get his knees up under him too
• Pushes himself around in circles using his tummy as his pivoting point
• Reaches and stretches as far as he can when he's trying to grab something out of reach
• Figured out yesterday how to roll over fast enough in the tub without getting a face full of water
• Still not a fan of solid foods - yesterday we tried some applesauce mixed with oatmeal and he still made faces but didn't try to fake gag it out
• Loves squealing, screeching, laughing, fake coughing, and babbling - any noise he can figure out how to make
• Enjoys playing peek-a-boo
• Loves watching Ace and trying to grab him
• No teeth yet that we can tell
• Sits up excellently all by himself
• If there's a remote or power cord in view, he tries to grab it
• Wakes up still 1-2 times during the night but has a good 7+ hour stretch to start with
• Doing pretty well taking 2 good naps a day (except on days like today when I want to take a nap! He seems to know when I want a nap too.)
• Loves bath time, splashes and squirms all around
• Loves sticking his tongue out and making noise with it
• Loves his balancing game with daddy (video in earlier post) - he gets soooo excited doing it
• Smiles and interacts with other people no matter who they are or where we're at
• Really loves his mommy and daddy

It's getting a little hard to keep the giraffe upright and not in the mouth for picture time. He's been making this face a lot lately, where he presses his lips together. I think it's so cute and funny!

New Favorite Toys

Carter continues to love his activity table. This past week we also got out his ring stacking thing which has become a new favorite. He loves pulling the rings off and banging them and concentrating on them. If we put them back on he comes back over, no matter where he may be, to promptly remove them again. Apparently he doesn't like the rings stacked.