Liz, my hero!

The other day a very good friend of mine was asked to nurse her baby in the locker room or restroom at a local indoor park at a nearby community rec center.   I've been to a "play group" at this rec center.  I was going to try to go the center on the day that this occurred, I even switched from my normal day off.   But I decided to sleep in and was dealing with cranky kids so we skipped it.  I'm upset with myself because I didn't go and would have been there to support Liz when they did this to her.

Apparently the Rec Centers take on the issue was that they asked her to be more discreet.  I've been around her when she has nursed.  No one could be more discreet, short of nursing under a tent, than her.  Not that that should matter anyway because Iowa Law on her side.  Funny thing is they did this to the wrong person, she's a breast feeding peer counselor so she knows her rights.

I can't help but wonder if they would have done this to one of the many girls that Liz supports.  Those who may be on the fence about breast feeding.  Would it be the stimulus to cause them to give up and stop.  Breastfeeding can be really hard work initially.  I had a really hard time nursing Trevor in the early days.  Nursing moms need support, pats on the back, hell even high fives, or at least a thumbs up as I've done on occasion.  Not sneers or being treated like you are running around in the nude.  I would have given my right arm to still be nursing Jayden and to be at the nurse in that was staged today.  Alas, I'm no longer nursing and I was unable to attend because one of my employees was giving birth today.

Our country is far behind the world views of breast feeding.  Most of the rest of the world have no social taboos when it comes to public breastfeeding.  I feel that our country has come a long way but apparently we still have a long way to go.

Please please please do something for me.  Go to the kwwl website.  On their home page there is a poll about public breast feeding.  Show your support.  And here is the story that aired about the nurse in that was held today.

To my bloggy friends, please help me spread the word and link me up on your blogs if you are inclined to do so.  Let me know in the comments if you do.  I'd love to read it.

To Liz... YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!  You rock girl!  I'm so proud of you for standing up for what you believe in and what's right!  Keep fighting for nursing moms EVERYWHERE! ~mwah!~

Out of curiosity I did a query to see how my posts in my blog mention nursing.  Here's the posts if you're interested.   9 posts come up with the search breastfeeding.  A whopping 48 come up using nursing!

Ok mamas... how many times does your blog mention nursing or breastfeeding?

Graduation

We went to my youngest brothers graduation. I can't believe my baby brother is all grown up! I was very worried about taking the kids. But we really didn't have much choice. We could have left them here and had someone watch them but I really wanted them to go with to visit my Grandma and Grandpa who haven't had much chance to see them. There was no one we could leave them with during commencement so along they went.

Trevor did surprisingly good. I was really worried about him throwing a huge fit since he doesn't really do so great around crowds. Jayden was the one who got bored and started to throw a fit at the most inopportune times. She goes from smiling to full blown screaming instantly so it was impossible to remove her several times without making a scene.

Trevor made everyone around us laugh. There were several graduates who had the name or middle name Dawn. Everytime they called out the name Dawn Trevor would look up and say pretty loudly, "huh, whad you say?" Hmmm wonder what my response usually is when Travis calls to me from another room! He sang songs with the choir. He clapped and cheered. And a few times while cheering he threw in a "Yea did it!" Which was very appropriate I suppose.

After graduation we went to my brothers party. Jayden enjoyed sitting with her great-Grandma for pretty much the entire time. She ate everything that anyone handed her or left sitting within her reach. I had to cut her off from being fed. I was afraid her poor tummy was going to explode. She ate sooooo much junk food. Next time we go to something like that I should take a sign that says "Don't feed the children."

Travis and I both took turns playing "chase the Trevor" until we were both worn out and decided to call it quits. We went to the nursing home briefly to visit with Grandpa. He really enjoyed holding the kids and Travis took a ton of great pictures of us all. Grandpa doesn't say much these days but there definitely was a sparkle in his eyes.

Both kids conked out on the ride home.

Easter

 

We spend Easter at Grandpa G's house.  Grandma H came along too because she had come up with the intention on us taking the kiddos for their first Easter Egg hunt.  That didn't happen because it was really cold and SNOWED!  Granted Easter was early this year but good grief!

We also planned to dye Easter eggs but those plans were thwarted as well.  I'll not go into details about it but I was a little annoyed and by the time we were going to do it, it was too late in the day and the kids were going to need to get to bed.

I took a ton of pictures and the kids ate a ton of chocolate and candy.  It was a fun day and I dressed the kids up in their Sunday best!  It was nice to spend the day with family.  Trevor acted up some and didn't want his picture taken but for the most part they were both pretty good.

     

That's my mom holding Jayden, She's Grandma H.  Notice all the snow on the ground!

  Checking out the goods.  The stuff that is in your sisters basket is always better!

    What a lovely "hat" you have.  Jayden loves chocolate!  The "hat" is just a little too small for Trevor.

  MMMMM chocoate induced coma.         

Trip down Memory Lane

I'm a little slow in getting this posted so I'm backdating. I've had it typed for awhile now, I'm just poky in getting pictures uploaded.

This weekend we went to a extended family reunion in Northern Missouri. It's a tiny little town that holds many fond memories for me of weekends spent at my Grandparents house. It was a 8 hour drive round trip for us but well worth it.

I really enjoyed seeing some of my cousins I hadn't seen in probably 15 years or so. Some of them were just little kids themselves when I last saw them now have children of their own! It was so much fun catching up with everyone. It's so wonderful to be able to get every one's email addresses, look at their family websites, etc. It will be so much easier keeping in touch with everyone now. I've never been much for letter writing in spite of my best intentions.

Two of my cousins had babies within 3 weeks of Jayden. I thought that was pretty interesting. Another cousin had a son who is about 4 months younger than Trevor. It really put Trevor's size into perspective. He was quite a big bigger than Trevor, in height but especially in weight. He looked so tiny compared to Wes!

Jayden was so smiley all weekend. Everyone asked if she was always so good and happy. I only wish. She was only happy because she was held the entire time. She seems to need constant interaction whereas Trevor was for the most part content with either hanging out watching a mobile or in his bouncy. She gets mad if left alone for more than a few minutes most days. She was fine with all the "pass the baby" until we stopped in Washington for a visit with a friend and she wanted none of being held by her. Mom really enjoyed holding her pretty much nonstop and didn't want to put her down even when she was sleeping. She sat in the back of the van all the way there and back so her and Jayden could "chat."




Anyway... It was a fabulous weekend. We even stopped at a small ice cream shop in a tiny little town that we always stopped at when I was a kid taking the same trip down the same roads. It's next to a playground beside a river. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs. Trevor enjoyed swinging and climbing up the slide with a little assistance from daddy. I think the playground equipment was the same as what I played on when I was a kid. I wish we had pictures of me as a kid at that park. It would make for a nice scrapbook page. I don't think I've ever seen one though. I'm a little more camera happy than my mom was. This weekend did make me think of my dad alot and I really miss him sometimes. :o( Good times were always had when we "went down south"




While in Washington we stopped to visit my grandparents. My grandpa is in the nursing home. He's always been a prankster and in good spirits. It's hard to see him like he is now. He's really sad sometimes. He did say something funny though... not sure where this comes from. He was in his wheelchair by the nurses station and he said he was waiting for someone to come pick him up because they were kicking him out because of his denomination. I guess now that I look back even that is kind of sad because he's kind of lost his grip on reality. But it was funny how he said it. Maybe he got in a discussion over religion with another patient? I dunno. He's always been a devout Catholic and regular church goer so I suppose it's possible.

My grandmother on the other hand is doing very well. She is recovering from an aneurysm that she was stricken with over a month ago. She doesn't hear very well because the University hospital lost her hearing aid and her glasses. I'm getting her a free pair of glasses via the Gift of Sight* since she's really not able to get new glasses on her own. It's a blessing that I work in the career that I do that I'm able to help. She hasn't had an exam since 1997. So I guess this is a example of why people should have regular eye exams and keep their prescription up to date. She was very happy to see Jayden and Trevor. Trevor was extremely cranky as he was on the tail end of a very long weekend and hadn't had much to eat in about 2 days. He's soooo picky! Grandma recognized everyone, even Travis from across the room. It was hard to carry on a conversation though with her because of her lack of hearing. I was so happy to see her in better shape than she was the last time when I saw her at the Surgical ICU at the University.


I think Trevor's ice-cream-face is hilarious. These are just a tiny sampling of the pictures I took this weekend. If you want to see the rest you'll have to ask me for the link to the Kodak gallery. :o)

* Gift of sight is a non profit organization organized by the company I work for. I encourage you to donate your old eyeglasses to your local optical shop. When collected by retail shops in my organization the get directly to the foundation. Others are collected by Lions club and still get there in a more round about way. My charity work these days are many hours spent cleaning and repairing glasses on my kitchen counter and reading/labelling the glasses to be inventoried by RX by the company. Someday hopefully I'll be able to go on an international mission to be able to make a huge impact in the lives of thousands of people. :o)

Campfire without camping

Our Memorial Day weekend tradition is camping. We've done it every year. This year I wasn't too keen on camping with a busy toddler and a 2 month old infant. So we declined camping this year. Our friends still went so we went out to visit them. We enjoyed the fire, grilling brats, a few beers, and of course making smores. :o)

I'm enjoying my 3 day weekend. I'm doing a bit more decluttering/pitching over the next few days. I've been having a pitch fest the last month or so, both at work and at home. In the 3 weeks I've been back to work I've probably tossed 3 or 4 shopping carts worth of "junk." Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me in the rear as I've tossed some stuff I'm not sure I should have. But I was extremely tired of looking at it.

Once I get my housework done, hopefully tonight, I'll have the rest of my "weekend" to relax. I think I might work on scanning in pictures I have on loan from my mom. I have the huge task of organizing probably about 35 years worth of pictures and getting them into photo albums. My mom wasn't very organized in that area and she gives them to me as she uncovers them. So someday I will spend a fortune on photo albums to finish the task. In the mean time, I'm going to scan them in so everyone can have the pictures. :o)

Here's a few picture I took last night when we were "camping." As you can see Trevor was pretty much at the end of his rope.

Trip down South

Sunday we went to visit my grandparents, mom and brothers. I had been planning the trip since even before going on maternity leave. I wanted my grandparents to see Jayden before I returned to work. Well a lot has changed since I originally planned on going.

My grandpa was put in a nursing home a few weeks ago. He had been falling a lot and my grandma could no longer care for him. He was not very happy about going and pretty much went kicking and screaming. He's been giving the nurses a run for their money. He's always been a little squirelly. I was thinking that he's probably making a few of them wish they had chosen other career paths. My aunt says that they all thing he's funny.

He was in good spirits when we visited and enjoyed holding the kids. Trevor even sat with him for awhile and he NEVER sits for any length of time.

The other change is that my grandma is in the hospital. I never would have seen that one coming. She had an anuerism a week ago friday (or thursday?) She had a procedure done on friday that involved inserting something called a coil into it. When mom first told me I thought she had brain surgery because she didn't give me much detail as the phone was about to die. Well this procedure actually involves inserting the coils to the anuerism via a catheter through an artery usually done through the groin. Grandma's was inserted through an artery in her arm. She was doing good on Saturday I hear, saying how much she wanted to see Jayden when we came down. Talking, color was good. She's in Surgical ICU.

So I figured when we went on Sunday I'd be able to talk to her and she could see the kids. She was pretty much out of it. I guess she was really tired and things finally had caught up with her. She was only awake for brief moments and not completely coherent. We decided against bring the kids back. She wouldn't have really known they were there anyway.

Then on Tuesday mom called and said that she had fluid on her brain and they had to operate. I guess with her age it's anybodys guess as to how things will turn out in the long run. Only time will tell. I've been praying a lot that last few weeks. From what I hear from my mom she is recovering well and looking good.

On Sunday we also got to see my 2 younger brothers briefly. Tim was working, he's a cook at a really nice Italian restaraunt. So we stopped in to visit him briefly before we went to eat at McDonalds... we are too poor to eat at the place where he works! My youngest brother Jim met us there.

The first picture is of my mom with Jayden. The second is Jim with the kids.

My house...

... will very soon be breathing a big HUGE sigh of relief! This weekend our local freecycle group is having what is called a "free for all." Imagine community wide garagesale. Then imagine everything is FREE. That is a free for all. :o) Fun times.

So being that we have WAY WAY WAY too much stuff in this house, and adding more to it everyday with the birth of our daughter, I am going on a massive decluttering fest. My goal is to fill our van with stuff by Saturday. And I plan to be VERY selective in the stuff that I bring home. The only things I'm searching for is a few kitchen items. Clothes that will fit my kiddos at sometime in the fairly near future. And maybe some books and girly type toys for Jayden. That's IT!!!!

Oh, and sigh of relief #2 is that Brian is moving into his own place in the next few weeks. So even more stuff will be out of our house. He's hoping to find some stuff to outfit his new place.

I guess #3 would be that we are finally getting gutters put on our house after being gutterless since we moved in. Long story... when they did the roof they had to take off the gutters because they were lead and we have been way to broke to do anything about it. Man, gutters are expensive! I had no idea it was going to be this much. We're looking at probably $800 - $1000!!! On the bright side hopefully it will limit the flooding in our basement and now I'll be able to finally plant flowers in the beds around out house. I planted some last spring and I think they all drowned. :o(

freecycle and misc ramblings

First off... here's the newest link to pictures if you don't make it all the way through my ramblings. Easter pictures and some other pics taken at grandma's
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=92m1eg5.eqbpra1&x=1&y=-otbwcy

It's been somewhat of a crazy week. My brother moved in on Tuesday and had been crashing on our couch. Today we went to this awesome freecycle event and really cashed in. FreeCycle is the greatest. We got a ton of stuff for free to outfit my brothers room in the basement. We got a desk, couch, bunch of clothes, a ton of books for Trevor in perfect condition, a few toys. Literally a truck load of stuff. Brian even got a bike that's old but in excellent shape.

I love love love freecycle. The recycling nut that I am it was wonderful to see all of the stuff finding new homes that might have ended up in the garbage or who knows where. If anyone is interested in checking out the organization in their neck of the woods the website address is www.freecycle.org. Through exchanges I've given away baby food jars that would have just been recycled, baby stuff, etc. We've gotten a computer monitor, 5 disc DVD player, a ton of baby toys and clothes, etc. We check our email all day long just to see if anything new is coming through.

Anyways... Trevor has 2 teeth popping up and man is he crabby, and only wants his mama it seems. This makes for a very tired mama that doesn't get anything done.

He enjoyed being out today too... it really was a beautiful day. I carried him around in his baby carrier that I got today. It was nice not having to mess with the stroller. He liked being carried; he kicked his feet, and "chatted" with people, and feel asleep nestled in the carrier after awhile.
Other news on the "home front..." Trevor is crawling now and man is he getting quick. We can't turn our back on him for a second. He really seems to enjoy having his uncle Brian around.
Anyways... mama duty calls... Trevor just woke up from his nap and I'm sure he will want to be held for the rest of the night, he's been really clingy/crabby the last few days.