Act now for nursing moms by urging your Member of Congress to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act

I recieved the following e-mail from MomsRising. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW! I was very lucky to work in a small office that had a conference room and a locking door when I returned to work after having Trinity. I was able to pump at work 3 times a day and have privacy and comfort. This allowed me to provide Trinity with breastmilk for 10 months of her life. Not every mom has this opportunity. Please contact your Member of Congress and ask them to support this important legislation.

Act now for nursing moms by urging your Member of Congress to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/9251/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=910

Tough economic times may be making it harder for women to breastfeed? Yes! According to a recent ABC news story, one of the fall-outs from the recession is that some new mothers are feeling forced to take shorter maternity leaves due to concerns about finances and job stability.1 Unfortunately, women who have to cut their maternity leave short often can't continue to breastfeed their infants because many workplaces don't adequately support breastfeeding.2 That's a big problem when you consider that 56% of women with infants are now the in the labor force--we need common-sense workplace policies to make sure that moms who want to breastfeed can.

Act now for nursing moms by urging your Member of Congress to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/9251/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=910

Too many women are unable to breastfeed for the 6 months recommended by doctors and experts. This is often due to the fact that many workplace structures make this nearly impossible. While 74% of U.S. women breastfeed their infants at birth, only 12% are exclusively breastfeeding at six months as recommended by every major national and international medical authority. On average, rates of breastfeeding drop even lower for young and low-income mothers.

Some mothers choose to stop breastfeeding but others don't have a choice. Many women who work outside the home face significant barriers or outright discrimination in their efforts to breastfeed. Even well-intentioned employers may be unaware about how to accommodate nursing moms, leaving women using sheets to cover up in cubicles, cramming into bathroom stalls with breast pumps, or even hiding out in dingy supply rooms just to pump breast milk for their babies.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) recently introduced the Breastfeeding Promotion Act to support employers and nursing moms by:
* Providing tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace;
* Requiring employers to make reasonable efforts to provide appropriate space and break time for mothers to express milk;
* Protecting breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace; and
* Allowing families to deduct the cost of breastfeeding equipment on their taxes, as is the case with other common medical expenses.

Studies show that breastfeeding is good for babies, mothers and employers! Breastfed babies have a lower risk of infection, obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. This not only reduces a family's healthcare costs (and anguish), it also reduces costs (and workplace interruptions) for employers, given that mothers and fathers with healthier babies have to leave work less often to care them.

Voice your support for the Breastfeeding Promotion Act today: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/9251/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=910

Thanks for speaking up for nursing mothers!

Ferry Ride!

View of Seattle from Kingston

Trinity took this picture!!

During an open house we took Trinity to Kingston on the ferry! We had a blast! We walked on and got lunch at the diner in Kingtson. Then we walked around the Kingston farmers market and got a milk shake before catching the boat back to Edmonds. We had a great family day.

Summer Vacation starts today!

We are officially upon our first "real" summer vacation where we have to plan "stuff" to keep Trinity busy and keep daddy mentally healthy!!

Preschool ends today at 11:00 a.m. Last summer Trinity was still at daycare until her birthday, then we did summer camp at Soundview and only had to deal with filling up August. This time we have decided to not send her to summer camp at Soundview and will be exploring some other summer activities to keep her occupied, including ballet class! She has asked for ballet class forever! We might also do a Skyhawks camp of basketball, soccer, and t-ball.

Because Jason is currently not working he will be a true SAHD this summer! He is looking forward to the time with Trinity, but also dreading the long days and hoping we find some of those fun activities! It will also mean more evenings of him reading and doing homework after I get home from work.

If I can, I will try and get Jason to post a bit this summer about how it is going!! We have a math book from her preschool class he is hoping to do some pages out of here and there and we are looking for some good reading books to keep her educated while she is having fun!!

Many of their late summer days will likely be packing and unpacking boxes, and decorating Trinity's new room. I will share more about that when it is time!

So, let us all send good luck and have fun vibes Jason and Trinity's way, and watch here for stories about their summer adventures!

And I might add, yes, I am a bit jealous and envious about the time he gets to spend with Trinity and look forward to my evenings at home with her pulling weeds, doing puzzles, and maybe even some post-dinner sprinkler fun!

Re-cap of Preschool

Trinity's teacher has been keeping a portfolio and notebook of different things Trinity has done in Preschool. Wednesday is her last day of Preschool. I can't believe how much she has grown, not just in pictures. I looked through the stuff that came home today and decided I needed to summarize it all in once place. First, somethings I have noticed: she can now write her name, something she could not do in September, she asks all kinds of questions and wants to know the whys and hows of life, she is completely potty trained (yeah!!), and she is a very caring person and making friends!

Some of the things in the portfolio are drawings (or early days were scribblings), so I will explain them. This is really more for me, but wanted to share with all you too!

First, her notebook:
9/5/08 - Trinity says "I like writing my name", at this point her teacher had to write her name on the sheet.

9/10/08 - She draws something and says "This is my playing at the park"

9/17/08 - She draws her friend

(not all have dates!)

She uses her hands "for clapping"

10/15/08 - From her field trip to the Pumpkin Farm "I saw a house with an animal inside"

12/10/08 - Going to imagination express "I see a hippo"

1/7/09 - Snow story "I love playing in the snow. I love playing in the snow at my house"

I want to be a "snake when I grow up. I want to be a bunny rabbit"

1/28/09 - drawing of a pretty flower in her neighborhood.

2/11/09 - Bus field trip "I saw some more bussess. I saw people and cars. I learned I pay play money to get on the bus"

3/5/09 - Toy box, "My toy box looks like a crab"

3/17/09 - Leprechaun story "The leprechaun goes to different rooms on the stairs. He brings jelly beans and chocolate chips."

3/20/09 - This is the first time Trinity wrote her name. Not toally legible, but if you look you can see it.

Taking care of the earth - "worms and ants take care of the earth. I don't hurt worms or ants or beatles"

I want to know "how do bees make honey" (her name is written on this one by her and much more legible)

Her Portfolio:

The first page has two drawings of Trinity's self portrait. The first is from 9/3/08 and is a few scribbles of colored marker. The second is from 5/22/09 and is a head, two arms, two legs, a face, and she wrote her name!

A truck of shapes "my truck is special to me. It drives on the road. It goes to the store. It picks up food and berries. It plays with me and cars"

"I want to be a ballerina and a teacher"

"I have a green house with a lot of grass" (hmm, must be her other house!!)

Interview:
Name: Trinity
What makes you special: "My special thing is food because I like to eat"
How old: Three
Who is family: Daddy and Mommy
Favorite food: Lasagna
Favorite thing about Preschool: to color

There is a page with a picture and a quote. For those that do not know, Trinity has an imaginary brother that she talks about ALL THE TIME!! Here is the quote: "This is my kinda picture story that shows how I work and play at school and do excitement. I know my brother's in my imagination so he doesn't talk very much. When he goes to school with me he does whatever he wants to do. He's older he's almost six".

Favorites:
Holiday: Easter
Thing to do: Potty
Subject: learn about spiders and worms
Sport: Basketball (hmm, go figure!!)
Story: Cinderella
Food: Maccaroni and Cheese
Color: Pink and Purple
Name: Trinity Princess Moore

That is it! I love having these things to remember how she grows throughout a year! I started a scrapbook at the beginning of the year too and hope to finish it this summer!

HomeSavvi | Kitchen Remodel: Turning 19th Century Flaws into Features

My parents recently spent roughly six months remodeling the first floor of their home. Below is a link to a write up about it and a couple pictures. I turned out great!!

HomeSavvi Kitchen Remodel: Turning 19th Century Flaws into Features

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Update on us

I finally did some updating on our blog! Yeah me! I thought I would update you quickly on our life. Jason is a student! That is right, he is working on an online degree in Criminal Justice. He is not working, so spends his days reading, cleaning the house, playing with Trinity after school, doing weekly discussion Boards for school, and Saturday's are usually my day with Trinity and his has his weekly assessment due. He is taking two classes right now and took two last term. He is getting good grades and enjoying it! He is also applying for and testing for police departmetns in this area. He has a couple tests coming up in June, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

We made a decision that Jason would not try to find a short term job, and instead focus on finding the long term job. We also had to make the tough decision to put our house on the market. It went on the market April 10 and though a lot of people have looked at it, we do not have any offers yet. The first weekend we found out the builder did not get FHA approval when the homes were built. We had two people wanting to make offers that first weekend. Apparently the builder did apply for FHA approval, and hopefully June it will be finalized. We have probably missed out on the surging first time homebuyer market.

With Jason home he will get to spend a lot of special one on one time with Trinity this summer! We are looking for a couple short day camps and classes in ballet and maybe gymnastics to break up the time (for both of them!).

We hope 2009 ends better than it started! But for now, we are enjoying our weekends, the nice weather, and the constantly clean house!!

The movies!

Sunday was supposed to be a great day at the movies. But, it didn't turn out so great. For months Trinity has been drooling over the previews for the movie "Up". We decided to go to the non 3-D showing (glad we did, otherwise I don't think we would have lasted as long as we did). Trinity's friend from Preschool and his family joined us. We got our booster seat (otherwise Trinity would be folded up in the seat!), we got our popcorn for me and Trinity to share. We sat through previews, some Trinity liked (like the new Disney Princess!!) and some she did not like!

The movie started great and it was funny. Then it got kind of slow. Then funny again. Then a couple scary parts. We made it through one scary part. And at the next one Trinity started to cry. I ran out with her and Jason followed with my purse. I guess we were headed home. Oh well, maybe we will try it when it comes out on DVD. I think the large screen and loudness was too much for a 4 year old. We found out later there were some other questionable scary parts, so probably a good thing we left!

Night time potty training

We potty trained Trinity at about 2.5 years old. She was ready and it went quite quickly. She has always been one to wake up very wet, so I was afraid night time potty training would never work. I started reading up on it and we started working on a plan. A few weeks ago she stayed the night with my parents and was up three times to go potty, and woke up dry. So, we started waking her up through the night, playing around with the times. Last week we only woke her up once, at about 9:30 p.m. She is usually asleep by 7:15 p.m. and sleeps a full 12 hour night. All week she woke up dry and went potty first thing in the morning! I was so proud! This weekend we went and she picked out big girl panties from the big girl section at the store!! They are an XS 4/5, so a little loose in the top, but fit good. She has had three mornings in a row of being dry. I do not know how to go away from the 9:30 p.m. wake up, but we might start slowly moving it earlier each night. When she wakes up in the morning she can sometimes chat a bit and walk around before going potty, so I am assuming she is not waking up needing to go to bad that she has to run into the bathroom. It is so nice to know no more money will have to be spent on pull ups!!! We are totally done with the diaper/ pull up stage of parenthood and I couldn't be happier!