Andi

This is brilliant. Heartbreakingly brilliant.

Dear Friend(s List),

I just sent a note to my senators asking them to support Paid Parental Leave for Federal Employees, and I hope you will too. Check out the message below and click the link to take quick action!

Thanks!

Dear MomsRising.org member,

We're scratching our heads over here and need your help. We just got word from our partners in Washington, DC, that some Senators feel they haven't heard enough from their constituents about the Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act! We know thousands of letters have already gone in from MomsRising members, and now we need you to do it again!

Let's pump up the volume and show the Senate that real people, real moms really, really support the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act. Let's shower them with messages so no one has the excuse that they aren't hearing from parents. Make them scratch their heads about how many citizen contact letters have come in supporting this policy!

Take action at: http://www.momsrising.org/Senate_PaidParentalLeave

Now is the perfect time to contact your Senators. Why? Well, U.S. Senators are heading to their respective party conventions this week. Contacting them today will make sure they carry the message to their party leadership that Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave is an urgent and important issue that they need to act on now!

First federal employees, then the rest of the people in our nation! Everyone needs paid leave and it's past time to start putting this policy in place. We know that paid parental leave helps provide children with a healthy start and keep families out of poverty. Yet, the United States lags behind every developed country in the world in offering paid leave to new mothers.

It's time for the federal government to become a model employer by offering their workforce paid parental leave, and to pave the way for the rest of the nation to follow.

With more than 1.8 million civilian employees, the federal government is the nation's largest employer. Currently, federal workers don't have any guarantee of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Some have accrued paid sick or vacation time that they may be able to use while on unpaid FMLA leave. However, others, especially younger workers who haven't accrued sick or vacation time, have no choice but to take unpaid leave.

If passed, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act guarantees qualifying federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a new child. It would also enable federal workers to use up to eight weeks of accrued paid sick time immediately following the first four weeks of parental leave.

Urge your elected Senators to support the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, and also forward this e-mail to friends, family, and co-workers and urge them to get involved today! If the Senate doesn't hear from us now, this historic bill could be ignored. Your voice will make a difference.

http://www.momsrising.org/Senate_PaidParentalLeave

With the help of MomsRising.org members, New Jersey and Washington state recently made history by passing paid leave policies. Now, we have another chance to bring paid leave to more than 1.8 million working people across the country.

Here's to making history together!

A special thank you to the National Partnership for Women & Families for all the amazing work they're doing on this and many other issues.

Pics of my adorably grumpy-looking little dude can be seen on his very own blog: http://www.cullensmullins.blogspot.com/

...Bailey is procrastinating bedtime by claiming she needs to poop on the potty.
...Bryan is winning the Most Patient Dad of the Year award for sitting in a dark bedroom with a tiny potty and a diaperless, wide awake toddler.
...My feet are as swollen as they've ever been. I now know what cankles are.
...I am so ready to have this baby.
...I should be paying bills but don't want to think about money.
...I'm going to go eat the last of the Innocence chocolate my awesome husband bought for me yesterday.
...Ed is playing the piano.

(+100 nostalgia points if you remember what that last one is from.)

I'm so sick. It feels like my throat is full of shards of glass. My whole body aches, and my eyes feel like they belong in someone else's body. I took two naps today and am pretty much ready to go to bed for the night already. I want to curl up and die.

Tomorrow is Bryan's birthday, and my mom's coming into town. Great freaking timing.

/pity party

Bryan and I are unplugging for the week. No internet (other than email and work-related stuff). No TV/movies. More "us" time. More time to get things done. Etc. I plan to finish my month of gratitude (only 2 days left!), but will resort to writing things down the old fashioned way. Maybe I'll post them when I get back online.

So, dear internets, have a good week! (Randi & Sol--we're reachable by email or phone so let us know when you guys are coming in next weekend so we can firm up our plans).

Amazingly fun days like today spent with my family.

We went to the San Antonio Zoo, then to Rainforest Cafe at the Riverwalk for Bailey's birthday (even though it's tomorrow). It was one of the best days I can remember in quite a while. That girl rocks my world. As does my wonderfully fun and funny husband. *sigh* Lovin' life today big time.

Weekends. Especially after super long and stressful weeks like this one.

Finding out that my insurance has decided to randomly pay my midwife some money, which means a refund for us since we already paid her in full. Not sure how much they'll cough up, but I'll gladly take anything at this point!

Good books. And time to read them.

(I'm currently reading devouring The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. Highly recommended for you ladies on my friends list. Hell, even the 2 gents reading this might enjoy it, though it is rather women-centric.)

Not having to drink that nasty, horrific, god-awful orange crap of a drink in order to be tested for gestational diabetes. (Pancakes, eggs, and juice instead? Heck yes!)

Also, finding out the results immediately and having them be completely normal.

I <3 my midwife.

Innocent Chocolate. OMG. 'Nuff said.

Finding out that my brother-in-law is 10 weeks sober and going strong. He's really seeming like himself again lately. Maybe this time will be different after all...

1. Bailey peeing in the potty. (Sorry Randi Sue!)

2. Date night.

Today has been glowing, I tell you.

Any and all time alone with Bryan. Even if it's only 20 minutes on the way to pick up take-out. And even if it winds up with us talking about some tough stuff that neither of us really wants to deal with. It still is wonderful, needed, and very much appreciated.

Tums. The smoothie ones. God bless you, little chalky tablets, for providing me the only relief I can find from the incessant heartburn I've been having.

2 hours of hilarious chatting with a friend that I haven't heard from in way too long.

(Thanks, jojo, for giving her my number!)

I am so tired of apologizing to Bryan for being whacked out, hormonal, and impatient. It's like I hear myself reacting to slight irritations with full on bitchiness and I can't even stop myself. I feel terrible almost instantly. And I can go from fine and happy to cranky-ass pregnant woman in about 3 seconds flat.

He deserves a medal for putting up with this. He really does. And to think, he's not even scared at the thought of going through it a few more times...

The 4th most popular folk parody band in New Zealand. FOTC, baby. Love it.

Hearing songs in the car that make me belt it out as loud as I can without caring who sees me. Today's example: What I Got by Sublime. (Others: American Girl by Tom Petty, Subdivisions by Rush, anything by Ani or the Indigo Girls, and most 90s one-hit wonders)

Sidenote: Wouldn't you know that the day after I post about having my boobs to myself, Bailey asks to nurse for the first time in I can't even remember how long. Of course, she's pretty much lost her latch completely, so she put her mouth on my boob, pulled right off, asked for "more nurse?", repeated this 3 more times, then said "bye-bye nurse" and that was that. Weird. But really, really cute.