Friday, April 24, 2015

Lege Update

From my Facebook Update post (messy with links because I haven't time to make it pretty):

#TXBFLeg #TXLege #Breastfeeding Legislation Update:

I don't like saying this (& don't like when other pages do), but please like & share this update to get Facebook to give it more reach.  But it's lengthy, so mostly, share https://texasbreastfeedingcoalition.org/legislative-action-alert/ & tell breastfeeding supporters to contact B&I, preferably by phone, to try to save HB 232.

HB 786 (Rep. Walle, Pump at Work bill)

Yesterday HB 786 passed in the House!  This is fantastic & awesome & wonderful news! And it means there is MORE WORK TO DO!  

It still has to be voted on again this Monday in the House.  We want legislators to keep hearing from us to ensure we have as many yay votes as possible when we head into the Senate. After Monday, we need Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to refer HB 786 to a committee promptly so that there is time for a Senate committee to pass the bill & for the entire Senate to vote on it. 

Yesterday the TCC (Texas Conservative Coalition) put out a report highlighting their opposition to HB 786 & referring to the wrong bill language (from last session) so their report was riddled with mistakes that could bias legislators against the bill.  TPPA did the same thing last session (if you helped support the bill 2 years ago you may remember the night we bombarded the executive director with contacts).  TPPA is neutral this session, as are the Republican Caucus & TPPF (Texas Public Policy Foundation).  

This faulty report makes it even more necessary that (especially conservative) legislators hear from us.  Breastfeeding is a bipartisan issue & support is a public health imperative.  So keep referring to the action alert at TXBFLeg.com.  Keep contacting your legislators & spreading the word.  This is a marathon, folks.  We have to keep pushing.

You can see the bill pass its 2nd reading at the 2:23:38 mark at http://tlchouse.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=38&clip_id=10876.

There's an article here http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/23/house-approves-protections-breast-feeding-moms/ & an awesome tweet here https://twitter.com/alexazura/status/591337641720709120.


HB 232 (Rep. Farrar, Strengthening Right to BF in Public)

I am at a loss here, y'all.  Last session this bill passed in Business & Industry unanimously.  This year a new member, Rep. Matt Rinaldi, opposed the bill.  As a result, it has been pending in committee for over a month.  Which means, essentially, that he has killed it.  If B&I doesn't vote this week, I don't see how it can pass.  I'm in Abilene today or I'd go to the Capitol & talk to each B&I member in person. 

I have tried to be diplomatic & to get the timing right, to be cautious - there's so much I haven't shared here because I've been afraid of hurting the bill.  I have stuck with asking for constituents to contact the lege because that's what they value.  But I am wondering if I should have shared Rep. Rinaldi's bathroom comment or asked people to call from *anywhere* weeks ago.  

Yesterday I drove past Brownwood, where Morgan Riley lives.  Days after I & others testified in favor of HB 232 a police officer forced Morgan to leave a roller rink for breastfeeding.  That's what Rep. Rinaldi is perpetuating with his opposition to this bill.  

I'm taking my kids to Frontier Texas soon & I can't spend the day on social media.  I've literally spent hundreds and hundreds of volunteer hours trying to support this bill.  It means the world to me.  But my kids mean more.  I've already spent a few hours on the phone & online this morning.  The rest of today I'm going to go be a mom.  I leave the advocacy for this one in your hands today.  Blast https://texasbreastfeedingcoalition.org/legislative-action-alert/ all over social media.  And anybody from anywhere, contact B&I, especially Reps. Rinaldi, Simmons, Fletcher, Villalba & Oliveira.  Even if you don't live in Texas, what we as the 2nd most populous state in the nation, & as a conservative state - what we do will affect public health & will affect similar measures in other states.  We are ALL stakeholders.


SB 1479 (Sen. Garcia, Pumping Rights for Teachers)

There was a hearing for this bill yesterday.  The video cuts off before Carolyn Putnam, IBCLC gets to testify (& my friend Anna Smith had to go home before they got to that bill - she had to quit her job when her principal would not support her to pump at work, but she left written testimony), but the last couple of minutes can be seen here: http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=30&clip_id=9881


Our other 4 bills have had no movement yet.


So that's where we are right now.  Please get involved & keep pushing!



Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Urgent Legislative Action Alert for Texas Breastfeeding Bills

An urgent call to action from Texas Breastfeeding Coalition:

This is a really important time to kick our support into high gear, with one bill about to be voted on in the House, another pending for over a month in committee, and a third about to have a hearing on Thursday.
The most effective way to support our breastfeeding bills right now is to contact legislators.  Prioritize your State Senator and State Representative.  You can find them here with your home address.  Beyond that, you can contact Lieutenant Governor Patrick, the Business and Industry Committee, the Senate Committee on Education, – and really, all of the Senators.  Contact information and sample scripts are below. (You can do more if you’re able using the list here and at the Facebook group We Support Texas Breastfeeding Laws with Enforcement.)
The contact that takes the most effort makes the strongest impression (in order, visiting your legislators in Austin, visiting them in district, callingemailing or tweeting); do whatever works for you.
Always be sure to inform them that you are a constituent when this is the case.  If you are conservative and contacting a conservative, this is worth mentioning.
ALWAYS – always, always, always – be polite.
Currently, this is where our bills are:
HB 786 will be voted on in the House on Thursday, April 23rd.
HB 232 will hopefully be voted out of the Business and Industry Committee this week.
SB 1479 will be heard by the Senate Education Committee Thursday, April 23rd.
Our other bills are not yet scheduled for hearings.

Phone Calls:

If you’re calling, you won’t likely have to say much at all or know details about the bills.  But to give you a brief idea (or click the bill number for more info) just in case you want it:
HB 786 gives public salaried employees time and a place to pump milk at work.
HB 232 strengthens the right to breastfeed so the current law can truly protect moms.
HB 1898/SB 26 requires state agencies to become Mother-Friendly Worksites.
HB 3976 licenses International Board Certified Lactation Consultants.
SB 1479 requires time and a place to pump for teachers.
HB 1281 requires accommodations and prohibits discrimination over pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions (including lactation).
Sample script for phone call to your own representative or senator (phone numbers are here):Hello, I’m calling as REPRESENTATIVE/SENATOR NAME’s constituent.  I am asking for support for some public health bills.  (Whomever answers may transfer you but will likely just write down the bills.)  Breastfeeding is an important issue to me, and mothers need support to meet their personal goals, in the interest of public health.  When they come before HIM/HER, I’m asking for support from REP./SENATOR NAME for the bills supported by Texas Breastfeeding Coalition.  Those include HB 786, HB 232, HB 1898, HB 3976, SB 26, and SB 1479.  All of these bills will help remove barriers for breastfeeding mothers and babies.
Sample script for phone call to Lt. Gov. Patrick (phone number is 512-463-0001):
Hello, I’m calling to ask that the lieutenant governor refer HB 786 to a committee as soon as the House passes it on Thursday, to ensure it has enough time to be voted upon in the Senate.
Sample script for phone call to Business and Industry members (B&I phone numbers here):
Hello, I’m calling to ask for support for some public health bills.  (Whomever answers may transfer you but will likely just write down the bills.)  I want to thank Representative (FILL IN NAME) for HIS/HER support of HB 786, and ask that HE/SHE please pass HB 232 out of committee.  And when HB 1898 and HB 3976 come before HIM/HER, I am asking for support of those as well.  All of these bills are important for breastfeeding mothers and babies.
Sample script for phone call to members of Senate Committee on Education (Education phone numbers here):
Hello, I’m calling about a bill scheduled for public hearing on Thursday, SB 1479, to ask for the Senator’s support.

Emails:

There are several sample emails with guidelines here.  It’s better to personalize your email as much as possible, using the samples just as a guide.  That said, it’s more helpful to copy, paste and edit than to send nothing at all.
In addition to the general requests for support in the sample letters:
  • Ask any House Representatives to vote for HB 786 on Thursday.
  • Ask Business and Industry Committee members (addresses here) to vote for HB 232 in committee.
  • Ask members of the Senate Committee on Education (addresses here) to vote for SB 1479 on Thursday.

Twitter:

On social media (any channel) use the hashtags #TXBFLeg and #TXLege.
If there is a note in the Twitter column that says fb, then that representative has a Facebook page.  Posts there can be modeled on phone scripts or even emails.
Tweets must be short.  Here are some samples:
@Your Representatives and Senators (handles here):
@XXXXXX Please support bills that help #breastfeeding mothers. Vote for #HB786 & others at  #TXBFLeg #TXLege
@the Lieutenant Governor:
 Please refer #HB786 to a committee as soon as it passes House Thurs.#Breastfeeding mothers need your support.  
@Business and Industry members (handles here):
@XXXXXX Thank you for support of #HB786. Please pass #HB232 ASAP. #Breastfeeding rights should be protected. #TXBFLeg #TXLege
@Senate Committee on Education members (handles here):
@XXXXXX Please pass #SB1479 to support #breastfeeding teachers. #TXBFLeg #TXLege

Visiting:

While visiting makes the strongest impression, if you cannot visit today, please call, email, and/or tweet.  Whether you go to the Capitol in Austin or visit your Representative and Senator in district, you’ll have a greater chance of seeing him or her (versus an aide) if you call ahead to make an appointment.  If you visit at the Capitol you can contact our Legislative Chair at TXBFLeg@gmail.com and she can help arrange additional visits if your time permits.  It can be nice to bring along something as a small token of thanks, such as baked goods or a drawing from your child(ren), but this is not absolutely necessary.  Read our tips for visiting here.  Many of these are also useful for other forms of contact.
Thank you for your support of child and maternal health, family values, and a mother’s right to decide how to feed her baby.

Friday, April 3, 2015

43 by 43

Sixteen years ago on December 16, my mother died at the age of 43, when I was 23 and just finishing college.  We thought she'd be in Hospice care for weeks.  After eight years of fighting breast cancer, I couldn't believe the fight was lost.  She was the strongest woman I've ever known.  How could anything beat her? She was only home for a few days before the end came.  Eight years -  all of college and high school for me - and yet I was completely unprepared, taken entirely by surprise.

My first breath was taken in her presence.  Her last breath was taken in mine.  I didn't know until she was gone that she had defined me.  Without her, I didn't know who I was.  I felt like a child again.  The world should have stopped turning, but on it spun.

Today, she would have been 60.

It's common among females who lose their mothers to fear dying at the age that their mothers died.  I read this in Motherless Daughters by Hope Edelman, and understanding that this is a common fear helped me to confront and dismiss it. And losing my mother so young has given me the attitude that aging beats the alternative.

My sister's senior picture -
Mom at my age now, 39, me at 19, & my sister at 17, or thereabouts.
But turning 38 was a little weird.  A little "Woah - new age bracket, here!"

Then in December I turned 39.  That was a little... hard.  I'm throwing my husband a (belated) Walking Dead birthday party for his 40th next month, to make light of his worry that he's now Old with a capital "O."

But zombie jokes aside, now I'm less than a year from 40, and that is a really different number from 30-anything.

And it's so close to 43.

(And suddenly it occurs to me that the majority of people reading this blog are probably under 35.  Oh, well.)

So many numbers...

Four.

What if I had just four years left to live?  Just until I am 43?

Magoo will be 13.5, Sweet Pea will be 9.5 (Magoo's age now), and my little toddler Bellybean will be 6.5.  Nowhere near the 23 years I got with my mom.  Nowhere near enough time...

But I'm not following this train of thought to wallow in morbidity.  I don't want to fear death.

But maybe I want to live like I'm going to die.

So this is by bucket list of 43 things I want to do by the time I'm 43.
  1. Look back and feel that I have had my kids in the best educational environment for each of them, individually, each year.  No more plodding through while everything feels wrong, trying to stuff a square peg into a round hole.
  2. Be a part of passing pro-breastfeeding legislation (preferably in 2015). (done! HB 786 (now Chapter 619) extends pump-at-work rights to salaried public employees. It was passed at the end of the 2015 session and is effective beginning 9/1/15.  New goal: finally pass the bill to strengthen the right to breastfeed, & also the one to license IBCLCs in 2017.)
  3. Go para-sailing - or at least something similarly crazy-awesome.
  4. Go surfing.
  5. Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.  Exercise regularly.  Run.  In fact, run or at least jog a 5K.  Get strong, physically.  Learn and practice yoga.  Take better care of myself in general (like, by taking my Synthroid for my thyroid consistently).  Get a mammogram.
  6. Develop and maintain routines.  As in, I want to feel like I have my shit together.  This includes conquering (for good) Mount Laundry, and slaying the Paper Demon.
  7. Take the boys to the Columbus Zoo.  See my sister and nephews.  Take at least one fantastic family trip, just for us, every year.  Make epic memories.
  8. At least start to get photos organized and accessible for my children.  (Currently they're mostly all boxed up or digital - I want them to be able to look through scrapbooks.)
  9. Begin to build an addition on our little two-bedroom house.  Fix some of the stuff that worries me (mold behind the shower tiles) or annoys me (rosy bathroom wallpaper that we wanted to replace when we moved in - in 2001).  Improve our backyard.  A hammock is a must for this.  So is getting rid of most of the kids' outside toys that aren't nailed down.
  10. Meet the needs of my children as best as I am able.  They're fed, and they're loved, but I always feel I am falling short in so many ways.  Not enough exercise, too much pizza, months behind on well checks - saying "No" to Hide and Seek... again.  I want to look back and feel that I did my best.  That I took care of myself and answered my calling but that they were prioritized and not neglected.  I want to know that most of the time, I am providing what they need from me (whether that's space to fail or help to succeed).  I want to have a weekly family game night more often than not.  To make sure the kids have the attention they need to play with all the crap they have - build Lego sets with help, perform science experiments with supervision, etc.  And I want to choose love.  On my 43rd birthday I want to look back and feel that most of the time, I chose love when responding to my sons and husband.
  11. Garden.  More often than not, even if it's just a few plants.
  12. Involve my children in service projects.  I want them to know how insanely blessed they are, and to feel compelled to pay it forward.  I want to practice random acts of kindness with them.
  13. Buy a nursing mother's meal (or drink). (done, 5/18/15)
  14. Allow Bellybean to self-wean.  (My older two had encouragement, as breastfeeding was painful while I was pregnant.)
  15. Practice gratitude daily, on my own and as a family.
  16. Start the campaign I've thought about for two years.  Prepare documents to respond to NIP incidents with moms who contact me when they have them.  Work on getting businesses to join the Family Friendly Business Initiative.  Make the two videos about breastfeeding that I've been wanting to make.  Organize a large event.
  17. Be a recognized name in the breastfeeding community.  Make this calling of mine something that I can do as a vocation in some way.  Turn my blog into a bonafide website and into an organization or business of some sort.  Write more consistently.  Finally get a fartin' logo.
  18. Speak somewhere, at least once, and do a kick-ass job.  Not a 30-second news interview, but a conference kind of thing.
  19. Have friends over sometimes.  Have friends.  In real life, not just on Facebook or in relation to work.  I want to cultivate the relationships I have.  To risk being hurt - risk big - and really let people - or at least one person - in.
  20. Read at least some of the freaking parenting books I own.
  21. Learn more about dyslexia and dysgraphia.
  22. De-clutter.  Empty storage shed.  Make the playroom look fabulous.
  23. Finish promised gifts.  Make bean bags for my kids.  Send my nieces & nephews birthday presents, at least once.  On time, to boot.  Make a family cookbook.
  24. Bake my mom's cookies at Christmas.
  25. Be debt free.  For my part, this is about supporting my husband however I can and being fiscally responsible, and putting it out there in the universe.  I don't want him to feel pressured, as the breadwinner, by this being my goal for us.
  26. Have a vacation with Adam, alone.
  27. Write about some of the things that fascinate me.  Write something that matters.  Not just a blog post, but an article for HuffPo or a thesis or a speech (TEDTalk?) or a even mother f*cking book.  Something that makes a difference for people.
  28. Volunteer more for the kids' school(s).
  29. Spend less time anxiously waffling about big decisions, especially when it comes to negativity in my life.  Either cut it out or enjoy the good parts and don't give so many craps about the disappointing or upsetting parts.  Confront bullying in my life when that's what's upsetting me.
  30. Explore Austin more.  Do more of the things our city has to offer - SXSW, Austin Duck Adventures, Austin City Limits, the zoo and the Thinkery and the Wildflower Center, the kite festival, ice skating on the roof of Whole Foods, stand up paddling.  Things I've done but want to do more often with the kids, things I've always wanted to do but haven't yet.
  31. Once Bellybean is no longer boob-dependent for sleep, buy a subscription to Zach Theatre and see plays regularly with Adam.  And take the kids to at least a few (three) plays a year, including at least one Broadway show (one total).
  32. Be in one of the boys' movies.  I don't want them to remember me as always staying home to clean while they go off to have fun and make movies.  I want them to remember me as being fun, too. (Filmed, June 2015. Will link when it's edited and posted to YouTube. I'd still love to do a big role with them, but I had fun being a goon.)
  33. Get a massage.  Get a mani-pedi.  Or a mani.  Or a pedi.  If I've ever had my nails done it was in high school and I can't recall it.  (I'm not much of a girly girl...)
  34. Cook more.  Like, well.  Cook well.  Well enough that it comes easy, and doesn't feel like a big production every time I make something other than spaghetti.  Get a CSA (long term) and use all the veggies in my/our cooking.
  35. Make sure my littles can swim. (2/3 done! Sweet Pea started swimming April 2015!)
  36. Go skiing as a family.  Go horseback riding as a family.
  37. Dance in the rain with my loves.
  38. Go out one of the nights that something cool is happening in the sky - a meteor shower or super moon or something - & actually see it, rather than read it's coming and forget and/or go to bed instead.  Maybe while camping.
  39. Therapy.  Conquer anxiety, even when life is intense.
  40. Do cosplay as a family at a con. (Done! 5/31/15 Magoo and Sweet Pea were Little Batman and Robin - they make YouTube videos as these characters - and we took them to meet the original Batman and Robin, Adam West and Burt Ward, from the 1966 TV series. Bellybean was dressed as the Penguin and Adam and I went as his goons. That this happened was all thanks to Adam, who knew I wanted to do this & got the costumes together for us and B. He is simply awesome!
    We also met...
    Sylvester McCoy, the 6th Doctor
    Stan Effing Lee!
    Scully! I mean, Gillian Anderson, but I'm such a huge X Phile
    that to me, she'll always be Scully. I'll write more about this one day.
    We talked about breastfeeding!
    My boyfriend, Nathan Fillion.
    Karen Gillan (Amy Pond!)
    Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead's Hershel!)
    Not only did we dress up for ComicCon, we totally geeked out for swim meets, dressing for the theme of each one - not always this elaborately, but we love Disney, so we went all out. I'm a tad embarrassed by how much spirit we have, but I also think we rock!)

  41. Get better at managing stress and anger.  Model better management for my children.  Take the Orange Rhino Challenge.  Rock it.
  42. Win the 4th of July parade float contest.
  43. Prepare a will.  Not because I think I'll die before 44, but because it's the grown-up thing to do when you have kids.