February 22nd, 2008
Mom told to stop breastfeeding in NYS Museum
Mom told to stop breastfeeding in NYS Museum
ALBANY – In New York, the law states you can breastfeed in any public place. But an Albany woman says a State Museum employee must not know that. Kristin Kelly is a young mother of three including a 4 month old she breast feeds.
Tuesday she says she was insulted and humiliated for feeding her baby in public even though she knew she was well within the law.
"I absolutely felt like I was doing something wrong," said Kristin Kelly with tears in her eyes.
Kelly and her three children ages 5, 3 and little four month old Zachary were enjoying an afternoon at the New York State Museum. Near the end of their visit Zachary got hungry and Kristin says she found a bench up against a wall and began to breast feed her baby.
"I sat down and made sure I was covered, three blankets over him actually, and I began to nurse, while my other two children sat beside me," she said.
Suddenly, according to Kristin all this was interrupted.
"A lady that said she was an employee of the museum they had another person report me and so I had to go to the bathroom where they had a chair set up where you could nurse or I would have to leave the museum," she said.
Kristin says was speechless when the woman with the museum ID tag came back a second time, stared at her and asked her to move again.
Zachary was finished by then but when Kristin told her husband Shaun he was so outraged he contacted the museum. Shaun says a spokesperson told him the museum allows nursing anywhere but he was not surprised Kristin was told to stop.
When Newschannel 13 contacted the museum, the museum director, Cliff Siegfried said, "the museum has no such policy prohibiting breast feeding anywhere."
As for Kristin she believes there’s a lesson here for all breast feeding mothers and those who would stop them.
"I have a right to feed my child where ever I want to feed him," she said.
The museum director also told Newschannel 13 that he was still looking into identifying the museum employee who Kristin says told her to stop breast feeding. He did not however say what action, if any would be taken if the employee is identified.
http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S352021.shtml?cat=300
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From TheFeministBreeder: Ladies – for those of you who are first-time breastfeeding moms, please know all the laws in your state regarding breastfeeding before your baby comes. The law in IL is exactly like the one in NY – I know that if anyone tells me not to BF in their establishment I have the right to sue them for punitive damages.
If ANYONE ever suggests you take your breastfeeding elsewhere, don’t be embarrassed, and don’t leave either. Shoot back with your states BF laws and tell them that you’ll be happy to speak to the manager about that employee’s behavior – and then call the authorities. We have rights, and we need to stand up against the ignorance of others.
February 17th, 2008
Toddler Bed Success – Reason #852 That Jonas Rules
Today we finally got to buy Jonas’s toddler bed and redid the whole room to make it suitable for both boys. It looks awesome!
I was reallllly nervous about how Jonas would transition into the toddler bed, but as soon as we got it put together he jumped right in it and was so excited! So I thought… "okay…. he likes it, let’s see if he’ll sleep in it."
Well, a few hours later we did the whole bedtime routine as usual, and sure enough, he went straight to sleep without a single issue! Okay, admittedly, Jonas does have some of the world’s best sleep habits. He’s so good about going to bed, but I figured that with the toddler bed he’d realize he could get out and he’d get up and start playing with toys.
Nope! He just rolled over and sucked on his pacifier till he passed out, like he always does. I’ve been watching him in the baby monitor for the last 2 hours and it’s like nothing ever changed. He’s such an adaptable little boy. I swear I adore him more every single day. Man I love that kid.
Here’s a picture of his new bed. It looks exactly like this, same frame, and same Cars bedding set. We did the whole room in primary colors this time so this set matches everything really nicely. BTW, Toys R Us is having a huge sale on toddler beds, bed sets, and furniture.
February 12th, 2008
My Son Won’t Let Me Get Away With Anything
So, admittedly, I’ve been puh-retty lazy lately. I’m with child. I’m working full time. I’m just, plain exhausted. There, I said it. If I could lay on the couch 18 hours a day, dammit, I would do it.
But I think I’m a pretty excellent mom for the most part. It even said so in Jonas’s developmental evaluation (the one where I thought they were evaluating him only; turns out, they were assessing my parenting skillz as well.) Good thing I passed with flying colors! I was called "kind" and "attentive" and "caring". Doesn’t that mean that Mom gets to rest on her laurels for a bit?
"Absolutely Not!" says the toddler in the room.
"So," says the 33.5 inch high hurricane, "while you ‘rest’ Mom, I’m going to go over here and push all the buttons on the TV. Then, I’m going to pull every DVD out of the cabinet and pile them all around myself. Then, after that, I might take to hitting the dog for a bit. Really, I’ll do anything at this point to get you to shift your attention back onto me instead of your own selfish need to relax your aching feet and back."
At first, Bad Mom is kinda pissed. "Jonas! Stop hitting the dog…. NO! Don’t push that button!"
Then, she realizes that her child just wants her attention. Good Mom pulls out the blocks, and asks toddler to play. He spends a good 30 minutes totally fascinated with his new block-stacking skillz, and is so appreciative of Good Mom’s clapping and cheering that he has lost all interest in pushing buttons or hitting dogs.
So every time my son starts acting out, I stop and think to myself "Somebody needs some attention…. let’s give him the good kind."
So, a big thank you to my son for never, ever, EVER letting me rest on my laurels…..or my ever expanding ass.
January 11th, 2008
I Prayed This Wouldn’t Happen
Okay, I didn’t pray exactly. That would be silly since I just don’t believe in any of that nonsense.
However, I did hope. Real, real hard.
But I guess it was inevitable. The Sciatic is back. What’s that you ask? If you either weren’t around, or weren’t paying attention during the last pregnancy, this is one of those fun debilitatingly painful pregnancy ailments that caused me some pretty intense grief last time ’round.
Baby sits on the Sciatic nerve, thereby causing intense, shooting pains all the way down one side of your body. It starts at the hip, and feels like someone is literally jabbing a knife into your buttocks, then ripping it down your leg at a high rate of speed.
I started to feel the little twinges of it a couple weeks ago, and in the past two days, it has come to full fruition. It hurts when I sit, when I stand, when I walk, when I lay down, and God-Forbid I make any sudden movements. Even a small sneeze rips through my leg like I’m being punished.
So, back to the acupuncturist I go. Unfortunately, it will be awhile before I can give Mei-Ling my patronage. We’re living on the Post-Holiday-Hand-To-Mouth budget right now, and an extra $60 is absolutely nowhere in sight.
Well, that’s really all my fault for taking the family on vacation on our CitiCard last summer. I guess I should have known that vacation would, well… quite literally, come back to bite me in the ass.
January 2nd, 2008
At Exactly 17 Months Old to the Hour….
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