I hadn't heard of this issue until today, and am still horrified at the notion.  It seems that some women are forced to go home hours after a mastectomy, without the medical follow up care and rest most need.  I can't even imagine this as an outpatient procedure, but apparently, it's increasingly happening that way.  There is currently a bill called The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, set to require insurance companies to provide a minimum of 48 hours of hospital in-patient care for patients having mastectomies or lumpectomies.. at the discretion of doctor and patient.  The bill was first introduced in 1996 by Congresswoman Rosa Delauro (D-CT) and got its first House hearing in May, with over half the house signing on to the legislation.  Lifetime Television has a petition urging us to embrace the 48 hour issue as part of their "Be My Bra" campaign... the petition takes seconds to complete and requires a name, email, state and zip.  

Click here to sign the petition.  More after the jump.  

the kids and i are at the beach for the next two months.  it is great... a trip back in time.  the beach community where we hang out is a very laid back spot... similar to some cape cod towns, though we're in NJ. it's a small area, no stores (used to be a general store, but it closed).  the only place you can spend money is the post office.  there is little traffic, a central park, the beach, lots of bike riding, and VERY little need to go anywhere in the car.  (groceries can be delivered for ten dollars, which i'd gladly pay ten times over not to have to go grocery shopping with 4 kids).  we really love our home away from mind-numbing suburbia, but with the kids at such different ages/stages, i feel much safer with extra hands on deck.  often those extra hands are those of my mother.  she is my best friend (corny, but true), we parent similarly, are otherwise alot alike, but every summer when we are here, i am forced to wonder why i feel so much more a child and so much less a mom when she is around?

right now, in this country, we are truly forging history. our family has gone to rallies and speeches, helped register voters, frantically rushed to grocery stores to meet handsome candidates :), worn the t-shirts, discussed the events as they unraveled, and generally tried to stay interested and engaged in this process.  with kids ages 9, 5, 2 and 10 mos. old, i know the bulk of them will remember very little about this, but i can't help but want to seize the moment a bit, and i find myself wondering what on earth could possibly help them make sense of this?

ok, i am not even sure how to bring this up, but i've done a piss-poor job talking about it IRL, since i just feel like a mean mom for mentioning it, so i thought i'd tap into the collective wisdom and experience here.

as i have mentioned before, i have 4 kids.  they are all different of course, and i love them all to pieces (but not like the runaway bunny, who i think goes a bit too far, turning into a tree and all).  they are each challenging, but one much more so than the others.  and not challenging in that misbehaving, get in trouble kind of way.  that i can deal with.  it's much more complicated than that.

but i am horrified too.  or maybe just sad.  or something in between.  

i used to be so proud of the job i did with that elusive "work/life balance".  i started out as a single mom, first to sam, and then we added his sister maya.  when they were babies, my mom helped with childcare.  i had students (college age) cover for me when i needed to teach after sam got off the bus.  i never worked more than three days/week outside the home, and got all of my work done at night after they'd gone to bed... being a night owl is handy that way.  i was good at my job and good at being a mom.  neither defined me, but both shaped who i was.  

well, in the last two years, we've expanded our family to add three more people... my husband bill, charlie(2) and abby (9mos).  i worked through both pregnancies as an assistant professor, but it became very clear after abby arrived that the "balance" had tipped.. our sweet little tipping point, we joked.

Editor's note: I'm a sucker for candidate-with-kid photos...check out the amazing ones after the jump!

ugggh... another day of news bashing.  i will admit, i did not like the word choice he used... particularly his use of the word "cling".  but the contention that republicans have wooed people to vote on issues that do not drastically improve their daily lives is a sound one.  ok... that's all i'll say on that.

on to me... obama mama!  two weeks ago, MSNBC host chris matthews started his college tour at the university where i teach.  his guest?  barack obama.  we were notified just a few days ahead of time, faculty/staff/student tix only.  i waited in line with my two youngest (8 mos. and 2 years) on a cold rainy day for the better part of two hours.  i got a ticket and a colleague was able to get some for both my 9 year old son and my mom (both huge obama and hardball fans).  we got in line early on the day of the show, got great seats, tons of freebies (to my son's sheer joy) and even met chris matthews on the way to the loo (picture after the jump).