In Case You Are Looking for Something To Do:

My feelings about gun control/policy are no secret.  Luckily, most of the people I know are reasonable enough to agree that an important next step in reducing gun violence is to support policies/laws that makes gun ownership/purchasing safer.  

Many of us have been frustrated by what feels like a lack of actionable options.  But there are currently two major Brady bills pending in Congress and you can do something!  

HR 1217 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1217) and HR 3411 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3411).  HR 1217 is well-sponsored, but HR 3411 has only 45 co-sponsors right now and is an extremely important bill as it would expand background checks to all gun sales.   

What you can do: Has your Member of Congress has co-sponsored H.R. 1217 (List of co-sponsors: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1217/cosponsors)? If they have, ask them to also co-sponsor H.R. 3411 (List of Co-sponsors: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3411/cosponsors). The Brady Campaign's goal is to reach 100 co-sponsors for this bill by December 14th -- the third anniversary of the Newtown shootings.


From the Brady Campaign

SUPPORT AND COSPONSOR H.R. 3411 TO FINISH THE JOB AND
EXPAND BRADY BACKGROUND CHECKS TO ALL GUN SALES
The Brady Campaign, united with the Million Mom March, strongly supports H.R. 3411:
the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2015, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA).

WHAT H.R. 3411 DOES
• Expands Brady background checks to all gun sales to keep guns out of the hands of
dangerous people like felons, fugitives and domestic abusers.
• Improves reporting of prohibited purchasers to the National Instant Check System (NICS).
• Requires federal agencies to certify that they have provided appropriate records to NICS.
• Incorporates and expands regulation about people determined to be adjudicated mentally ill.
• Requires gun owners to report their lost or stolen firearm(s) within 48 hours.

PROBLEMS SOLVED BY H.R. 3411
• As many as 40 percent of guns sold today in the U.S. are sold through unlicensed sellers,
including at gun shows and online where Brady background checks are not legally required.
For example, Armslist.com hosts 70,000 gun advertisements at any given time and many of
the guns can be purchased without a background check.
• “Straw purchasers” and gun traffickers that supply guns to prohibited purchasers claim they
lost possession of the gun, which would not work if a Brady background check was required
for unlicensed sales and a lost or stolen gun had to be reported.

WHY OUR CAMPAIGN TO FINISH THE JOB
ON BACKGROUND CHECKS IS SO IMPORTANT
• Background checks keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people like felons, domestic
abusers, and the severely mentally ill. According to FBI data, the Brady Law has blocked
more than 2.4 million gun sales to prohibited people since it went into effect in 1994.
• Background checks result in fewer gun deaths. According to Everytown for Gun Safety
research, in states with expanded background checks, 48 percent fewer law enforcement
officers are killed with handguns; 46 percent fewer women are shot to death by intimate
partners; and there are 48 percent fewer gun suicides.
• More than 90 percent of Americans support expanding Brady background checks.
Policy Fact Sheet

Made it Through Another Monday!

Today was a long Monday.  We are on a mission to keep Asher from banging his face until we see the dentist tomorrow... but Asher didn't get the memo.  He spent the morning tearing around like a tasmanian devil- climbing on countertops and tables, jumping off couches, sprinting and spinning, and closing his eyes and running with his arms outstretched (not kidding).  He also skipped his nap... so this went on all. day. long.  Which is why I just ate an entire container of salted caramel chocolate chunk gelato.  And drank a beer.  Okay two beers.

Hiding his upper lip (his pesky mom keeps trying to get a look at how things are healing).

Highlight #1 of a Frantic Day: Halloween Costume arrival :)

While one of my boys was crazy all day long, the other one was very mellow.  Which is nice.

Highlight #2: New stroller arrival!

This picture sort of freaks me out because I feel like I'm looking at Baby Asher and then 2 year old Asher... like it is a magic stroller.  

98% Success? 23% Success?

The weekend was a ton of fun with one minor (...major) exception - that little trip to the ER on Saturday after Asher smashed his face onto our tile floor and almost knocked his teeth out.  Oh and remember when I said "ain't no thang" that my 2 year old had a cold?  Turns out he is a stealth ear infection-er (something the ER nurse discovered during our visit).  

But like I said, other than that, the weekend was fun.

These two snuggled a lot.

 We went to our first pumpkin patch of the season.

Corn maze.

Taking a shortcut.

Hayride!

Asher walked down the row of petting zoo animals saying, "Good morning!" , "How are you?" and feeding them hay like they taught him at llama camp.

Petting two donkeys at once = pure joy.

Ash pulled up a seat to chat with the chickens.

Asher's turn for a pony ride.

High fiving the handler.

And then this happened... word to the wise, if you are disassembling a stroller and you think to yourself, "My child would never think he could stand on the rear axle/set of tires without losing his balance and smacking his face on the tile" ... you might be wrong.  Wendee at the ER was kind enough to peel his top lip off of his front teeth and make sure his chompers weren't broken.  Unfortunately, his face was so bright red from screaming and crying hysterically for an hour we all overlooked the head smash (thought it was just mouth and nose).  It was quite clear in the evening that our little guy had a minor concussion as well.  But he seems to be doing better now.  We are just protecting those front teeth until we can get him in to his dentist.  

Having little boys is so much fun.

Asher Strikes Again

Because why would you wear pants to paint?

Nap time's coming like a freight train here.  Asher couldn't sit up or keep his eyes open but kept mumbling "I awake, I awake, I awake" until I carried him to bed.

And then there was peace.

...and then there are these moments.