Marketing Mama

Setting an example

Missy — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:25:23 +0000

On the way home this evening, for the first time, I thought I’d ask my children, “What are some ways I set a good example for you today?”

I was sincerely curious to see what they had to say. This is what I heard:

“You set a good example when you let that man go ahead of us in the grocery store line.”

“You set a good example when you apologized to those people at the restaurant because we were being too loud.”

“You set a good example when you let us choose special food at the grocery store.”

Interestingly, the first two of those items I talked about with them after I did it – a little teachable moment, hoping they would remember it in the future. I didn’t make a big deal out of choosing a special food at the store, but obviously it had a positive impact on them.

Even though they didn’t mention it, I know they also observed how I stayed calm when a man zipped into a parking spot I was planning to take (even though I swore at him in my head). And well, if they didn’t notice, I’m proud of how I handled it because I was so annoyed!

I didn’t think to ask them some of the ways I set a bad example. But reflecting on the day, maybe they would have said something like:

“You set a bad example when you pulled out of the driveway not wearing your seat belt, even though you said you would do it as soon as you got on the road.”

“You set a bad example when you were speeding 36 mph in a 30 zone – we commented at the time when the big sign said how fast you were going.”

“You set a bad example when you FORGOT TO BE THE TOOTHFAIRY LAST NIGHT.”

Okay, my 6 year old didn’t really understand that I am the one who forgot to leave the dollar under his pillow. I made a quick save after he mentioned at breakfast that the tooth fairy didn’t come, and thankfully he was happy and didn’t question it when he found the dollar later that morning.

Sometimes I forget they watch my every move – the good and the bad. Since we as parents spend so much time setting expectations and coaching our children on their behaviors, it’s obviously important we pay attention to what we are doing, too, because they certainly are.

Do you pay attention to the example you are setting for your children? Do they comment on things you are doing positively or negatively? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

15 fave recent instagram pics

Missy — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:50:47 +0000

I still love my iPhone. And one of the big reasons why is Instagram. You’ve heard me gush about this nifty little app (did you see my hourly photo challenge post?!) and nearly each day I’m inspired to take pictures and share them.

For today’s post I chose 15 of my fave pics from the past couple of months. Because I love them… and sharing is fun.

Learning about colors at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Mason Jennings at First Avenue in Minneapolis, from the front row. What an amazing show.

My friend Jenny and I in the photo booth at the 10 year anniversary celebration for ClockWork at the Varsity Theatre in Minneapolis. I rarely use this word, so you can believe me when I say – this party was EPIC.

A rousing game of Rock-Paper-Scissors while Mom was in line at Chipotle.

In the master control room at Twin Cities Public Television, on a private tour after the last Social Media Breakfast. TPT hosted the event.

Kids having a blast swimming during a recent staycation weekend.

Alex riding the carousel at Nickelodian Universe at Mall of America.

Avery checking out the wall of bricks at the Lego Imagination Center (Lego Land) at Mall of America.

Avery loves her hobby horse and insisted on riding it to the doctor. I’ve never seen so many smiles from strangers.

Outside of the Varsity Theater on New Years Eve where I saw Dawes perform. Great show, fun to be there at midnight to ring in the new year!

I made these brownies for Alex’s class to celebrate his (half) birthday. To be honest, I was a little creeped out by the faces, but Alex reported there was no screaming at class.

A fun close up of a giggling girl.

A handsome young man at his school’s Christmas Concert.

The drawing Avery made for Rudolph – So impressed with the drawing and how she wrote his name.

Finally, I’ve changed my hairstyle! Here is the before (pics on the left) and after (right). My haircut this weekend was intentionally trying to help me bring out the natural curl. Now let’s see if I can keep doing this on my own!

Are you on Instagram? You can find me there as “marketingmama.” If you aren’t there yet, you can still keep up with me by clicking on the link to my photo blog on the right any time.

Vlog: Children’s Books on Divorce

Missy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:08:27 +0000

It’s been two years since our family experienced the split of divorce. In the beginning it was very difficult for the children to understand what was happening, express their feelings and manage the difficulties that come with transitioning between two homes. One of the many things I did to help them was to seek out age-appropriate books on divorce.

In this short video, I feature four of the books I’ve found particularly helpful for my children.

Books mentioned in the video:

Two Homes by Claire Masurel

My Family’s Changing: A First Look At Family Break Up by Pat Thomas

Standing on my Own Two Feet by Tamara Schmitz

Hallmark Recordable Storybooks

If you’ve found other children’s books on divorce helpful, please share them in the comments.

Disclosure: I was not paid or compensated in any way for these reviews. I purchased all of the books in the video, based upon my own research. Not all of the divorce books I own are featured here — I only shared the ones I recommend.

How I accidentally injected myself with an EpiPen

Missy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:23:45 +0000

I am now a part of the club of people who have had an EpiPen injection.

I am also a part of the “didn’t need it but accidentally used one on themselves” club.

I can’t say I ever thought I’d be in either one of these clubs — and yet, now that I accidentally injected myself with an EpiPen, I can say I’m glad it happened. I learned a lot. This post is rather long, but many folks have asked me to share how it happened, how it felt and what I learned from the experience.

How it happened:

First, a little EpiPen 101. There are two devices available – the EpiPen Jr for children 33-66 lbs (at .15 Epinephrine) and the regular EpiPen for those who weigh more than 66 pounds (at .30 Epinephrine). My daughter has been prescribed the EpiPen Jr and we always have two of the units on us and one training device. You can see here what they look like.

: A real EpiPen Jr (left) and the no-needle training pen (right)

They are identical in shape and size, although one is marked “Training Device” while the other has a slightly more colorful label. After this experience I wish the training device was MORE obviously a different color. Accidentally using an EpiPen is not dangerous, but it may require time at the doctor for monitoring and they are expensive to replace.

After three years of managing my daughter’s food allergies, I’ve become pretty used to training folks in on what foods to avoid, which symptoms to watch for and how to treat a reaction (which may or may not include the Epi, depending on the symptoms).

My daughter has not had an EpiPen injection, and until this point, neither had I. But I have become vigilant about keeping them with us and keeping the prescription active at home and daycare (they expire after 12 months). Just last week, I had been checking the expiration dates of the pens, at the drive thru of the pharmacy (in the dark). I remember popping each one out of their case to look for the “expires on” date. And this, I think, must be where and how I mixed up one of the EpiPens with the training device.

I typically store them with both medicine units in the hard plastic case, and the traning device separate and floating in our emergency kit. For three years this is how I’ve done it – and I’ve trained in at least 15, 20, maybe 25 people over the past few years. I’ve always grabbed the correct training device… until now.

: The training pen and the two-pack of EpiPen Jrs.

On this day, our daycare was closed, so my 4 year old was spending the day with some friends. We had talked in advance of the visit to discuss food and other care needs. That morning, I provided plenty of safe food options (as did they), went through the list of what to avoid and then talked about watching for symptoms. I shared the Food Allergy Action Plan that describes which symptoms require an antihistimine and which symptoms are anaphylaxis and require the EpiPen.

“Don’t worry, this doesn’t have a real needle in it, I’m not going to hurt myself,” I said as I was about to demonstrate the EpiPen. I did not double-check the unit. I did not look for the words “Training Device.” I simply grabbed the item out of its usual spot in the medicine kit and assumed it was the same thing I had always used. And then I heard a strange click when I pulled away the unit from my leg and said something like, “I think I just felt a needle!”

The click is a distinct sound that only happens with a real unit, not the training device. I slowly began to realize that I just gave myself a real injection. I opened the hard plastic case and popped out the training device and sat there a bit stunned. I was embarassed for making this mistake. And then I tried to focus enough to ramble off the rest of her care instructions before heading out the door in a hurry to get my son to school.

While driving, my mind was racing. How did this happen? How did I mix them up? I didn’t feel any different and thought maybe I didn’t get all the medicine because I pulled it away too quickly instead of holding for 10 seconds. And yet, I know from practicing on fruit with expired EpiPens that typically all the medicine is released right away.

How it felt:

Many people asked me how it felt when I got the shot, and how my body reacted afterwards. The fact that I barely noticed there was a needle means it definitely did NOT hurt when I got the shot. The injection site was a tiny bit tender afterwards… far less than the flu shot I get every year. I wonder, though, if I was nervous or stressed about it, if I would have been more tense and therefore experienced more pain. But, because I wasn’t expecting it to be a real shot, I was very calm and relaxed about the whole thing.

The good news is that I had experienced epinepherine before so I kind of knew what to expect. Back then I had an allergic reaction to a medication with serious hives all over my body. I had a full dose of the medicine at Urgent Care and they kept me there quite awhile to monitor me.

This time, remember I had only had a “junior” dose of the medicine, which is half the adult dose. I didn’t feel anything right away, except feeling nervous that I just gave myself the shot. After about 20 minutes I felt a bit jittery and found myself rambling on a bit to my son’s teacher when I dropped him off at school.

While driving to work, I called two people – first, my “food allergy buddy” through the Food Allergy Support Group of MN. I wanted to tell her what happened and get her thoughts. This was helpful, mostly from an emotional standpoint, to be able to process what had happened with someone who might understand. The food allergy buddy program in this group is such a great thing – pairing up families who have similar food allergies for support and help.

The second call I made, at the urging of my buddy, was to the allergist office. We first considered calling a regular nurse’s line or my doctor, however I was worried they would urge me to go in to get monitored (to be safe) and I was worried about missing work. By calling the allergist office, though, I knew I’d be talking to staff who have deep experience with this drug and be able to give me specific advice. If THEY told me to go in, I would. Instead, the nurse was very confident that because it was only a half dose AND I had no other medical conditions, that I should be fine (but, of course, to watch carefully for any other strange reactions). She said if it was a full dose, they’d ask me to come in. From what I understand, epinepherine is a relatively safe drug and can’t hurt you if you have it by mistake or when you don’t need it. However, it can make your blood pressure rise and typically people are monitored for safety.

By the time I got to work (next door to a hospital, by the way) 40 minutes later I was at the peak of the experience and pulled my boss aside to let him know, just in case, you know, something happened. I remember looking at the clock two hours later and still feeling a bit wired, but by four hours it had totally worn off. To other people it probably seemed like I was amped on coffee. My mind was racing a bit and my body felt jittery, but I could still participate in my work meeting and function okay.

What I learned:

In the last three years I’ve been a part of the food allergy community, I’ve seen and heard a lot of fear of the EpiPen. People are terrified to use it because of the needle (I was one of these people). I’ve heard of situations where parents called 911 and let the EMTs decide if the child needs an EpiPen because they were too afraid to do it themselves. This is wasting precious time when your child’s life is at stake.

I never saw the needle. I barely even felt the needle. If you stay calm and cool, your child will stay calm. Please believe me, when I tell you from experience, that getting the epinepherine is NOT a bad thing. It won’t hurt you, but it could save your life or the life of someone you know.

The reason the EpiPen autoinjector exists is so people have the medicine available IMMEDIATELY in life-threatening situations, because you may not have the luxury of time while waiting for an ambulance or the ER doctor. Unfortunately some people do not fill their prescriptions for EpiPens or know enough about food allergies to know that they need to get them. It is important to have an EpiPen on you at all times and USE it if you have symptoms of anaphylaxis.

One thing I’ve learned the hard way is how important it is to get your food allergy advice from a board-certified allergist. And if you have a pediatric-allergist in your area, they can be especially great with kids. Pediatricians, urgent care and ER docs, chiropractors and homeopathic practitioners may know a bit about food allergies, but they are not specialists. I have personally been given bad medical advice and I have heard shocking advice come from these folks to families with food allergies.

On a side note, I was really upset a couple of weeks ago to hear about the 7 year old girl who died at school from a peanut allergy reaction. From what I understand, there was not an EpiPen at school for her. Another child on the playground gave her a peanut and she had a severe reaction and went into cardiac arrest. This is horrific and every food allergy family’s worst nightmare. There is a movement underway right now called the “School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act” that would allow schools to have the option to keep EpiPens to use on any student or adult who has a severe reaction. I liken this to having an automatic external defibrillator (AED) available or administering CPR.

Finally, the biggest takeaway for me from this experience is that I can tell my daughter I’ve had the EpiPen and that it will be okay – and mean it. And to all of you out there who have fear and anxiety about the EpiPen, I hope this brings you some comfort and encouragement, too.

Have you ever had an EpiPen injection? Real or by mistake? I’d love it if you’d share your experience in the comments, too.

To read more about our food allergy experiences, click here to go to my Food Allergy page. Also, let’s be friends on Facebook and Twitter.

p.s. I talked with the makers of the EpiPen today to let them know of my mistake. The patient safety folks wanted to hear all the details. If you’ve ever had an EpiPen accidental injection, they would like to hear from you, too. You can find the Dey Pharma (EpiPen) contact info here.

p.p.s. I’d like to publicly apologize to my friend Mary L. for laughing when she told me that SHE had accidentally used an EpiPen on herself a few months back. I simply could not imagine how anyone could make that mistake. It seemed absurd to me! Mary, I’m so sorry I laughed… and now I totally get it how it can happen! xoxo

My top 10 apps for 2012 (iPhone edition)

Missy — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:19:45 +0000

Last year I wrote a couple of posts about my favorite apps – here and here. I was having a blast with my Droid and getting a lot of use out of it. It was fun to share what apps I was enjoying and hear about yours, too. However, as much as I liked my Droid, I hated how it crashed all the time. I went through three or four different models in a short period of time before crying uncle and moving over to the iPhone. And I haven’t looked back, once. I heart my iPhone!

Droid v. iPhone - Yes, there are a few differences between the apps (and apps available) between the Droid and iPhone. My experience is that, for the most part, the apps are fairly similar although there are some that are exclusive to each. I’ve learned from my tech friends that the Droid market is open to developers and apps can be published easily and available early – whereas the Apple store has tighter restrictions on what apps they’ll allow and have a review process of sorts. What this means for the consumer? With the Droid you’ll get faster access to cutting edge technology and apps. With the iPhone you’ll get a more stable platform, higher quality (read: vetted) apps and a higher chance your phone can handle extreme multi-tasking – especially if you are an intensive superuser like me.

Here are the apps I currently adore and use most often.

1. Instagram – You’ve heard me rave about Instagram (such as my Instagram photo challenge). If you like taking photos with your smart phone, you’ll love being able to edit and share them on Instagram (a social app), as well as have the ability to cross-post to your other networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr, etc. Instagram was named the number one iPhone app of 2011 by the good people at Apple. So there ya go. (I’ve read they are in development for a Droid version).

2. Snapseed – This is the best photo-editing app I’ve found yet, based on recs from my fellow Instagrammers (read: iPhone photo geeks). Although we all get basic photo editing via our phones or within Instagram, Snapseed seems to be the best (right now) at giving quick and easy cropping, tuning and other photo editing options. Few on filters but big on tools – I typically edit my photos in Snapseed before pulling them into Instagram. It’s not quite as good as having a full Photoshop program on your desktop, but is far better than the free Photoshop app for your phone (in my opinion, of course).

3. YouTube - You can quickly upload short videos with your phone directly to your YouTube channel via this app. It’s simple and immediate, but a bit of a battery drain. Pro tip: take videos on your phone in the horizontal orientation – not vertical. This is something I struggle to remember, but my professional video friends continue to remind me how much better it looks as a wide shot rather than a tall skinny frame with black bars on either side. And, hey, let’s not forget the power of YouTube. Example from this week – I was talking about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at dinner with my son on the holiday in his honor. We talked about civil rights. We talked about skin color. We talked about the “I have a Dream” speech. I grabbed my iPhone and went straight to YouTube. Within seconds we were watching this 5 minute bio on Dr. King’s legacy. Amazing.

4. Twitter – There are many different apps for twitter on your phone, however the ones I loved on my Droid don’t work the same on the iPhone. In fact, I’ve found the basic Twitter app to be the easiest and most versatile for my needs. I keep Hootsuite around for a back up and use occasionally. The latest iOS software release for the iPhone includes Tweeting as a standard sharing function – in other words… Twitter is here to stay and Apple is making it even more integrated to encourage us to use it. I’m down with that.

Use the Red Stamp App to create and send digital greeting cards.

5. Red Stamp – Send someone you love (or just like) a fancy little greeting card via text message… or Facebook… or email… or even a post card. You’ll be amazed at all the different designs they have (most free, a few cost $). This is a super fun and easy app that helps you spread kindness… and Lord knows we need more of that in this world.

6. Netflix – Okay, the screen on your smart phone isn’t the best for watching TV shows and movies. But did you know you can connect your iPhone/iPad to your TV and watch the Netflix digital stream on your big screen? Yeah… me neither. Took me quite awhile to figure that one out. It’s pretty cool – you can find those adapter cables online or at your local Apple store. Pretty sweet.

7. Evernote - I’m still using Evernote every day and can’t recommend it enough. For grocery lists. For important health care information. For reminders. To save screen shots of important online purchases. The app and software is free and you can have it on all your devices and computers – I have it on my iPhone, iPad, work computer and home computer and am never far away from what I need. It’s basically a cloud for your notes. And it’s brilliant.

8. Lose it! – Resolution to lose weight in the new year? This app helps you track your caloric intake, exercise and weight and measure against your goals. It was recommended to me by a nutritionist and I find it’s a great way to stay mindful of what I’m eating throughout the day. The latest software upgrade included a barcode scanner – so you can simply scan your yogurt’s UPC symbol and it automatically knows the calories and nutritional value. That, my friends, is awesome.

9. Open Table - Make dinner reservations via your cell phone. This app is quick and easy to use once you set up your initial account. The only bummer is that not every restaurant is signed up with them so there are times I’d like to use it, but can’t and have to actually (gasp) call the restaurant. I use this one quite a bit.

10. Maps – The map functions on smartphones keep getting better and better! I loved the google map function on the Droid – but the map on the iPhone seems way more user friendly. I never look up addresses, directions or anything else before leaving the house anymore. All you need to do is enter the business name into the search box in the map application and it will pull up the business location – then you simply select that you need directions to there from where you are at the moment. It will give you route choices, a live map, the ability to see traffic density/flow and more. This is a big time saver for me!

Of course there are so many more apps I love that I could share with you – my banking app, weather, movies, QR code scanners, and oodles and oodles of kids apps! Instead of going on into infinity, though, I’d love to hear from you - what apps have you been loving lately that you’d like to share?

p.s. Are we connected yet on Facebook and Twitter? Let’s do that!