Happy Halloween (underwater)!

 

Halloween card from Mini Me's photo-personalized products

I LOVE Halloween. Even more than Easter, and I also LOVE Easter!  (hey – free candy AND dress up? That beats cute baby chicks, fluffy bunnies & choc. Easter eggs – anyday :)

 

So it’s pretty exciting that this is Layla’s “first” memorable Halloween.  For the last 2 years she was a pumpkin (“Thanks, Uncle Jeff”) but this year she helped choose her own outfit: an adorable ladybug.

For the past 2 weeks, she has been playing dress up: she puts on her ladybug costume and antenna-hat after coming home from daycare. Then she runs and prances around the house.  And for some weird reason, she also likes to put on her rain boots — I guess it seems like part of the costume?!

Anyway, I figure a lady bug costume is easier than an octopus-inspired costume (aka the characters of Mini Me’s Books).

Just imagine having to wear 4 pairs of rubber boots with an octopus costume! :)

 

Mini Me’s Kewl Uncle Jeff

Mini Me & her Uncle Jeff

Every kid needs a kewl uncle or aunt who horses around with them, takes them to interesting places, and of course, buys them unique and wacky stuff.

Uncle Jeff qualifies!

He has surprised his neiece (my Mini Me) with crazy electric gifts such as:

• the Pumpkin costume (last Halloween),
• the lobster slippers (from a vacay in Boston) 
• hand-made Elmo-embroidered moccasions from a Native Canadian women (shhh…don’t tell the Trademark police!).

The most recent gift was equally kewl: GIANTmicrobes! 

E-coli, from GIANTmicrobes

We LOVED these funny & furry lil’ beasts! 

Head lice, flu germs, common cold & E.coli.  Brilliant!!! 

Thanks, Uncle Jeff! :)

ER, for REal

Scary karma.

Just 1 week after I write a (somewhat ‘witty’) post comparing the painful work of generating PR for my photo-personalized storybook to the pain of being in the ER, what happens?

My own darling daughter is admitted to ER!!!

F-E-A-R is waking up to a wheezing two-year old who is burning up with a fever; crying out in the dark.

Did I also mention that we were away from home when this happened? In a strange hotel.  In Washington, DC?!  (umm,…one of the violence capitals of America!).

As Canadians who happily benefit from our ’socialist health care system’, we were extremely relieved that we had medical coverage.  Even more relieved that our daughter was fine and ‘only’ had croup (aka ’seal bark’ coughing fits).  It was a scary Sunday night/Monday morning that lasted 4 hrs, involved 3 drs, 2 nurses, triage & our vomiting baby in the waiting room.

All made well by a steroid shot, a puffer & some meds. Thanks to the kind staff at George Washington Hospital.

I will never inadvertently trivialize the seriousness of being in ER again.

PR, not ER

Achieving ‘real’ PR for Mini Me’s Books (you know, the kind you don’t “pay for” ) is so much harder than I anticipated.  And I have 10+ years experience doing marketing for Blue Chip brands! YIKES!!

Why does drumming up PR feel like an exhausting stint in the ER? (no disrespect to anyone actually in ER – I don’t mean to be insensitive. Or to George Clooney, whom I would willingly enter ER for! ;)

Anyway, drumming up PR is enough to make you:

…sigh in frustration

…sign a crazy contract and have someone else do it for you (I did. It was an abysmal failure & a collosal waste of money. ouch!)

…hope that Google Adwords will magically solve all of your web traffic woes

Of course none of these options is the miracle ‘cure’.  But one can still believe in miracles, right?

Well, just like mom would say: “roll up your sleeves & do it yourself!”  So it is slower, and there is a longer learning curve, but I can definitely say that doing PR for myself – by myself – has proven more fruitful than the over-priced, smooth-talking PR agency.  No band-aid required!

Eco-Friendly Moms at NBC during Ad Week ‘09

Mini Me’s was short-listed by Ask Melissa for an NBC event, Eco-Friendly Moms’ “Win The Table” Giveaway at Advertising Week 2009!!   Our photo-personalized book is one of the few children’s books published on eco-friendly paper in Canada (not mass produced overseas using who-knows-what-practices?!?).

So basically, our books are printed on paper that meets the environmental and social standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the most acclaimed global standard for responsible forestry.  Isn’t your child – and the planet – worth it…?

My Two Mini Me’s

My Mini Me (baby) isn’t so small any more…She is now a toddler, embracing the Terrible Two’s with all the strength that her little arms will carry…

My Mini Me (e-comm biz) isn’t so small any more, either.  She is now a toddler, stretching my patience & my line of credit to the max. Again. And Again.

I love both my babies. Sometimes I wish they would stay small forever – these early days are so innocent and fun. Yet they are also frustrating & numbing tiring.  Both of my mini me’s are so needy, yet they also try hard to be independent. 

I always thought that twins would be scary – too much work, not enough time.  Although I got a different ’set’ of twins, it does feel like two young  responsibilities.  And I wouldn’t change a thing!

Summer goes Bye-Bye!

One of the unfortunate side effects of becoming a new parent (beyond loss of sleep, peace ‘n quiet & thousands of dirty diapers :) is the ‘baby-talk’ that follows. Example:

“Mommy said ‘No’! Mommy is not very happy right now!”

“Look, a birdie? Isn’t that a pretty, pretty birdie? Say ‘Hello’ to the birdie”

“Wave to the choo-choo. Wave ‘Hi’ to the choo-choo!”

So, it is in this context that Mommy (umm,…I mean “I”) say Bye-Bye (er, “farewell”) to summer.

Summer was a real Diva this year: she arrived late, left early &  dumped on everyone most weekends. Such a drama queen!  But I miss her all the same…

ps – most fittingly, this gorgeous painting is by Monet: Wheatstacks, End of Summer (1890-91)

Curly hair ROCKS

My own ‘hair-story’ childhood kinda sucked — not too many little girls in the prairies had shaggy, mangy, curly-ish hair (the result of a black father, white mother, gene pool). 

So I am loving this idea: It’s a Curl!  Especially since it’s organic.  And my own Mini Me has slightly curly, but easily tangled, hair. Kinda like personalized hair care for wee little babies! :)

Not a care with our daycare

My child L-O-V-E-S daycare. Seriously.

You know how other babies cry when their mom or dad drops them off in the morning?  Well, my child cries when I pick her up in the evening. She doesn’t want to leave.

go figure…

Of course, the staff is lovely and the activities are amazingly good fun. Plus, she definitely eats better food than me for lunch!  

Hmmm…maybe we should have ‘adult daycare’ facilities (or is that called a “spa”?!)

The Sea of Fame

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in DOING my personalized book business, that I forget to ENJOY the book’s benefits…

Luckily, kind emails from our customers made me stop, sit & (nearly) swallow back some tears of gratitude.  

People actually LIKE the book! And little kids are being read my book at night before they go to bed!  

We started a little page – the Sea of Fame – to capture their comments and their pix. 

Ahhhh, they’re so cute….