Dr. Diane Sanford, Ph.D. , is hosting a free event at the Lodge of Des Peres that involves eating chocolate and talking about the strategies to cope with the mental, emotional and physical challenges of motherhood. I personally owe Diane an enormous debt of gratitude because  I heard her speak when I was four months pregnant with my second child. I had suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of my first child and was very worried about it happening again. Thanks to Diane, I prepared during my 2nd pregnancy and was able to ENJOY the weeks and months following the birth of my second.

Postpartum depression affects one in eight new mothers and the stress of parenting a toddler, depression and anxiety are common occurrences. They are very real, but very treatable. Start by treating yourself to an evening of chocolate-tasting indulgence.

This event (and the yummy chocolate) is free, although reservations are required. Space is limited to 100 attendees, so call today to RSVP.

Details:

Tuesday, February 21, 7-9 p.m.

The Lodge Des Peres

1050 Des Peres Road (south of Manchester Rd.) St. Louis, MO 63131

RSVP to 314-812-9366

Invite your friends, but please leave your baby/toddler behind. This is for Moms only.

About Diane:

Psychologist Dr. Diane Sanford has been passionate about helping women improve their health and lead happier lives since counseling her first postpartum mom 25 years ago. She is among the most called-upon women’s health experts and has been interviewed for TV (Good Morning America), newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post), and all major women’s magazines.

In her new book, Life Will Never Be the Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide, she offers practical advice on how to thrive during pregnancy, postpartum and motherhood. To preview the book, visit her website. To schedule a consultation, please call Women’s Healthcare Partnership at 314-961-5666.

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Vaccination is recommended and beneficial into the winter months – a time of the year when spreading holiday cheer with family and friends can also make it easier for disease, like influenza, to spread when we’re in close contact. Everyone six months of age and older is recommended for annual flu vaccination, and immunization is the best way to be protected and enjoy the celebration all the way into the New Year.

Learn more about influenza and the importance of annual vaccination by visiting www.facesofinfluenza.org.

About Influenza

Influenza is a serious respiratory illness. Each year in the U.S., on average, influenza and its related complications result in approximately 226,000 hospitalizations. Depending on virus severity during the influenza season, deaths can range from 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people. Combined with pneumonia, influenza is the eighth leading cause of death in the nation.

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All of the severe weather lately has been disconcerting for many of us, particularly in the aftermath of the New Year’s Eve tornadoes in the St. Louis area. We would all like to think something like that won’t happen to us. And, if it did, we would like to think we’d know what to do.

However, when the sirens go off, how many of us sit and debate whether to go to the basement? Do we have a plan in place for reconnecting if the family is not together? For working parents, what will we do if we are at work and our kids are at school or daycare? Are we familiar with the school’s emergency procedures if they had to evacuate or shelter in place? If we are affected, do we have enough emergency supplies packed and ready to go – prescriptions, sanitary supplies, insurance papers, etc.? And just where is that flashlight?

Think about those in your family that depend on you and what items they literally would need to survive. As a mother of a 6 month old, I think about how long it takes me now to pack up for a weekend trip to visit grandma and can’t imagine trying to evacuate on a moment’s notice in the event of an emergency. Diapers? Bottles? Pacifiers? Blankets? Formula and/or batteries for my breast pump? And as a breastfeeding mom, I need more water per day than the average person; have I accounted for this? This is a lot to think about now, but I know I will feel more at ease by having these essential items in my kit and ready to go.

As some of you may have heard, last week was Severe Weather Week in Missouri. Take this reminder as an opportunity to make sure your family is prepared for emergencies where you should feel the safest: your home. And we’re talking tornadoes today, but the importance of being prepared applies to all sorts of emergency situations. The earthquake in Japan no doubt has many of wondering about our own earthquake risk. For access to a host of tips and tools to help you be ready for tornadoes, earthquakes and anything else, visit AllReadySTL.com.

All Ready is a new initiative for residents of the St. Louis region to take it upon themselves to prepare today for what may happen tomorrow. It is meant to inspire all of us to take the three steps to emergency preparedness: 1) Make a plan 2) Get a kit 3) Be informed.

Visit the website and look around. You’ll find resources for every step of the process, as well as specific information for handling special circumstances, such as disabilities or pets. Plus, as an incentive to get your family prepared, the American Red Cross is offering a 15 percent discount at its online store with the code AllReady2011.

Preparing for the worst isn’t something most of us like to think about. But preparing for the worst is the way we can protect our family the best.

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Since its inception, the AMBER Alert program has led to the safe recovery of more than 500 children, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Statistics show that the first three hours following abduction are the most critical to the search. In 2005, the Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative enabled the public to receive alerts via text message on their wireless devices. Wireless AMBER Alerts have the potential to reach 96 percent of the public with more than 292 million cell phone subscribers in the United States.*

“Once customers sign up for this free service, AMBER Alerts are sent to their wireless devices, so they can be made aware of a missing child in their area immediately,” said Michelle Groves, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in the St. Louis region. “Signing up is quick, simple and may help in bringing home a lost or abducted child.”

To sign up for wireless AMBER Alerts, visit www.wirelessamberalerts.org or text the word “Amber” followed by a space and your 5-digit zip code to short code 26237. All cellular carriers participate in the program.

How wireless AMBER Alerts work:

1. Sign up to receive AMBER Alerts in your area by selecting the location(s) you frequent most, such as where you live and work.
2. Law enforcement issues an AMBER Alert and provides the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) with the information to include in the alert.
3. NCMEC formats the AMBER Alert information, which is then relayed to the cellular companies.
4. This information is sent as a free text message.
5. Cell phone customers will only receive AMBER Alerts by enrolling in the program.

If you have information on a missing child, call the NCMEC toll-free Hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) 24-hours a day.

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————-

Childhood obesity is now the nation’s disease—an ailment crippling the body politic. The long-term health effects are well-established and include early onset diabetes and premature hip and joint problems. American children are prematurely aging, suffering from sicknesses that were once the provenance of older adults. Old has become the new young.

The lineup of culprits includes school vending machines, latchkey children, the endangered home-cooked meal, vanishing physical-education classes, fried everything, supersized portions, sedentary hours spent zoned out in front of the computer screen, nutritional ignorance, misleading labeling and more. But whatever and whoever is to blame, it is surely not kids. We cannot expect children to make the right food choices when healthy foods are out of reach and nutrition-smart role models are not in evidence.

The saddest thing about childhood obesity is that it’s unnecessary. It’s inexcusable that in the breadbasket of the world American children are eating so much lousy food.

As an agriculturist and horticulturist, I believe that the answer is simple. As parents, educators, nutritionists and marketers, we have to imbue our children with the love of—and consumption of—the most beneficial food for growing bodies. This means fresh vegetables and fruits, whether store-bought or home-grown.

As kids, we imitate our elders, who teach most effectively by example. Right now, adults aren’t doing a good job of modeling good behavior. According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 26% of adults have three or more servings of vegetables a day, a number that includes those who deem a tomato slice or lettuce on a burger as a “vegetable serving.” In other words, roughly 80% of U.S. adults scarcely eat any vegetables at all.

Liking vegetables is not a given: Every food other than breast milk is an acquired taste. But children can easily learn to enjoy eating their greens. It’s simply a matter of education and familiarity—as in “family.” Children will happily eat squash, artichoke or broccoli, to the delight of the parents who taught them to do so. As for fruits, children can gobble them up, but like vegetables, they must be at the ready, at least as available as all the junky alternatives.

Kids imitate their elders, who teach most effectively by example.

In our research at Atlee Burpee, we have found that kids who grow vegetables alongside their parents eat them regularly and with gusto. Peas, green beans and raw carrots—the very vegetables that kids are told to eat, their parents’ admonishing fingers wagging—are particular favorites.

While not all American families have the benefit of a sun-filled backyard for a vegetable garden, companies like Burpee offer many vegetable seeds and plants that you can grow easily in containers. You can grow beets, carrots, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts, which can be plucked from the stalk well into winter.

Eighteen years ago, as president of the American Horticultural Society, I initiated a children’s gardening program. Our annual symposium drew thousands of educators and community gardeners with the goal of educating and inspiring children to grow gardens in their school and neighborhoods. The results were heartening: Thousands of churches, schools and community centers sprouted new gardens.

Yet no single institution is sufficient; fighting a problem of this sort requires a multifaceted effort. Churches could do much more to inspire families to grow vegetables. Public and private botanical and community gardening groups should augment efforts to lure neighbors into their educational demonstration gardens. Most families, whether in the city or suburbs, can plant at least a “starter garden”—involving pre-teen children in the planting, tending and harvesting.

Let’s make 2011 the Year of the Vegetable. We have nothing to lose but our waistlines.

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Until now – until I found AboutOne.com, a family management Web site.

I am stealing this sentiment from a fellow blogger who introduced me to AboutOne, but I am not exaggerating when I say that I have been looking for this resource for most of my adult life. And let me say the next part in all caps:

IF YOU HAVE KIDS AND IF YOU EVER PLAN TO FILL OUT FORMS FOR THEM TO PLAY A SPORT OR ATTEND A CAMP OR APPLY FOR COLLEGE OR A SCHOLARSHIP OR AN AWARD, YOU WILL WANT TO BEGIN CAPTURING ALL THEIR INFORMATION ON ABOUTONE.

AboutOne is a place that lets me upload and store all of the following:

• Records of immunizations, school physicals, dates and details of doctor’s and dentist appointments, medications and reactions, allergies, locations of where prescriptions were filled, blood types, heights and weights, emergency contacts. And much of this information automatically flows into printable caregiver sheets that I can create with the touch of a button to give to a sitter or a grandparent who’s staying the weekend, etc.

• Education information on schools attended, dates, GPAs, copies of report cards, standardized test scores, honors and awards, extracurricular activities and volunteer/service hours. Again, all of this information flows into a printable that I can use to fill out award, scholarship, job or college applications.

• My address book, which I can then enhance by adding information to the contacts including birthdays, Web sites, a gift log, labels (to make it more searchable) and attached files. I can also attach photos to contacts and connect contacts to other things on the site. So, if I’m looking at my daughter’s medical record, I can see a picture of her pediatrician, all his contact information, and click on a link to his practice Web site. In other words – my whole life is INTEGRATED.

• Memories. I’ve been trying to get into the regular habit of journaling, but I just can’t seem to get into it. AboutOne changed all that. I can type in memories or daily thoughts or comments on a family event or one of the kids’ activities right on the site, then attach it to a family member and upload a photo and even a file if appropriate. If I want, I can mark it to be included in a monthly newsletter that the site will generate for me. Then, at the end of the month, I can generate the newsletter with the click of a button and email it to friends and family. It’s a great way to stay in touch. And, I can add memories/milestones from my PHONE and even include pictures as attachments. My plan is to get my family  members in the habit of sending milestones and pictures to the site (wish me luck).

Check out this two-minute video on AboutOne:

Other things to LOVE about AboutOne.

• It’s very affordable – you can try it for free for 15 days and when you LOVE it (which you will), you can subscribe for $5/month or $30/year.

• It’s EXTREMELY secure – This was my first concern. After all, I’m uploading photos, medical records, school records, etc. I talked at length with the folks at AboutOne and they reassured me. You can read all the security information that they shared with me at the end of this post.

• You can click on the “live help” link on the site and get live, online help to learn to use the site most efficiently.

Now the fun part. AboutOne is giving five of my readers a free, one-year subscription. Here’s how to enter the contest:

Giveaway Guidelines:

To enter the contest, you MUST leave a comment below on the video. Then you can gain additional entries by doing any or all of the following (but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do):

1. Follow AboutOne on Twitter
2. Like AboutOne on Facebook
3. Blog about this contest
4. Share your favorite winter road trip or “must have” winter essentials
5. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter (you can do daily tweets, but leave a comment each time you do)
6. Follow @MyMidasGuy or “like” Midas on Facebook
7. Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
8. Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook.
9. Post a link to this contest on your Facebook page.

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time December 3, 2010.  Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Winner will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If  any winner does not claim the prize by December 6, 2010, she will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner who will be drawn at random.

SECURITY REASSURANCES  FROM ABOUTONE

We are as concerned about data security as you are. After all, everyone at AboutOne uses AboutOne, and we don’t want the hackers, phishers, scammers or anyone else including other members or our own team reading our private information either.

So, what are we doing about security? A lot. We use the same technologies and practices that banks and other financial institutions use to protect customer information. We even scoured the globe looking for the strictest security standards, and used them as the basis for how we store and transmit your information.

Here are just some of the things we do to keep your information safe and still easy to access from anywhere:

Data Center Security

• We use a state-of-the-art data center with firewalls, redundant hardware, redundant power sources, redundant battery backups, redundant cooling and redundant cabling, and video surveillance.
• Entrance is controlled by biometric authentication (things like fingerprint or retina scanning) & key card access and staff must pass these two-factor authentication points no fewer than three times to access data center floors.
• Facilities are nondescript and have no published address.
• They are built with military grade perimeter control beams in addition to other natural boundary protection–think ‘Fort Knox for the Internet.’

Server Security

• We use Verisign 128-bit SSL encryption to make your data impossible to read by anyone but you.
• We hack our own site daily. We scan our ports, test for SQL injection, and protect against cross-site scripting and we also use McAfee SECURE to continuously test AboutOne with the latest hacker tools and techniques to make sure we aren’t vulnerable.
• We apply bank-level data security standards. This includes encryption, auditing, logging, backups, and safe-guarding data.

Data Security

• Your information is backed up every hour. These back-ups are encrypted
• Passwords and account numbers are encrypted at rest so no one is able to every ready your password.
• To top it off, we have taken strict precautions to make sure that even AboutOne employees don’t have access to your information.  We also never share anything you enter with anyone unless you authorize it.
• We take all of this seriously, which is why we have hired TRUSTe to make sure that we honor our commitments to you.

Still not convinced? Fill out the contact form on the site  and AboutOne will  have a security specialist get back to you and answer all of your questions!

For more information check out our Privacy Policy.

DISCLAIMER: This product review was made possible by the Double Duty Divas.  I received a trial subscription for review purposes; all opinions are 100% mine.

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO KRISTI, BROOKE, ALEX & CHRIS!

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I honestly cannot believe that it’s already time to start thinking about snow and ice, and I know some of our neighbors to the north have already done some shoveling. I’m not the best about preparing my car for the winter, so I found this video helpful.

To help you prepare your car for winter, Midas has created a Midas Winter Safety Kit which can be stored right in your car for any of those winter road emergencies! And they want to give one — valued at $100 — to one of my readers. The winer will receive:

• $50 Midas Gift Certificate
• Jumper Cables
• An Emergency Thermal Blanket
• First Aid Kit
• An Ice scraper/Snowbrush
• A Flashlight
• Storage bag
• Water

Giveaway Guidelines:

To enter the contest, you MUST become an email subscriber to Lipstick to Crayons. The subscribe button is in the upper right corner of the site. Once you subscribe (or if you are already a subscriber), leave a comment below telling me you did so, and make sure the email address you provide is the one you used to subscribe. After completing this mandatory first entry method, you can gain additional entries by doing any or all of the following (but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do):

1. Blog about this contest
2. Share your favorite winter road trip or “must have” winter essentials
3. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter (you can do daily tweets, but leave a comment each time you do)
4. Follow @MyMidasGuy or “like” Midas on Facebook
5. Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
6. Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook.
7. Post a link to this contest on your Facebook page.

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time December 10, 2010.  Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Winner will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If  winner does not claim the prize by December 13, 2010, she will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner who will be drawn at random.

USA residents only please!

NOTE: I received this prize package to provide to my readers from Midas.

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. CONGRATS TO SHELLY, COMMENT #112.

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• A/S/L Age/sex/location
• A3 Anyplace, anywhere, anytime
• AA As above
• AAF Always and forever
• AAMOF As a matter of fact
• CD9 Parents are Watching
• CD99 Parents are no longer Watching
• DOC means “Drug of Choice”
• MIRL means “Meet in Real Life”

The ebook includes a number of abbreviations that may be warning signs that your kids are chatting with strangers or engaging in dangerous online behavior.

“Parents have a responsibility to know what their children are doing and saying online,” said David Barker, spokesperson for TrueCare.net. “At TrueCare, our primary concern is keeping children safe from the dangers of online social networking. We’ve released I Don’t Know What My Kids Are Saying Online because we want to give parents easy access to this ever-changing language, so they can decode what their kids are saying to their friends.”

TrueCare is easy to use, respects the child’s privacy and offers parents valuable resources for protecting their children against online dangers like predators, cyber bullying, and harmful posts which could damage their reputation.

For more information on the company and its services please visit www.truecare.net or call 1-877-368-6390

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Well, the new Mickey Mote, which Walt Disney studios home entertainment released on store shelves yesterday, is a kid-friendly remote that lets kids interact with their favorite Disney DVDs (it works with all Disney preschool dvd’s that include discovery mode — that’s the interactive watch and play mode on the DVD that offers different levels). there are lots of titles available with this feature, including two new ones that also debuted yesterday: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny Big Construction Job.

So, I’ll tell you why I like this fun preschool toy, but first watch it in action:

So here’s why I like it:

Setup is easy and the instructions are given right on the screen. You’ll need to find your current DVD remote  to use during setup — likely among your child’s toys. I’m hoping that will happen less now that she has her own.]

The Mickey Mote is a shaped like Mickey’s ears and it’s bright red, so it looks fun.

There are  only 4 buttons on the Mickey Mote — a star, circle, triangle and square. So, it’s not too complicated for your young preschooler to operate. (I wish MY AT&T Uverse remote only had four buttons!!!)

As I said, the Mickey Mote works with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes Discovery Mode™, and once it’s setuup, you select the Discovery Mode feature on the menu screen and within minutes, your child will be easily responding to questions, throughout the story.  Discovery Mode features include two levels of play, which provides more challenging questions as the child grows. I think Level 2 is a little difficult for a 3-year-old, but Level 1 was perfect for my kiddo. As the DVD plays, the child is asked questions and she can push one of the buttons for her answer. Then she gets an immediate response.

Once families have purchased a Disney Preschool DVD that comes packaged with the Mickey Mote, they can continue to build their Disney Preschool libraries as the Mickey Mote works in compatibility with any Discovery Mode enhanced DVD. For example, kids can immediately use the remote with any of the following titles:

• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Road Rally
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Adventures in Wonderland
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Choo Choo
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Bow-Tique
• Handy Manny: Manny’s Motorcycle Adventure
• Handy Manny: Manny’s Big Race
• Little Einsteins: Fire Truck Blast Off
• My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths
• My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Bedtime With Pooh

Note:  Discovery Mode can also be played using any DVD remote control.

The two new videos are awesome and retail on Amazon for about $26.99 including the Mickey Mote!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Numbers Roundup features more than 100 minutes of content with five exciting, numbers-themed adventures.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is the #1 program on Playhouse Disney as well as the #1 series with children between the ages of two and five years.  Bonus features include a never-before-seen (until 1/1/11) bonus episode as well as the Discovery Mode feature.

Handy Manny: Big Construction Job is a fun-filled, full-length adventure that takes Manny out of Sheet Rock Hills and to a new construction project out of town!  Introducing new tools, new songs and a never-before-seen episode, Handy Manny stars Wilmer Valderrama (TV’s “That 70’s Show”) as the voice of Manny.  It is a top 5 television series with preschoolers 2-5, and is an Emmy®-nominated show, set in a multicultural, multi-generational community and follows a curriculum that models problem solving and the importance of community.

So, my recommendation: If you’ve got a toddler or preschooler, this is a for-sure purchase on the holiday gift list.

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If you have questions about the flu, the shots, who should get them, where you can get them, what they cost, whether you can get your toddler vaccinated at the local pharmacy or if you have to go to the pediatrician, etc., etc., you can get them answered LIVE on Facebook today.

On Monday, September 13^th, Walgreens will have a licensed Pharmacist answering your flu questions LIVE on their Facebook page. The live chat will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Central time.

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