A Mom in the Making

Living Your Life with Purpose with Sarah and Julia

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 20:29:00 -0400

Do you ever feel like you’re running in circles? I certainly do!

So today’s theme is living with purpose. I am excited to have Sarah and Julia from All Things with Purpose

We talk about great things in today’s episode, like balancing confidence with knowing that you have a lot to learn as a mom, making the switch from working mom to staying at home, and playing to your strengths. Finally, we talk about the pressure to involve your kids in all the right activities.

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

How to Create More Flexibility in Your Schedule with Sarah and Julia from All Things with Purpose

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Is your schedule too crazy? I know my is :) Especially, this week… It can’t possibly be Friday because I still haven’t accomplished Monday’s projects.

I am excited to have Sarah and Julia from All Things with Purpose talking about creating more flexibily in our schedules.

How do you manage your schedule?

How to Road Trip without Movies

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 8 Oct 2014 06:00:00 -0400

To watch or not to watch…

Do you believe in road trip movies?

With new cars, we are surrounded by constant temptation. There are multiple screens in every car… and even if you don’t have a “cool” car like me, you probably have a tablet that can play movies.

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So we just survived a road trip with zero movies. I am incredibly proud! Over 24 hours in the car and not one ounce of TV… I feel like I should win an award, lol.

This isn’t to say that I’m totally opposed to TV in cars. Given the choice between hysteria or a zombie child with a screen, I choose the zombie :) But it was fun knowing that it could happen.

How to have a Road Trip without Movies

Download Your Kiddo’s Favorite Songs - There is nothing better than singing in the car. Yes, you may listen to the songs way more than you’d like. But think… you’re trading screaming for baby songs. We also put a tablet in the back with his songs, and we listened to podcasts over the car stereo… Win Win!
Bring Coloring Supplies - We didn’t do crayons, because he seems to just think they are a great snack, so you have to know what your kids can use and what they’ll just try to eat.
Bust out the Favorite Snacks - Healthy food kicks are great, but million hour road trips aren’t the greatest time to be strict.
Sit in the Back with Your Babe - I feel like this is the easiest one to avoid. Most adults aren’t huge fans of sitting in the back, but being back there can really transform the trip for your kiddo.
Read Books - Once you’re sitting in the back, take advantage of that time. Instead of droning misery, have it be the best and longest story time ever!
Drive at Night - Basically, a no brainer. It’s late, so they sleep… however you do run the risk of showing up exhausted in the middle of the night, and your kiddos just want to play.
Make Frequent Stops - If you are traveling during the day, make frequent stops. Even a short 15 minute stop can make a big difference.

What do you do on your road trips?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Shark Tank & Making Money as a Mom

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 6 Oct 2014 22:15:00 -0400

I’m short on two things right now, time and money. I got barely 5 hours of sleep last night, and have a hefty pile of debt that is really beginning to annoy me.

As mom’s, I think we can get trapped sometimes with our time going in a million directions and a simple lack of money. Or our money isn’t really going where it should be.

In light of my exhaustion, we decided to break family tradition, and eat dinner while watching a show, Shark Tank

It was so refreshing! I feel in love with one of the entrepreneurs, who was a mom!

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She started a business for two reasons

She needed sleep
She wanted to stay home with her baby

As moms these are two awesome things that we can appreciate. And she did it!! Not with a bunch of start up money, or because of a degree in Marketing. She saw a problem in her life, solved it, and then started helping other moms.

I just keep thinking of those sleepless nights with my son. I would have sung from the rooftops if I found something that helped him sleep. And that is how this mom grew her business. Mom’s feel in love with her product and couldn’t help but tell others about it.

I came up with some…

Thoughts on Moms Making Money

You can start with nothing
Really smart rich people fail! Don’t be afraid if you don’t know everything.
Solve problems in your life If you are struggling with something, there may be other moms out there struggling with the same thing.
Share things with those around you.
Sometimes the worst thing you can do is hire someone -from Shark Tank
Spending a bunch of money on marketing can be a black hole -from Shark Tank

You can live the dream! It is tough, it often involves tears getting there. But you can do it. I still am a long way from where I want to be. Ok, lets be honest, the only place I really want to be right now is in bed sleeping. But it can be done, dreams are achievable! What are your dreams? Are you ready to go after them?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

EntreLeadership

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 1 Oct 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Just one week ago I had the phenomenal opportunity to attend EntreLeadership! It is basically a day packed with entrepreneurial and leadership lessons led by Dave Ramsey and his team.

I’ve been a fan of Dave Ramsey for a long time… When I got my first job I took his Financial Peace University Class which gave me the knowledge and tools to kick butt at paying off my school loans, house and car!!

I feel like I know what I’m doing with money now… yes we’re in the final stretch for paying off debt and it feels like it will never end, but what’s next?

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This day was all about how to be a success in business and life! It was so encouraging! I wish everyone I know could have attended.

I feel like I have tons of dreams I’m pursuing… but sometimes after working a full day, coming home blogging, podcasting, working on a new site My Jess Tree oh and try to spend some time having fun with my son and hubbie… which is my favorite anyway, I just feel burned out and wonder why am I doing this?

EntreLeadership talked about Work Life Balance

They had Christy Wright who is preggo with her first little babe there, and she was hilarious. She talked about not letting our dream turn into a nightmare. It was so fun hearing a leadership talk from a mom!!

Christy lamented the woes of laying miserable on a coach for her first trimester of pregnancy :) Now that is a mommy I can relate with. Sometimes it is just hard to take advice from someone who really doesn’t understand where you are.

Then they had Chris Hogan. He used to be All American college football player. He told hilarious stories about working with our strengths, and letting our spouse do the things that they are best at.

As mom’s, there are certain things that we are supposed to be good at. But, what if we aren’t? Look at your family, where are you and your husband’s strengths. Play to your strengths!!

Finally, there was Dave Ramsey himself. It was crazy actually seeing him in person after watching him on videos and hearing him on the radio. But my favorite thing I took away was his Momentum Theorem. Focused intensity over time multiplied by God equals unstopped momentum.

Speaking of momentum… Monday’s podcast episode with Manoush Zomorodi was my 50th podcast episode!! The average podcast doesn’t make it past episode 7. But I’ve reached 50!! On Saturday… A Mom in the Making podcast downloads reached 2x their highest number ever. That is 100% thanks to you! I am so happy for each of you come and listen.

Basically, EntreLeadership was super encouraging, but so are each of you! Each time you read my blog, comment, listen to a podcast you encourage me. Thank you!!

Have you been to a great conference or talk lately?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

What Moms Need to Know About Tech with Manoush Zomorodi

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Ahhhh! Technology can be scary. “Should I let my kids use it??? Or not?”

Like it or not, technology is a huge part of our of lives today. Way more than when our parents were raising us.

So lets focus on What mom’s need to know about Tech! This isn’t just going to be a boring tech talk show… or a confused mom sharing her thoughts.

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We’ve got a mom and tech queen, Manoush Zomorodi. Manoush is the host of New Tech City which recently hit #1 for the iTunes Tech category.

There are advantages to technology with our family. Are we using them?

Finally, a mom’s sleep is precious! But if we’re not careful, technology can steal away the quality of our sleep. In this episode, Manoush shares simple ways that we can still savor our sleep.

You can check out Maoush’s site or some of my favorite episodes of New Tech City. Your Posture May Change Your Math Skills or Sleep and Screens, Not Friends.

How do you use technology in your house?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Three Ways Moms Can Use Tech with Manoush Zomorodi [Video]

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Technology is everywhere!! But are we using it to our advantage?

Manoush Zomorodi is a mom who is also the host of New Tech City. Her show has reached the #1 spot of iTunes for Tech podcast… but the thing that I love about her is that she talks about how technology affects our sleep, our brains, our families, and our lives.

As a mom, I don’t always care about the newest gadget… but I absolutely care about the effect that it is having on my son.

Manoush shares…

Three Ways That Moms Can Use Tech

Find a Free To Do List App As mom’s we always have billions of things running through our head. Manoush recommends dumping our to do list from our brain into a app… so it’s not just bouncing around in our head.
Choose Video Games That Are Educational Manoush recommended Hopscotch which is a simple game that teaches kids coding. Sure, it would be great if your kids never played video games, but if they do… make them educational!
Use a Running App Seven years ago, Manoush had a baby… and that was the last time she ran. Until a few months ago when she starting using a running app. Now she has run a 5k! If you looking to get your game back together after having a baby try a running app :)

Make sure you head back on Monday when Manoush will be sharing What Moms Need to Know about Tech in our latest podcast episode. You check out Manoush on her personal site too.

What ways do you use tech?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Papa's Job: Teaching Your Boys to Be Brave

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

There are some areas where papa truly is best! We have recently been trying to conquer sleeping in the big boy bed all night. I am the worst at encouraging this. Every time my poor little guy whimpers, I want to fly in and rescue him. I’m truly not giving him an opportunity to see that everything will be ok because at the slightest tear, I pick him up.

This is where papa comes up. He does a great job of talking with Charlie and keeping him in bed.

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After our first full night of success with the big boy bed, my husband commented on how he loved that I was letting him help Charlie to be brave while he slept in his new bed. As the papa, it was his job to teach his son to be brave.

This made so much sense to me. As the mom, I do always want to fix things and comfort my baby. Papa on the other hand is there to teach bravery! And he’s right, sleeping in the big boy bed is totally fine. It is just new.

Bravery, doing things by himself, adventures these are all areas where papa is the perfect teacher. In my Teaching Kids to Love Cleaning episode I talked about how papa is teaching my little guy how to do laundry. He’s also teaching him to pick up his toys. Then there are the fun things like wrestling and playing music.

As moms, we are very important and there are millions of things for us to teach our kids. But there are also areas where papa is best. Let’s encourage our husbands! Those papa/son and daddy/daughter moments are precious. There are certain things they need to learn from papa.

What things do your kids like doing with papa?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Balancing Confidence and Imperfection with Carrie from Carrie This Home

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever feel overwhelmed as a mom? It is way too easy to look around and see the “perfect moms”… That is why I was thrilled to have Carrie from Carrie this Home on for today’s podcast episode.

From the first moment you go to Carrie’s site, you get to see the real Carrie! ”Jesus follower, wife, mommy of 2, Doesn’t have it all together. The last part was what truly stood out to me.

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We all want to be the best in the world, but Carrie is confident enough to proclaim, *“I don’t have it all together.” As mom’s, we need to hear this. We need friends who are real.

Carrie is a huge encouragement! Even with an imperfect life we can still do tons of things.

Fit working out into a crazy busy mommy schedule.
Create beautiful DIY projects with kiddos underfoot.
Have a beautifully decorated house even on a tight budget.
Share wonderful prayers with Jesus, even if they are simple requests for patience throughout the day.

Finally, if you missed Friday’s video, Carrie shares how to Overcome the Pressure to the “Perfect Mom.”

How do you balance staying confident as a mom?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Overcome Pressure to be the Perfect Mom with Carrie from Carrie This Home [Video]

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Motherhood is a huge task! But sometimes as moms, we feel pressured to be the perfect mom.

I am so excited to know Carrie from Carrie this Home Carrie is a wonderful example of a happy mom who is ok admitting that she doesn’t have it all together.

Carrie shares 3 great tips for overcoming pressure to be the “perfect mom” that she uses in her life.

Overcome the Pressure to the “Perfect Mom”

Ask God for Help This doesn’t have to be a complicated or profound moment. A simple, “Jesus, please give me patience in with my kids.” will be wonderful.
Quit Being So Hard on Yourself Carrie points out that as moms, we are often the hardest on ourselves. We need to be happy with who we are today, instead of always comparing ourselves to others.
Surround Yourself with Mom’s You Admire Find moms that you love and spend time with them! They will be a huge support helping you with moments of joy and struggle.

What would you add to this list?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

How to Publish Your Own Book on Amazon

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Last year my hubby and I wrote, illustrated, and published our own book on Amazon! It was an absolutely incredible experience.

Since then I’ve had several friends ask me to help them publish their own books. So I decided to record

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How to Publish A Book with Amazon

Confession: I don’t know everything. But these were the questions I have been getting as well as things that were important to us.

Write Your Book In my mind, this seems like the first step… but I guess you could do your illustrations first.
Pick Your “Trim” Size This basically means to pick what size you’d like your book to be. You can check out the sizes here on Create Space. You can use the drop-down menu under Member Order Calculator. This is also helpful because you can see how much a particular size and number of pages will cost. I would probably choose a standard size.
How Will You Illustrate the Book? This is truly the best part because the sky’s the limit! Just make sure you’ve picked your book size first or you’ll end up having to redo drawings :(
1. Draw it on the Computer We actually bought a drawing tablet. It’s like a pen and paper that transfers onto your computer screen. My husband did all the sketches in Adobe Illustrator, and then I traced, colored, and illustrated the pics. You could also draw in Photoshop. Our drawing tablet came with a program as well.
2. Paint, Draw, Then Scan This is another beautiful way to illustrate your book. Our friend wrote Love with All My Might Her illustrator used watercolors then scanned the pictures into Photoshop where the words were added later.
Bleed or No Bleed? Do you want your illustrations to go all the way to the end of the page? Or do you want a white border around your illustrations? Our book Bible Characters for Advent had Bleed Love with All My Might No Bleed
How Long Should Your Book Be? This can be tricky. I wanted to write another short children’s book that would be about 16 pages long… but Create Space books have to be at least 24 pages. On the long side of things, there seemed to be jumps in prices when you reached certain page thresholds…it wasn’t like the cost of the book was equally divided over the number of pages. It seemed to cost a certain amount; then you could go up a number of pages and it would suddenly jump in price. You can play around with the cost calculator here.
Color or Not? For kids books, color is probably the obvious answer. But if you’re looking to write more of a chapter book, the black and white printing costs are amazing. It seems that you pay the same price for color printing regardless of how much color is on your pages, so you don’t get a price break if only half the pages have color. There may be times when it would make sense to do half color pages and half black and white, but from my experience publishing with Create Space isn’t that place.
Submitting Your Book This might be your problem step if you’re not expecting it. You can’t upload each of your pages separately. All of the pages in your book need to be in one long pdf. We did this by taking all our Illustrator files and combining them in InDesign, which is Adobe’s product for book layout. I’m sure there are other options, but it’s worth figuring that out before you start. You don’t want to get right up to the finish line and find yourself unable to submit your book.
Spend Time on Your Cover You upload the cover separately. My recommendation: spend more time on the cover! Although it may not be fair, we always judge books by their covers :) We spent a lot of time on our book’s cover. Not that we weren’t devoted to the entire process, but the cover had to tell you, “This is the best book to help prepare your kids for the coming of Jesus on Christmas.” You Must Buy This Book So it was worth a bit of extra time and attention.
The Review Process Once you’ve finally finished, you’ll upload your file to Create Space. Then comes the dreaded review process. It really isn’t that bad; it just takes about a day to see if there are any problems with the book. Amazon does not proofread!!! It simply checks to make sure your words aren’t running off the page. They check the quality of your file to make sure it won’t pixelate when it prints. You cannot skip this step, so if you’re running behind then yes, you will be sweating it out waiting for the review process to be done.
Ordering a Proof Fun news! You can rush ship your proof so that you can see a test copy of your book even sooner. The first thing we noticed when we got our proof was that the colors seemed to print darker than they appeared on the computer. Our night sky seemed black instead of blue, etc. So we lightened up some things. Also, we scoured the book and found a few typos. Then we made corrections, re-uploaded it, and waited for the review process again. We did not order a second proof at that point. We were selling a book for Advent and it was only a few weeks away. Plus, we didn’t make any huge changes, so we just went with it.
How Should You Sell the Book? I truly don’t know the best way. We’re still debating how to sell our book for this upcoming year, but here are your options and how we did things last year.
1. Order the Books and Sell Them Yourself Create Space lets you, as the author, buy the books at a discounted price. You can then sell them yourself, to bookstores, etc. If you buy the book and then sell it directly yourself, you will be making the most money. Obviously, you should check out the laws where you live for selling things.
2. Create Space Store This is option number two for earning the most money on your books. Create Space gives you higher royalties on books sold in the Create Space store. This is basically an online store where authors can sell the books they self-publish. The advantage is that you do make a higher royalty. The downside is that most people are not familiar with Create Space, so they might be more hesitant to purchase something on that website.
3. The final choice is Amazon And the cheering begins! Everyone on the planet knows about Amazon. Most love it, and probably half have Amazon Prime, so they get free two-day shipping. except me of course :( While that may be a slight exaggeration, Amazon is a well known and trusted place. If you’re buying something from Amazon, you don’t have the extra hurdle of having to enter your credit card information each time. It’s an easy yes from “I want this” to “I’m buying this.” I’ve even heard Amazon being called a ‘marketing machine.’ If your book is doing well on Amazon, the website may start recommending it to others. The downside: your royalty is substantially less than if you are selling the book yourself or through Create Space. This is the pickle… if you sell it on Amazon will you sell more books, hence making more money overall. Or will you sell the same amount, hence wasting the extra money it “cost” you to sell it on Amazon? I go back and forth on this… eventually you just have to try something.

At this point we are selling our book on Amazon, so you can see what that looks like vs our friend’s book on Create Space. What was your experience? Did Amazon carry more comfort for you? Or was it no different than Create Space?

Well, you’ve made it! At this point I think I’ve shared all my wisdom :) on publishing your own book. Know that you can do it! If you’re inspired to write a book, go for it!

Publishing our book reminded me of being pregnant and giving birth. It’s this long, long process and you see slow progress along the way. Then you come to the final steps of finishing things and actually getting it published. Like labor, you think it’s never going to end! But then it does and you have sometime beautiful. Ok, maybe not the best example, but you’re moms so I thought it would be a good analogy.

Do you have any other questions? I would love to try to answer them! Please leave your questions in the comments below.

So this was totally my own experience, so make sure you check things out with Create Space so that you understand everything before you publish your book. While I feel like I’ve talked forever, there is still tons of details that I could have missed.

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Healthy and Delicious Cooking for Moms - with Chelsea from Chelsea's Messy Apron

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever feel like you have to choose between healthy and delicious cooking? Your healthy option… plain oatmeal… Or the yummy category… cheesecake!

Our interview today with Chelsea from Chelsea’s messy apron shows us how we can have incredible meals that are amazing to eat and healthy.

What is her secret?

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Plan Your Meals in Advance!

As someone who despises planning, this was a major kick in the pants! But the beauty of her cooking has me convinced that I need to try it.

But Chelsea doesn’t just create Pinterest worthy food… She’s a mom, so she understands that trickiness of balancing cooking with watching a baby. Plus ways that we can still be creative if we are short on time or money.

The truly best part is when Chelsea shares a story with us of a real mom moment while cooking.

ps You’ll definitely want to check out Chelsea’s favorite recipes. 30 Minute Cinnamon Roll Skillet Cake

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Creative Cooking Tips by Chelsea from Chelsea's Messy Apron [Video]

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever find yourself wishing to have those delicious yummy Pinterest looking meals? I am thrilled to have an interview with Chelsea from Chelsea’s Messy Apron.

Chelsea is a mom too, so she understands the challenges of trying to create magical creations with a little guy underfoot. She shares…

3 Tips for Creative Cooking

Make a Plan. Although I never plan! It really can help you add more creativity if you think about it in advance.
Search for Ideas with the Ingredients You Have. So often we can have a cupboard full of food and nothing to eat. Chelsea encouraged either searching Pinterst or Google with the ingredients you already have.
Be Inspired by the Thing Around You. There are 1000s of ways to be inspired everyday! Try recreating things you see at restaurants, great looking meals you see on TV or that wonderful meal you ate at a friend’s house.

Make sure you come back Monday, we’ll have a podcast episode with Chelsea sharing more about Creative Cooking for Moms.

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Finding Balance with Eating and Working Out

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

As moms, we can way too easily bounce between two extremes in life. “I’m fat! I don’t look beautiful!” and ”I am incredible!” “I don’t have time to work out… but I look great!”

As moms, we want to be beautiful, happy, healthy, and in shape. But how do we find the balance between the two extremes?

You are beautiful! Right now. Today as a mom! But we should always be striving to be better. Sometimes, I get stuck, but I know I should always be pressing forward. So I talked with some other moms.

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Mom Talk on Health and Working Out

Why Don’t We Work Out?

Talking with moms, I found two answers:

Trouble Escaping the Kiddos. Stay-at-home moms said they had trouble escaping from the kiddos.
Feeling Guilty About the Time Working moms said they felt guilty for already being gone during the day. Leaving for more time to work out… never seemed to make the priority list.
What is your reason for not working out?

Solve the Work Out Problem

Involved the Kiddos Do workouts that can involve the kiddos. Maybe a family walk.
Wake Up Early or Stay Up Late This way you don’t lose anytime with the kiddos, yet you still get to work out.
Find People on Your Level. It is the worse working out with someone who makes you feel lame about your ability. Find other moms who have the same workout goals as you. Support each other!

Why Don’t We Eat Healthy?

Talking with moms:

We Don’t Have Time! Junk food is quicker and easier.
Temptation is Everywhere! Especially for working moms. Workplaces are often have vending machines filled with bad choices.

Ideas for Healthy Eating

Plan in Advance. Even if you’re not a huge fan of planning things in advance, some semblance of a plan will make it much easier to avoid having tacos or pizza every night… Tell me it’s not just our house.
Make Healthy Snacks Easy. Chips and candy are easy to grab. Make up little bags of carrots, celery, green beans or nuts. Healthy shouldn’t be a hassle option.
You Can Always Have Junk Tomorrow. Sometimes we get into a “Starved” mindset where we feel like if we don’t have the snack now we’ll die. Even putting off the snack from midnight to morning can be helpful.
Choose A Smaller Portion. This one always seems crazy to me. If I chose the junk food, it is because I wanted it. But this really can be a great way to enjoy a little bit of fun without killing your health.

Finally, know you are a beautiful mom right now, without changing anything. For the moment the best thing might be to just relish in that knowledge! But we teach our kids to always try our best so we should too.

There’s a balance… it is tricky and hard to master. Try just one thing this week in either the health or workout category.

Let me know in the comments what you’re going to try! I would love to encourage you!

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Fashion 101 Followup

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 8 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Last week I shared my thoughts on How to Be Hip and Modest but it was severely lacking in pics. I finally got to take some pics of all the outfits I was talking about.

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Here’s my...

Fashion 101 Followup

Ever since my interview with Molly I’ve been dying to get out and go shopping. The perfect opportunity arose when both of my sisters came to visit. Target, here we come!!

I felt like I finally understood what to look for.

Do you ever feel lost when you go into the store? Like everyone else knows what they’re getting and you’re stuck wandering around feeling lost. That is usually me.

This time, I was one a mission. I just needed

Simple Fashion Staples

A Completer Piece. Now my sister is the queen of cardigans. However, I still just picture Mr. Rogers and old fashion school librarians when I see them. Also, some caridans seem to fit me weird… I guess I’ve never recovered from trying on ones that looked terrifying. But this time I threw aside my bias and was ready to give it a whirl.
Statement Piece. So, I actually wasn’t on a quest for statement pieces this time. I had recently reorganized my jewelry, so I realized that I do have things that would be cute… I just needed some outfits.
Basic Pants I realized that I was in desperate need of some basic cute pants.

I had a huge problem though. My waist still thinks it is carrying baby Charlie, even though he’s almost 2! I’ve been trying pants for almost two years and here’s my problem if the waist fits the legs are tents. But if the legs fit I can’t even come close to zipping the up.

I swallowed my pride in a big way walking into the store. I wanted to look cute at any cost. I actually found a pair of maternity pants, but they didn’t’ have the horrible belly band, they were regular pants, with a zipper and everything! They just had a small bit of elastic where the front pockets should be. I don’t know why all pants aren’t made this way. I felt like I lost 30 lbs when I put these pants on.

Leaving the store I felt like a million bucks! I bought 3 cardigans. White, black and pink. With these three colors my entire wardrobe was covered.

Now that I had cardigans, I was able to get a few beautiful sleeveless tops, which I would normally avoid, that look really flattering.

Finally, closing my eyes and ignoring the preggo tag, I got pants that make me feel like a beautiful mama.

With a little bit of direction on what to buy and creativity thinking outside the box I feel super confident about all my new clothes.

What is missing in your wardrobe? Do you still need the Simple Fashion Formula? Or, are you looking for the freedom to burn the tags and labels and buy what looks great on you!

You can do it mama!

I am thrilled with my new clothes! Have you had a recent success with your outfits?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Can Your Kids Listen to Too Much Music?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 3 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

I love silence! Ok, not awkward silences… but just quiet, maybe a few crickets in the background or corn growing in a field. Oh yeah, that's “just silence”.

But, babies are supposed to learn about and love music. This definitely wasn’t my strength when my son was little. If he was quiet, I wanted quiet. Why would I add background noise to my already cluttered mind?

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Things started to changed once I headed back to work. I needed an exit strategy, so I would turn on a DVD of Catholic songs that my family made. He loved the songs and it was my brothers and sisters singing, so it wasn’t really watching a movie or listening to music… more like quality family time.

Then Frozen happened

My sister came to babysit and as a gift, I downloaded the Frozen soundtrack for her. My silence disappeared! Suddenly my little man was dancing around singing la la go! la la go!!

We listened to Frozen 24/7. It single handedly saved two 10 hour road trips to visit my in-laws. However, as much as I loved Elsa… we needed something new.

I started realizing that he knew all the words to Frozen… yet how many prayers did he know? I felt guilty. He should be singing about Jesus. Confession, we still haven’t entirely solved that problem.

But, we ventured out and began listening other things like Barney, which transitioned into Veggie Tales.

Now we listen to VeggieTales 24 hours a day. So the question remains.

Can You Listen to Too Much Music?

I truly don’t know. I want to hear your thoughts!! He really loves music and dances around while it is playing. He also takes two markers and rocks out on air drums.

I seemed to have traded silence for music. But, I love it because I’ve also traded an empty house for one filled with dancing.

If you’re wondering what life sounds like in our house… this is every morning. “cereal…monkey”

How much music do you have in your house?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Teaching Your Kids to Love Cleaning

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 1 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0400

I hate cleaning! But I’m told that kids learn order in their first few years of life. So, if you teach them to clean when they are young they will love it. Let’s be honest, this sounds totally fake, but I don’t want to do all the cleaning myself so I’m willing to take the risk.

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5 Ways to Teach Your Kids to Love Cleaning

Involve Your Kids in Cleaning I used to think little Charlie was too small to help with cleaning. But, it’s been pretty amazing. Even at just under 2, he likes to clean up all his legos when he is finished. Obviously, he doesn’t do this himself, but if I help him he actually does a great job.
Make it Fun We love to sing Barney’s Clean Up song.
Clean Everyday By making cleaning up part of everyday chores, it can just become part of your kiddos routine. My husband started taking Charlie downstairs to sort the laundry. Now little Charlie will pull a laundry basket over the basement door. “a-stairs” He’ll say asking to go downstairs, because sorting laundry for him has become a fun game.
You Don’t Need ALL the Toys I love books and toys, so I would ideally have millions of each. However, this makes it a nightmare to clean. By picking a few favorites to keep out, we are able to keep things fresh so we can switch up to the toys and while making it easier to clean up.
Be OK When It Doesn’t Work Helping your kids learn to love cleaning is great, but there will be times when the best thing is to fall into bed with books and toys strewn about everywhere… and that’s ok.

Finally, know that you’re a great mom either way! Motherhood can be messy. If your kids end up with some love for cleaning, it is a success.

How do you involve your kids with cleaning?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

How to Be Hip and Modest

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

As moms, we all want to be beautiful. But sometimes I feel like there is a war between cute/stylish and modest.

It can be depressing to walk into the store and feel like you have to choose one extreme or the other. I was so excited about the podcast episode with Molly from Still Being Molly on Fashion 101

Molly had some incredible advice for dressing stylishly. But they were all things you could do while still being modest. We also recorded a great video too if you missed it!

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How To Be Hip and Modest

Go for cute! Modest or immodest it doesn’t matter, you shouldn’t be buying clothes that don’t make you smile when you look in the mirror.
Choose a Lesser Extreme. For the longest time I didn’t wear skinny jeans… There was just something about clothes looking like they were spray painted on my body. However after my little man was born I was desperate to not be wearing pregnancy tents… So I took the leap. I am really happy with the pants I chose they are cute and give the skinny jeans effect… but they aren’t overly tight.
Wearing Leggings. With fall coming up this is perfect. If you want a skirt that is shorter than you’re comfortable with, try it with leggings underneath. This still allows you to have the cute and flattering look of the skirt without being so revealing. ps leggings are the best idea anyway because chasing a baby in a short skirt is totally impractical.
Wear a Shrug… Ok, I’ll confess I had no clue what people were talking about when they kept saying “I just got a new shrug…” I guess its the hip way of saying half shawl… This can be really fun for transforming spaghetti strap and sleeveless outfits.
Know There are Options. I truly feel like there didn’t use to be… I am happy when I see cute options popping up. I’ve recently been shopping Target with a splash of Kohls, Walmart, and gifts…
Think in Advance. I am the worst at this… But if you think about what you need in advance it will make things much easier. When you have time, you can think, “How could I rework this outfit to make it modest,” or go to a different store if you don’t like what you see. Compromise happens when you’re out of time and panicked.

BONUS: Don’t listen to scorners… or become one yourself. There is always going to be someone on either side of you. Either they are much more modest and will be flabbergasted at your bold vanity, or you’ll be horrified and tempted to bust out the Bishop Fulton Sheen quote, when he offered a woman dressed immodestly an apple… when she questioned why replied, “Please do take it madam. It was only after Eve at the apple that she became aware of how little she had on.”

You can be hip and modest! Don’t be discouraged when you go to the store. You will find clothes that you love, make you feel beautiful and are modest if you are patient.

Where do you find your cute modest clothes?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

What Stay at Home Moms Can Learn from Working Moms (and Vice Versa)

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

I feel like I’m stuck in pickle… I am a working mom, but a lot of my besties are stay at home moms. What does that make me?

I’ve never really felt like I fit under that “working mom” label, but that is in reality what I am.

I always try to guess if you are stay at home or working moms. ps It would be super fun if you’d leave a simple comment SAHM or working. When I did my podcast How to Be Joyful as a Working Mom It was one of my popular podcasts! So, I wanted to look at that topic with a new twist.

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Things Stay at Home Moms Can Learn from Working Moms:

You can’t do it all After going back to work I quickly learned that it is impossible to do everything! I tried for awhile, but I felt like I was going crazy. Finally, I stepped back and looked at how much time I actually have. It is perfectly ok to have a $5 rotisserie chicken made with love by Kroger for dinner.
It’s ok to Hire Help My stay at home mom friends often share how they feel guilty asking for help. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure if you can’t do everything! Working moms have to give things up, they simply are not at home. In a way, this can make it easier to hire help for cleaning etc. However stay at home moms should ask for help too.
Let Some Things Go - As a working mom I have to prioritize what’s going to happen. Some things will slip. That’s ok for stay at home moms too. There can be an unfair expectation that stay at home moms are just eating bon bons all day, so naturally they should be able to get everything done. Be ok letting some things go.

For all Mamas

Don’t say your job is harder! We are all doing what we believe is best for our families. Sideline commentary doesn’t help anyone.

Things Working Moms Can Learn from Stay at Home Moms:

Make Sacrifices Stay at home mom’s often make great sacrifices for their situation. Particullary financial sacrifices. When working it is easy to justify eating out or my personal weakness, frozen coffee. Stay at homes moms often give up these luxuries and we can learn from their example.
Be Creative with Budgeting see above :)
Learn to Work with Kids Underfoot Stay at home moms do not get a break, so anything that gets done is with kiddos in tow. I know that I struggle to accomplish things while entertaining my little guy. This is an area where stay at home moms shine, the art of accomplishing things with kiddos.

Working or staying at home, we all just love our kids and want to spend quality time with them. Have you checked out my free Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments, working or staying at home? Can’t wait to hear from ya!

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Underwater

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

So, it's been a busy week here! I finally caught the cold that my son and husband have had, so my head feels like a beach ball trapped underwater while my throat feel like sandpaper on fire. To quote Olaf… “All good things… all good things.”

So, I’m sad to say I don’t have a new video.

You can check out My Instagram to see what I’ve been up to this week.

Some fun post to check out are:

The Chaos Behind the Pinterest Look

Life Lessons From Cooking

Does Church Still Count if I am Outside

How has your week been?

Weaning Advice That Saved My Life

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Weaning was a bear, for our whole family! I know I’ve blogged a lot about it before when I was in the heat of things, but I never went back after the dust settled to reflect.

In those tear filled moments trying to wean, it seemed like my life would remain trapped in that moment forever! As if we would never move on… but we did, and quite happily I might say.

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Are there times when I miss nursing, or wonder if it was the right decision? Sure. But I wanted to share advice that was the tipping point for me between disaster and success.

Life Saving Advice for Weaning

Choose Pop-tarts and Candy!

Disclaimer: This isn’t the only way to wean… and probably not a very good one. But I was feeling horribly guilty and struggling to wean and those kind words got me through… Don’t worry we’re back to eating eggs and steal cut oats now :)

That might seem like funny advice, but I was lamenting to my friend that I couldn’t have peace with him crying. But I was also concerned that if I didn’t wean, he’d be traumatized when I went out of town for a work trip.

In an ALDI parking lot, my friend and I sat and talked about when she finally decided that it was time to wean… and that poptarts and juice boxes were used to fill the void where mom used to be.

True, it’s not a good long term solution. But she shared with me how I could always choose healthy options after I was done weaning. I wouldn’t be emotionally torn over denying him Pop-tarts like I was over not nursing.

We now have successful weaned! If he has a sweet snacks it is a decision I am making that day… not out of necessity.

Sometimes we just need a mom to say, “You’re doing great!… even if your life doesn’t look like someone else’s.” Find someone who can be that mom for you!

4 little words made my whole life better… “Choose Pop-tarts and Candy!” If you’re in the middle of struggling with weaning, potty training, or another milestone, remember to cut yourself some slack. You are a great mom. If you’re past that, offer a word of encouragement to another mom who is still stuck in the struggle.

How did you wean?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Dreaming of Renovations

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you love your house right now? Or are you itching to renovate?

I love to dream about renovating! I was inspired while reading Marie’s blog, Family House and a Cat, and checking out the transformation that was going on in her house.

Our house right now actually has a really nice floor plan… So I feel like it could be magical! However when we bought our house, it was purposefully an inexpensive house to be placeholder while we paid off a lot of debt.

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With paying off debt as our #1 priority, renovations don’t often make the cut. While that may be true… sometimes I simply a lack the motivation. Our bathroom desperately needs to be renovated… but it’s going to be very complicated and expensive, so basically no fun.

In the podcast Marie shares

Renovation Thoughts

How to Jump In Ideas will always be ideas if you don’t just go for it.
Creative Ideas with Limited Time & Money Even if you’re in a situation like me, trying to save money, there are still some things you can do to love your house!
Challenges That Marie overcame while working on her renovations

If you’re still wondering, “Could I do this with my house??” Marie shares a wonderful story of real motherhood, while renovating.

As moms, I think these are the stories we need to hear. Real mom stories. It is so easy to look at people and imagine their life is perfect. We’re all real moms! Motherhood is messy. But that’s what makes it great.

Have you ever done a home renovation project?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Three Questions Before You Renovate Your Home [Video]

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever find yourself wishing for a new house…or at least a new room? It is easy to look at blogs and pinterest and think ohhh I should redo my livingroom…

I grew up doing minor home renovations… and sometimes they were great! But other times… it seemed like we started to paint the room, got bored… and there it sat :(

Marie from Family House and a Cat has actually been doing some incredible renovations with her house. I really loved her advice.

3 Things to Think about before jumping into a renovation

Time When are you going to do it?
Budget Break it down: Demo - Renovations - Decor
Know Your Skill Level You can’t do it all… and that’s ok!

Are you working on any projects at home?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

How I made $1,000 in One Day

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

As moms, it seems like we always trying to do two things, save money and make money.

While listening to The Eventural Millionaire I heard a millionaire sadly I cannot remember who talking about how he didn’t want to be stuck constantly pinching pennies… instead he would just make more money!

I wanted to share how

I made $1000 in One Day!

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If you feel like this is a greedy or odd post I’m not saying you need to have a trampoline where you jump in stacks of your money. But there are times when some additional income can help, pay off loans, take care of bills, or buy necessities for the house.

Keys to Money Making Success

You really do want to listen to the podcast! It has all the details!

Find a Problem
Look at Your Skills
Be Bold
Don’t get Discouraged
Try the Unknown
Don’t try to Make Millions the First Day
Passion
Say Yes to More than You Can Handle - For maybe a day or two… Try this for too long and you’ll find yourself weeping in a pool of chocolate and coffee.

Basically, I found an opportunity. I created programs for libraries and schools for their summer reading and grant programs. I jumped in, not knowing exactly how it would go. Eventually, I was making between $200-$ 250 for an hour storytime at the library. It truly was more involved than just that… more on the podcast. With a little bit of crazy… I booked 5 events in one day, because it was the only day they needed someone. BINGO $1000 in one day!

Have you ever tried an idea for making money? How did it go?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Fashion 101 with Still Being Molly

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

When it comes to fashion I often feel lost. I have the best of intentions… but some how I will just miss. I remember when people would come up and say, “That is just the best outfit!”… and I’d say, “Yeah that one was a gift…”

Then, I met Molly from Still Being Molly at Brand Market earlier this year. Not only was she incredibly nice, she was super stylist.

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I checked out her blog… all her outfits were adorable and looked perfect!

I was thrilled to interview Molly for today’s podcast episode. She has a wealth of knowledge for making your outfits look great.

But, that isn’t the best part. Molly is a real mom. She talks about the truly important things like…

Feeling Beautiful after Having a Baby
Looking Pretty When Pressed for Time
Finding Cute Clothes on a Budget

Finally, the best part… She shares a hilarious story of how she is a real mom!

If you missed Friday’s post we recorded an wonderful video on Molly’s Quick and Easy Fashion Tips

Speaking of fashion… What is your favorite outfit?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Molly's Quick and Easy Fashion Tips [Video]

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 8 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

A few months ago I was thrilled to attend Brand Market in Raleigh North Carolina. It was an incredible one day blog event that was packed with information! It really gave me the focus and strategy to transform my blog.

But the best part was absolutely the friends I made! I especially connected with Molly from Still Being Molly because we were both nursing moms while attending the confernce.

Molly is incredibly stylish, and her blog is beautiful. Today’s video is a must watch. If you ever feel lost trying to put yourself together, this is the video for you. If someone could have explained style to me in this simple way I feel like I could have avoided a lot of disaster days.

If you are already fabulous at fashion, you’ll love it too. Her tips are great for everyone to keep in mind.

Molly’s Quick and Easy Fashion Tips

A Completer Piece
A Statement Piece
A Face Piece

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Surviving with Sick Kids

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 6 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Have your kids gotten sick yet?

It seems that everywhere we go we’re surrounded by germs and sickness. Ahhhh!

Currently, my family is among the lucky masses who have hand foot and mouth… I can’t even believe I’m writing this, I just want to image it isn’t so.

Talking with other moms, I know we’re not the only ones at war with sickness so I wanted to share.

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Survival Tips for Sick Kids

Change the game You need to change your mindset. If you are thinking about life as just a regular day you will go crazy. Be on your kid’s schedule. Yes, it might mean waking up at 4:30 am… but when they finally fall asleep 4 hours later, maybe you can too.
Do Your Kid’s Favorite Things For us, that is snuggling on our giant beanbag and reading stories all day. What makes your kid happy? Try to spend your day doing that. I think we read close to 30 books in row!!
Explore other options It didn’t seem like there was really anything that the medical world could give us to help. So we looked for other options. We ended up trying some Young Living natural oils… and he finally quit crying and scratching, and actually slept. He may have just been that exhausted or maybe it really worked. Don’t be afraid to explore all your options.
Cut yourself some slack Throw your schedule out the window. Even if you start with big plans, trying to push through when your kiddo is sick might just end with both of you crying. Are you ok with changing plans?
Pack snacks and games while going to the Doctor’s Office. Possibly a tent and camping gear as well… You never know how long you’ll end up waiting. It’s much better to go prepared than to have your little one going stir crazy. Usually our Doctor’s office is super quick, so I went totally unprepared. But apparently everyone in the state was sick, so we waited forever. And no, it wasn’t fun.
Know it will pass Life isn’t going to be like this forever. You will get sleep again.

Bonus You are an incredible mom, right now, today! Smile. You are doing a wonderful job!

What do you do when your kids are sick?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

How's Your Bucket List? with Becky from Tales of Beauty for Ashes

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 4 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Are you reaching your goals? As moms we can have 100s of great ideas but are we actually achieving them?

Yes, the most important thing we need to do is keep our kiddos alive and well. But what about after that? I was really inspired when I met Becky from Tales of Beauty for Ashes She was busy mom just like all of us, but she has her bucket list on her blog, and is actively accomplishing her dream!

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Stuck in the dreaming phase?

There is a way to break out, but it might not be what you think. You can’t walk around dwelling on all the things you need to get off your bucket list. Instead Look for Opportunities. When great opportunities come your way, be brave, seize the moment!

Be flexible with your dreams. Certain dreams work better at particular times of life. Be ok with that. Chase the dreams that can happen now.

Becky has inspired me to share some things I’ve knocked off my bucket list. Where should I start? Leave a comment below for which story you’d like to hear?

How I made $1,000 in one day.
How I paid off $100,000 in debt.
How I wrote and illustrated my first book.

P.S. If you need a little inspiration for getting things done on your bucket list, here’s the video that Becky mentioned in today’s episode. It’s a video of her learning to drive stick shift!!!

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Three Words Your Bucket List Needs with Becky from Tales of Beauty for Ashes

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 1 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever get stuck just dreaming about your dreams?
I was really excited when I started reading Tales of Beauty for Ashes. She had her bucket list right there on her blog!

We’ve got an awesome video where Becky shares the three things you need in order to accomplish your bucket list.

Top Three Things to Accomplish Your Bucket List

Just Do It

What is one thing on your bucket list?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Why Moms Need to Swim

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Is your child beautiful? Do you love them right now just the way they are? Do you do the same for yourself?

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As moms we can do a great job of telling everyone else that God created them beautiful just the way they are… Then we look in the mirror. Ahh.

Summer only glorifies this dilemma with the dreaded bathingsuit. I have the advantage of being part fish, so nothing can keep me from the water. But, I was really inspired when I read Jessica Turner’s post Moms Put On That Swimsuit

Jessica talked about how moms are an example to their children, especially their girls. If you aren’t confident with yourself how will your child learn to be confident?

Thoughts for Jumping In the Water

Be confident! You are beautiful! Just for being a mom.
Don’t go wearing something that makes you feel ackward. Personally, I think a tankini with shorts or a skirt on the bottom are best… Big or small nobody needs to see the booty or the belly :)
It might not be what you imagined. You might not be the mini version of yourself, but that’s ok.

If you child came up to you and said that they couldn’t swim with their friends because they were too fat you would be heartbroken. You would immediately tell your child that their weight does not define them. You’d say “Jump in, do not to miss out on the fun.”

Now, say that to yourself. Your children love you! They want their mom to be with them, in the water, having fun. These are special moments with your kids. Do not miss out on these memories because of a few silly pounds.

Sure, it might not be a model show… My swimsuit I wore this year was maternity… But I felt beautiful it in…. Since being a mom I’ve grown as a person. you can laugh here But I would never trade my son for a smaller version of me.

Do you like swimming with your kids?

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My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Tips for Starting Your Blog with Alli from Taking Care of Monkey Business

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Have you reached your goals? Do you ever need that little nudge to jump in and start? I am thrilled to have Alli with us today from Taking Care of Monkey Business.

I met Alli after Abby from Just a Girl and her Blog featured bloggers who were inspired by her new book Building a Framework. You can check out the interview with Abby with highlights from her book here.

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Alli is brand new to the blogging world, but she already has an adorable site and some really inspiring content.

3 Tips for Starting Your Goals

Find a Mentor - To reach your goals you will need other people to encourage you and show you the way. Alli got a crash course to blogging from her sister-in-law, Chelsea, from Chelsea’s Messy Apron… and it shows. I was impressed when I went to Alli’s site. I know my blog didn’t look that good on day one.
Make an Investment - This investment can be time or money. Alli talks about how after buying a domain, hosting service and blog template she was invested. Every moment that she wasn’t blogging was money that was going to waste.
Involve Your Kids - As a mom’s your kids are the center of your world. It can be a challenge as a mom to figure out how to be successful with entrepreneurial ideas. So many of the marketing and goals books that are written are written by men and for men. They don’t take into account things like staying up all night with a newborn or changing poop explosions throughout the day. Alli knew that in order to succeed she would have to involve her kids. Alli talks about how her daughter loves to help her with blog projects.

Bonus:

Alli shares a hilarious story about being a real mom, so make sure you listen to today’s episode! You’ll get a behind the scenes look at mixing babies with blogging. If you’ve never listened to our podcast before it’s like a mini radio show. It is wonderful because you can listen while doing the dishes, cooking dinner… or relaxing with your feet up because isn’t that what moms really do all day?

FREE ebook

My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

Get Inspired to Start Your Blog with Alli from Taking Care of Monkey Business

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 00:19:00 -0400

Do you ever get stuck in the idea phase? You’re dreaming about all the wonderful things that you’d love to do, but can’t seem to make it happen.

Get Inspired to Start Your Blog with Alli

As moms, our lives are busy. There absolutely is 1000 things pulling us in different directions. But that doesn’t mean we should stay stuck in fudgsicle mud from Candy Land.

Alli from Taking Care of Monkey Business is an incredible example of a mom who’s reaching her goals.

Alli jumped in! Started her blog. Today she is sharing with us the top three things that inspired start her blog.

If you’re dreaming of starting a blog, growing your current one, losing weight or getting your house clean… you won’t want to miss what Alli has to say.

Three Things you need to start your blog: Or follow any of your dreams.

Passionation for Your Content
Encouragement from Family
Goals with a Date

This is only the beginning. Come back Monday for our full podcast episode! Alli and I will talk in even greater detail about overcoming challenges, jumping in creating a blog, great content and cute pictures. And truly the best part… we get to hear about her adorable love story of meeting her husband.

FREE ebook

My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

A Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you spend enough quality time with your kids? This is a big questions for a lot of moms. I feel like I had somewhat deflected its intimidating worries until now. But then my little man got big. We weaned, he got his first haircut, I went away on a work trip.

Suddenly, I joined the group of moms left wondering…

Do I Spend Enough Quality Time with My Kid???

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Like all problems in life this question can be answered by an ebook… My free one in fact :) I joke, but I did spend a lot of time thinking about this question.

Three Tips for Spending More Quality Time with Your Kids

Accept that times have changed. My dream life is a perfect blend of Little House on the Prairie mixed with central air and Panera Frozen coffee. Everything is simple. My days are spent surrounded by my children, little chicks, and a garden in nature. Life moves slower, I don’t have to worry about quality time because every moment is magical.

What is your dream scenario? Do you set unrealistic expectations for quality time? Sadly, we don’t live in Little House on the Prairie, so quality time is going to look different. If your goal is something that no longer exists, the only option is disappointment.
Appreciate the time that you have with your kids. Don’t belittle the time you’re spending.

I was really surprised while reading a study in the Washington Post. Modern mothers spend significantly more time focused on their children than mothers in the 50’s or 60’s. Yet, the modern mothers feel more guilty. Like they aren’t spending enough time with their kids.

You are doing wonderful. Be happy and appreciate the time you are spending with you kids.
Take the Imperfect Moments and Make them Special. When your baby is up all night, being frustrated won’t get either of you back to sleep. Instead look at it as a moment that won’t last forever. Remember, you’re always wanting to spend more time with your kids… now here it is!

Finally, know that you are incredible. Just for being a mom! You can read all 10 tips in my Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids.

FREE ebook

My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

How to Grow Your Blog with Abby from Just a Girl and Her Blog

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 02:22:00 -0400

We all want to be a success! In life, blogging or any other venture we undertake. I am thrilled to have Abby from Just A Girl and Her Blog sharing her tips with us today. I met Abby two years ago. At the time, she was just 6 months into her blog.

By the end of her first year she had almost a million pageviews and had worked with brands like IKEA and Martha Stewart Crafts. She was even making more money with her blog than in previous part time job!

This is when you shout... Tell me more!

Abby discusses her blogging success and teaches you how to be successful blogging too in her new book Building A Framework. We talk about her book and more in today’s episode of A Mom in the Making Podcast. You can listen to it here:

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Read Building a Framework

It is truly an amazing book! I flew threw it in less than 24 hours… and it 179 pages! I loved seeing how she was able to achieve success with her blog so quickly. Everyone talks about the longggg road to success, but it was great seeing things you can do right now to jump start your progress.

3 Blogging Tips from Abby

Hone in on your Content
This send me into a frenzy… does my blog have a theme? Or is it merely a playground after a paintball fight? Take a look at your blog, have you honed in on your content?
Build Relationships
When you’re budgeting time for blogging does this include time for building relationships?
Tell Stories
Abby emphasises to tell your story. People will love you for your story.

Are you weeping because the post ended? Don’t worry Abby has all this and more in her book, Building a Framework, so you can make your blog a booming success.

FREE ebook

My Quick Guide to Spending Quality Time with Your Kids will give you inspiration and ideas so you can start spending more quality time with your kids today! ~ Theresa

I love you...baby?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 09:58:00 -0400

How to Stay Connected with Your Kid

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do use video chatting to bring you closer together? I recently had to leave my baby for three whole days! Ahhh!

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I kept playing over in my head the doomsday scenario. But there was a saving grace. Video chatting. It was wonderful! Even though I couldn’t give my babe a hug we could still talk, laugh, and sing wheels on the bus.

I was worried about video chatting… What if seeing me just made him feel sad? What if he was just crying?

It couldn’t have been better! He was excited to see me. At first you could tell that he was slightly confused. He is used to chatting with grams. so he was puzzled trying to figure out why mom was on the other side of the screen.

But it let us stay connected. During the times that we couldn’t video chat we talked on the phone. It was like a dream come true, he was getting technology and mommy at the same time.

Next time you have to be apart from your babe, think about these tips for greater peace and joy. Even if you’re not leaving your kiddo, these are great ideas for out of town relatives.

How to Stay Connected with Your Kid

Find internet and video chat. Even if you have to go to a hotel lobby or coffee shop the time you spend getting to see each other is totally worth it.
Make video chatting and talking on the phone a regular part of life. First, this helps your child keep up with and remember out of town relatives, but the additional bonus is that they are used to talking with others like this so they will be excited to hear and see you this way.
Talk on the phone. While video chatting is obviously best, if you can’t do that, try a phone call. Sing songs on the phone or play some of the games that you usually would at home.
Don’t rush off the phone or video chatting. Your little one will be happy to see you or hear your voice, even if it’s just a babble. We spend 30 minutes talking about if he went outside, or played with papa. He had the bonus of hearing my voice and I got to laugh as he responded saying “oh wow” and “no” to my questions.

Obviously, if we could all just be on vacation, together and home with family all the time that would be great. But for the times when you are apart, these are a few ways to keep the family connection alive.

Do you have any tips for staying connected while traveling? Or keeping up with out of town relatives?

Is Your Baby Growing Up Too Fast?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever tear up at the thought of your little baby suddenly growing up.? We have recently passed three major milestones in one week…it has only been a good dose of strong coffee and prayers that has kept me alive.

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First, we finally weaned. This has been a long and painful process that we both have approached with kickin’ and screaming. But it had to happen, because I was going away on a work trip for three days, I knew it would be rough on the little guys, but I couldn’t bear the idea of him losing me and his milk on the same day….I could just imagine him crying mulk “puweese”

I was finally able to find some peace with weaning. But just as I smiled from that experience it was time for our first haircut.

This again wasn’t something I was looking forward to, it just showed that my tiny little baby was growing up all too quickly. But it needed to happen, his hair hung down into his eyes. And his hair was turning into tiny baby dreads in the back.

So he got his first big boy haircut… It was killer… Watching his precious curls drop to the ground. I really debated just leaving his curls in the back but I didn’t want him to have a mullet…so away they went. It was really funny to watch him that night because he kept running his fingers in his hair…trying to figure out what was different

Finally, the trip away from mommy. I’m not sure who this was harder on me or him? I am overwhelmingly grateful for modern technology that I was able to video chat and see my little guy and he could talk to me and blow me a kiss.

Where Do Kids Learn to Bite?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

I wasn't kidding. They really do bite.

How to Be a Joyful Working Mom

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 9 Jul 2014 10:31:00 -0400

In today’s episode of A Mom in the Making, I talk with my sister-in-law Gretchen about being a working mom.

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If you are a working mom, you probably have had moments when you’ve felt guilty about leaving your kids to go to work. Here are some tips from our conversation that will help you stay joyful as a working mom.

Love The Work That You’re Doing - Every working mom is doing work that is helping others in some way. You should embrace that and love your work because of it! Gretchen is a pediatrician, and she says that it helps when she can tell her daughter that she can’t stay home with her today because she needs to go help the sick babies get better. That thought makes both Gretchen and her daughter feel better.
Know That the Mom That Cares is the Perfect Mom - Although it’s sad to think about, not every mother out there cares for their child. Some are neglectful and hurtful. By being a mother who cares and is trying, you are giving your child something special. A mom who cares is just what your child needs. She’s the perfect mom.
Think in Terms of Priorities - The Cultivate Simple Podcast inspired Gretchen to think in terms of priorities. Instead of complaining about how little time or money she may have to do something, she thinks about what is a priority for her to spend her time or money on. Maybe your house is messy because you’d prefer to spend time playing with your kids rather than cleaning. If you know what your priorities are, it’s easier to be ok with a house that’s a little less organized.

So here’s a question for you. What would you say to help encourage the working moms out there?

3 Tips for Better Communication with Your Pediatrician

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 7 Jul 2014 10:59:00 -0400

Do you ever feel overwhelmed trying to talk with your pediatrician?

As a new mom I know that I often am concerned about tons of things, and struggle to communicate them with my son’s pediatrician. Then I would listen to my sister-in-law who is a pediatrician complain about different patients who would come in with a laundry list of woes.

To quote Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, “There has to be a better way!”

I decided to interview my sister-in-law and pediatrician, Gretchen about tips to give mom’s better communication with their Pediatrician.

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3 Tips for Better Communication with Your Pediatrician

Make a list. It is fine to have a lot of concerns, but write them down. This way you can use your time effectively when you are actually in the room with the doctor. Plus you will not forget.
Focus on the task at hand. Well visits block out more time for you to spend with the pediatrician so you can ask all your questions. Gretchen pointed out that sick visits are not a good time to address chronic issues. She also mentioned that if you don’t have a well visit coming up, offices have worried well visits were they block off more time with you and the doctor if your child isn’t sick at the moment but there are things going on that concern you.
Know they are very busy. Gretchen pointed out that pediatricians see about 20 patients in a half day! That is a lot. Truly that just made me want to switch to a less busy office. But her point was that as long as you’ve been waiting, there are other concerned moms with their kids waiting to get help too.

I hope this list empowers you. I know it doesn’t make you less worried about your kiddos, or magically give your doctor more time to spend with you, but hopefully you can use these tips to make your time with the pediatrician more productive. So you can walk away feeling satisfied, that you were able to ask the questions you needed.

Do you have any tips for communicating with your pediatrician?

Sugar vs. Veggies [Comic]

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 4 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Being a Real Mom

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 2 Jul 2014 06:00:00 -0400

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Life is so grand

Mine is simply “nailed it”
I don’t understand

I wake everyday
Just like you

Yet why is it so different
Sometimes filled with poo

I am just a real mom
A Mom in the Making

Dinner’s sometimes burt
With no cookies baking

I don’t hang my head
Or feel blue

Instead I give a smile
Meant just for you

We are the real moms
Life’s a little crazy

Until our morning coffee
Our minds are a little hazy

Let us celebrate
Our life here and now

Not its not perfect
But don’t have a cow

Chaos, coffee, cookie crumbs
Sounds good to me

Would you like to join me
A Mom in the Making to be

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Are you a real mom?

I have been trying to figure how to describe A Mom in the Making. I came up with a real mom.

There is a theme I discovering while talking with moms. They don’t like fake. They want to see everything. I did a post Chaos Behind Pinterest to show not just the cute parts of life, but the whole picture.

There are a lot of moms with the perfect house, life, hair etc. and that’s great, but I want to show the life of an average mom.

The mom you’d bump into in the baby isle. The one who is piling 1000 Pamper wipes containers into her hands because they are on sale for 99 cents. Even though there is no possible way her child could ever use that many wipes. - Ok confession… maybe that was just me last week.

We need to share real mom moments with each other! Find a friend who you can be honest with if you are struggling. This probably won’t be the same friend for everything. I don’t go to my super skinny mom friends if I’m struggling with my baby weight. Instead I find a mom who’s struggling with the same thing.

Who is your go to mom friend? Do you share a lot of things with one mom in particular or do you have several different moms you go to for different things?

It is easy to feel like we’re the only one whose kids do crazy things. But we all have those moments.

Two of My Great Real Mom Moments

Letting my son help me make soup… We were measuring water together. Super adorable until I tried to capture it on camera… While I went to grab the camera he spilled 8 cups of water all over my carpeted living room floor!
Some time passed since our soup incident… I wanted to share another moment with my son… I let him share my free sample at Sincerely Yogurt… The mini cup was just the perfect size for him. I reached in my pocket for my camera… He spilled it all over himself, me, and the yogurt created a nice glue between my foot and sandel for the rest of the night.

"More?" Cute little face asking for more after his mess.

Ahh. But it was all worth it.

Do you have a favorite “real mom” moment?

Who is A Mom in the Making?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 11:48:00 -0400

Who is A Mom in the Making? I just realized that I had been blogging just over a year, and podcasting for about 3 months, but I hadn’t done a great job introducing myself.

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While reading Mothers Niche I started to die laughing with how great her about page was. So I’ve redone my about page But I also wanted to introduce myself a little bit more.

I grew up in a big family and around tons of kids. When I was little used to say I wanted to have 100 kids! Clearly I didn’t understand morning sickness and labor back then. But still… I want a really big family.

Once my fairytale of motherhood began so did the sleepless nights. I remember watching tons of Netflix… but it gets to the point that you can’t take another moment of tv. In that moment, I finally understood why all my mom friends loved blogs. Kate at The Small Things Blog had a post one day on How to Start a Blog.

That was just the inspiration I needed. But there were so many blogs out there… Who was I going to be? The Queen of Hair was obviously Kate from the Small Things Blog, Busy Budgeting Mama was the Queen of DIY.

I thought about myself, tired and exhausted in the middle of the night with a hungry baby… yet somehow I was happy. This was the life I always wanted. I was in essence A Mom in the Making. I hadn’t arrived yet! I was up all night, so I clearly still had some learning to do.

I knew there were lots of other moms out there too, who were still in the process of figuring things out. This would be the blog for them!

I have lots of friends who are annoyed by blogs or pinterest because everything seems too perfect. A Mom in the Making shows the fun and funny mistakes with motherhood.

I starting out with Discovering Beauty Being a Mom as my tagline. It was nice. There is so much beauty in motherhood even in the not so fun moments.

Now my tagline is Where Life Isn’t a Fairytale, but You’re Definitely Living the Dream. I don’t love being up all night, working while my son is at home, or squealing in pain as he sneaks up and pinches me… But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Ever Feel Like Your Life Has Termites?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:45:00 -0400

My life has termites. Ok not literally… but roll with it. I feel like my life is sometimes like a strong log cabin. It has a great foundation, it is built of the best materials… everything that I need for success. Storms can come, wolves can howl, but my solid oak cabin is set.

However it isn’t the large looming danger that can take the house down. It is an almost invisible termite, and not one but millions. My life is great, all the major things are wonderful I’m blessed with a great husband, healthy baby, stable job and incredible family.

But it’s all the little things that often make me crazy, the internet freezing while commenting on a blog, a burnt dinner, accidentally dropping my lunch in the parking lot when I was rushing to work and STARVING!. How silly.

Most people looking at a log cabin don’t imagine the little things like termites as a major threat. I feel like I give great attention to the big things in life… but really the little things, if unattended, can cause us to crumble from within.

I am looking forward to focusing on loving and laughing in the little moments of life. Knowing that those little moments ultimately define the big ones.

What is one of your favorite little moments to share with your kids?

Reach the Stars - 5 Tips for Reaching Goals

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 06:00:00 -0400

I want to reach the stars
Soar in the sky

I have dreams that are so big
I’m sure they’ll never die

Yet to reach those lofty goals
Today is so hard

I don’t live in a castle
I don’t have a big yard

My garden isn’t golden
My paint is getting old

I have a leaking basement
Warring with some mold

Living simply in the now
Will make our future grand

But it’s hard to sacrifice
As you can understand

What are your future goals
Or have you arrived

Are you working at them hard
Like bees in a hive

Smile as the sun comes up
It is a new day

Your dreams are getting closer
Joy is on the way

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Do you ever end up discourage while working towards your goals? I want to share 5 tips for reaching your goals.

What are your goals? One of the goals in our marriage is to be debt free… house, car, student loans, everything!

We have been working incredibly hard on this for the past 4 years of our marriage. When we began our minimum payments were practically a full time income!

We made sacrifices to work towards paying off our loans. To start we bought a very tiny house… Imagine this:

Somedays it just feels depressing. I want to be rich! Or at least quit being poor. But I’ve learned a lot over these 4 years and I know our hard work will help put our family in a good situation.

Now I want to help you achieve your goals. Maybe it isn’t paying off debt. Think about what your goal are. Do you surround yourself with people who will support you?

5 Tips for Reaching your Goals

You have to know your goal. If you don’t know where you’re going you’ll never arrive… Even if you don’t know it 100% at least think about the neighborhood you want to end up in and start taking steps towards that.
Have Friends on the same path. Both in front and behind you. We have some friends who are debt free. This helps us see the joys of our future. Other friend are right there with us… this is nice when I need to commiserate with someone.
Know what you are giving up and why. For awhile I paid $4.50 on loans every morning at work instead of getting a coffee… This helped me to see active progress towards paying off loans.
Doom doesn’t last forever, good days will come… Sometimes I’m depressed, thinking that we will be in debt forever! At those moments, I of course forget how far we’ve come on our goals.
Remember you don’t see all of someone else’s story. Sometimes it is easy to look at someone else life and wish you were in their shoes, or had their ease in achieving goals. Everyone’s story is unique. Don’t be discouraged when you look at others. You don’t know all the struggles it took them to achieve what they have.

Bonus: Enjoy today. Life doesn’t magically get better at the end… You have to enjoy your life right now too… I really want to be debt free… but I also work full time and am not ok with the daycare options I currently have. Instead I hand picked who would be watching my babe. Is it more expensive? Yes! More hectic? Yes! But it gives me the joy and peace I need to leave him.

I haven’t reached all my goals yet… but i’m getting closer everyday. Being able to share with you on my blog is a goal!

Think about your goals. Could you use these tips to bring you closer to reaching your goal?

Do you have any tips for reaching goals that I missed?

Life Lessons from Cooking

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 07:30:00 -0400

I have a secret recipe that I can’t share with you! It’s not that I am greedy, or that I don’t think you’d enjoy it. I simply don’t have set requirements that I follow.

Having each meal as a creation onto itself can be a challenge, because I love to share my passion for cooking. Yet, how do I write down what I do when it changes every time?

This style of cooking recently paid off for me. I had all the ingredients for Italian Wedding Soup… except one main thing, endive.

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I knew it wouldn’t be the same without that leafy, green goodness. However my husband and I had already worked late and needed to eat quickly.

Stepping out in boldness I began my soup. Drum roll please… Instead of adding endive, I ripped up some fresh leaf lettuce! It was incredible! My husband asked what I did differently because the soup was even better than last time.

So I later realized leaf lettuce is an option for Italian wedding soup… but I felt bold as I was adding it.

My experience with making the soup reminded me of something important in our lives. There are 1000 books on how to be the best wife, mother etc. And they have some really great ideas and are a great place to find inspiration.

But if you try to follow all of them… You’ll drive yourself crazy.

1st, They probably conflict with each other.

2nd, You’re situation is different.

Recently, I shared the Chaos Behind the Pinterest Look. How life really looks.

You should absolutely use recipes, pinterest, books and blogs to inspired you! But never look at it like it is the only way.

I’ve learned that cooking is an art which is why I’m great at it… I’m are free to reinvent every time. Yet baking is a science… you really do need to follow the directions.

Life definitely requires some baking - your kids can’t hit, run in the street, or play with plugs… but there’s definitely room for some art too. There is no reason why you can’t blow bubbles in the house on a rainy day.

Do you like to follow recipes? Or is your cooking a new creation each day?

Why Does God Put Opposites Together?

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 10:23:00 -0400

Glug, glug, glug, glug… 5 gallons of water splashing into the back of our car!! I guess that’s what happens when you try to fill and transport a 5 gallon jug without a lid.

Do you ever find yourself in a pickle that you should have seen coming from a mile away? At one time or another we all seem to find ourselves in these situations. Luckily God built in a safety net so we don’t wallow in these situations too long. Having us marrying our opposite!

I’d had these water bottles for close to a decade… I bought some, inherited others from roommates while in college etc… There was just one problem. None of them had lids. I had tried finding lids but it seemed like my only options was to buy an entire new bottle which was like $15… I’d just live without the lids.

But driving home that day listening to water splash all over the car, and bailing out the trunk with small cups… We decided to kick up our efforts to find lids.

Amazon was the hero! Our lids arrived and they work perfectly!! Why did I go for years without proper lids? I just didn’t have the right motivation. Or persistence like my husband to scour the internet…

I guess that is why God puts opposites together… So they can complement each other with different strengths. Do you ever feel annoyed by the way your husband does things? Or wonder, “Why are we so different??”.

Although you may not always appreciate your spouse’s difference… at the end of the day you can truly compliment each other. Thanks to my husband’s persistence we will never have to bail out the back of our car again.

What is a difference that you can appreciate in your spouse?

Why Crushing a Dream Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 06:00:00 -0400

You have goals and dreams, but sometimes it is tough trying to make it all work. Today’s episode of A Mom in the Making Podcast is for you!

Maybe you’ve never heard of a podcast, or you never really listen to them… basically it’s like a mini radio show. You do not want to miss today episode! “How Crushing a Dream Can Help You Achieve Your Goals”.

One of my dreams is a beautiful garden. The year after I got married and moved into my house, I achieve that dream. I worked incredibly hard tearing up our front grass with a shovel, shaking out the dirt from the grass by hand, because we were on a tight budget and that was the only way to make my dream happen.

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I loved it! It was beautiful. The next year my garden dream got a little foggy with new baby boy… I had new dreams to fill my time, but I still didn’t give up my garden, I just switched to 10 minute Tomatoes.

This year was different I asked myself a strange question: How much garden can I afford?

You might be wondering what prompted such a question. A garden can save money from buying things at a higher price at the store.

But I realized something… Sometimes you have to crush your dreams to achieve goals.

Having a perfect garden is totally a dream a of mine. So is…

Family time
A clean house
Peace of mind

For you, YOUR DREAM might be a garden, having perfect hair, spending more time taking naps or having a sparkling house.

Are there things in conflict with that? Your goals might be bigger than just one dream.

Looking back at last year my garden dream was on the fast track to being a NIGHTMARE. Thinking about last year, I came to three conclusions:

While it was glorious that I was able to get my tomatoes in… so many of them rotted from not being picked on time or simple neglect. The weeds went rampant as I was too busy to ever spend time actually caring for the garden. And now that May has finally rolled around, I still have the tomato stakes in the ground that I never pulled out last fall.
There is still a lovely bag of manure that I’ve been tripping over on the porch for the last 12 months. I bought it with high hopes of spreading it (much to my neighbor’s dismay) all over my garden last year. But when time ran short, I had a choice to make. Spread the manure or get the plants in the ground. So this bag of manure has been a daily sign on my porch of what trying to do too much ends up like.
I don’t want to be stressed. A garden is a wonderful thing that can bring a lot of joy, but when it is running rampant I feel like I need to tend to it. Especially, because it is in my front yard. I want to enjoy this summer and for once I don’t think that is going to include 1000 plants.

What is the dream you have to let go? It may not be gardening… After tripping over manure or crying at rotten tomatoes…

It could be letting go of the desire to make the perfect dinner if it makes you overly stressed. Or accepting that the house many not look perfect if trying to achieve that makes you cranky with the kiddos.

Is your dream worth the cost? Is this a dream for right now?

I will have the perfect garden… eventually. Not this year or maybe even next.

Letting the garden dream go… I got peace of mind - I will have a nicer looking front yard once I clean up last year’s mess. More time splashing for in mud puddles and playing with bubbles.

Are you ready to crush a dream if it helps achieve your goals?

Save Mariam Yahia Ibrahim

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Today is not a joyful post… It is sad and tragic about a fellow mother who is suffering the unthinkable. I was ill after reading about her story, but feel I must share so we can stand up for her life, her 20 month old and her newly born child.

This isn’t a good post for kids, I try to tell the story un-graphically…but it is still very disturbing.

Listen To This Podcast Episode

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Imagine giving birth while in chains. Being ripped away from your husband. Told that you must nurse your child for two years… and then be hanged. Your life has no value, but you must be kept alive because nursing is best for the child.

I kept imagining this must be a lie. That an overzealous conspiracy theory person was trying to write a scary story to scare the world. I googled and searched over and over again trying to find something to tell this was a lie.

It’s not… Mariam Yahia Ibrahim is Christian woman who is going to be flogged 100 times tomorrow for not renouncing her Christian Faith. The entire story is on Amnesty International UK

A Mom in the Making is a place for joy and encouragement for mothers. As a mom, I could not sleep last night after hearing her story. Suddenly all the problems in my life seems small and inconsequential.

There are several petitions to save her life… At first I ignored them feeling someone else would sign them. And the whole situation just made me uncomfortable.

Then I realized what if I was her? I hope I would have the courage and faith to suffer all that she has. I would hope that mothers around the world would storm the gates of heaven with prayer and authorities with outrage to save my life.

There is a petition at Amnesty International UK

Amnesty International Petition

There is a direct petition to President Obama

Above all pray. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke

Why Is Life Always Better...

theresapobeemensah@gmail.com (Theresa Pobee-Mensah) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 06:00:00 -0400

Do you ever want a different life?

As mom’s we can often look at others and see a bigger house, better behaved kids... although let’s be honest we KNOW are kids are the cutest. But does that really make sense?

If you ever find find yourself wishing for a different life, or a least a makeover of your current one here’s a funny story to give you some perspective.

I am often quite dramatic feeling sorry for myself that I don’t live in the best neighborhood. I dream of the day when life is perfect, and I’m surrounded by corn fields.

Visiting friends living by those cornfields I walked outside at night without a second thought… Then I heard rustling and footprints? Ok now I was freaked out, it was just supposed to be me and the stars.

From the bird feeder came the biggest racoon the world has ever seen, I’m quite confident it could have eaten me alive.

I guess it is just scary to go out at night in the city or the country!

Next time you’re wishing for a change or new look in life, Remember you might lose one bad guy and gain another.

What challenges have you encountered when you finally got something you wanted?