Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 13
December 24, 2015
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you joy and peace this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and the good gifts He’s given us.
And if you’re lonely or grieving or hurt this holiday season, I pray that you would find comfort and small moments of joy in the midst of your pain.
Love, Mandi
P.S. This version of Hallelujah from the band Cloverton has become one of my favorite songs this Christmas. Enjoy!
Related posts:
Coming up in 2015 on Life Your Way
It’s going to be quiet here this week…
A work update (and why I’m posting less)
We’re celebrating Baby Lucas with a 6 for $6 special offer!
December 21, 2015
Fill-in-the-blank thank you cards, printable ornament journal + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Each week this holiday season, I’m sharing seven of my very favorite 101 Days of Christmas projects from the archives.
Christmas is in just 4 days, so rather than give you a list of last-minute projects, I’m going to share a few that will help you in the days after Christmas.
May your Christmas week be filled with joy and peace!
{98} Fill-in-the-Blank Thank You Cards
Sending thank you cards is an important part of our holiday celebration, and these fill-in-the-blank thank you cards are a huge help for emerging writers!
Click here for the free printable.
{99}
Each year we give each of our kids a new ornament for their personal collection, and they love packing them up in individual boxes after Christmas each year so that they can unpack them and put them on the tree the following year.
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{100}
Tell the story behind each of the ornaments in your collection with this printable ornament journal, with space to draw a picture or tape a photo of each ornament as well as journal space to describe what makes each one special.
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{101} Read the Christmas story.
And, of course, we can’t end the series without our annual reminder to set time aside this week to read the Christmas story as a family and remember why we’re celebrating Christmas at all!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Related posts:
Chocolate-covered espresso beans, printable bows + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Hot cocoa in a jar, candy cane reindeer + more {101 Days of Christmas}
How our family is celebrating advent this year
December 19, 2015
Weekend reading: December 19, 2015
From Instagram: {Not} sleeping under the Christmas tree.
I can’t believe Christmas is just 6 days away, with the New Year right on its heels. The last couple of months have flown by, and I’m not sure I’m quite ready for the end of the holiday season.
Lucas is now 6 weeks old and we had a few fussy days this week to mark the occasion! But he also gives us plenty of smiles and sweet snuggles in between, and overall we couldn’t have asked for a happier, easier baby!
What I’m reading: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger and Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
What I’m thinking about:
{Follow my personal Facebook feed for the things I’m thinking about and talking about all week!}
Last-minute Christmas thoughts
On Advent and Christmas Traditions: Don’t be the White Witch | Afterthoughts
The melancholy before the merry | The Art of Simple
Simple, Natural Ways to De-Stress During the Holidays | Keeper of the Home
5 Ways to Keep the Holidays Simple | No Sidebar
An intentional 2016
What kind of perfectionist are you? | A Life Less Frantic
3 Steps to a More Peaceful Home in the New Year | Becoming Minimalist
Regrets as fuel | Seth’s Blog
On siblings
Sibling Conflict is Par for the Course (Here’s Some Help in Dealing with It) | Sarah Mae
If the worst thing that happens to my kids | Mama Needs Coffee
Have a great weekend!
Related posts:
Weekend reading: December 27, 2014
Weekend reading: January 10, 2015
Weekend reading: February 21, 2015
Weekend reading: February 28, 2015
December 18, 2015
Peace of mind with the Owlet baby monitor
We’ve all done it: Our new baby sleeps longer or more soundly than we expect, and we wake with a start, racing to check on them, afraid of the worst. Only after we see their little chests rise and fall or feel their breath on the back of our hand does our heartrate slow enough for us to appreciate the sound sleep we were able to get.
I knew when I was pregnant with our oldest that this was going to be me as a mom. I couldn’t even imagine how I would be able to lay my baby down in her crib and then go to sleep. Who would watch over her while I slept?!
At the time, the Angel Care movement monitor was just coming onto the market, and it became our must-have baby item. To be clear, movement monitors don’t prevent the worst from happening, but they do let you sleep soundly, knowing that if something goes terribly wrong, the alarm will wake you up. For me, that peace of mind made a huge difference in the rest I did get with a newborn.
We used Angel Care monitors for all four of our girls. The downside was the number of false alarms that would wake us up when the baby wiggled too far away from the pad, but the peace of mind was worth those false alarms.
When Jackson was born, we once again set up an Angel Care monitor, but due to his reflux, he never slept soundly in his bed, and the Angel Care monitor didn’t work in the Rock ‘n Play where he slept. We adjusted to life without the monitor, but I definitely woke up more often to check on him.
A week before Lucas was born, I stumbled across the Owlet Smart Sock monitor on Facebook. This tiny monitor is an amazing bit of technology. It slips inside a sock on baby’s left foot and monitors both heart rate and oxygen saturation. An alarm sounds if either varies outside of normal ranges.
I won’t lie—one of the benefits of being a blogger is getting the chance to review cool new products, and I was excited when Owlet agreed to send me one of their Smart Sock systems in exchange for my honest opinion.
The monitor arrived when Lucas was 3 days old. It took us a few days to set it up, but we’ve been using it ever since, and I would recommend it for any parent who worries that they won’t be able to sleep while worrying about their newborn or infant.
Before I tell you why I love it so much, let me share a couple downsides…
1. In my sleep deprived state, the initial set up felt overwhelming.
The monitor works with an iOS app that gives you more information about baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels as well as details on any alarms that sound, but in order to set it up, you have to walk through a few WiFi syncing steps. I meant to do this for the first few days but would forget until bedtime and then be too tired to figure it out. I think I could have used the monitor without the WiFi, but I couldn’t figure that out either.
{Taking the time to set it up before baby arrives would eliminate this issue.}
The first few times we tried it, the Smart Sock would slip off in the middle of the night, leading to false alarms.
It took me a few tries to figure out how tight the velcro straps on the newborn sock needed to be, but this hasn’t happened since I figured it out.
{Trying out the sock during the day would eliminate this issue.}
If I don’t put the Smart Sock on him before he falls asleep, I risk waking him up to put it on before bed.
He doesn’t like when I mess with his feet, so trying to get it on those first few nights was a little tricky. The few nights I forgot, I hated waking him up to put it on.
{Now that we’re in a routine, I slip it on before his last feeding and we don’t run into this anymore.}
The Smart Sock has to be charged each night.
I didn’t realize that the sock stays “on” when you slip it off baby’s foot, and the battery died one of the first days we were using it, so I had to charge it during the first part of the night. Most mornings, we move out to the couch when he wakes up, and I slip the sock off during his first diaper change. At some point during the day I remember to have one of the girls plug it into the base station so it will be ready for bedtime.
{The sock charges really fast, so even when I don’t get it on until dinner time, it’s ready by the time I need it.}
As of that said, the pros outweigh the cons…
On a daily basis, the monitor is easy to us.
Slip the sock on. Press down on the base station to turn it on. In the morning, press down on the base station to turn it off. That’s it.
The monitor uses different sounds for different alarms.
That means when the sock slips off Lucas’ foot or something blocks the signal, it plays a happy little tune to alert us without giving us a panic attack in the process. The base station turns yellow or blue (depending on the issue) as well. The “something is wrong” alarm, on the other hand, sounds like an alarm, and the base station turns red, so there’s really no mixing up the different alarms.
The iOS app shows your baby’s current stats.
That means I can see exactly what his oxygen levels and heart rate are. Now, I’m not really tempted to stare at this, but after the “high heart rate” alarm sounded once around two weeks old, I was thankful to be able to watch the heart rate monitor for a few minutes afterward to see that it had returned to normal. (The alarm sounded twice more about a week later, and I was planning to talk to his pediatrician about it, but we haven’t had any additional alarms since then.)
The “normal” levels are broad to prevent false alarms.
It’s important to note that this monitor should not be used in place of prescribed medical devices. The normal heart rates and oxygen levels are fairly broad based on a healthy baby and may not sound as soon as needed for a more fragile baby. But this does prevent a lot of false alarms so that it’s not going off with normal fluctuations in those numbers.
Overall, I would highly recommend this monitor to anyone who is expecting; it’s given me just the peace of mind I hoped for!
Related posts:
A day in the life of a work-at-home, homeschooling, introverted mom
“Love is a Verb” {and that’s not just a song title}
How self-care makes me {and you} a better mom
How we’re using spiral notebooks to simplify
December 16, 2015
Double the snuggles {how we’re juggling a newborn and a toddler}
One of my favorite things about “starting over” with a new baby after our girls were out of the diapers-and-pacis stage was that I was able to soak in Jackson’s baby days as much as humanly possible. On his first birthday, I created a Flipagram of all of the “lap naps” he’d taken, and it was well over 100 pictures (with several hundred naps that went undocumented).
When our girls were little, we pretty much stuck to naps and sleep in the crib, etc. I don’t exactly regret it—and I’m not sure how I would have survived 4 under 5 if they didn’t sleep in their own beds!—but I have really enjoyed the extra snuggles this time around.
When we found out we were expecting again in March, one of my biggest worries was how we’d juggle a newborn with a toddler who was very attached to us. We’d never dealt with jealousy when bringing home a new baby, but I thought this might be the exception.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to worry. Jack has adjusted beautifully to being a big brother to “Bupas,” and it turns out that two arms are perfect for snuggling both of my boys at once. I can’t wait to put together another Flipagram of these photos at the end of this year because they’re some of my favorite moments of the past 6 weeks:
Related posts:
On letting go of mommy guilt
Why it’s okay to believe your way is the best way
Confessions of a Kindle hypocrite
Worry is not our benchmark
December 14, 2015
Oreo bark, pinecone elf ornaments + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Each week this holiday season, I’m sharing seven of my very favorite 101 Days of Christmas projects from the archives.
We’re counting down the days, and I’m a little bit sad that the end is getting so near. As a family, we’ve never celebrated epiphany, and I’m not really sure how to incorporate it—or even if we should—into our holiday celebrations, so we might drag the celebrating out until the New Year, but then life resumes its normal pace!
{91} Oreo Bark
I’m fairly certain this is my last “bark” recipe, but it’s the best for the week before Christmas because it’s quick and easy and oh so delicious.
{92} Peppermint Milkshake
If you’re in a warmer climate, hot chocolate may not be all that appealing, even at Christmastime. Instead, try this peppermint milkshake for a holiday twist on a cold drink!
{93}
Although I sometimes mourn the toddler days, one of the fun parts of the girls getting older is doing more intricate crafts and recipes with them, like these pinecone elf ornaments. These are still fairly simple, but my middle elementary students can do all of the cutting and gluing themselves, which means their creations reflect their creativity rather than mine!
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{94} Sleep by the Christmas Tree
A friend shared this tradition with me many years ago, and I’m so glad we’ve incorporated it into our holiday celebrations because it’s one the girls look forward to every year!
Click here for more about this tradition.
{95} Peppermint Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Yes, one last chocolate-peppermint recipe, this time in a delicious crackle cookie from Shaina that everyone is sure to love.
{96} Savory Cheese Ball
Last week I shared my hot crab dip recipe, but we always serve it alongside this savory cheese ball, which is my sister’s very favorite party food.
{97}
You’ve probably seen some version of these string “balls” already, but these are surprisingly fun (if a bit messy!) to make.
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Are you ready for the big day?
Related posts:
Handprint calendars, biscotti + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Gingerbread star Christmas trees, fancy cookie plates + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Printable nativity set, cranberry crunch bark + more {101 Days of Christmas}
December 12, 2015
Weekend reading: December 12, 2015
From Instagram: Sweet bell ringers!
The month of December is flying by at an alarming pace. Our baby is now 5 weeks old and we’re already halfway to Christmas! We’re having a lot of fun, but I wish it would just slow down so I could soak it in.
I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to make bell ringing work this year, but thanks to warmer-than-usual temperatures and a short shift, we did! Lucas stayed cozy and warm in the Boba carrier, and these three girls rang their bells, said Merry Christmas to everyone who passed by and sang songs. We had some friends join us for about 45 minutes, which made it even more fun for everyone!
{If you’ve never signed up to ring the bell, I highly recommend it; it’s one of our favorite Christmas activities!}
What I’m reading: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
What I’m thinking about:
{Follow my personal Facebook feed for the things I’m thinking about and talking about all week!}
Intentional Christmas
When Preparing for Christmas Feels Like Preparing for a Final Exam | Chasing Blue Skies
How we use 5 conversation starters to make our family’s Christmas intentional | The Art of Simple
A simple pre-Christmas detox for your mind, body and soul | A Life Less Frantic
Intentional life
5 Quick, Easy Habits that Have Actually Strengthened My Relationships. | Gretchen Rubin
How I Learned to Find Beauty in the Chaos | Storyline Blog
Full speed, then stop, gracefully | Seth’s Blog
Intentional gifts
7 Ways to Avoid Overspending this Holiday Season | Becoming Minimalist
25 perfect gifts and stocking stuffers for the book lovers in your life. | Modern Mrs. Darcy
2015 Holiday (Ethical) Gift Ideas | The Art of Simple
The MomAdvice Unique Holiday Gift Guide 2015 | Mom Advice
Have a great weekend!
Related posts:
Weekend reading: December 27, 2014
Weekend reading: January 10, 2015
Weekend reading: February 21, 2015
Weekend reading: February 28, 2015
December 10, 2015
Simple Christmas treats for friends
Although I’m not doing 101 Days of Christmas this year, I couldn’t help but share these cute little treats that I made for the students and moms in my Essentials class.
These were simple and easy to pull together, but they turned out so cute, and the kids loved their candy sleighs!
**originally found at Ellyn’s Place via Facebook
Supplies:
2 full-size candy canes
1 Kit-Kat bar
6 miniature Hershey bars (bonus points if you get the ones with Christmas-themed wrappers)
double-sided tape
ribbon
NOTE: The original directions used hot glue rather than tape, but I just couldn’t bring myself to hot glue my chocolate. The double-sided tape worked perfectly, and the ribbon helped hold the candy canes in place.
Directions:
Place a strip of double-sided tape on the back of each of the miniature chocolate bars and stack them as a pyramid on top of the Kit-Kat.
Turn the “sleigh” over and add a strip of tape along both of the long sides of the bar. Place the candy canes on top and press them in place. (But be gentle with it because they won’t be secure yet.)
Use ribbon to tie everything together like a Christmas package, pulling the ribbon tight to hold the candy canes in place. Be sure to adjust the candy canes so they’re sitting straight before you tie a knot in the ribbon.
Curl the ribbon and you’re done!
I often buy my favorite tea via Amazon’s Subscribe & Save, which means I have boxes and boxes to share. I also found bags of Ghirardelli chocolate at Home Goods and decided to package them together in little treat bags for the moms in my class.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any treat bags at the store, so my mom had the idea to just tie the Christmas string around each set of tea and chocolate, and I love how they turned out.
There aren’t very specific instructions for these—I just gathered a “few of my favorite things,” stacked them together, tied Christmas string around them, added a tag, and tied a bow. My mom helped me because it was easier to get them nice and tight with four hands than it was with two.
You could use ribbon or twine instead of string or even put your favorite things in a treat bag (like I’d originally planned) and add the tag to the outside of the bag!
Click here to download the favorite things tags.
No related posts.
December 8, 2015
Because #holidaymeans JOY to our family
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of SunTrust. The opinions and text are all mine.
Can I be honest with you?
This year there seems to be an abundance of posts on blogs and social media about the need to simplify the holidays and not try to do it all, and I’m finding myself feeling almost apologetic for our full holiday calendar.
While I agree on many levels (and have often been a proponent of the “just say no” approach), there’s this “race to simplicity” that implies that the family who owns the least or does the least wins.
But having a full holiday season isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Yes, being stressed out is bad. Losing sight of your family’s values and priorities is bad. Filling up your calendar with other people’s expectations is bad.
But embracing a season full of tradition and memory making and joy is not bad. For our family, Christmas is a time of family, of giving, of traditions, of faith.
The details look a little bit different each year, but for us, the key to a joyful—rather than stressful—holiday season is being realistic about our own expectations, willing to drop things if life gets too busy, and unafraid to say no to other people.
It also means getting organized so that we can be realistic about the details. We add important dates to the calendar, make gift lists and budgets, and create lists of activities. We know we can’t do everything, so we start with the most important and work from there, adjusting things as new traditions or events crop up.
It’s important to me that we use Christmas as an opportunity to give as a family, so we schedule those things early. And while we embrace the secular aspects of the holiday—going to see Christmas lights and watching Elf on TV—it’s also important to me that we carve out time to focus on Jesus’ birth and what it means for us (and all of mankind).
Those things—and candy cane cookies—are my nonnegotiables around which we make the rest of our holiday plans, and they help keep us grounded.
In the LIVE course this year, we’ve talked a lot about the difference between busy and full. While some of it is certainly semantics, our general conclusion has been that busy has a negative connotation because it brings to mind images of rushing from one place or activity to the next without any time to rest or even enjoy the things you’re doing. Full on the other hand is about embracing the good things in our lives with full arms. Yes, we might be at capacity, but the things we’re doing are building us up and adding joy to the holidays, not stress.
With 17 days until Christmas, it’s not too late to get organized and be intentional about your holiday season! SunTrust’s #holidaymeans campaign is about deciding what the holidays mean to you and creating a Christmas that reflects those values:
Download the holiday planning guide for simple ways to celebrate within your budget.
Then use this holiday budget worksheet to create a realistic—and doable—Christmas budget.
And find even more resources for a meaningful holiday season here.
For us, #holidaymeans JOY. What does it mean for you?
***
The holidays are for focusing on moments that matter. But for many Americans, financial stress can get in the way. This year, you can make small changes that make a big difference for your financial well-being.
In this holiday planning guide, you’ll find tips for getting organized and making a plan for holiday spending so you can feel confident in your ability to stay on track with your budget. You’ll see how other Americans are shopping, traveling, celebrating and giving in ways that make the holidays cost less, but mean more.
Download the Holiday Planning Guide
For more holiday planning advice visit holiday resources.
Meaningful spending made easy with a budgeting tool to help you make a plan and stay on track with your holiday spending. Download here.
Related posts:
Hanging pinecones, French madeleines + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Peanut butter blossoms, Christmas wassail + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Hot cocoa in a jar, candy cane reindeer + more {101 Days of Christmas}
December 7, 2015
Stocking letters, gingerbread snowflake creams + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Each week this holiday season, I’m sharing seven of my very favorite 101 Days of Christmas projects from the archives.
Just two-and-a-half weeks until Christmas! I hope that countdown fills you with you and excitement rather than stress. Christmas last year was a little stressful for us because we were out of town until the second week of December and I was learning my new role with Ultimate Bundles and preparing for the DIY Bundle, so I’m especially enjoying being home this year with a little more flexibility in my schedule (and a warm baby to snuggle!).
{84} Stocking Letters
I’ll be honest that I haven’t been great about doing this every year, but I love putting letters in the kids’ stockings to remind them how very much they’re loved! This fun tutorial shows you how to take a normal piece of paper and fold it into its own envelope for an extra special stocking letter.
Click here for step-by-step folding instructions.
{85} Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bark
I told you I have a thing for candy barks, and this chocolate-peanut butter bark is especially fun because it’s so very simple (which gives you plenty of time for playing with the peanut butter design!).
Click here for the {super simple} recipe.
{86} Gingerbread Snowflake Creams
Turn your gingerbread cookies into snowflake cream sandwiches with this recipe and tutorial.
{87} Hot Crab Dip
Looking for a savory dish to serve on Christmas day? This hot crab dip is one of our very favorites, and my husband was so glad we added it to our appetizers last year!
{88} Peppermint Chocolate Pretzel Treats
Pretzel treats are a classic Christmas treat, and you can make them with a variety of candies. This version uses peppermint hugs and it’s one more recipe to feed my chocolate-peppermint addiction.
{89}
Gather the kids and a few simple supplies to make these simple snowman ornaments!
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{90} Sibling Gift Exchange
Typically I dread taking the kids to the Target toy aisle because waiting on them to browse their options and make a decision can be truly painful. However, the secret sibling gift exchange is one of my very favorite Christmas traditions, and I always enjoy this trip to Target, even if we do end up spending an hour walking back-and-forth through the aisles!
Click here for more about this tradition.
How are you making the most of the Christmas season this year?
Related posts:
Handprint calendars, biscotti + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Chocolate-covered espresso beans, printable bows + more {101 Days of Christmas}
Hot cocoa in a jar, candy cane reindeer + more {101 Days of Christmas}
