Julianna + Olivia: pom pom motivation jar

When Julianna was potty training we used a jar and pom poms as a method of motivation. she earned pom poms for using the potty. When she filled her jar, she got a big prize. She went on a movie date with daddy and got to visit Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. After filling the jar up twice, she no longer needed the extra reinforcement and was fully potty trained. Olivia (with the help of Julianna) has been working on potty training for a few months now. I decided to pull out the jar and pom poms for her now. We also decided to do a jar for Julianna again to reinforce some behaviors that we are currently working on and to reward responsibility. When their jars are filled, they will be able to choose their special prize. A little intrinsic and extrinsic motivation goes a long way! 

from the heart: bloom where you are planted

As Olivia's second birthday approaches, I think about how much has changed in my life in the past two years. The biggest change was her birth. Two children is so much different than one- especially when they are 26 months apart. The first few months after Olivia was born, were some of the most challenging months of my life. Besides having her, my career also changed around that time as well. I decided to postpone my teaching career and stay at home with my two girls. I left the school that I had dedicated so many hours at as a classroom teacher to four groups of amazing third graders. It was one of the toughest decisions of my life because since I was a little girl that was all that I had really wanted to achieve. I wanted to be a teacher. The first few months after I had Olivia, I really missed teaching. Teaching was my comfort zone. Staying at home with two children and meeting their every need 24/7 was very new to me. 

Due our family's financial situation, I needed to return to work when Olivia was about 5 months old. I interviewed for 2 teachings job and neither one of them worked out. At the time, I was frustrated and couldn't understand why they didn't work out for me. After that, I randomly remembered an opportunity that was presented to me a few months prior. The director at The Dream Center, who was also a friend of mine, wanted me to come work there as a lead teacher. When she initially asked me, I didn't want to do it since I had just left my other job and I had a nursing baby who refused bottles. But sitting on my couch one day in December, I randomly sent her a Facebook message to see if she still had any positions available and to my surprise she did. The timing was right. It was perfect actually. I could spend most of my time with my children and leave a few hours to work with at-risk youth who I could teach. I could fulfill my lifelong desire of being a teacher while still spending most of my time with my girls. An even bigger blessing that came about was that my mother offered to watch my girls, free of charge, for me to go to work at The Dream Center.

A few weeks after I began my job at The Dream Center, Josh was offered a new job. Life started falling back into place after feeling like it was falling apart. So here we are about 15 months later. I still absolutely adore my job at The Dream Center. I love working with the kids- mentoring, teaching, tutoring, and inspiring them. I believe my 4 years in the classroom prepared me for the jobs I have today- motherhood and working at The Dream Center.

I work Monday-Thursday from 2pm-5:45pm so I have a lot of time with my girls before I have to be at work. We fill that time up with many activities such as preschool, storytime, and my most favorite thing, my mom group- which I will share more about in another post. Being able to spend so much quality time with Julianna and Olivia has been amazing. I feel like I missed out on so much during Julianna's first two years while I was working full-time but we are making up for lost time now.

The question I get asked most often is- are you going to go back to teaching? I'm never really sure how to answer this question because I feel like I am teaching right now. I'm not in a traditional classroom setting but I do teach every single day. Whether it's my own children or the students at The Dream Center, everyday I am teaching. Will I ever go back to the classroom? I'm not sure. But I am sure of one thing, I am right where I am supposed to be at this season of my life. I have found the perfect balance of family time and work time. It's truly such a blessing. So for now, I will bloom where I have been planted and I hope you will bloom where you are planted, too. God puts us exactly where we are supposed to be and I know with certainty that I am right where I am supposed to be and blooming with content.

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. 

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

image via pinterest

running my race

My week didn't start out well. Preschooler meltdown in the middle of Chick-fil-A, feeling like a sub-par mother, messy house, a runaway dog, cloudy weather, and feeling under the weather. I just felt off. I know we all have days like this but I just felt so down on myself. All that ran through my head was, "I'm not good at anything." I never really told anyone but Josh how I was feeling those days but so many people who didn't even know I was struggling, lifted me up and encouraged me. God heard my prayer. I prayed for reassurance and encouragement that day.

One of my mommy friends posted a link to a blog post by Jen Hatmaker, one of my favorite Christian authors. The mom group that I lead is currently studying a book by her called Tune In. This is the blog post. It was called "Run Your Race." My mommy friend shared this post and through this post, we lifted up and praised other moms for their gifts. A mom friend, whom I've never met in person but I feel like I've known forever, called me out. She said, "I am calling out Emily Soto this morning...she always has a smile on her face. We don't live near each other but I can tell that family is everything to her..she is an awesome Mama to her two girls. And don't get me started on her fashion sense and consignment shopping..You rock Emily!!"

Wow. I stopped. I cried. The day before this, I prayed my prayer and it was answered. I am a good mom. I needed that reminder when I felt like I was simply failing. So thank you, my friend. I needed your kind words at that moment. Then two more sweet friends shared kind words about me today. Words are so powerful. They can bring us down or up. These words brought me back up to where I needed to be. Thank you, ladies. So much.

So back to the article, it's about running your race. Using your God given gifts and letting them shine. I immediately thought when I read this blog post, um... "what gifts do I have to share?" That mindset has always been with me. I quit everything I started growing up if it caused me to go a little out of my comfort zone. Softball, cheerleading, basketball, chorus. I quit because to continue I had to audition or tryout and that frightened me to death. Rejection and failure scared me. I have always wondered if maybe I could have excelled in one of those areas if I wouldn't have been so afraid?

I am running my race. I am going to share the gifts that God has blessed me with and not let my fear of failing hold me back. Not anymore.

"God truly built gifts into our lives. Everyone is just innately good at something." -Jen Hatmaker

Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me this week, even if you didn't know that I needed it. Keep running your race.