At Home With Dot

As we enter into 2017 my New Years resolution is to be intentional in my interactions with my children. Since our interactions mostly occur within routines; this will be where I start being the most intentional. When I hear the word routine. I automatically think about performing in a dance recital or playing an instrument in front of an audience. However, in this case I'm talking about the events that occur on a daily basis with my children. When these routines are practiced with intention, its showing my children how to interact with others appropriately and with purpose. This is where learning begins; within routines.  Routines are in almost every moment of the day for children (and really for adults too). According to The Program for Infant and Toddler Care, routines take up 80% of the day! The major routines for young children include events like eating, dressing, diapering and toileting. Sometimes, it can be tempting to rush through these rich activities so we can move o...

This is the 3rd post in my restart series. The first two post were about have a quiet time and finding a hobby you love. Thanks for coming along with me! When I'm feeling sorry for myself, I sometimes blame it on my difficult week, month or even year. However, if I'm honest, most of the time it really stems from self-pity. Pity as defined by Webster states "the feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another." So According to this, self-pity means I am just looking at  MYSELF and the struggles  I'M going through. Ouch. Admitting self-pity is so hard. I have the tendency to blame it on something outside of myself. Something like, the kids didn't nap today, my 3 yr. old has many tantrums, my 1 yr. old cries a lot, I had a fight with my husband...again, the lack of time to complete tasks...on and on it goes. Ultimately it's me that decides to feel sorry for myself. There will be times in our life where we face...

This is the 3rd post in my Restart Series. If you want to read more visit my last post here . Last week I was feeling a little trapped. Do you know the feeling? It usually hits me like a brick! I'll be satisfied; feeling really happy with my current situation and then 💥 BAM 💥 !!! The kids feel like heavy shadows, the house walls are closing in, I yell more, I cry more, I feel vulnerable and I just want to sleep. This is when I know I need a restart!  I am human. We are human. There will be times in our lives when we are overcome with sadness, feeling trapped, and restless. Give yourself grace and have it draw you closer to Him. And then know there are great things on this side of heaven for us to enjoy to get us through it. One of those things for me is thrifting! ( Click here for my thrifting tips ) Last week, I gathered up my two toddlers and visited a new thrift store. I had one item on my list; find an old wooden bread box. Th...

As promised I will be writing about how I restart my "system" so I can do my best in the tasks set before me. I'll be doing a few posts on activities that have worked in refreshing my soul! My initial post is titled " New Years Restart ." Take a look and keep on visiting! I love hearing comments and encouraging words from you too!!! So, here is my first restart activity: I'm going to be honest here, in my home with kids "real quiet time" rarely happens...even if I get up early. My kids have this special kid sense that goes like this... "Oh mom is awake, I better start screaming for her now." It doesn't always happen this way, which I'm grateful for. This quiet time for me has molded and changed depending on my stage in life or difficulty of my week. So, let me first explain how this quiet time really becomes a fluid concept for me. When I refer to quiet time I mainly mean my time when I'm reflecting on, reading about...

Find Refreshment Right Where You Are With this year quickly ending and a new one approaching, I thought I would dedicate my next several posts to rebooting! Like a New Years Resolution...but instead a New Years Restart! You know when your computer gets sluggish and it doesn't do what you want? You have to take care of it, right? I'm not a computer genius but I do know you must occasionally delete, refresh, defrag and maybe even call in a professional. Well, its the same with us! We must reboot every so often, so we can do the best at the tasks set before us. That will look differently for everyone and maybe you already do this in some form or another. I'm just now reading up on this, but according to Wikipedia reboot can happen in a few ways (again I'm not an expert): The hard version "where the power to the system is physically turned off and back on again..." or the soft version "where the system restarts without the need to interrupt the power. ...

Me And My Littles When I had just one I tried my hardest to do everything just right. With just one, I planned daily activities, implemented all my child development knowledge and experience, made sure he spent little time in his car seat, no TV, and again planned more activities. No joke, it was hard with one (and I made it harder then it needed to be with all my expectations). I don't think I truly appreciated the time with just one, until #2 came a long, then #3 and then #4 and then guilt sprinkled among each of those arrivals. Wait! What? Guilt? Yup, guilt, big time. Guilt because I thought I wasn't doing enough. Guilt because I looked back on my time with one and I wasn't doing things the same. Guilt because my time was divided. Guilt because I wasn't "practicing" everything I learned during my formal education. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. It wasn't until recently that I realized this guilt I decided to put on myself was all due to my expectations...

Letting The Dust Settle With the holidays here, I often stress and worry about the condition of my home...especially if we're hosting family and friends. "My house isn't clean enough", "my decorations are old", "I need new towels", "look at all the dust", or "her house is always clean." Do I think about the condition of my heart in the same way? Do you place even more importance on your heart then on your home? This is certainly a struggle for me. I enjoy a clean space, no chaos and an empty sink. Reality check...I live with 5 other people. These 5 individuals are what bring life to my home, not how clean it is. During this time of year and all year, let's look to the individuals in our lives and what they might need. This season is a time of joy and excitement but not for everyone. For some it's a time of pain, remembering a hurtful past, the loss of a loved one or searching for acceptance. These individual...

Start The Day With The Anticipation Of A Little Child The sound of kids in the house (as long as it's not screaming or fighting) can really be enjoyable. It's rewarding to hear laughter of siblings, group efforts in a building project or the mumblings of a toddler reading herself a book. I truly and honestly do not slow down as much as I should in these moments. Just stopping to watch the interactions can be therapeutic to the soul. Then there is the sound when they're all in bed...silence...accept for the whirling of the fan in the hallway. I covet this time in the evening when the house is still. It's the time in the day where the kids are not pulling, asking, crying, wanting, messing, and and and...Eventually I'll crawl into bed out of exhaustion but I want to stay up and enjoy this still quiet house, this couple time...this me time. And then when sleep comes it's a beautiful thing! Sleeping is so great and then having to get up in the morning is so ve...

This is a hot topic for me! Mainly because our 3.5 year old is currently still working on this. I don't have a quick solution to push this milestone along. Really pushing this one a long may create more heartache and headache than needed. I have heard of these magical potty learning experiences where the child is completely potty learned in a weekend! Wow! That's so very awesome! I still have yet to witness this miracle in my own house and I don't anticipate it ever happening. So, I chose to stop reading posts about these miracle potty trained children because I was just encouraging disappointment in my life. I don't have the answers but I do have some tips to help encourage you in this potty learning endeavor.   * I like using the word "learning" over training because we're not dogs, right? And the term learning just gives the idea of process instead of immediate success. Do Their Diapering In The Bathroom * From the tim...

Poem By Dorothy To My Love We are going to celebrate 14 years of marriage very soon! I thought it fitting to reflect on the ups and downs of marriage with kids. Cause guys, this is sometimes (or a lot) a kick you in the butt kind of workout (even if you don't have kids). This is a topic I'm choosing to write on because it's currently real and raw and emotional in my life! Before we were married we attended pre-marital counseling. If I remember anything from that it was "love is spelled T-I-M-E. That's right, time. You show love with time. This has been a reoccurring theme in our marriage. If we lack time together, the misunderstanding, harsh words and fighting increase. It usually always goes back to time. Now when I say time that doesn't include watching tv together, sitting next to each other during dinner as you dole out more food to your kids or entertaining your kids together. Although some of these are great time spenders...it's not the time ...

Let's face it, food intake seems to be a consistent struggle for many families. You have one kid that just wants carbs, another that prefers a liquid diet of juice and milk and another that just eats oatmeal (We had one of those). I'm here to encourage you in these real battles. Honestly it's just food and the stronger a battle we create out of it, the stronger our kids will push back and the more stressed we become. This is how we have tackled this "meal time, food stress, drive us crazy mess." Keep in mind this will look differently for different cultures, a child with special needs, texture sensitivities or eating disorders. As you read this, keep in mind you ultimately need to do what works for your family. Its going to look different for each family. These are simply ideas that have worked for our four children. I like to call the following process "meal learning." The main goal being children eating what we put in front of them...including...

Our family was given the opportunity and gift to adopt our foster son in July of 2015 and his sister in November 2015. God was the one who designed this opportunity for us. This is something we often lose sight of.  When we were first considering adoption I pictured this beautiful opportunity to swoop in and provide a family for a needy child. This certainly is beautiful and we did provide a family but I was losing sight of why we were called to this. It isn't about us and what we can do. It's about Christ and what He did for us. We were given the opportunity to demonstrate that kind of love (in our human imperfections) to this world for His children. Deut. 10:18 says "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow..." HE DOES IT!!!   Now here we are over a year after our two adoptions and I sometimes struggle to see this   as beautiful. I lose sight of it and struggle in guilt. Guilt that there is all this ...

The Feet of My Littles On Canvas November is Adoption Month and I thought this would be a perfect time to publicly write about our adoption story for the first time! Once upon a time...just kidding. Our story started in 2011 when we felt the Lord leading us to grow our family of four through adoption. In Fall 2011 we attended a local event on Adoption 101. We took our time thinking and praying (really growing our courage) about moving forward. Fast Forward to Summer 2013 (after completing all the requirements necessary to foster) our first foster son joined our family. We were so excited and I can still remember those butterfly feelings when we first met eyes with one another. Our plan was adoption but we quickly learned the Lord had a different plan. Two weeks after our foster son arrived, we received a phone call that his birth mom wanted to start visiting him again. We asked ourselves, "Lord how can we accomplish this task?" In 2. Corinthians 12:9 it says "My ...