Why Not? It's Only Been a Year....

First the excuse, and then the re-cap. I do have a somewhat-lame attempt at a legitimate excuse. 

Let's rewind to November 2011. 

Naive, first-time mother Jenn had this brilliant idea that she should potty-train her toddler. After all Clara was old enough, took instruction relatively well, and according to most potty-training books, should be ready for this milestone. After a terrible week I decided that I was getting frustrated enough with my child that it wasn't worth it and we needed to postpone things. No real harm done...right?

Now fast-forward to January 2012. Clara decided that she kind of liked this potty training stuff and was going to attempt it by herself. I literally could not let the child leave my sight because the next thing I'd know she'd be bare-bottomed having made a very large mess all over the bathroom, or somewhere on the carpet. Yeah....TMI, I know. So despite the fact that she still wasn't ready, we began another attempt to potty train purely out of necessity. It was not pretty, mostly because it was incessant. I felt like the daily sum of my existence was to clean up crap (I am being a little melodramatic, but it wasn't fun either).  I discovered a whole new terrible dimension to the limits of my parenting skills and sanity.I remember actually hitting a point when I thought - I've traumatized my child beyond the point of return - she will never use a toilet.

A word to the wise: let your kid tell you when they are ready to potty train. Everyone kept telling me I'd know when they were ready, but I guess I wasn't convinced. 

By February we were somewhere in the realm of something bearable. Early spring brought even better results. In an effort to spare everyone the gory details I chose not to write. Don't get me wrong, things have been working beautifully for a quite while now. Once we got the potty training under grips she was pretty quick to start staying dry through the night. However, reliving those months in the blog was too much...even doing it now still makes me shudder a little bit...

On a more serious note, 2012 was a good year for our family. When I think back on the year I haven't written, when I try to think of how I could adequately sum-up so much time, one word comes to mind: Repentance. I feel that as a daughter, sister, mother, and wife I've been asked to grow; to not accept my weaknesses, but instead to challenge them. I renewed and revitalized a precious relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ as I learned to utilize the Atonement in areas of my life I probably would have previously waded through alone. I found peace in relationships I was convinced would never be the same again. I found acceptance and even comfort when I relinquished control of situations that were never really in my control in the first place. I found sweetness and joy in forgiving others, and asking to be forgiven.

Even despite the low moments, however long they lasted, I remember getting down on my knees several times and thanking my Heavenly Father for such a perfect life. Hopefully I can be a little bit better (although probably not perfect) in my record keeping of all the blessings we enjoy. 

Ahh. Good to be back!