Say a Prayer!!

Well, folks, I have to be honest and say that this week has been a rough one for the Carlson Crew. The kids recovered from a round of the crud just in time for Brandon to get knocked down for the count by it. He hasn't taken a sick day in over a year, but was home on Monday and Tuesday trying to recoop. He had horrible sinus congestion, a terrible headache, and fever. He went back to work yesterday, but still sounds funny, although he says he feels better than he sounds. Now, you Mommies out there all know how hard it can be when the co-President and CEO of the household is sick. No fun.

Another stress in our household as of late has been potty-training. Allow me to vent for a minute here. Long story short: Connor has had some pretty serious bowel issues, which have been a GIGANTIC stumbling block on our effort to get him potty trained. About a year ago, after months of looking for answers, we finally got him on some medicine that seemed to help with the problem, which is great, except for now, one year later, we're still struggling.

For a period of about a week and a half this month, he did GREAT. No accidents, pee and poop in the potty, and he didn't even have to take his medicine. After two years of working hard with him, we were ECSTATIC. We took him to Toys 'R Us to pick out a special toy. The next day, he started having accidents again (hmmmm...). So, after deciding that clearly, we cannot reward him for good progress with anything other than praise, we boxed his toy back up and had him return it to the store. NOT FUN. Although he didn't seem really phased by it, it was so hard to do!! Here we had believed that we were doing better...

Since then, it's been a rough go. Lots of dunking poopy underwear and having to come in from outside for pant-wetting. IT IS SO FRUSTRATING and I am not kidding you when I tell you that we have tried EVERYTHING (two years gives you a lot of time to explore all the options!). I know that ultimately, it is a decision he has to make and I shouldn't stress about it, but any parent that says that probably hasn't worked on it for two years solid.

So, I just ask for your prayers, especially for me. I want so badly to show my children God's love, and I feel like right now, all Connor and I do is dance back and forth about his accidents. I am frustrated because I feel like we got a taste of what life is like for every other potty-trained 4 and 1/2 year old, and now we've regressed. I am raw with emotion and really hope this gets better soon. It's a daily stress for me and I feel like I can't think about anything else. Plus, Connor feels the stress of it, too, I know.

What scares me even more is that technically, I should be thinking about potty-training our daughter. YIKES! We've broached the subject with her, and after talking about it one night, she walked into the bathroom the next day while I was showering and announced "Mommy, I not want to wear big girl pants--EVER".

Oh, boy....