General update

Life has been really busy lately.

I find that I post more on Facebook and less on my blog, probably because that is faster. 

Here are some of the things that have happened lately:

•  I pretty much quit doing property management (except for our own properties).
• We lived half at our house and half at Jeff’s parents’ house for a while, and then half at our house and half at a motel for a while.
• A couple weeks ago we moved into an apartment, and we bought a bunch of new furniture (including a real kitchen table, real couches, and a real bedroom set).
• We are “simplifying” as we move into the apartment, which means the apartment is usually completely clean and organized, but I frequently don’t have things when I need them because they are still at the other house.
• I am making Paisley’s new bedroom a Montessori-style bedroom, which doesn’t mean a whole lot yet, because I don’t have the time/money to do what I want to with it.  So far she has a mattress on the floor, and I am planning to sell our nursery furniture instead of moving it over here.  I feel like I should sell the dresser with the matching changing table and crib, though, so I need to find some sort of replacement for that.   
• We were careful to choose an apartment that allows Danes, paid a bunch extra to bring Chalcy, and so far it isn’t working out very well.  The cat, goats, and chickens are still at our other house.
• We are looking for a new house to buy, but we can’t agree on what type of house we want.
• My grandpa passed away last week, and this past weekend I took Paisley with me to southern Utah for a graveside service and a weekend with my family.
•  I started a parent support group for parents practicing Attachment Parenting, and it has been extremely successful.  (Today my meetup.com group has 41 members, and my Facebook page has 36.  There is some overlap, but actually not that much.  We have had two monthly support meetings, and I think six playgroup meetings. I have found other moms who are interested in helping lead the group and they have run all of the playgroup meetings.)
•  I have been working on becoming a Leader and officially starting a chapter with Attachment Parenting International.  I’ve been reading a bunch of parenting and communication books (and watching DVDs) and reviewing them as part of the leader accreditation process.
•  I have felt depressed a lot lately.  Partly because of property management ending, partly because of the move and displacement when we were living multiple places, partly because I’m the mom of a baby that has been teething like crazy for a long time, and partly because I consistently don’t get enough sleep (among other things).  Exercise helps.  Making new friends with my parenting group helps.  Sleep helps.
•  I have developed a little bit of an addiction to The Chocolate (dessert café) which is between our new apartment and the gym.
•  I am trying to learn to be Very Organized.  Organization does not come naturally to me, but I am finding inspiration on YouTube and the blogs of organized people.
•  I am one of the moderators for the “Nutritional Wisdom Book Club” on Facebook, and I lead 1/3 of our discussions.  I’ve been doing that for several months now, and sometimes it is interesting to me and sometimes it isn’t.  Right now we’re reading “Wheat Belly”.
• Jeff and I took a mini-vacation to St. George at the end/beginning of the year.  It was really nice.
•  I really like being a mom, and I think Paisley is fantastic.

I’m probably missing some big things, but those are the things that come to mind. Time for bed. 

Maybe another time I can catch up on Paisley’s monthly updates.