hogar, dulce hogar...

I tend to be long-winded, so I'm going to try using a bulleted list to sum up our journey of the past year and a half:

• spring 2011-Caleb accepted an offer to oversee the building of a cabin in Show Low 
• June 2011-realized we could buy a house and rent out our upside down death trap on Delta
• July 9, 2011-headed to Show Low for what we thought would be 2 or 3 months, leaving our house to a newly married young couple
• August 2011-had an offer accepted on a fantastic house on Inglewood
• end of September 2011-found renters for our house on Delta, kicked out the young couple, moved everything we owned into a storage unit, then backed out of our contract for the Inglewood house (toxic mold!)
• end of October 2011-Becca came back to Mesa, moved in with the Wheelers
• beginning of November 2011-Caleb came home and we moved into a temporary condo
• January 2012-began looking at houses again
• February 14, 2012-had our offer on the Kachina house accepted by the seller, but had to wait for the bank's approval
• January through April 2012-put in over 25 offers on houses all over the valley, with only the Kachina house being accepted
• April 30, 2012-Our offer on Kachina was unofficially accepted
• June 8, 2012-Kachina was offically approved, with less than 3 weeks to get financed
• July 5, 2012-we closed on the house with our backup plan of a hard money loan after asking for one extension and never hearing on a second
• July 7, 2012-moved out of the condo and into Caleb's parents' home while we painted, prepped, and cleaned the carpets at Kachina
• July 12, 2012-officially sleeping at Kachina
• November 2012-refinance finally went through, settling in to our new home!

If you notice the highlihted places, from July 9, 2011 to July 12, 2012, we lived in 6 different places!  I wish I had dealt better with the changes, and most of you know, this was a really hard time for me.  From being pregnant, to dealing with Jane's sleep issues, living above an angry woman, and having a new baby, I was not in a good emotional state.  I complained a lot.  BUT!  We are finally here, and we are so happy with here!

Let's call these the "before" picures:

dining

laundry

kitchen

1/2 bath

family room

entry

hall bath

living room

Jane's room

master

Asher's room

4th bedroom

backyard

sleep deprivation and other non happenings...

These last couple of weeks I have felt more overwhelmed and worn out than I remember feeling ever before in my life.  My house is a mess, I don't return phone calls, my hair goes unwashed for days on end.  You might think that I am busily engaged in some good causes that take up my time.  Or at least in causes, whether good or bad.  It seems if I can not find time to check my voicemail, go to the grocery store, or fold laundry, I must be busy reading, socializing, crafting...something. No.  I am not.  And one more thing I am not doing:  sleeping.

Our little Pashy is using his mad skills as a fat cutie to trick me into allowing him to sleep with us every night.  And once we (read I) gave in, he pushed a little more and now only takes naps if I'm at his side.  You know that precious time during naps when you can have a little "me-time"?  Yeah, non-existent.  It's all "him-time" now.

<insert judgement here>

I know, I know!  I used to judge people like me.  I'd find myself thinking, "Stop whining and let the boy cry it out already!"  But for some reason (or reasons, like his super round chubby head and giant smile, and the fact that he is cutting his first tooth), I haven't talked myself into it just yet.  I also hear a lot recently about the cry-it-out method being damaging.  I don't think I believe that, but that tiny shred of doubt combined with dread of hearing him scream has been enough for me to put it off.  

But I'm getting there.  I think.

By the way, anyone else scrutinize other moms' Facebook photos in the hopes of finding others' floors as dirty as their own?