A photo my friend snapped of me, surveying the paradise that would become our back yard in 2004.
Do you ever get a feeling that things as they are will soon come to an end and a new chapter of your life will begin? Lately, a whole host of factors have led our family to consider major decisions that will affect the course of our lives. While the last few years were about exploration of several career options and creative ideas for me, having our first baby, settling into the home we built with our own hands, and my husband receiving several promotions that moved his career forward, things now seem to be shifting, and quickly.
29 Diapers is successful but hasn’t taken off in the ways I had hoped. My sustainable transportation work has financed a shift to fiction writing, but also not in the way I had expected. A new career opportunity is hovering on the horizon. I successfully completed my first 75,000-word novel, but I still need to edit it before pitching it to publishers. Baby girl is now a toddler and in the last 6 months has given up all her naps, drastically changing the landscape of my day. The dream home that was so affordable when we built it at the height of the housing bubble is now far more expensive than some attractive alternatives. We are considering changes we never thought we would, including possibly moving from our home–if we can sell it. My husband has gone back to school part-time, leaving me to watch my daughter nearly around the clock on my own. I finally have a diagnosis for the pelvic lower back injury that has plagued me since I was pregnant with my daughter, and I just started physical therapy this week, but it left me barely able to walk. Things even are shifting spiritually, as we consider rejoining the Christian faith community in ways we haven’t been able to since leaving the church we both grew up in that essentially split on top of our wedding… a church that suddenly found itself in a state of collapse recently, by the way. It seems major changes are afoot in many people’s lives right now.
Our home is like a permanent vacation in the woods. Even cats appreciate the tranquil atmosphere. Wait, why do I feel like I'm writing an elegy for my house?!
I normally write on these topics on my personal blog Ann Arbor Editor, but I wanted to mention them to you because these sea changes occurring in our lives have really affected my blogging. While I was getting unsubscribe requests in January for posting too often, now I can barely manage 2 posts per week, and nearly all my blogging efforts are going toward planning this year’s huge 29 Diapers’ 29 Days of Christmas eco-friendly gift guide and giveaway event in December. 29 Diapers is a part of my parenting I have cherished. You all are a great group of people I love to reach out to and connect with on so many levels. I know that it’s simply exhaustion and major decisions I need to make that have frozen my brain and made me forget what I wanted to post about this fall. I normally don’t let myself post apologies for changes in posting anyway, but this seems like it’s not just a busy time. It’s a pivot point in my life.
I want to bring you along with me. Will you stick with me through these changes? Many of them haven’t even registered on your radar, I know. Most of this is all behind the scenes in our lives, too. Whenever I wonder if 29 Diapers is one of the things I need to leave behind, I remember that its core purpose–to help parents make eco-friendly and safe parenting affordable–is still very important to me and to many other people. So, 29 Diapers makes the cut, even in a time like this. For the moment, I will try to post meaningful and useful information for you as frequently as I can. It just won’t be as often. You can support 29 Diapers by reading new posts (it keeps traffic up to help attract sponsors), donating to the site’s work at the top of the sidebar, and by purchasing EcoFrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year in paperback or e-book format below for your friends who need to know that the choice between safe and stylish parenting and affordable parenting is a false one. Would you help me keep 29 Diapers growing through this time of change? As stressed as I have been, I’m very excited about where this new chapter could take us, and I have some great ideas for new ways this site can serve you–if I can get to the point where I have time to develop them. Please come along for the ride.
Many blessings,
Laura
Most definitely! I’m not going anywhere. I may not post comments most of the time, but I read every post.
I have to say that I love your blog and I would hate to see you go. You have introduced me to so many new products and your money saving tips really helped out my family during a critical point in our lives. I may not read every post or comment on them, but I do enjoy everything that you put out here.
Thanks so much for all that you do! May the changes in your life be met with grace and may they guide you to joys immeasurable!
Thank you so much for sharing. This is a changing season for so many of us. I don’t mind less posts, I feel guilty I can’t read them when they come through anyhow. Maybe this will be a chance for me to catch up. Your blog has been a wealth of knowledge for me and I am so grateful.
I’m sticking around
Not unsubscribing. I’m very much in a similar place in life as you! My Eco-Babyz blog also hasn’t taken off the way I hoped, but it’s not something I can just abandon. We’re having a baby (#2) in three weeks! I can barely keep up with everything going on now (attic remodel dragging on since June still isn’t finished). My mind is occupied with so many things, the next blog post topic isn’t a top priority. Plus I’ve cornered myself by signing up too many sponsors for giveaways this month. Why do I do this to myself?
We didn’t build our home, but the one we have now isn’t something we can afford either – so many people are under this strain right now! Hope everything works out well for you, get well too!
If it helps, I never considered unsubscribing when you posted more frequently. Since my life as a wife and mom to seven children is busy too, I am fine with your less frequent posts. That said, when you do have lots to share with us and I am pinched for time, I just pick and choose what I have time to read at that moment in time and hope I remember to go back later and catch up. Keep on plugging away. In my opinion, one post a week is better than none. =)
Happy to stick to around! Your life will be quite the page-turner.
Thank you so much, Amber. That’s very encouraging.
Thank you Julie, Sarah, Beth, and everyone else who commented here. I do appreciate you telling me that you appreciate 29 Diapers, as it is a labor of love and a lot of work. It’s so good to know that you’re out there reading and gaining something from what I put out there.
Thank you for sharing. I like your positive outlook on the changes. I hope the best for you and your family. I will be sticking with you as well. I love your blog and your cause.