So recently we made a big decision in our life and I wanted to document our experience and feelings that we had through this experience and our reason for why we chose the choice we did.
When we brought Declin home from the hospital we did not have a bed set up for him, and only a few clothes were brought out of storage for him. Now granted we owned all of the necessities that he needed they were just all still packed away in boxes in the basement. So for the first few days he was home we spent time thinking through our living situation and rearranging rooms. We have 3 bedrooms in our house, 2 "kid" bedrooms. Adalyn slept in one and Jensen in the other. One bedroom was decorated girly and the other one was all boy. I really liked the idea of a boys room and a girls room, so while I was pregnant we decided that if the baby was a boy he would move in with Jensen and if it was a girl, she would move in with Adalyn. Problem solved right? Well when we got Declin home reality hit and we quickly realized there was no way we were going to put our newborn baby in the same room as our 20 month old if we could help it (nobody would be sleeping well in that situation). So plans changed and instead we moved Jensen in with Adalyn since they are already on the same bedtime/nap schedule (don't know why we didn't do that from the beginning). I am now currently in the process of making her room more "gender neutral" bedroom for the two of them even though I miss having a girly room. Declin now has his own room, in Jensen's old nursery.
This process of shuffling children around got us thinking/wishing for a little bit more space to spread out with since we would eventually like to have a larger family. Neither of us were actively looking for a bigger home at that point, just internally wishing that we had more space. But then we had dinner with some friends that recently moved to Idaho Falls. They live in a town home and are now looking for a home to buy. Their excitement about the prospects of buying a home got us really thinking about a new home too. Trust me the excitement is contagious, sometimes you can't help looking into the "what ifs" and possibilities.
So we made a list of things that we wanted in a new home for our family. These things are things that we have thought A LOT about. After living in our current home and looking at all of the pros and cons we really think that if we found these things on our list that we would have a REALLY good situation for our growing family.
Our must haves for a new home:
1. 4 bedrooms upstairs (nursery, master, girls room, boys room/ upstairs so the baby can sleep while older kids are awake and playing)
2. at least a 3rd of an acre. (room for a garden and kids to run)
3. Close to schools (so the kids could walk and save mom from driving SO much. right now we are FAR away from any schools)
4. Neighborhood with sidewalks (we love having neighbors and I love my daily walks.)
5. Large dining room that would fit a large table
6. Finished basement (we have an unfinished basement now, so if we were going to go to all of the work of moving we wanted that basement to be finished already)
So one night I got online and started looking at homes.
Then I found one that seemed like a good fit for our family.
We went and drove past it... still liked it.
Then we got a Realtor to show it to us.
Didn't love it, but saw its potential and it really fit the needs of our growing family.
Decided to put our house up for sale to see what would happen.
Boom, in one week we were selling our house! Crazy! We still weren't 100% sure if we wanted to move, but figured we would try and sell our house while we prayed and thought about it.
One week later after our house went up for sale we found "the" house.
The first house was good for a lot of reasons, but the 2nd house that we found was just begging for a growing family to move into it. :)
Our budget is not huge, so their aren't a lot of larger homes in our price range, but this house was a short sale so it ended up being in our price range. It was large, 4 bedrooms upstairs plus bonus room over the garage, huge master closet, large upstairs laundry room, grand staircase, main floor office, large dining room and kitchen, huge pantry, bedrooms downstairs, large family room downstairs, downstairs playroom, and TONS of storage space. The yard was mature, with fruit trees, a garden space and a deck off of the dining room. The house really would have been so nice for our family and I have no doubt we would have loved living there. The neighborhood was quiet and it was close to an elementary school. For fun if you want to see pictures here is a link to the house that we really wanted to buy (p.s. we realize it isn't that exciting to look at, but we loved it for what it could have become also for its functionality) We were ready to buy that house if we got our answer that it was the right thing for us to do. But the answer never came...
The answer to our prays that did come was to be financially smart. The house would have worked for us and we honestly think we could have afforded it, but things would have been tighter. The increase in mortgage payment had both of us a little nervous. Especially since the house did need some upgrades from the get go like new paint, new counter tops, and carpet. What if hidden costs came up and we couldn't afford them? Did we want to deal with that? We are very comfortable with our current house payment.
Then each time someone came to look at our home I would get really sad. Maybe it is just because this is our first home and we have created some sweet memories here, but each time someone came to look at our house I hated it. I love our home. It is solidly built and we love our neighbors and friends. We have tons of neighbors our age and in our same stage of life. It is so fun! How could we leave?
As time went on the idea of selling our house, moving into an apartment, and then hopefully buying that house all started to sound like a REALLY long process that might not all work out in our favor (some short sales can take years to get finalized). I didn't want to sell my house just to loose the other house, then where would we move? All this with a new baby...
So we backed out and took our house off the market. We decided to just stay in our current house and appreciate what we already have. We have a beautiful home that has a large basement that we will finish in a few years that will give us lots more room to spread out. Our yard isn't huge, but big enough and I am happy that the kids have a place to play outside in a safe neighborhood. A smaller
When we took our house off the market we told ourselves that we have to be done. No more looking at houses, and no more what ifs for now. We were driving ourselves crazy with all of the possibilities! lol So for now we are settled in our lovely home and are happy to be so blessed with such a comfortable life.
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