Thoughts on where to live....

Dan and I have been trying to decide the last year or so what we want to do with our house. We currently live in a small pre-war cape cod. Sounds classy now that I put it that way..... At any rate, it is between 1000 - 1100 square feet. And only because our second floor? Was an attic that was converted into a bedroom, our master bedroom. There are two bedrooms on the main floor -- once is Avery's room and the other we are using as a combined office/dining space. I think the most frustrating thing is that combined office/dining. It's annoying that it's not even close to the kitchen, sure, but the worst part? Is that because of the office also being in that space, we have room for a 4 person table. That's it. So freaking frustrating.

We have been trying to decide one of the three options: 1) Sell our home -- build a new one. 2) Sell our home -- buy a new one. 3) Stay in our home -- renovated to make it at least more functional.

We started off by looking at small home plans. Functional but under 1400 square feet. We are attempting to live a more minimized lifestyle. It's more economical, for sure. Our heating and electric bills only reached as high as $225 this winter. And we had a long cold winter. We don't need more than one living room. We would love more space for entertaining, but frankly, we aren't usually entertaining more than a few people at a time. We want a space for guests to sleep over if possible as well. The probably with building in our area is that there seems to be limited land out there, unless it's in a subdivision and those pieces of land are insanely overpriced and some of those subdivisions have minimal home size requirements. We don't want to belong to an association. I would love to build, but I want to stay in our school system. We just aren't sure about getting approval for a construction loan either. We don't have as much saved for a down payment as I'd like. And there is a high rate of foreclosures in our area as well. SUPER HIGH RATE. It would not be impossible to get a loan for construction, but it will be harder. Dan had a chat with some people about the subject. At any rate...

Do we purchase a home currently on the market then? There is a lot in our price range out there that are decent. But I can see that there are a lot of homes that we would have to still do some work on to make them work for us. And other homes I feel like aren't worth the prices they are just because do the location they are in. I just haven't seen anything that made me think -- oh!! This is the place for us! To grow our family!! Oh wait. We aren't. I think we are coming to the conclusion that Avery is it for us. (It's a long story involving issues with postpartum depression and anxiety. Let's just say I've been in hell with these issues and I don't want to go through it again. I don't want Dan to go through it again -- I love him too much.) And I haven't seen any other smaller homes that hit my attention either.

In the back of my mind, I have constantly had home renovation fantasies. I have seen online and in magazines, not to mention Pinterest, amazing things being done with with small homes. We are 1/3 of the way through a thirty year mortgage. (Dan bought the house years before meeting me.) Only 20 more years until PAID OFF. PAID OFF BEFORE RETIREMENT HOLLA. I keep coming back to that. And our low mortgage payment. We would be possibly looking at nearly doubling that mortgage. We live on a busy street, but it's a great location. The neighborhood behind us is essentially considered lower middle class, but it's not in crap shape. The people are generally nice, care about their homes (with the exception of a few here and there), and it's quiet. The school down the road from our house, just a few blocks, is where Avery will go and it's one of the better ones in our district. We have larger backyard -- just needs to be fenced in.

When we talked about these things with Dan's parents, they offered to possibly help us with a down payment on a new place, so be could get a bigger and better place than we were first looking at. But then we mentioned that we would like to renovate....and the same offer stands. Funds to help us make the home we live in and love (most of the time), more functional for us.

Dan and I have spent most of our free time this last week or two drawing up ideas. And Dan spent time in AutoCad drawing up these plans. We presented them last night to his parents. And it sounds like this fall we will begin researching contractors and getting quotes and plans drawn up and will hopefully start in January on this.

I am so excited to start all of of the research and am already attacking Pinterest for ideas. I will get around to telling you about the plans later this week....but just wanted to share the very start of this process with you. I can't wait to document everything over time!

Avery and her PT

On May 1st, we had Avery officially evaluated by a physical therapist. She is on target for her reflexes and some of her stationary movements, but at 11 months old...her locomotion actually looks more like a 6 month old. 

For the past few weeks, we have been putting in a lot of time working on her skills. We have worked on homework from the PT and we have been doing a few mommy suggested things as well. She almost never sits up (only breaks and when she plays with sensory boxes) and spends most of her time on her tummy. She no longer hates tummy time!! Whee!! She is moving around in circles better on her tummy as well, using both her arms and knees to move around. Yesterday, she actually was kind of sitting on her side. 

And this past weekend. The best thing EVER.  ROLLING OVER. And she is consistently doing it now!!! She was sort of doing it in March, but not that great. And she would not consistently do it. In fact, after a couple of weeks, she kind of seemed to say "eff this" and wouldn't do it anymore. It was too much work. 

We are now going to start focusing on her vestibular system a bit. Because she is so darn cautious and doesn't like to be moved beyond her comfort zone. Our PT suggested we put her in a little blanket, like a hammock, and swing her around a big. At home, I have also incorporated a therapy ball as well. She does fine in a regular swing, so I'm not SUPER worried about her vestibular sensitivities. I'm more kicking my own butt, but we'll talk about that in a minute. 

(Taken from behind a 2 way mirror....You can't tell, but she is crying in this picture.)

PT sessions themselves have been a little rough for Avery. I like them because I can borrow some of her techniques and work on them at home. It works great! But as far as Avery working with the PT....She hates it. She's got stranger anxiety and someone other than mom is pushing her beyond her comfort zone. Dan took her yesterday and every single picture he sent, she was clearly red faced and crying.  But the PT thinks she is really showing improvement, even working with her. So that's great. I had a hard time watching last week because I just wanted to run out and comfort her. 

So...on to mommy guilt. I am an OT and I really should have known better...to not let her get out of tummy time the moment she figured out how to sit up. I just hated hearing her scream and cry over it. She got plenty at daycare, though, so it is likely she still would have had issues even if I had forced the tummy time issue. We found out a couple of weeks ago that Dan didn't even walk until between 18-20 months, which is considered a bit late. So it's likely she is just slower on the gross motor path just like he was. 

Again, I have said this before and I will say it again...IT'S SO HARD to see other kids developing typically and see her so far behind. But we're rolling now. And sometimes, while she's scooting backward, she momentarily gets those legs up under her and rocks on them. Even just for a moment, she's rocking on them.

I couldn't be more proud and excited for what she will accomplish this summer....