Managing

SIGH. Kids can be very tiring. But I'm managing.

Since it was asked, I'll delve a little into history. We currently live in a 4-room, 700sq ft apartment (2 bedrooms). It's an apartment in a 3-family house on 0.25 acre. We used to own the house - we bought it in November 2001. In 2003, my father had this great idea that we should sell the house and move in with them to save money. We sold the house but he fell through on his end of the bargain. We've been renting from the new owner ever since.

When we bought the house, it was hard enough fitting the 2 of us in the apartment. Then Becky, our dog, came along and it got tighter. When Maggie was born, we insisted we would move soon because 3 people and 1 dog in such a small space was getting crowded. And in the summer 2006, my father once again came up with the brilliant idea that we move in with them - only this time, he said I should quit my job since I was missing my daughter's childhood. Since we were going to move in with them anyway, we started TTC. Then once again, my dad fell through on his end of the bargain. It took a lot of courage to continue TTC and quit my job, even though money became extremely tight with half the income.

So here we are, 4 of us in this tiny apartment. Maggie has a bedroom that is roughly 10x11 with a closet built into the room. She has her twin bed, changing table, tall dresser, short cabinet (for toys), and Ethan's crib all crammed into that space. Our bedroom is roughly 9x10 and we have a queen bed, bookcase, 2 tall dressers, 1 low dresser, and 2 nightstands crammed into there. Ethan has been co-sleeping with us because we didn't want him to wake Maggie at night, but now we're transitioning him to his crib as he sleeps better when I'm not so available to him.

I've been saying for the last year that once we get our tax refund this year, we'll move. But we have no money saved (it all went to paying hospital bills for Ethan's birth and my foot break) and it seems a shame to spend right away whatever we would get. So even though we're cramped, I'm thinking that we'll put into savings this year's refund (or pay off some debt, too) and wait until next year to move. Sharing a room can be good for them, right? I shared a room with my sister until I was 10 years old. We lived in an originally 5-room/later converted to 6-room apartment until there were 4 children in our family. It can be done.

The twist? Yesterday while visiting my father, he pitched his idea of us moving in again. I'm not biting this time....