Posts Tagged ‘house hunting’

Upping the Difficulty Factor

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Have you ever noticed that the little things become more difficult after you have kids? The first obvious difference is that there’s no such thing as traveling light (if you were ever capable of it in the first place). Suddenly, a quick day trip half an hour away requires not just your purse. You have to have the diaper bag. And the activity bag for the car. And the bag of snacks. And…whatever else you shove into a bag, realistically NEVER actually needing it, but now you have it JUST IN CASE.

Without fail, at least once a week, I’ll leave the house and leave something I need inside. Whether it’s a file, a bag, my lunch or something even less significant, pre-baby I could just run back inside and reclaim what I needed.

The difficulty factor increases when you throw a kid into the mix. If you’ve already wrestled your child into his car seat, do you unstrap him and run back into the house together? Do you turn the car on and let him sit in the air conditioning for the 30 seconds you’re away? Will you end up getting a call from DYFS if you do? (The lawyer in me feels the need to clarify that I don’t leave Andrew in the car unattended. I do actually run him back into the house with me and make myself even later for work in the morning)

Right now hubby and I are undertaking the oh-so-enjoyable task of looking for a house. We’ve been in a townhouse we outgrew before Andrew was born and we had to somehow fit all his stuff into our house too. Andrew needs a yard to play in and a swing set, more room to run around. It provides the motivation to look, but I’m not looking forward to it.

It took us 9+ months to find our townhouse. I could have had a kid in that time! And, even with the morning sickness, it would have been more enjoyable than the house hunting!

The first house we looked at, Andrew came with us. It was a beautiful place. At least, I think it was. I probably spent more time chasing after Andrew and making sure he didn’t wreck the place than I spent paying attention to what I was seeing.

Fortunately, my parents have offered to watch Andrew so we can concentrate at looking at houses. That will make things easier. If nothing else, we can look at the hot pink walls and teal carpeting of a basement, wondering what the heck those people were thinking, without fear of Andrew taking a header down the stairs.

So, wish us luck. I’m hoping this little task is easier the second time around.

Have a great weekend everyone.