Sometimes the Grass on This Side Looks Just Fine
Look, I read those big city mommy blogs, and I feel all amazed by how cool their lives are, what with the popping in to nifty cafes every afternoon for lunch or maybe for a weekend brunch (you know what I’m really thinking is “where is all this money for eating out COMING FROM? Must get 10,000 new readers this afternoon so I can make some real money on this blog. . .”).
They look adorable, always, they have fantastic style, they go amazing places. Their lives look pretty great.
Except, then, sometimes, I see a picture of their baby’s crib next to their bed because they only have a single bedroom and, huh, I’m not that sad not to be living a glamorous New York City or DC or San Francisco life.
I feel absurd amounts of love for the second bedroom in our apartment. The apartment we pay $100 less per month than we did for our one-bedroom, old, no-dishwasher/washer/dryer/two-shower-curtain-to-cover-the-window-in-the-shower apartment in Boston.
If my baby wasn’t at this moment snoozing in that second bedroom, I would go kiss the carpet in that room.
I know, I know, you can make do with one bedroom. We completely planned on doing just that, since the idea of DOUBLING our rent in order to have a second bedroom did not actually appeal to me. We had a tiny bassinet pressed up against the wall in our bedroom and la, la, la, it was going to be fine.
I’m sure it would have been. But I’m not sad to not know.
Take your afternoon at the art museum. I’ll be reveling in my second bedroom.
Here, here! I may live in a hot hot desert with nothing cool or awesome going on- but I have a separate room for each child to slumber silently. Eat that!
We're going to be going from a two bedroom flat to, most likely, a studio the size of our living room. I'll not pretend this doesn't pain me a little…
Hey! we have two bedrooms in our very nice apartment! Too bad we have THREE children. (There are NO three bedroom rentals that allow pets in this town!) Our master is huge though and I bet if I had a folding screen I could even block off the crib completely and it would still not feel cramped. I don't HAVE a screen, but if I did…
AMEN!
I've done it every which way, and I must say that my life now with THREE spare bedrooms is pretty rosy 🙂
Our second room is barely a room at all, and it's pretty full of our storage. But there is enough room for a crib, and that is all baby needs!
Now if only we had a dishwasher…
Agreed! I'm getting pretty darn excited to move to the country where I'll be able to rent a 2 bedroom HOUSE for less than my 1 bedroom apartment. I love my baby but I can't wait to kick her out of my bedroom! 😉
So you're saying to NOT move to Boston? ; )
Totally agree. Having lived both lives (although the city time only as a nanny and not as a mom) I can say that they both have benefits but considering how much me and my baby love our sleep, the second bedroom is totally worth it. Sometimes I miss having 10 different parks within easy walking distance of my house (since I don't have a car) and all the other fun city perks, there are a lot of downsides to living in the city with kids. My husband is begging to move back to NYC for residency and now that I've had another bedroom for baby and I know how hard it is to do kids in the city, I just don't think I can do it!
I, too, would take a second bedroom any day over lunch out every day. Sometimes I get the grass-is-greener thing about people who live in warm, sunny places (OK, I get that a lot), but then I remember all of the lovely things about where I live: my husband's lack of allergies, it never getting too cold, the hysterical way people drive in the snow, how we don't have to pay for A/C, and it makes it a little better. That, and vacations to warmer places.
Absolutely – especially if the rooms are small. Even years ago when I lived by myself, I had two bedrooms. (None of the places had other storage available.) One needs someplace to store a bicycle, Christmas decorations, canned goods, fabric, etc.
I agree. I've heard stories of people living fun New York lives, but then they forget to say that they have to share their apartment with another couple. Doesn't sound so fun anymore. I stay with my overpriced home!
Amen!
And for the record my requirement is now THREE bedrooms. Baby girl at this house absolutely MUST have her own room. It was officially discovered this week, and we will not be going back.
Even if I don't get to own a single new thing for all three years of law school.
I'm feeling rather spoiled by living in DC while still having a second bedroom, a dishwasher, AND a washer/dryer. On the other hand, the oodles of eating out money? And the nifty cafes? Not in this household.
I love my older home in a small town just because it has character plus a bedroom for each child, AND an amazing basement where the kids can play foosball surrounded by built-in bookcases.
Oh yes, the front and back yard.
Of course, there is only one museum in town and it's kinda dusty.
(We have lived in Chicago and Denver and know both sides of this debate.)
What do you mean one-bedroom? I know moms with kids in studios! Crazy, huh? But I can't wait to be a mom in the city and go to moms' group in Central Park, explore the city to my heart's content. I'm cool with my kids sleeping in the walk-in closet. 🙂
And I wonder where that money comes from as well.
North Meets South
Is it odd that I have three bedrooms, a large living room, large kitchen…and oh, half an acre of land around my house…and yet the cot is STILL snug up against our bed? 😉
Separate bedrooms are the only reason that I'm still (somewhat) sane.
I hear ya! I love some things about big cities, but I love the low rent of my two bedroom in Provo and the park across the street even more.
Yes second bedrooms make it a thousand times better!!
Amen!
I totally get it. This is why I live in Iowa….nothing exciting to do here, although I do appreciate my family being here, but the home I can get compared to larger metropolitan areas is amazing. Not to say I wouldn't sometimes enjoy being in a bigger, more exciting place. But there is always vacation.
I love your blog 🙂
I lived in NYC for one year of college (went to Sarah Lawrence, then happily transferred to a more affordable and less liberal school) and would never live there again.
It's hot, sticky and smelly. Stuff flies into your eyes when you're walking in the city and it's crowded. It is so overly expensive it's beyond sad or funny. It's not safe.
Maybe Minnesota is not everyone's ideal paradise, but with rent so affordable I can have a cute place, a decent car and a bit of shopping, I'll take it!