Moving On Up

The view from the landing

When I was a child, I always wanted a two story house.  I think it is one of those kid things- two stories=big house.  We lived in a two story house for a couple of years when I was pretty little, but after that we lived in just one story houses.  Back when our oldest daughter was little and our middle daughter was born, we lived in a two story house.  We loved that house, however, my husband ruptured his Achilles' tendon three weeks before our second daughter was born and both girls' bedrooms were upstairs.  It was a very difficult time in our lives for lots of reasons and being in a two story house at that time in our lives was difficult.

As my daughters got older, they really wanted a two story house.  We weren't sure, but when we found out that it is cheaper to go up than out, we decided up was the way to go.  One of the reasons that we weren't sure is that last September, my husband was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  MS is not curable and can produce lots of different symptoms for different people.  Joe is on really good medicine and has done great, but he does have some balance issues so we knew that one non-negotiable for our house is that the master bedroom had to be downstairs.

Me on the "landing" on our stairway

As we start to see the house take shape more and more each day, I really love the fact that it is two story.  I think it is that kid thing again.  The two stories make it seem big.  Our kids are older now (16, 12, and 9) and will have the upstairs mostly to themselves.  Although we love to be together as a family, the thought of sending them upstairs (especially when they have friends over) is very appealing!