Our Life

Obviously being a parent while still in school is not an optimal situation. It leads to a lot of disadvantages, one being where we live. Boone doesn't have the biggest selection of housing anyways, and it's even more limited being a married couple with a child. Up until this year, App State provided on-campus housing for student families. Because the school population grows every year, without an expansion of living space, they took away those apartments and made more room for regular students. That would have been the perfect place for us to live. ASU Child Development, which is our first choice in child care, is across the street, and it's on campus which makes it easy to walk to class, and be close to Kynlee. However, it was no longer an option, so we set out to find an affordable two bedroom apartment. We were excited when we put our names on a waiting list last November with a rental agency, and we ended up getting our top choice. Let it be known that we weren't allowed to go look at any of the apartments before choosing. I thought we had a great place, it wasn't too expensive, it was in a perfect location, and it had a great view. It didn't have air conditioning, but I have lived in an apartment without central heating and air before, so I figured I could handle it again. Things slowly started going downhill. The first speed bump we encountered was the rent. Online, the apartment was listed as $750/month, without utilities. When we went to sign the lease we learned that not only was rent actually $920, but we would also be charged $40 extra when Kynlee was born. But we needed a place to live, so we had to deal with it. We didn't live in the apartment any before Kynlee arrived, but we did visit frequently to move in and get things set up. I really liked the place at first, but then I became a mother. Let me tell you that I am a big worry wart anyways, but once I became a mom my worries were branched out into my family. I constantly worry about everything. Without AC we struggle to keep Kynlee cool enough, and I also worry about keeping her warm in the winter. We have a fireplace, which is great for us, but when it comes to living in an apartment building with a bunch of college students I worry about safety. What if people don't service their chimneys, or people decided to have a party, get drunk, and want to build a fire, but don't monitor it properly. Another issue we have is the hill we have to drive up. Even though we have an amazing view, it comes with a price. The hill is so steep, and anyone who lives in Boone knows how rough the winters are up here. Corey is the only one with 4-wheel drive, but even then the sun never hits the road, and did I mention that it's really steep? The list of worries goes on. It's also hard living around a bunch of college students. Even though we are still in college, we have a family now, so we live a little differently. The people are rude about us having a child, especially when the windows are open and Kynlee is crying. We tried getting out of our lease, but we have to find someone to take over it, and another place to live. As of right now, we are putting our name on a waiting list for a brand new apartment building, which I hope we will be happy with. I can't wait to graduate, not only because I don't want to be in school anymore, but I'm so excited about having our own place. We can pick where we want to live, and how safe the house, and neighborhood will be. Hopefully I will be able to stick it out a few more months until we find a new place.