[blparent] Baby on the Way! Now, Where to Live?

[Allison]

		Hi Everyone,

First a quick intro since, while I've been reading this list for a while, I haven't posted much yet. I did write a couple of times about ovulation kits and pregnancy tests a while back. I'm happy to say that our attempts with ovulation kits were a success, and my fiance and I are expecting our first child this January! We're really excited!

My fiance, Darrell,  and I are both blind and currently live in the Phoenix area. We have an apartment with a lease that will be up in September, and we're trying to decide where we want to live next. What we're finding so far is that, most of the houses that we can afford, are further from public transportation than we're used to. We love our current location, but we are looking for more space for when baby arrives. We went house-hunting last weekend, found one house that had a lot of space, a yard, was in our price range, and It was near one bus stop... sorta. We almost made an offer, but Darrell and I came to a hard realization. We're not sure we're quite ready to give up our urban lifestyle in order to become suburban home-owners just yet. We're willing to do it if it turns out best for raising a family, yet we're not sure if that's really necessary.

So I'm coming to this list to learn from your collective experience as blind parents. What did you find was and was not really important when choosing a place to live with very young children? As a first time parent, I realize that I don't know what I'll need in terms of location. It's entirely possible that, the things I think are important in a location, aren't at all necessary, and there may be other truly important considerations that haven't even crossed my mind yet. So here are some questions that I'd like to bounce off of you guys...

When you had babies or small children, did you find that you rode buses or light rails often? Was it more convenient to take cabs, paratransit, or hired drivers over other transit options? What is too long of a walk with a small child? Is a back yard a must, or is it more important to live near a park/playground? How helpful is it to be in walking or bus distance of restaurants, stores, or doctor offices? Will climbing stairs while juggling a cane, baby, and accessories eventually make us crazy? What of schools? Should I be factoring in proximity to schools if our baby isn't even born yet? What other factors am I not considering but are important?

Knowing others' experiences will likely be helpful to us when deciding what location may work best for our family. Any feedback or suggestions from you all are appreciated!

Thanks,
	Allison, Darrell, and Baby