Dreamhouse

Mmmhmmm. Our daughters engaged in what Don & I suspect was a mock battle this morning over breakfast. Immediately following this freakishly loud episode over milk (of all things), Erin asked if we would be moving now. Ahhh. That explains it. The blow-up that took place day before yesterday drove Don and I to temporarily consider breaking with our plan to stay put in our home until late 2010. The obvious benefit to abandoning our plan would be to provide more space and afford a bit more privacy to everyone in the household.
This 1,480 square foot house felt huge when Don and I moved in with our infant daughter and 2 year-old son. A decade later it's feeling a little tight at times with three growing children ages 7-12. a pair of labs, and an attack cat. It was going into the 10 year break-down when we moved in. It is now in the midst of the 20 year break-down. Adding to the fun is the dysfunctional master bathroom shower that allows all five of us to share the hall bathrom shower.
Rather than "putting our own stamp on it", as we once naively imagined, our decor has shifted slowly from "Early Childhood" to "Maximizing Storage" in response to the stuff belonging to all the people and animals residing in our home. We refuse to move because our stuff needs more space. We organize, clean out, toss out, and donate stuff regularly to minimize the amount of stuff sharing our living space.
My point is that we are not exactly a challenge for a salesperson with a shiny, new home that would provide a separate bedroom and closet for every child, plus one for Mom & Dad. Five bathroom sinks mean imagining not ever hearing about someone spitting toothpaste on someone else again. Despite the dual lures of all that luxurious space and a price reduced (thanks to a string of underqualified would-be buyers) offering us an opportunity to live in a home we can probably afford (in a neighborhood we cannot possibly afford), we hesitate to take on a larger mortgage obligation than we currently carry.
Our home, despite its warts, comes with the benefit of a very small mortgage payment. Don and I can easily imagine our current medical expenses jumping up enough next year to match the proposed increase in mortgage payment required for the new house. We can also picture ourselves shopping for a car payment, er, pre-owned vehicle in the not-too-distant future. We rapidly dismissed the idea of trying to move, much to the girls' disappointment. We want to avoid the possibility of a financial nightmare brought to life by a dreamhouse.