How do they do it?

B and I a few weeks ago almost talked ourselves into buying a beach "house". It is this little bungalow (read: shack) about 45 minutes from our house, right on the beach block in a nice area. The only reason we could even consider it is because:

a. It doesn't come with the land, you own the structure but rent the actual sand it sits on
b. It's, well, a shack and less than 5 feet from its closest neighbor on 3 sides

Despite this, it still costs about $300k. But we've been to that neighborhood many times in the last few years because a friend's parents own a house there, and we love it. And it's close enough that we could stop in basically whenever we want. We were picturing going there every summer with a little one (hey, we're dreaming here, right?) and really liking the feel of it. But when we called the banker, we discovered that we would be a few hundred dollars short every month, so we would "need" to rent it most of the summer to be able to really afford it. And that scared us, so we didn't do it. And yes, it is the color of Pep.to Bism.ol.

Maybe if we weren't trying to get pregnant, and unsure of needing to do IVF. Maybe if we didn't think in our heart of hearts that we would be pregnant sometime in the next year or two, and need to pay for daycare after that. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

The reason I'm blogging about this now is that we found out that our friend's brother and his wife just purchased land near their current house to build a new one. And they're keeping their current waterfront home, and their new boat (complete with loan!). And folks, yes land is cheaper where they live (I did say waterfront and not beachfront, they don't live at the beach) and their house cost considerably less than ours, but they're both teachers. Oh, and they have a 2 year old girl, and just found out they're pregnant again (oops!).

I'm afraid we weren't very gracious when we found out. Our friend was telling us that she hadn't been to the doctor yet to confirm it, so not to tell them that we know. I was like, gee, it must be nice to be so sure everything is OK that you tell your sister-in-law the minute the test line comes up positive. And we questioned how they could afford all that when we know what they make?

It is starting to get us down. We see B's sister getting free daycare from his parents, and not planning before she got pregnant. Oh, and now his parents are paying for her daycare next year, because his mom needs a break. ($900 per month!) And then these people can own two houses and a boat on much less than we make. And EVERYONE can get pregnant whenever they want. Meanwhile, we can't buy the shack we want for fear of not being able to properly care for a (fictional, nonexistent) baby that doesn't seem to be coming anyway.

UGH. I'm such a whiner, sorry for that. Did I mention it's cycle day 3? Didn't I tell you it would be today? I got my day 2 FSH check done yesterday, hopefully I'll get results tomorrow when I schedule my sonohystogram. Now let's just hope my eggs aren't crap, to top it all off.