The decision has been made.

I'll be a UWO student this fall! The decision was tough as we had to look at both the academic side and lifestyle side of where I went to school. Both UofT and Western are reputable schools. I'm very proud to have been accepted to both of them. Ultimately it came down to looking forward in the future. Ideally we'd like to settle in southwestern Ontario. By virtue of me going to Western, I'll then be able to do my practicums in the area where I want to end up living. I'll be able to make some good contacts and hopefully get my foot in the door. Southwestern Ontario is home to many Universities so it will be a great place as Mike will be able to find a position once he finishes his PhD.

The other factor was living costs. As Mike will only be likely working part time this year (so that he can continue to focus on his PhD dissertation) we need to be cautious of our expenses. A 2 bedroom apartment in the student housing at UofT was going to be approx $975 while a 3 bedroom townhouse in London is approx $850. Although Beeton is only 50 minutes north of Toronto, commuting is out of the question since I'd be leaving Beeton around 6:30 a.m. and not returning until 7 or 8 p.m. This is not how I want to spend the second year of Lily's life. At Western the student housing is approx 500 meters from the Faculty of Education :-) London is about 2 1/5 hours from Beeton so it will mean being farther from my family, but we can still do it for long weekends, etc.

The true perk is that we'll be within walking distance to our Godchildren - Kyle and Rebecca! Oh, and their parents too ;-) We've also got some other good friends in London that are looking forward to us moving!

So, I'm putting the call out now for help moving! :-) Since we're out west at the end of June/early July (for the FABULOUS wedding of Mike's brother Christopher and his fiancée Dana on June 30th) we're likely moving at the end of July or early August. Not the long weekend in August since we'll probably have Lily's 1st Birthday party at the lake that weekend. But look forward to move announcement this summer!