diff --git a/2015_day_3/day_3.c b/2015_day_3/day_3.c
index 4c52e47..2fb59e8 100644
--- a/2015_day_3/day_3.c
+++ b/2015_day_3/day_3.c
@@ -76,12 +76,15 @@ void movenorth(Housearray* f, char direction){
   //update y coordinate
   f->y·coord--;
   //check if expansion needed
-  if (f->y·coord < 0){
+  if (f->y·coord - f->y_coord_origin < 0){
     //Expand north
     int new_rows = old_rows +1;
     int new_cols = old_cols;
     //creates am array of pointers to point to my rows of integers
     int** new_grid = (int**)malloc(new_rows * sizeof(int*));
+    if (new_grid == NULL){
+      return;
+    }
     for (int i = 0; i< old_rows; ++i){
       new_grid[i+1] = f->houses[i];//repeat without the plus one for the southward add row
     }