It only took 3 years!

For the last 3 years, this is what our fence has looked like. A very sad state of affairs! Please excuse the very neglected backyard. As we finally, finally have a shiny, new fence, we can start the backyard landscaping...when we've recovered from the bathroom reno that is!

And here she is...

The best bit about this improvement was that we didn't have to do it! The colour is Deep Ocean and I like that it seems to change colours throughout the day. We went for a darker colour so it fades into the background a bit more where there is greenery.

So, onwards and upwards with the backyard landscaping! It will be a slow and steady process but at least we have a plan in mind already!

Happy 3rd House Anniversary

As seems to be the tradition, this post is well and truly late! It should have been done in August, much like my taxes which are still on the to do list, ick.

Anyway, the list as it stood August last year...with updates in blue

• New fence - Finally happening next week!
• Painted lounge room + kitchen - Done
• Paint the rest of the doors - Ha! Maybe one day! I'll let you know on the 4th anniversary!
• Floorboards sand and polish - Chose to carpet rooms but main living/dining/hall still need attention. Glad we haven't done this yet as there would have been a lot of damage with all the bathroom renos.
• Finish the spa area - in progress again. The spa is in and usable, just not pretty. No further progress, it'll happen when the deck does.
• Bathroom/laundry reno  Waiting on the replacement bath to arrive but totally get to cross this off!
• Deck out the front - Changed to paving and is DONE!
• Vegie garden - Done
• Chook shed - Done

• Re-hang pictures that have been down since painting (in January) - Done
• Get old wardrobe doors back on or buy and hang new ones (they have been off since February) - Done

So, what is on the agenda for the next year?

• Finish two garden beds in the front yard
• Finish painting toilet
• Stain and varnish French doors on the back of the house
• Deck on the back of the house
• Build two more veggie garden beds
• General maintenance of things we've already done like cleaning and sealing pavers, weeding etc

The deck is the big one and not really likely to happen any time soon as funding will need to come from my return to work and I would rather the extra time off than a deck!

What's on your to-do-list?

More holidays

We've been out and about the last couple of weeks. It hasn't done wonders for J's sleep (don't think he's a fan of the portacot) but it has been good for us!

So, where have we been?

Supporting A doing Tough Mudder in Sydney.  A long day for spectators but certainly an eye opener!

Visiting the beach for the very first time

and taking lots of walks in the pram. This one is on a visit to Nana and Pop.

J is 16 weeks today! He's a total cutie, but I am a little bit biased! He's just started rolling back to front and has front to back so worked out it's difficult to get him to do tummy time as he just flips himself over! Cheeky monkey!

Other than that, I went down to my parents place for a week while A was still at work and came home to a tidy and rearranged house with no remaining reno tools inside. What an awesome husband I have. We still don't have a bath. We are getting a new fence. I need to take a picture of what is there at the moment so you can see just how much we need this to happen!

I want to do a house post but we'll see how J sleeps this afternoon to see if it is going to happen!

Hope you are well!

Hanging out and holidaying

Is what we've been doing.

We went on our first little family holiday to the snow. It was awesome, I even got out for a couple of runs myself! We then drove down to Victoria and stopped in with family and a couple of friends who have a daughter a couple of weeks older than J. J was a little champ with all the travelling and sleeping in different places, we were so proud of him!

Since we've been back we've been seriously working on day sleeps, I was getting sick of the 45min cat nap and resulting grumpy baby and the 'I'll only sleep in your arms' thing we had going. Thankfully we are making progress in that department. 

I'm loving spring and the sunshine it has brought, being able to get out and walk, walk, walk. I calculated that I've walked at least 20km in the last week! Thankfully J loves the pram and is perfectly content being pushed around and sleeps like a dream when we are walking!

Other than that, I'm just being a Mum. It's pretty wonderful even though it's the hardest thing I have ever done and I doubt myself a bit too much. J was 13 weeks last Thursday. That's a whole 1/4 of a year! I can't believe how quickly time passes. I want it to slow down so I can savour every moment and all the cute things he's starting to do - this week it's babbling away to his toys and us, it's so cute my heart melts. On the other hand, I can't wait to see what is next!

I'll leave you with some photos of the last few weeks. I will do a final bathroom reveal when we get the bath. *insert eye roll here* Please cross your fingers for us that it doesn't take 8 weeks! J will totally be too big for the baby bath in a couple of weeks, let alone 8!

Hope you are well!

Musical mobile never fails to please

"You're funny Mum!"

                 

Family photo at the snow

Getting the hang of tummy time

Bathroom setback 653...

So, last night we went to install the bath, open the box, big 20cm crack down one end....not happy Jan!

We can return it, although the bloke was not all that happy as it's been so long since we actually picked it up. I suppose we should have checked the day we bought it. We will have to wait potentially up to 2 months until they have another one in. So the saga continues...

On the bright side, the shower screen went in today so the shower part of the bathroom is now fully functional. I will be showering inside tonight! So freaking excited.

Jesse is awake.

More later!

It's starting to look a lot like a bathroom!

Jobs left - grout, sand and paint, cornice, seal grout, install bath, fixtures and shower screen.

So close, yet so far!

I'll let Jesse show you how I feel about finally finishing...

Wall tiles

Again a post in photos as Jesse is in one arm!

First of the wall tiles, a momentous occasion!

End of day 1

Feature tile in!

End of day 2

Vanity hung, end of day 3 - yes, this took most of the day, it's best not to ask!

A put in the bottom row of tiles last night after cutting them all to fit their specific spot and the fall of the floor so we can finally get someone in to measure and make the shower screen! What a milestone! Still lots to go and we are closing in on 3 months without a bathroom. It's getting a bit old to be honest but we are happy with how it's looking and excited that it's almost painting and grouting time!

Bathroom progress in pictures

Jesse is asleep in one arm and it's darn hard to type with one hand so here is our bathroom progress in pictures...

Where we were up to last bathroom post back at the start of June

Walls sheeted

More walls sheeted

Sheets jointed

    

   

Underfloor heating installed - did this with my sister the day before Jesse was born!

Screes to create fall to drain laid

Dry lay of floor tiles - the green stuff is waterproofing

Laying the tiles

Floor tiles complete!

They should be dry today so we, well A, can start planning the wall tiles!

Laundry progress

The bathroom reno continues. I've stopped counting the days. It's been a long time. However, we now have a functional laundry that only needs a tidy and a coat of paint on the door frame!

Here is our progress in pictures...

Short of the plumbing and electrics we've done the whole thing ourselves and are really happy with how functional it is. It's such a better use of space to stand in the hallway than to have a dedicated room with standing space that only serves one purpose.

As you can see there is still a lot of reno junk on the floor. The bathroom is still in progress but shouldn't be much longer as the floor tiles were laid yesterday.

Can't believe we might be finished soon!

1 month already?

Dear J,

Can not believe it! One whole month ago you arrived, one whole month. It's been a steep learning curve and a huge challenge at times. Breastfeeding is hard work, we've had all sorts of issues that have made both of us very unhappy but fingers crossed we've turned the corner now.

I'm grateful that you settle fairly well at nights, days are a bit different and the Baby Bjorn gets quite a work out! Although you like it better when Dad wears it.

You are getting close to a smile and it's so lovely to see you looking around and studying things.

It's a funny thing, motherhood. In the evenings when the only place we can get you to sleep is our chests I find myself torn between wishing you'd sleep in you bassinette so I could also sleep and thinking I should really treasure the snuggles as one day you'll be too big and won't want that closeness anymore. It's exciting watching you grow and change yet I find myself feeling a little sad that you will never be this small and precious again. Not that you won't always be precious but you know what I mean right?

You should also know that you are the only person in the world I sing for! Yes, you should feel special and yes, I'll forgive you when you are older and realise how bad a singer I actually am! You settle to a silly tune that repeats your name over and over and to Dad's monotone version that sounds like the 'boooor -ing' call at the cricket. We (well, I) have a favourite book I read to you, Hattie and the Fox.

There's a lot to come this next month, including the all important decision about whether you'll follow the Hawks or the Bombers in the Footy! Can't wait to see what you do in the next month.


Lots of love,


Mum

We have a baby boy!

Jesse Peter A finally arrived on 14/6 at 2.08 pm.

We are absolutely besotted with our little man.

Being a mum is a pretty tough gig especially when the only place he will sleep more than 10 minutes is on our chests but I do feel incredibly blessed tohave him in our lives!

I don't know how i'll gokeeping up this blog as i never intend it to be a baby blog. We'll see what happens i suppose.

The bathroom is still in progress so i'll continueto update how things are going there.

For now i'll ask youto forgive the typos - stupid ipad - and leave you with a picture of our little redhead!

The cat that got the cream...ah, curry...

Poor Axel has been getting the rough end of the deal with the bathroom renovations.

For starters, his cat flap is gone - and no doubt he feels, his independence has been severely hampered as a result. He's been reduced to having to request entry and exit to the house. I am happy to grant exit at any time of the night - I don't want to have to clean up any accidents. However, once he is out, he is out until breakfast time. And it's been cold and frosty around here lately, poor boy.

He's also taken to trying to get a midnight snack out of us when we do get up to let him out, he trots over and waits patiently by the food bowl - a silent suggestion that since we're up anyway, maybe instead of letting him out, we could feed him. Not a chance. This trick got him turfed out quite quickly when he pulled it out for A!

We will reinstall the cat flap, it's just a matter of working out where. The logical position probably involves handling of asbestos so at the moment he'll just have to toughen up a bit - and so will we!

One final lesson for a sneaky cat - if you are going to lick the leftover curry from our dinner plates while we are not looking - hide the evidence. Caught red handed - or saffron nosed as the case may be! I don't know if I was more annoyed that he'd gotten onto the bench in the first place or amused that he'd eaten a reasonably hot curry!

Day 24

Another big weekend of work and we finally have some walls. I can't tell you how good it feels to have bathroom walls. It's visible progress compared to the plumbing and electrics of last week, most of which we couldn't see!

We also have the computer back this week so here are a few catch up photos...

Chicken checking out our progress before we filled in the doorway.

What the cat does while we work our butts off.

Measure three times, cut once. We've learnt this the hard way in the past.

New laundry space - found another little hole in the floor!

Adding insulation in the walls, how novel! It'll end up being the warmest room in the house!

The first wall is up! Woo hoo!

Still lots to go. Still no baby. A thinks this is very considerate given how much we have to do, I am less convinced of this by the day. I hate waiting at the best of times so it's driving me a little crazy!

Suprise!

No, no baby yet. But on the last weekend I was given a lovely suprise baby shower organised by two good friends and my very sneaky husband.

With all the reno disruption and general chaos around here at the moment I wasn't going to bother with anything so I was totally suprised and very touched by the effort they went to.

Sunday morning A kept me busy doing reno jobs then asked if I would return the trailer we'd borrowed to friends L and T. I said I didn't really want to as I've never driven with the trailer before. A suggested it was time I learn and he would come with me. He also said that we should get out of the old reno clothes as L had been cooking andwe might stay for a bite to eat. Despite the extra cars out the front I still had no idea anythong was foing on until I got inside and saw people I knew that I didn't think L and T did!

According to A, I was 'beetroot' suprised - I blush easily!

I'll share some photos of the lovely gifts later. We should be getting our laptop back tomorrow which will make blogging much easier. I will leave you with one photo - the belly at 39 weeks. It looks ginormous in this picture!