Renovating

I'm currrently learning what the phrase "burning the candle at both ends" means. For those of you who know me well, you might be expecting me to be a little stressed at the moment, but surprisingly, I'm still very excited about the move and things are moving along well.

However, it's a huge undertaking and I'm working 9 hour days at work with a very busy schedule as we undergo a huge server upgrade at work. We have 150 staff and more than 50 computers and I'm the only I.T. guy for the building, so it's the busiest job I've ever had.

When I get home, I barely get a few moments to hang out with Tasha and Gabe and then I'm deep into the renovating. At the moment, we're working on the kitchen and we're really pleased with the progress; both in terms of how fast it's developing and also how much better it looks than before.

Here are some pictures that only those who saw the kitchen before we started will really appreciate. (The photos are terrible, but that's what I get from a phone camera and a shaky hand!)

One of the first jobs was to take down the cabinets and put them up straight!

They were visibly wonky before with a gap between cabinets.

Now they're level thanks to my dad's laser-level!

The floor has also been replaced. We opted for vinyl tiles for speed and ease and we're very pleased with the result. Much better than the previous laminate job.

Above is the view from the kitchen to the front door. Again, it looks amazing, but more so if you ever saw the old hallway. Previously, there was a second door frame only 3 feet past the door frame that you see in this picture. We took out the unnecessary wall and door and the room looks more spacious.

We painted it a cheerful yellow, with a bright white wainscot (thanks for the help Dad) and then added a brand new laminate floor and finished it last night with a coat rail and a picture frame.

Above, you can see the view from the front door back to the kitchen.

Note the makeshift diner in the hallway. It's a tight squeeze but much cleaner than the kitchen (hence the blue tarp holding back the dust in the kitchen at the end!!!)

This blog post is mostly for my Dad, as I'm sure no-one else cares about the renovations. Even Dad must be sick of the conversations we have about renovations, but he politely asks for updates and photos every time we speak (and that's why I love him!)

Other updates:

Tasha's last day of work is tomorrow and then she will fly home around September 16 with Gabe. I'm staying a little longer until the end of September and I finish work on September 26. 10 days without Tasha and Gabe means a very lonely Ryan, but I'm sure the housework, packing, shipping and a healthy dose of good friends will keep me busy.

Baby is kicking!

So I was really excited about this and wanted to share it with everyone. Last time I was pregnant I didn't feel Gabe kicking until I was about 21 weeks along. This time I felt it 4 weeks earlier, I was just chilling with Gabe in the living room on Saturday morning and I felt the tiny little prod that I knew was not me or Gabe, I've felt it a few more times since, so I may have another little footballer on my hands! I'm counting down the days until my scan now to find out whether it's a boy or a girl this time...I don't really care which it is, but I can't wait to say he or she rather than it all the time!
I officially have three days left at work and then I start the real work arranging our big move home, there is so much to be done, but I'm incredibly excited to do it because it makes the whole thing more real. We have successfully tiled the kitchen floor so it looks wonderful and we've all had a lie down on it to understand the beauty of a new floor...it wasn't exhaustion honest! Now we just need to finish the walls and paint everywhere before we can put this place on the market.
Unfortunately I have no photos to add this time but I'll see what i can get for the next post, maybe that one will come from the UK!

Recent Photos

Gabe had a lot of fun in the garden a few weeks ago. We hooked the leaky hose up to the patio canopy and he thought he had his own splashpad!

Gabe enjoying some time with Pops.

Gabe showing some style in sunglasses (above) and a Montanas napkin (below)

Mopping with toilet water

Today has been a very productive day, Ryan officially finished laying sub-floor in the kitchen, which was no small task may I just say! We also removed the cupboards and hung them straight...well straighter than they were before.

Please note the beautiful makeshift "jack" we were using to hold
the cupboards up while we quickly put screws in!

Gabe was an angel playing happily while we finished hanging the cupboards...the clean up didn't exactly go to plan though. It's quite a funny story so I hope I do this justice! Ryan was sweeping the wood dust off the floor in the kitchen and Gabe wanted to sweep too, so Ryan handed him the spare broom and off we he went sweeping the hallway enjoying himself quietly. About five minutes later I asked Ryan where he thought Gabe was, to which he replied I think he's sweeping his room because he's closed the door. So we carried on cleaning and rearranging the contents of the newly hung cupboards. Ryan finished up and went to wash his hands in the bathroom, to his great surprise he found Gabe in there. The toilet lid had been left up and Gabe had decided that the broom was a mop and that he would help us clean by "mopping" the bathroom floor with the water in the toilet! We just had to laugh, he has obviously been watching us clean, but not quite closely enough lol!

After his bath tonight I was picking out his pyjamas when he decide to help me choose. So he is wearing his ambulance, police and fire engine pyjamas with an orange jacket over the top just for extra warmth.

"Mummy I'm too tired to care about the appropriate outfit for
sleeping in, just give me the milk and we'll all be happy"

Too busy to blog

So we've been a little slack in our blogging lately...life has become a crazy tumult of things that need to be done. I'm sure you've all gone through similar seasons and therefore can forgive our lack of posts recently. I do have some updates if you're still interested, Ryan is renovating like crazy (see pictures below), I am in my 16th week of pregnancy and am just starting to grow a baby belly, and Gabe is having fun forming mini sentences.

I'm attempting to attach a little video of Gabe, but I warn you it may not work as the usual computer set up has been changed and the iphoto library is stored in a thing that is no longer plugged in, the odds are against this technology agreeing with me...heres hoping!

(Above) This closer section of hallway is currently looking more bright and complete than it ever has, it now has proper siding and decent flooring. This is replacing the ancient water ruined floor and mental wood on the walls. If you do a bit of research on the blog I'm sure you'll find the original look somewhere. The farther section of hallway is also done to this standard...but it is currently doing a stand up job of holding our wood and drywall out of the way so we can work on the next project.

The kitchen has always seemed like such a mammoth job that we've put it off, had quote to get someone else to do it and hummed and hahed over it for a long time. Funnily enough though once Ryan started working on it we've been amazed at how fast the walls have gone up and the flooring has come out. You can see in the picture above we are at the sub-floor stage on this half of the kitchen and the wall behind the chairs is now fairly flat (or at least it will be when it's been mudded). If you haven't seen our kitchen walls you've missed out on one of the many wonders of our house, they are a little odd to say the least. The top half of the walls are at one depth and the bottom half are 1 - 2inches inset so theres a step outwards at about the 5 foot level - if you can't picture it, don't worry it wasn't a good look anyway!

The question you have to ask yourself now is: was he saying ducky or cookie?