The Story Of Us 1: October 2007

Chloe Turns One

Sunday was Chloe's 1st birthday (my how the year has flown).

What a happy little one year old!

On Saturday we had a little get together with family at Navua Reserve because Chloes loves the outdoors and swimming and even more importantly because it meant little cleaning up :)
Chloe's cake was a toss up between two of her great loves, a jar of lollies or a dog with the dog winning by just a whisker.

After a week of practicing how to blow out a candle we still needed help from Chloe's two cousins Adalia and Katie.

Once Chloe got started on the cake there was no stopping her...oh well I guess she only turns 1 once.

Chloe enjoying some of the spoils of the day.

From the mouths of babes

Today while in Primary they were assigning the parts for the upcoming Christmas pageant. Eden watched (it is only his first week, so he is a bit of a fish out of water) as the Primary President asked Master Z (aged 3) if he wanted to be the donkey. To this he replied, "No, I want to be Shrek!"

Would you like a tour (part II) ?

Last week we saw the kitchen so it is only natural that this week I take you on a tour of the dining room.
When we first bought the house it didn't really have a dining room. There was a space between the back door, kitchen, laundry and lounge which the previous tenants used as a dining but as you can see from the picture it wasn't a very useful set up.
What you can't see in the photo is that the chair was in the middle of the doorway to the lounge and the table was only big enough for four but as it was crammed into the corner only two could sit at it. (Oh, do you like the rope handle that was had for the first few months)

To make the dining room we decided to knock out the wall between the 'space' and the laundry. The old laundry had lots of surprises including the usual creepy crawlies, both fury and non fury.
There was also an old copper wash basin with a fireplace underneath and an old concrete tub (that now makes a cute herb garden).

We also found a little hole in the floor which turned into a big hole when Eden knocked the entire floor out. After new gyprock walls and ceilings, new floors, new lights, new paint and alot of work the result is.....

much better (don't you think?).

Eden even made cute little niches in the wall for pictures or knick knacks.

We replaced the old string handle door a nice set of french doors that let in lots of light and open onto the deck. The doors are single panes of glass and Chloe thinks that they are there as her personal kissing spaces :)

The ceilings in both the dining room and kitchen are racked and square set. The dining room is not huge but it works and means no more dinners on laps.

See you again next time.

Chloe's first 1st party

Today at mothers group we had a little party for all the babies that turn 1 in October and that included little Clo.

Chloe and Mummy, Montana and Naomi, Kim and Chelsea

Kim made a cute little cake complete with pink and white M&M's (Chloe's favorites) as all the birthday babies were girls. We all sang happy birthday (remembering to include Aimee and Ella who could not make it) and then the wind helped blow out the candle. I don't think Chloe was quite sure what was happening but she had a fun time anyway.

It was a nice afternoon filled with sunshine, fresh air, friends, their toys (which are always more interesting) and birthday cake.

Did I mention that there was cake...yum!

As the babies in our mothers group have birthdays all the way into January the little parties (and cakes) are just beginning :).

Happy birthday girls! xxx

A day at the beach

On Saturday afternoon we decided to go to the beach. Well Eden decided. We were in the car and I thought we were going to Featherdale Wildlife Park. Eden asked where it was and when I told him he said we were going in the opposite direction so we might as well go to the beach. We had no towel, no swimmers and no spare clothes but that didn't phase Eden (that's Dad thinking for you).
Chloe loved the bird which she kept calling dogs (but in a different way to the 'real' dogs).
After a little play in the sand Eden though he would take Chloe to see what she thought of the water. She loved that too....

.....and decided she wanted to go for a swim (this is where swimmers, a towel and spare clothes might have come in handy :)

Chloe has given up the crawling and is now a full time walker and a sometimes runner. Eden was able to keep up with her...only just!

With a wet butt Chloe thought it would be fun to play with that sand. She also enjoyed eating it (no surprises there). Eden and I agreed that the child needs a sandpit. At this rate the plans for her play area are quickly getting bigger the the plans for the new house!

Eden introduced Chloe to the art of digging holes which she proceeded to fall into. This left us with only one option....bury her. She didn't mind she just found a leaf to play with (and eat).

It turned into a nice impromptu beach trip, a great alternative to Saturdays spent working on the house. We are looking forward to next weekend and the little adventures that await us.

A baby of her own

As Chloe was so in love with her new cousin we thought that she might like a baby of her own. (No Lisa, we are not pregnant :)
A few months ago I bought Chloe a My Little Baby Born and had put it away for her birthday but it is only a few weeks away and she has alot of other presents already so we decided that she could have 'Baby' now.
Chloe is definitely a little Mummy and as soon as I gave her the bottle she put it to Baby's mouth. I'm not sure how she recognised that it was a bottle or knew what to do with it as she is still a breast fed bubba and for the last few months any other drinks that she has had she has in her sippy cup.

She then thought she would try it for herself.

She also knew what to do with the dummy even though she hasn't had one since she was eleven weeks old (must be maternal instinct ;)

Baby also got lots of kisses...

...and cuddles.

Three becomes four

Congratulations to my sister Vienna and her husband Ricki on the birth of their little son. He was born at twenty past six this morning weighing just over eight pounds, a nice healthy weight for his 5 foot tall mummy. He was a bit late, something that we are getting used to in our family. We even decided to start a tradition by going out for lunch on the due date so that there is at least something to look forward on D-day.

The happy family

(I wish I looked as good as Vienna four hours after having a baby)

This morning Eden and I got to take Ricki and Vienna's daughter, Adalia, to the hospital to meet her little brother. On the way there I asked her if she wanted to see her Mummy. She said no thank you. I asked her if she wanted to see her Daddy. No thank you again. I asked her if she wanted to see her baby brother and she said please. Adalia's whole body shakes whenever she gets excited and her little brother was the source of much shaking. She had a few nurses and kept trying to shut his eyes saying, "Baby sleeping." Adalia is going to be a helpful big sister as she was already trying to feed her brother a sandwich. Chloe wanted to help too by offering her sippy cup to her new little cousin. Lucky Vienna to have all these helpers.

The little man peacefully sleeping (the girls hadn't seen him yet:).

Chloe was fascinated by the new little baby and was saying ta to whoever was nursing him, wanting them to let her have a turn too. She kept trying to poke his eyes (in a nice way :) and stroke his face.

After cuddles and trying to help Vienna, Chloe and Adalia found something equally as interesting as the new baby....the curtain, perfect for playing hide and seek. Oh well, at least it gave the baby some peace.

Would you like a tour?

"Would you like a tour?" These five words were often said throughout the renovation when our friends and family would come over to see what transformations Eden made to the house since they had been here last. Some people came over almost every week and there was always something new for them to see as Eden worked so quickly.
I can't really take much credit for the how the house looks as Eden did most of the work (though I think Chrish and I should get some, or maybe allot, of credit for putting up with Eden's hissy fits when something wouldn't work the way he wanted;) Eden literally worked day and night to get the house finished as he did almost all the work himself. He is a bit of a work-a-holic mixed with a perfectionist and is finally happy with how everything is. Now it is time for him to relax, something that I am sure he has forgotten how to do.
Anyway back to the tour. I thought I might post a photo tour of the house so that you can see what Eden has spent his spare time doing. I will start with the kitchen. When we bought the house the previous owners had recently replaced the cupboards, stove, cook top and dishwasher. The problem was that they put them straight into the eighty year old kitchen shell which had big cracks that allowed grit from in the wall cavities to constantly fall out. The floor boards had also seen better days and there was not a proper ceiling in. We lost most of the before photos of this room but here are some with Eden hard at work.

BEFORE

AFTER

When we bought the house it had an old pot belly stove in it. Eden wanted to keep it but it was too far gone and I thought we needed the storage area. Eden finally agreed with me and now we have an open storage area. This is my favorite part of the kitchen as all the things on it are easily accessible. The photo below is the only one we have of the old pot belly, which we took before we moved in while the previous tenants were still here.