Dear Daddy/hubby/best friend,
We thought that we'd write this little blog to keep you in the loop of what we get up to while you're away. You can log in here and let us know how you're getting on, too, if you like...
Day 1 - so after being without power from midnight, it finally came back on at 9:10am just before I lost my mind.. and at the same time there was a knock at the door and the guys from Almara Cabinets were here to do all the wardrobe, bookshelves, cupboard and entertainment unit installs. I soon realised after showing the blokes around, that I needed to still clear some space for them in the back room where the entertainment unit needed to go. I pulled all the toys out etc, the existing coffee table, pulled back the carpet and pushed back a couch and let them get into the space. Feeding Harvey and Eliza both of their brekkies at the same time....
I knew I needed to get these kids out of here! It was getting very noisy - doors banging, drills, hammering, sawing etc... and no where for Harvey to safely seek adventure. He did get a bit of fun from going out to his new 'dig sand' that Daddy bought him! But...it started to rain, so that put an end to that. And it was also blowing a gale. So, I packed a picnic lunch for both kids and myself and I worked hard to give instructions to the cabinet makers (and answer their questions too) and still pack the kids up ready to leave. Eliza was getting very fussy from needing to nap.
Some quick executive decisions came about from the cabinet maker's & electrician's questions in the process:
- did we want them to pull the existing corner cupboard out? Ah yes.... apparently that wasn't on the instructions and would normally cost $200... but they seem to have rolled that into the job now.
- the guys didn't know about filling in the 'gap' between the dining room and formal lounge - but that was rectified quickly.
- the front wardrobe was to be covering one of two of the rooms power points - we ended up just keeping the power points in the cupboard without removing them. The other set of power points looked like they would be inside the drawers to the left of the fireplace, but have ended up just being outside of them which is good. I asked to get a third set put in a usable place where Harvey might have a lamp table - but it seems a bit hard. They would have to cut into the flooring in the attic...so I've stalled on that idea until we know that we desperately need them there (ie - until we set up Harvey's room properly).
- The heating vent under the left hand set of drawers in Harvey's room is covered by the drawers (as you know). He added some slits into the wood baseboard there so that the heating can still flow out! I thought that was a great idea by him. Phew. He said that heating duct heat wouldn't warp the timber.
- Power points in the entertainment unit area on the wall near the clothes line are now covered over by the unit. Hope that's ok?? Seems as though we didn't need to transfer the telephone point to the right of the unit either.....but it's done now.
- Have had 3 x external LED down lights added along the eaves of the house near the veggie patch. There is a two-way switch for them so that you can turn on via the front or rear of the house. They spent ages trying to get the electric cords down near the back door so that we could use the same set of switches there (was going to use the old pond switch), but they couldn't get the cords through. Tried for ages, so we've had to put an additional one there next to the white cabinet on that wall. Seems like we've gone power point crazy now, but otherwise we'd have had to put them near the dinner table and that doesn't seem practical when leaving via the back door to double back to turn the outside lights on. Oh well.. it's not perfect, but it's done. The other end of the two-way switch is near the front door on the right. It couldn't be placed on the timber work. Old school lighting in there.
- We need to book in the painting via purpaint. I need to get their contact details from Alama offices, I think. Did we decide on a colour/finish?? Do you want me to get that sorted before you return or wait for you?
- The 'down/up' light in the garden has been fixed... it was a pretty difficult affair, actually. I had to help. ;-) It was a combo of landscaping and electrical work.... I just need to work a bit hard to bury it a bit more...
(the above is a collection of questions/comments from Tues and Wed)
So, I took the kids to your parent's house and put Eliza down in the cot while Harvey and I had lunch. Eliza woke after one cycle (no surprise), so I got her up and put Harvey down for his nap at just before 1pm. After only waking at 9am, I guess he wasn't tired enough? I gave up at 2pm and put them back in the car and headed home. With the entertainment unit getting banged into place, there wasn't going to be any sleep time for Harvey. I'd booked Emily to come and help with the kids from 6:30-9pm Tues and Wed this week and next, so I just got them both fed and bathed and ready for bed... Threw them down at 7pm and I headed out to gym class at 7:30pm - he was still awake....
Emily said that he slept for 20 mins and woke screaming... When I got home he was still screaming and it took a lot to calm him down. I think he's dealing with separation anxiety stuff. Me leaving him with Emily upset him, and so did you leaving on an airplane...
He woke at 1am screaming again and it took a couple of re-settles to get him to let me leave.
This morning, Harvey wanted to 'call Daddy'... so cute. I do really want to get some time on the phone for him.. I think it will help.
xx
Here's the fill in wall from the dining room's perspective.. I keep going through the kitchen and opening the dining room door to sneak through to the front of the house when the kids are sleeping - forgetting that we can't get through there anymore! :)
Here's the left hand side drawer and shelving. If you can enlarge this pic, you'll see the vent at the centre bottom that the guy put in to let the heat flow through.
This is the right hand side shelving unit. The guy actually cut the skirting from the left hand side and transferred it to here because it had been removed when the other corner cupboard was put in. Clever!
The wardrobe - you can hardly see it, but the powerpoint is against the lower right hand side against the wall.
Excuse the mess! Looks good, yeah?
Here's the fill in wall from Harvey's room perspective. It is held in place relatively lightly with only angled nails. He reckons if we pushed hard against it, it will pop out. Which will be good when we want to remove it, but we also need to protect it from crazy toddlers. It will be the bed head, so that will help.
Inside the hall cupboard. It's a little uglier than I expected, but I guess it has to be... to be able to fit in inside the original cupboard.
Here's a shot of the entertainment unit. It looks really good and it's been cleaned up a bit since I took this photo. I've fed the cords through and there's now a powerpoint behind the telly. That telly is SOOO heavy! I tranferred it to there last night when Harvey wanted to watch telly and I realised that there was no way to get it happening unless I moved it to that antenna point! Lucky I'm strong. ;)
This cheeky monkey has been flirting with all the tradies....
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