The Kitchen Diaries - Part 2

(posted by Elizma)

The work on our kitchen extension is now in full swing. I can tell that from any room in the house - as everything is full of dust! The builder said I'm one of the least stressed wives he's every come across during an extention and I have to say I don't feel that stressed. Maybe the loft prepared me. I just look past all the dirt and dust and noise and focus on the end result...

We're now one month into the build (a quarter of the way if everything goes well). The foundations have been laid and the walls are up. Today they are busy putting the roof slats up. So we will have a waterproof room very soon. Maybe by the end of the week.

That's both exciting and a bit scary as this means that I will completely lose the kitchen very soon. We'll probably have to spend this weekend packing away the rest of the stuff that's still in there. YEAH!

Here are a few photos to show you the progress so far.

NCT Group First Birthday Party

(posted by Elizma)

On the 14th of this month we had a shared birthday party for all the babies in our NCT group (National Childbirth Trust).

We spent a lovely afternoon in Sean and Carolyn's garden. Here's a video montage that Leon compiled of the event.



Where has a year gone?!

Liam Walking - by popular demand ;-)

(posted by Elizma)

(It sounds as if he's crying, but he's actually laughing.)

The same one from another angle...

Out with the old, in with the new...

(posted by Leon)

Following on from Elizma's post below about the developments in our new kitchen/diningroom extention, here is a photo of the current state of events (taken from our 3rd story loft room). They're in the process of knocking down the existing small kitchen extention and they're starting on the wall of the new room. Quite exciting:

(click on it to see a big version of it)

The Kitchen Diaries - Part 1

(posted by Elizma)

As with the loft conversion, we thought we'd keep you up to date with our latest venture - the kitchen/dining/living extention.

Yes, we've heard from many people we're crazy. And I definitely think that too sometimes. Since we moved in almost 3 years ago, one of the rooms in the house has always been a store room. I look forward to the day when everything's done and we can just enjoy it. This WILL be the last thing we do - apart from a few bits of decorating.

Ideally I would have liked to move out while they do the worst of the dirty, dusty work. But where would we find a short term lease - that's within our budget? So, we'll just brace ourselves and live without a kitchen for a while.

Luckily the builders left us a bit of the kitchen which we will be able to use for the next few weeks. After that, well who knows? Probably microwave meals - which will be heated in the microwave that will reside in the spare bedroom! As for the fridge, it has already found a new home in the hallway.

So far we've had 3 big milestones:
1. The foundations have been dug and laid.
2. They have started to demolish the existing extention.
3. The first few rows of brickwork has gone down.

Uncomfortable as it may be, we will keep focussing on the end result and dream of the lovely family and friend times we will be spending there...

One small step for man....

(posted by Leon)

... one giant leap for Liam!

Liam is really getting close to walking now, and is braving larger and larger gaps between 'holding on' objects, like the door, the sofa or even Mom & Dad.

Here he is having probably his most successful attempt to date:

Liam's Birthday Day

(posted by Elizma)

For Liam's birthday day we were again blessed with great weather. We went to Wisley in the morning where we had lunch and some ice cream.

In the early evening, Oupa Bill and Ouma Ria came over and we gave him his first ice cream cone. Although it looks as if he enjoyed it on the after picture, he didn't really like it at all! Probably too cold for him.

It was a lovely day which we will remember for a long time. It was special being able to share it with him...

More photos here.

Liam is ONE!

(posted by Elizma)

We can't believe our little boy is ONE today! It has gone too quickly. We are so thankful for him as he is the sweetest little boy in the world - well worth the wait!

To celebrate we had a birthday party yesterday afternoon. We were really lucky with the weather as it was absolutely beautiful.

Thanks to everyone who came and we missed those of you who couldn't make it! Thank you also for all the lovely presents.

Here are some pictures. For more, click here.