XX turns 5

It's been another busy week. Christmas Day came by, accompanied by some hail and flooding. Luckily for us, we were affected by none. Only Hubby's hind wheels got stuck in the mud after he left it parked on the bare naturestrip outside our house during the storm. The interior of our house is more or less organised now and we were able to welcome and entertain some visitors over the holiday period. Only wish the dishwasher was working. After a failed attempt by us to install it ourselves and ended having to pay for an emergency plumbler in the middle of the night, it still won't work for some reason. I got a feeling we will have to wash more money down the drain before it can be used.


Speaking of money, we are right now feeling that a house is a big bottomless sinkhole in which you pour your money in. One of our friend commented that she will be a very rich woman if she had saved up all the money she'd spent on her house over the years. Probably she's right. There are so many expenses, large and small, which came up that we never had to think about previously. And now, our plasma tv is showing a yellowish screen, which I reckon is not an auspicious sign.


The year is slipping by so fast before I have a chance to report recent important events. I still owe XX a birthday cake. I feel so bad that this year, XX turned 5 one day after we moved in, I have no time to make him a birthday cake. I only used the oven for the first time to make some pre-mix whoopie pies for his kinder. At least he had his moment of fame in school with 28 of his kindy friends singing him a birthday song and I did get him a big Lego Creation set as a gift, but I still feel a gap. I have made the birthday cakes for both of them every year since we moved to Melbourne. This year, XX's cake was a $5 mud cake from Coles.


Cake or no cake, my little baby has grown up one more year. Come next year, he will be joining his older brother in primary school. Although it is just Prep (equivalent of K2 in Singapore), he will be donning official school uniform, packing a lunch and going to school 5 days a week for 6 hours a day. I'm so gonna miss him. Since we came to Melbourne 3.5 years ago, he has been my constant companion and I witnessed his amazing transformation from a baby to toddler to a young school going child. It is so amazing. I'm being made redundant at more and more tasks as he now takes over cleaning his bottoms and showering/shampooing himself. He puts on his own socks and shoes and knows how to put them into the laundry basket afterwards. And just one day before he turned 5, XX learnt to ride the 2-wheeled bicycle on his own! We were busy supervising the movers and he was paddling around the back with the bike. He found his balance for a few seconds and then he could balance longer and longer. Suddenly he's riding a few metres without falling!  


It's a natural progression for him and I'm proud of his accomplishments. I'm relieved also for more freedom but at the same time, I probably need a little more time adjusting and letting go. You know, I still like to carry him, cradle him (with his limbs hanging out) and smell his neck like a baby.


Here's XX's photo diary of his 5th birthday.

On my birthday, I went to the indoor playground with Brandon and Callum after my Prep orientation.

Hooray, I'm 5 finally!

Mom made whoopie pies for my kinder friends.

Me with my teacher blowing out the candles on a fake cake.

My birthday present which I constructed with help from Mama and KK.

   

We Moved In

So much has happened since my last post. We finally got our keys, gave notice to vacate the rental house and started organising the moving in. Appliances and curtains got installed, furniture delivered, we moved in officially, XX turned 5, Hubby and KK got their blue belts for Taekwondo, end of school year and it's Christmas tomorrow! 


In between all these major events, there were lots of unpacking, tidying and organising at our new home and the cleaning and handing back of the rental property that was our home for the last 21 months. There were also school orientations for XX as he gets ready for Prep next year and end of year Christmas concerts to attend (even XX's kinder had a mini one). Hubby and I were so tired these last few weeks that we basically just crashed into bed everynight. But there's the satisfaction of finally living in our own home which we've work hard to create and I think we're progressing well. Hubby has been very hard working especially, assembling furnitures and fixing up odd jobs around the house. He's even started working on some of the many home projects lined up, such as our timber deck and we even got the Christmas tree set up. 


Enough said, I'll let the pictures tell the story:

One of the first thing we had to do was to set up a post box.

Hob and Hood installed.

Blinds had to be in before we can move in. Here's the sliding panel blinds in our bedroom.

Bought some furniture pieces from Ikea which we had to assemble.

The plantation shutters in the Lounge room.

Panel blinds in the laundry room that we installed ourselves. Rails from Ikea, fabric from Spotlight. 

Yay, our first meal (Korean instant noodles) in our new home.

The timber arrive for our alfresco decking.

Hubby setting up the frame for the decking. Yes, we're going to try and DIY!

Looking homely and comfy for Christmas.

More pictures on XX and KK to come and as we settle in and tackle more home improvement projects. Meanwhile, have a Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!!