Whoops !

Oopsy daisy... !

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, Jax is still in one piece - we promise ! Roland is too, hee hee.

Relaxed weekend last weekend, but a busy one coming up - work drinks for Roland on Friday night, Canada Day Pub Quiz event put on by the Canadian Club of Auckland on Saturday night, and then our Tupperware party on Sunday !

We promise to do a better update soon, time for our tired bodies to go to bed now though... zzzz...

Take care folks !

Love J, R & Baby Girl Bird
(only ten days to go!)

Newsflash !

It was a bit of a surprise, mostly because the sale went through so quickly, but we sold our old dishwasher today ! We had it listed on a New Zealand based auction website, and someone bought it, then came and picked it up and paid for it this afternoon ! I think it was only put up on the website on Friday, and most auctions run for 7 days, so an amazing result really. It wasn't even really our dishwasher, but it came with the house when we bought it, it's just that we had one we liked better from the previous place and installed that instead.

Roland did quite a bit of hard work though, spent ALL day yesterday installing the ventilation system that was mentioned in the last entry - and it seems to be doing well so far ! Here is a picture of the control panel (fascinating, I know!).

Other than that, not much happened - Jax went to another Tupperware party today and will soon be hosting her own - strange but true ! ;) She also finished the door to the nursery, with a little help from Roland for some of the tricky bits (being short doesn't help when you're painting a tall door). Here are a few photos of that as well.

The top


The bottom


The whole thing !

That is pretty much it, straight into another working week tomorrow - well, at least for Roland anyway.

Take care folks !

Love J, R & Baby Girl Bird

Rain rain go away...

We have had some phenomenally yucky weather in the last few days, and it hasn't really slowed down yet either. Early in the week there were even power cuts that caused some pretty major chaos in the city and a lot of companies wound up sending their workers home since there was literally nothing else they could do. We were lucky that the power didn't go out at our house, although you could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to, the thunderstorms and lightning we had yesterday felt like they were right on top of our roof.

As a result of all of this miserable wetness, we even have a fire going today - which we usually only do at night time !

The house is becoming more and more organised and tidy, we were given a liquor cabinet by Roland's dad, which basically has a nice big compartment for glasses and cups (with a glass door and is split into two shelves), and then a small cupboard with a sliding bottle holder (although that part is still empty at the moment).

(Sorry about the fuzzyness, just took a quick snap with the cellphone.)

Roland is also busy installing a ventilation system for our house which should further help with drying out / warming things up, since NZ houses get pretty damp on account of the aforementioned miserable winter weather. Photos of that will come later as right now he is busy making a mess and cutting holes in the ceiling where the vents need to go.

We were also lucky to have been given a baby gate by Jax's mum, since it wouldn't fit at her house, and fits perfectly at ours ! We only really have one doorway at the moment that will need a gate, so that was awesome (and practical!).

No other grand plans for the weekend really since going out isn't really worth it, I think most people will be staying inside where it's warm and relaxing ! There might be another update tomorrow if the ventilation system is complete, AND there might be some progress made on the office (the only room that still looks like a bomb site since we moved in, heh...).

Take care folks !

Love J, R & Baby Girl Bird
(Only three more weeks to go!)

Lady of leisure !

So the time has finally come and Jax has started her maternity leave, what a relief ! You should see the size of her "to do" list though, and it just keeps growing ! The house should be spotless by the time our girl decides to show up if everything on the list gets done.

This weekend is going to be pretty quiet and laid back though, in comparison to last weekend when we had to go out for something just about every day. We have been invited out to dinner tonight at a friends house, along with another couple who have a little baby, which should be quite interesting ! They're all colleagues of Roland's although we've all met before at other get-togethers.

That's actually pretty much it for now, it's only Saturday morning so haven't really had the chance to get into the swing of things yet - but you never know, there might just be another update before the weekend is out ;)

Take care folks !


Love J, R & Baby Girl Bird

Queen's Birthday Weekend

So it's Monday today, but we don't have to go to work - hurrah ! Sometimes Jax gets rostered on for public holidays, but thankfully not this one (although if she was, she gets time and a half plus a day in lieu, which isn't TOO bad...).

Saturday wasn't too exciting, although the weather was beautiful. We went out for breakfast at a local cafe we hadn't yet been to, and then Roland started putting up the new polystyrene underfloor insulation when we got home, and is about 90% finished. Quite a big job though, as it has to be measured and cut to size first !

We also went out to get a few other useful things, and now have a small fire extinguisher living in the cupboard under the kitchen sink, as well as a battery operated doorbell ! Our house isn't giant, but if we were in the living room watching a movie or something it could be hard to hear if someone came to the door I suppose.

There is also a new security light to go up, as the one that is currently on the corner of the house (outside) near the driveway is broken - and right now it can be pretty dark in the mornings.

We got to know one set of neighbors a lot better as well, the ones to our right (if you are facing our house). Very nice somewhat older couple, very friendly but laid back - and VERY generous too ! The lady works for the toy company / distributor Hasbro, and had a couple of gifts for us for the baby.

We also got to meet their goat, Abby. Yes ! A real live goat, who seems to quite enjoy the odd carrot, scraps of broccoli, and especially love stale bread - went over there again today to feed her and say hello.

After that we finished off the afternoon with a tour of Birthcare, the maternity hospital where we will hopefully be going when Baby Bird decides to arrive - very nice facilities, wonderful location, nice and peaceful and relaxed.

Sunday was a little more laid-back, sorted out the rest of our living room as there were still a couple of boxes floating around from the move - looks far more organised now. We also went to The Warehouse and bought a coffee table, which actually turned out to be a 3-piece coffee table set ! Not bad for $60.

We also bought a bookcase for the office, so the next 'project' will be sorting out the boxes in there and deciding what goes on the shelves and what gets put back into storage for a while.

Fish and chips for dinner, and that was about it really !

So far today we have been out again to The Warehouse (you can almost literally buy ANYTHING there...) and bought some photo frames - a more detailed explanation of why will come later, as they are part of one of Jax's 'special projects' for the nursery.

We bought the new Ben Harper CD (since we missed out on his concert), some net curtains for the master bedroom and the nursery, as well as a gift for Baby Ethan and some biscuits to take over for afternoon tea when we go visit today after lunch.

Other than that, just a few other basic house cleaning odds and sods left to go... as well as a few ongoing things like painting the nursery door, and the aforementioned organising of the office.

Sorry that it's all writing and no photos (there will be plenty next time, promise!), although I will sign off with a lovely 'portrait' shot sent to us by my brother in law Jason, back from Rols mum's birthday party at the beginning of the year... (and for curiosity's sake, it's my other brother in law Alex being a monkey in the background)

Take care folks, bye for now !

Love J, R & Baby Girl Bird
(Only five more weeks to go !!)