Day 273 - Insulation

After a call from Kim letting us know that he wont be coming down for a wedding next weekend we decided to insulate the extension in the hoped that it will help keep the rest of the house cooler. Insulation is crazy itchy stuff to work with, but thankfully really easy to use and it all went up in no time. I worked out that we needed three bags of the stuff when I first did the costings which is definitely too much, as with the amount we have left over we will be insulating the internal walls as well before they are plastered.

Day 272 - Letter Boxes

Maddie and Grace made paper mache boxes with a fair bit of help from us mums for the girls to put any letters that they send each other in. Maddie loved all the glueing involved, and seems pretty pleased with the effort that she put in with all the stickers. Hopefully she remembers it and when Grace sends her pictures or letters in the future she will put them in it for safe keeping.

Day 271 - A Big Day

Today we had quite a bit on, starting with the Plane's party at Toys R Us where there were at least another 100 kids. Nathan had the morning off so he came to this event and to say that he was overwhelmed and over it would have been an understatement. Still he did really well waiting in line for at least half an hour for Maddie's face paint, and he had a great time in the photo booth with her.

After leaving Majura park we went over to Floriade to try get nightfest tickets with the Canberra Milk labels that Judy gave to Nathan yesterday. Unfortunately, after getting through the traffic, then the cranky traffic controllers we found out that the booth to get the tickets was actually closed, and it was the only place that you could use your tokens. As the booth opened at 4 Nathan had to run out to get the tickets while Maddie and I rested before we headed out for a late night.

NightFest should be renamed Moth-Fest as that is what it was, there were moths everywhere and you couldn't avoid them easily. The gardens looked totally different at night and the entertainments was pretty good once you got through all the queues, but there really wasn't all that many options for dinner, or non alcoholic drinks. Simon may have ruined fairy floss on a stick for me when he mentioned how easily a moth would get stuck in there. His hilarity had me dry heaving at the thought and definitely not having fairy floss of a night time, on a stick or in a bag.

The laser show was awesome, but totally freaked me out that you can't really see what is going on in there with other people, so I pretty much put my head down and pushed my way out to the other side to wait on Nathan and Simon who really loved that part. Maddie and Grace had an awesome time on the jumping castle and tea cups, making up their own little chant and giggling with each other for the whole tea cup ride. I will have to bring Maddie back next week during the day so that she can have a better look at all the gardens and hopefully if it is quiet enough we will have a go on the ferris wheel.

Day 270 - Ouch

I look like a drug addict! I looked down at my arm today after I took the days bandage off and was horrified by the track marks on my arms from having four blood tests in this past week. The nurse this morning asked if we needed to use the other arm as this one was looking a little well used and I didn't think anything of it, but looking at my arm now, perhaps there is a need to try my other arm. The problem with my left arm is that all of the pathologists that have used that arm have had to chase the vein around, and that either leaves a bruise or hurts so while I can get away with it, we will stick with my right arm.

It is day 18 in this cycle, on .75iu of Gonal-F and so far, it is not looking like the shots are doing anything for my ovaries. Fingers crossed that the hormones start to work soon, as jabbing myself in the stomach every night it not a lot of fun.

Day 269 - Best Friends

Maddie and Grace holding hands at dinner time must be one of the cutest things that I have seen recently. I can not believe how much bigger Maddie's hand is to Grace's these days, either Maddie has enormous hands, or Grace has tiny dainty hands. I hope that these girls remain good friends despite the distance between them.

Day 268 - Basket Addition

After work tonight, Nathan added the basket he picked up at K-mart to Maddie's new bike. She thought it was awesome and ordered us in to get her teddies straight away. She just needs to get a tiny bit taller so that she can push the pedals a little bit easier and then she will be off, going as fast as she thinks she wants to be. Maddie is such a dare devil, I can just imagine her asking to sky dive when she gets a bit older.

Day 267 - Freak Out

Doing a random check of Maddie's teeth this morning I discovered that one of her front ones has gone quiet grey. After an initial OMG what could cause that I called the dentist and booked her in to be checked on Thursday. Maddie did fall off the seat at the clinic yesterday, but she didn't complain that she hurt herself, so I can not imagine that it was from that, but to my knowledge she hasn't had any other falls recently. Finger's crossed that her tooth is just bruised and that there isn't any permanent nerve damage.

Day 266 - T.V Aerial

The wonderful Mr Morgan came by over the weekend installed the aerial in the extension framing so that we can have a TV in our room. With such a short time left until they leave us, it was awesome that Simon was able to fit it in as I am sure it saves us a fair bit of stress and money. I am quite proud that I didn't cry while Simon was here, I am going to miss them all so much, and the time until they move is going way too fast.

Day 265 - Too Big

After the Fair yesterday I went out to Bungendore to buy a tree and pot for the extension as their customer service was awesome when we popped in just to ask questions. It turns out that the pot that I thought would fit is a little bit too tall to fit in between the bearers and into the place it needs to be. After being asked if I measured the space before hand a million times, Nathan and Kev tried to fit it in. It turns out that I didn't measure to the bearers, and because the concrete footings are there, we cant dig the soil down to be able to fit the pot in. Nathan is going to try to cut it back by about 10cm, hopefully it doesn't break the pot or his drill in the process.

Day 264 - Horse Ride

The Queanbeyan Hospital Fair was on today and while Maddie loved it as she got to go on every ride, it was really nothing special. I still can't believe the rides cost between $5 and $7 each, for not long playing at all. Maddie really liked the pony rides and did as she was told the whole time, although she was asking for a big one before she was given this one to ride.

The highlight of the day had to be how nice and warm the sun was out at the fair, although Grace's reaction to her turtle face painting was pretty awesome too. I'm going to miss that girl when they move to Tasmania, it is so far away.

Day 263 - Dress Up's

I tried to take a good photo so hard today of the three kids all dressed up, but three, 3 year olds don't all do the same thing at the same time it appears. Sadly this is the best photo of about 30 shots that I took today and I was really hoping for a nice one. The girls were a little mean to Hugh today shouting no boys and no pirates in the mirror, when they finally stopped shutting him out of the bedroom. I can't believe that they pick up gender differences and treat others differently already, I wonder where they get the ideas from. We certainly didn't teach them not to include boys.

Day 262 - Tantie Pants

Today Maddie did not want to leave dance, nor did she want to wear a jumper, so she voiced her opinion on the matter the entire way home. Talk about a cranky little girl this afternoon, if it wasn't so late in the day she would have been going home to have a sleep after this. Maddie had her last class on a Thursday afternoon today, not that I told her that, she gets emotional enough as it is leaving Cass. Hopefully she settles into Casey's class pretty easily and I am really hoping that there are less distractions in that class.

Day 261 - Landing

While we were out shopping and at swimming lessons, Rob was hard at work making the landing for out the front. It looks awesome but I wonder if we will regret not running it the whole length of the front of the house. I guess when we get to working out the side fence and gate we will be able to work out whether to extend it or do something else for a path.

Day 260 - Art Work?

Nathan was drawing a family portrait at Maddie's request today, and this is how he drew us grown-ups. I'm still not sure what to say, other than at least he drew me nicer shoes than his!

Day 259 - Face Paint

After seeing all of the big girl dancers yesterday Maddie wanted her face to be 'painted like a dancer'. I wasn't keen on the idea, and spent quite a while telling her that she will get to do that when she is older, but her persistence wore me down. So once again I pulled her hair back with a lot of bobby pins and hairspray and then I used the face paint to do her make-up. The result was a very happy little girl who thinks that her face paint is beautiful. 

Day 258 - Concert Time

Today was Maddie's concert day, and any concern I had about how she would go on stage disappeared as soon as she went out to have a look before the show started. Maddie is such a performer normally, but once she was on stage today she was in her element. During the concert itself she did get distracted by the lights but she did most of the dance that she has learnt this year. The final dance was a bit more of an issue, with Maddie running off stage a few times and having to be brought back out. It was an excellent show I thought and we loved seeing her perform with her class mates.

On a less enjoyable note for me, although not everyone else, I provided the half time entertainment with a spectacular fall down the stairs as I returned to my seat. Thankfully a lot of people were still out enjoying the intermission, but enough people saw it, and gosh I am a little bit sore now.

Day 257 - Light Shopping

Today, with Kim's help we looked at the light fittings that we are going to want for the extension. It turns out that I have really old taste that he thinks is ugly, and his taste is a little too modern for me. Luckily Nathan is somewhere in between so we were able to make some choices on what we wanted and get an idea of pricing and locations for everything. I love these string ball pendants so I want one over the bed, but I can not decide if I want one in the white colours or the chocolate brown.

There are so many really really ugly light shades, it is hard to believe that some of the feather ones are actually sold and put up in peoples homes, they are so ugly! They do make for a fun game of who can find the ugliest light fitting though.

Day 256 - Presheet Inspection Passed

Survived another inspection, although today's was touch and go as to whether I could withstand the nerves. Today's inspector was insanely thorough and spent ages looking at everything several times. Thankfully after today there aren't all that many inspections left to go.

The inspector today told me that if we are going to fail any inspection it will be the waterproofing one, and then spent 10 minutes telling me how to do it to make sure its done right. We really do have a good council out here when it comes to the planning and development side of things. 

Day 255 - Oiled Deck

It is supposed to rain over the next few days so I thought I had better actually get working on the house while the weather was good. Sanding the deck was a lot easier than I anticipated but going over it all took ages and certainly wore through a lot of sanding discs. Oiling it on the other hand was a lot more tricky as I was told to make sure I do the lengths in one sweep of the applicator which made the very last few boards really challenging. I am unsure of the colour as it looks too dark, but I think as it dries and fades a little I'll learn to love it.

Day 254 - Overwhelming

Nathan flies out to Melbourne for a few days today, so we had a hugely busy morning getting us all ready after a rough night with Maddie, for us to go to the clinic for a blood test, and drop Nathan at the airport. By the time we got to the clinic Maddie was asleep so I raced in only to find it super busy and to be told I would be starting my first lot of shots to treat my fertility issues. I had my blood test and went back to the waiting room to wait for my medication appointment and with only 5 minutes to spare I was called in by the Nurse. After sitting there for a few minutes talking about what to expect she looked at my script, asked the office girls the price and told me to go drop Nathan off at the airport and then come back and get the meds from the chemist. Instead of costing over $500 for the Gonal-F pens from the clinic, it cost us $36.10 at the hospital pharmacy which totally made my day.

Im quite impressed with the kit that you get when you start treatment, the clinic supplies a cold bag, the ice pack, an informational DVD, alcohol wipes and the sharps bin and the chemist does the Medication with the needles as part of the package.

It took me a few attempts to be able to give myself that first shot, as I just couldn't convince my brain that it needed to be done and was a normal thing to do. Every time I tried I would stop at the last minute, so on my last try before having to call someone to come help, I sucked it up and closed my eyes and didn't even feel the needle go in. Here is hoping tomorrow's needle is easier

Day 253 - Framing

Today Rob stood all of our internal frames, taking much much longer than he anticipated as the majority of  frames that he needed to change to better suit our needs. To enlarge the space we have in the bathroom and shower he completely remade the double shower wall, then he had to remake all of the walk in wardrobe walls to suit the cavity sliders that I want. It is awesome having the frames up as it gives us an idea of space and a much better picture of how the extension will work out. I am loving how awesome it looks and cant wait to take the door down and plaster the hallway to see how well it joins the old to the new.

Day 252 - Gutted

We managed to clear out all of the plaster and the nasty old back wall yesterday, doing some impressive damage to the floorboard that sat under the old external wall frame. We stood the frames in place but decided that they weren't a job for us, especially if we wanted a straight hallway, so after they nearly came tumbling down on me we lined them up against the wall in the order that we think Rob will need to use them. Big task for me today, I have to clean up and find homes for all of the stuff that has been sitting in Maddie's old room as there is no where for it. Hopefully I can put it in the little room while the other frames go up, but I wont be able to have anything in here when the inspectors come through. 

Day 251 - Yum

Up way too early today for my liking, so to make up for it I thought that I would have a tasty breakfast. Big day ahead today, we want to try and gut the rest of the old nursery and attempt to put the frames up so that we can get council to come and hopefully certify us to pre-sheet. 

Day 250 - Dress Rehersal

Maddie had her dance dress rehearsal today, and after a mad dash around the house to find her ears we got there just in the nick of time. I stayed outside while she went through to her routine with the kids that showed up and apparently she behaved fantastically which gives me hope for next weekend as I wont be going backstage with her. I didn't have much luck tying her hair back, but I didn't use the hairspray today, I still think she looks pretty cute and now I know other classes have costume envy too. 

Day 249 - Specialist Again

Today was another appointment with Doctor Devine, my fertility specialist to discuss what's going on, and future action that we will need to take. I forgot to go have this test done, which tests the quantity and quality of my eggs, so I am using it as my picture today, it is truly amazing what medicine can do.  As I only had the trigger shot on the 28th, it is too early to see if this cycle worked, but if it didn't, day two of my next cycle I will start daily Gonal-F injections to stimulate follicle growth. The doctor said we were lucky to have fallen pregnant with Maddie without help as I would be lucky to be able to ovulate on my own a couple of times a year. If we didn't know how lucky we were to manage to get Maddie through the 41.5 weeks of a troubled pregnancy we certainly do now.

Day 248 - Key Troubles

I have always had troubles with losing my keys and today's experience was probably the worst one to date. I spent 2.5 hours frantically looking for my car keys so that we could go to dance class this afternoon, before I found them hidden by one of the cats. The cats like to hide the spoon for their food in their cage so most days I have to look for it, and thankfully today was no exception as when I was looking for that, I found my car key hidden inside one of their beds. I really need to be more careful with my car key, and should look for the cats toys before I go out and buy more, as chances are they have just stashed them away.

Day 247 - Stage One Finished - Deck

The top of the deck was finished yesterday, and oh my gosh do I love it. I have swept it so many times today and Maddie spent ages out there happily playing while I finished painting the back wall. I am so loving the colours and how tidy it all looks that I have to keep going out there to look at it. 

Day 246 - Hummer Feeding

The kids got to feed Hummer the Giraffe at the zoo today, which must be Maddie's favourite thing to do there. She even had to stand back and supervise while Hugh had his turn after her, but I suspect that was more so in case the kids would get a second turn at feeding him. She sure does love Hummer and even eats carrots now. 

While we were at the zoo, Rob finished the deck off, I cant wait to get out there and paint the walls around it tomorrow, it looks so awesome. 

Day 245 - Deck

Rob came over bright and early again today to make a start on the deck, which has to be the most time consuming, back breaking job there is. I am a little excited by the deck and love it even more than the extension. I even said that we should have just made a massive deck instead of the extension, but then I wouldn't be gaining more storage room, an ensuite and a shoe cupboard. I cant wait to see the deck finished. Rob has made it a little bit bigger to cover the unipiers that we positioned too far out and once the stairs are on all the ones in this area will be hidden. We have a lot of landscape work to do before we are ready for stairs and the decks sides to be put on though.

Day 244 - Internal Access

Now that we are at lock up stage, we decided to make it possible to walk from the exisiting house into the extension. It is the coolest thing ever to be able to do, and walking through it all makes the house seem huge! This little hole is the perfect height for me, but anyone taller will need to duck, which is pretty much everyone else on earth, but we don't want to go too much higher as the air con until is still attached. With the framing up for the little room, it seems like its a pretty good size so we are all pretty happy with everything going on at the moment.