It's been 3 weeks since Chris left and I think we are finally starting to settle down.
Today Liam is exactly 13 months.. and I am so glad we are over the first year. For some reason I always find month 8-12 the toughest few months in the 1st year.. the weaning, their mobility and the start of fussing.
Annika turns 4 tomorrow and she's really excited. We've already celebrated her birthday when Chris was here 1 month ago so tomorrow will be cake in school and maybe cake at home. She also asked for a pinata for school so I've got to do that today. I've been bribing her with the pinata.. so everytime she refuses to do something ( practise piano/eat breakfast/ sit down etc ) I use the pinata as ransom. For now it works.. I've got to think of something else once her birthday is over!
I had some trouble getting the apartment rented out but its mostly sorted out now so I hope I don't have to deal with it for a few months. There's just a few minor dismantling works that's still to be done but it shouldn't be too complicated.
I think the house is also FINALLY settling down.. the roof was still leaking and the roofing people came in again to fix it, and we are waiting for another downpour to test it out. Our architect came in over the weekend to inspect the house, and I'm so glad he did that. He took pictures of the various minor defects and I hope those will get corrected at some stage. The wardrobe guy also came in on Saturday to install our bathroom mirrors and cabinets so we now have mirrors in the house! I'm actually happy that we're getting things done in stages so that every little thing feels like an improvement, and the helpers aren't overwhelmed with work at the very start.
This week is looking busy for the kids.
Monday: kids have 'racial harmony day' at school and Madison had her Mandarin show and tell. She brought some kueh buluh to show. We practised a little at home and I hope that 2 minute speech is enough!
Tuesday: Annika is 4! Cake and Pinata at school. Madison has her first on-course golf lesson so I have to take her to the driving range prior and then leave her for the lesson. Lesson starts at530pm.
Wednesday: Berries as usual
Thursday: Music class day- Madison has a double: a replacement music class at 1pm and then CMC class at 6pm. Tennis session for the first time for me and a few neighbours
Friday: Swim class as usual
Saturday : I signed Madison up for a swim meet as encouraged by her swim teacher. Of course to express my support I also indicated I would help out as a volunteer.. let's see how that pans out. In the evening we have a potluck dinner at a friend's house. I still haven't decided what to make!
No wonder I was getting anxiety nerves this morning....
Monday, July 21, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
July 2014
I think I should never forget this month
1. New house
We finally moved in on June 23rd and obviously had to spend the night there once the beds were moved over. It was a crazy nightmare having to move and look after 3 kids. When we moved from Papillon to Montebleu I don't remember having any major issues, so I assumed it would be the same this time.
It was bad!
We were firstly under prepared. I was recommended Helping Hands as a moving company. They employ ex-convicts to do the job and are reasonably priced as they are partly a social enterprise. The boxes they sent us were too small and even though we paid for more (20 more) boxes they were insufficient. We had stuff still unpacked when the movers came. Fortunately they brought a huge empty box for us to use.
We had so much stuff! They needed 2 trips to bring all our things over, and when they got to the new house the first thing they said " there are stairs!" They were NOT happy. Fortunately they were nice enough to oblige ( at an additional cost ) and I brought drinks and my banana cake for them.
It took the rest of the day just to vaguely unpack and get the bedrooms reasonably ready for the night. There were still workers trying to finish up the details in the house so it was terribly dusty and noisy.
2. Chris leaving for Germany
He left on the 29th of June, on the same day that Anthony arrived (fortunately!) His flight was at midnight, so we had time to have dinner with the extended family. I drove him to the airport with Anthony and his mum.
3. Endless house repairs
When we got the new house, it wasn't completely finished so the workers were still working everyday. Floors had to be finished, painting wasn't completed and the timber screen on the staircase had to be finished.
Then at the end of the first week the heavy rain started. The attic roof started to leak!
The first time round the roofers blamed the neighbour's tarpaulin on their roof flooding our roof with their water.Anthony and I sorted that out by getting their roofers fold the tarp onto itself.
Then it rained again and our roof STILL leaked. The second time the roofers came back, took out some part of the gutter and then replaced it. I was seriously doubtful that it would work.. but we had to give it a try.
Of course when it rained it leaked AGAIN. The third time I think they replaced something else and we are still waiting for another heavy downpour.
Next came the toilets. The first floor WC seat was chipped when they handed over to us, and 3 weeks later we are still waiting for it to be replaced.
The second floor guest WC started leaking soon after. The first time the plumber came back they said it was the inlet water gasket that moved, so they manipulated it and said it was fixed. Obviously it leaked again the very night. So they had to come back again another day to do a better job.
Once they finished that , the master bedroom WC started leaking. Just unbelievable. I'm still waiting for that to be rectified.
Finally the wood floors. There were patches of unfinished floor that they had missed, so they had to come back and re do them. They wound up redoing most of the floor and that took close to a week to complete. When they finally finished the 3rd floor, the plumber went and walked on the wet varnish! So now there are foot prints on a few steps and staircase landing which is still due for a redo!
What next!
4. Primary one registration
It was like a day of doom! I've been so anxious over this with the competition to get into school these days.
I thought I'd got all the documents ready so I drove over to register first thing after dropping the girls off at school. Only after I sat down to fill out the form I realized I'd forgotten the most important document: Madison's birth certificate!
It was a miracle I managed to drive home safely and get the rest of the process completed.
Turns out there were 100 spots and 50 applicants so technically we should be safe. I'm still waiting for the final confirmation slip to be mailed out to us.
5. Getting Montebleu rented out
We decided we're probably keeping Montebleu for the forseeable future for now, but obviously need to rent it out. After we moved out, I paid another contractor close to $6000 to do minor repair and cleaning work in the apartment. It was quite dirty and messy. I had to go back and do a scrub down of the stove and oven as well.
We had a few viewings by potential tenants, and now they want ALL the built in furniture removed! This means more work on the apartment and touch up paint and floor work. But I guess we don't really have a choice; it's either this or no tenant.
Hopefully that'll be all for now....
1. New house
We finally moved in on June 23rd and obviously had to spend the night there once the beds were moved over. It was a crazy nightmare having to move and look after 3 kids. When we moved from Papillon to Montebleu I don't remember having any major issues, so I assumed it would be the same this time.
It was bad!
We were firstly under prepared. I was recommended Helping Hands as a moving company. They employ ex-convicts to do the job and are reasonably priced as they are partly a social enterprise. The boxes they sent us were too small and even though we paid for more (20 more) boxes they were insufficient. We had stuff still unpacked when the movers came. Fortunately they brought a huge empty box for us to use.
We had so much stuff! They needed 2 trips to bring all our things over, and when they got to the new house the first thing they said " there are stairs!" They were NOT happy. Fortunately they were nice enough to oblige ( at an additional cost ) and I brought drinks and my banana cake for them.
It took the rest of the day just to vaguely unpack and get the bedrooms reasonably ready for the night. There were still workers trying to finish up the details in the house so it was terribly dusty and noisy.
2. Chris leaving for Germany
He left on the 29th of June, on the same day that Anthony arrived (fortunately!) His flight was at midnight, so we had time to have dinner with the extended family. I drove him to the airport with Anthony and his mum.
3. Endless house repairs
When we got the new house, it wasn't completely finished so the workers were still working everyday. Floors had to be finished, painting wasn't completed and the timber screen on the staircase had to be finished.
Then at the end of the first week the heavy rain started. The attic roof started to leak!
The first time round the roofers blamed the neighbour's tarpaulin on their roof flooding our roof with their water.Anthony and I sorted that out by getting their roofers fold the tarp onto itself.
Then it rained again and our roof STILL leaked. The second time the roofers came back, took out some part of the gutter and then replaced it. I was seriously doubtful that it would work.. but we had to give it a try.
Of course when it rained it leaked AGAIN. The third time I think they replaced something else and we are still waiting for another heavy downpour.
Next came the toilets. The first floor WC seat was chipped when they handed over to us, and 3 weeks later we are still waiting for it to be replaced.
The second floor guest WC started leaking soon after. The first time the plumber came back they said it was the inlet water gasket that moved, so they manipulated it and said it was fixed. Obviously it leaked again the very night. So they had to come back again another day to do a better job.
Once they finished that , the master bedroom WC started leaking. Just unbelievable. I'm still waiting for that to be rectified.
Finally the wood floors. There were patches of unfinished floor that they had missed, so they had to come back and re do them. They wound up redoing most of the floor and that took close to a week to complete. When they finally finished the 3rd floor, the plumber went and walked on the wet varnish! So now there are foot prints on a few steps and staircase landing which is still due for a redo!
What next!
4. Primary one registration
It was like a day of doom! I've been so anxious over this with the competition to get into school these days.
I thought I'd got all the documents ready so I drove over to register first thing after dropping the girls off at school. Only after I sat down to fill out the form I realized I'd forgotten the most important document: Madison's birth certificate!
It was a miracle I managed to drive home safely and get the rest of the process completed.
Turns out there were 100 spots and 50 applicants so technically we should be safe. I'm still waiting for the final confirmation slip to be mailed out to us.
5. Getting Montebleu rented out
We decided we're probably keeping Montebleu for the forseeable future for now, but obviously need to rent it out. After we moved out, I paid another contractor close to $6000 to do minor repair and cleaning work in the apartment. It was quite dirty and messy. I had to go back and do a scrub down of the stove and oven as well.
We had a few viewings by potential tenants, and now they want ALL the built in furniture removed! This means more work on the apartment and touch up paint and floor work. But I guess we don't really have a choice; it's either this or no tenant.
Hopefully that'll be all for now....
Liam's ONE!
This post is so overdue!
Liam turned one on June 21st, and we had a party for him and Annika before Chris left for Germany.
I wanted it to be a simple affair, but alas, no.. Annika made it explicitly clear she wanted her bouncy castle for her friends. We had her party one month early so that I wouldn't have to organise a party while Chris was away.
So.. we had the bouncy castle, we had catered food from Currywok and a few families over to celebrate the 2 birthdays. Of course like everyone else with a girl we just had to have a Frozen themed party. I googled it as a theme and there were plenty of suggestions. We wound up having a Frozen themed cake/dessert table which the kids absolutely loved. I was so blessed to have generous people help : my clinic nurse made blue coloured jelly for the table as well as a huge pot of curry chicken. My mother-in-law and my mum's maid helped with setting up the Frozen themed table. I was quite hesitant about getting a bouncy castle after last year's debacle with heavy rain but Annika was lucky. The day was dry and weather cool. Of course I had to make the cake, a rainbow cake with frosting decorated with Queen Elsa, Anna and Olaf.
This time we didn't organise any games, there were no face painters or balloon twisters. The kids were just as happy running around and playing with each other. We set up a mat on the floor with paints and a few handicraft things which they did use for a little while.
It's bittersweet that my baby is one, but it's also a relief. It means he is able to be more independent of me, it means he doesn't have food restrictions anymore (hooray!) but it also means the babyhood is gone... I suppose it's been a gradual transition but Liam is definitely becoming a demanding toddler now!
Liam turned one on June 21st, and we had a party for him and Annika before Chris left for Germany.
I wanted it to be a simple affair, but alas, no.. Annika made it explicitly clear she wanted her bouncy castle for her friends. We had her party one month early so that I wouldn't have to organise a party while Chris was away.
So.. we had the bouncy castle, we had catered food from Currywok and a few families over to celebrate the 2 birthdays. Of course like everyone else with a girl we just had to have a Frozen themed party. I googled it as a theme and there were plenty of suggestions. We wound up having a Frozen themed cake/dessert table which the kids absolutely loved. I was so blessed to have generous people help : my clinic nurse made blue coloured jelly for the table as well as a huge pot of curry chicken. My mother-in-law and my mum's maid helped with setting up the Frozen themed table. I was quite hesitant about getting a bouncy castle after last year's debacle with heavy rain but Annika was lucky. The day was dry and weather cool. Of course I had to make the cake, a rainbow cake with frosting decorated with Queen Elsa, Anna and Olaf.
This time we didn't organise any games, there were no face painters or balloon twisters. The kids were just as happy running around and playing with each other. We set up a mat on the floor with paints and a few handicraft things which they did use for a little while.
It's bittersweet that my baby is one, but it's also a relief. It means he is able to be more independent of me, it means he doesn't have food restrictions anymore (hooray!) but it also means the babyhood is gone... I suppose it's been a gradual transition but Liam is definitely becoming a demanding toddler now!
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