Last month we said goodbye to our 'Threenager'.  I really was surprised by the antics that came with being three!   But now our little man has turned four, started kindergarten and seems so much more grown up!

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There were lots of presents to unwrap...

The renovation of our family home definitely inspired some gifts...

It was very special to have Nanna and Cousin E staying with us during the festivities and of course the phone rang hot with calls from other relatives.

Master H loves music and isn't content with the Wiggles and Hi-5.  His current favourites include the Foo Fighters, James Brown, Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams.  Hubby M surprised us all and returned home from work with a very special gift for our budding musician.  It was a beautiful moment to see the joy on Master H's face as he grabbed the guitar and performed his rendition of Daft Punk's 'Lose Yourself to Dance' and his own composition of 'I Love Everybody' with special shout-outs to our visiting family members.

Miss O did her best to steal the limelight and started walking!

It was an easy decision for the party cake this year.  The old faithful Women's Weekly Birthday Cake book from the seventies had this great design for a guitar cake.  Thank goodness Nanna was here to help!

Happy birthday darling boy!  We love you!

In 2006 we took the opportunity to upgrade from our first home to a property closer to the city.  We purchased a lovely little Queenslander from its original owner.  The house was very much showing its age and in need of a makeover!  The house is located in a DCP (Demolition Control Precinct) so any plans had to meet specific guidelines to maintain the character and architectural style of the home and be approved by Council.  And while the house was on a 579sqm block it was subject to the Residential Design Small Lot Code because it had an average block width of less than 15 meters.  We stayed on in our first home and left the house unoccupied for 6 months while we planned our renovation with a builder.    



Our first goal was to relocate the one and only toilet from a cupboard (on carpet!!!) in the second bedroom and close off the tiny opening allowing access from the kitchen.



What were they thinking?



Other than that, there were no major surprises or issues to deal with.  We chose to open back up the front verandah that had been enclosed at some point and close off the side sleepout to create a third bedroom or study.  We removed the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen and dining areas and added a back deck and new rear stairs.  It was an expensive exercise to replace all of the aluminium windows with traditional timber double hung windows but well worth it.  We saved money where we could by opting to paint the interior (never again!), replace the battens under the house, erect a garage and fences plus landscape ourselves.  We organised our own contractors to paint the exterior, do the tiling and polish the floors to make more savings.  It was a busy three years of hard work but we were more than happy with the results.

We completed the landscaping just as I became pregnant with our first child.  Perfect timing to relax and enjoy our family home!  But then we spotted the 'For Sale' sign on a house a few doors down the street...  and as if welcoming our first child into the world wasn't enough to worry about, we purchased another property and listed our home for sale.  I must say it was interesting having real estate agents visit us at the Mater Mothers Hospital to sign contracts and breastfeeding in the car while our house was open for inspection!  We negotiated a 60 day settlement on the sale of our house so that we had this period of time to renovate the new house up to a liveable state for Baby Master H.  Looking back, I don't know how we survived!  We were crazy to inflict this upon ourselves but I'm glad we secured a great property.
  

4 week old Master H and our Family Home.