The saga of selling our house

With the sale of our house in Beach Haven going through today, it's time to tell the story of the rocky road that led to this point. We have had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, and more twists and turns than a corkscrew.

Friday 20 October
Last year when we first decided that we were going to move to Wellington, our neighbours had expressed an interest on buying the property off us. Either as an investment property for themselves (hey, easy to keep an eye on it if it's next door), or as somewhere for her parents to live (they live in Hamilton and were apparently thinking about moving to Auckland). We spoke to them again on the Friday and as they were going away for the long weekend we left them to think about it.

Tuesday 24 October
The neighbours got back from their holiday and said that the timing just wasn't right for them, as their second child was due in December, and they just couldn't afford it.

Wednesday 25 October
Decided to list the property with a real estate agency. On advice from several people we decided to leave the house furnished as apparently it helps it to sell better. We also decided that Kat and I would continue living in the house, while Peter went to Wellington to start his new job and new life. Cancelled the moving company who were due to arrive the next day.

Friday 27 October
Signed up with Agent A* from real estate company Barfoot and Thompson. We listed the property with a price range of $1-$10*. Realistically I thought we were looking at $3.
*Note: Names and prices have been changed.

Sunday 29 October
Peter flew to Wellington, leaving Kat and I on our own.

Monday 30 October - Day 1 on the market
A couple of agents came to look at the house first thing in the morning but nothing else for the rest of the day.

Tuesday 31 October - Day 2
Tuesdays are the days that all the Barfoots agents do their "caravan" and go and visit all the newly listed properties. Tuesday was also my coffee group day so I was out of the house all day. We had about 15 agents come through. Two of these agents later brought clients back to have a look at the property.
3pm - I get a phone call from Agent B saying she had a buyer who wanted to put in an offer. I arranged to meet her at 5pm.
5pm - Agent B comes over with a signed offer for $1. I know this isn't a realistic offer so I counter-sign at $7.
7pm - Agent B comes back again with a counter-offer of $5. This is more than I was expecting and am happy with it, but I don't want to sign anything without talking to Peter. Peter is out at paintball practice and not expected home till 10pm. I tell Agent B we'll get back to her in the morning. Agent B is quite pushy.
8pm - I get a phone call from Agent C saying his client is quite keen and would like to come back for a second look in the morning.
11pm - I finally speak to Peter. While we are both happy with the $5 offer, neither of us feel comfortable at taking the first offer we are given. We decide to hold off and see what happens with Agent C's clients.

Wednesday 1 November - Day 3
8.30am - Agent C brought his clients in for a second look at the property. They then went straight back to the office and put an offer in writing. This put us into a "multi offer" situation, where all buyers have one chance to put their best offer forward.
6pm - The multi offers were presented to us, with me in Barfoots office and Peter on the phone from Wellington.
Agent B's client, Buyer 1, offered $5 conditional on 5 days for finance and builders report. Buyer 1 is a recently divorced woman.
Agent C's client, Buyer 2, offered $4 conditional on 10 days for finance and builders report. Buyer 2 is a young couple.
Peter and I accepted Buyer 1's offer. We had a conditional sale after only three days on the market.

Friday 3 November - Day 5
Buyer 1 and her builder came by to do a "structural integrity" inspection. They spent about half an hour looking round the inside and outside of the property, while Kat and I tried to keep out of the way.

Saturday 4 November - Day 6
Our first Open Home. Spent hours making sure the house was spotless beforehand. Only 2 groups came through the house. However it hadn't yet been advertised in the Property Press so the people who came through would only have come based on the signage out front.

Sunday 5 November - Day 7
Our second Open Home. This time 10 groups came through, which is the most we ever had in the whole time our house was on the market.

Tuesday 7 November - Day 9
Got a call in the afternoon from our solicitor, who had been contacted by Buyer 1's solicitor, saying that the builders inspection had found water damage in the garage wall and that it would cost approx $0.60 to fix and therefore she was asking that we reduce the price by $0.60 to $4.40. I was unaware of any water damage in the garage and went and looked but couldn't find any. There was clay and builders mix piled against the outside of the garage wall that I thought they might have been referring to. I replied that I wouldn't reduce the price but I would shift the dirt (this later took me several back-breaking hours in the hot sun while Kathleen napped).

Wednesday 8 November - Day 10
This was the day that Buyer 1's offer was meant to go "unconditional", i.e. she needed to satisfy all the conditions of her offer (finance and builders report).
10am - Get a phone call from our solicitor saying that Buyer 1 is unhappy with the findings of the builders report and therefore the "agreement is cancelled". The sale was off. I was gutted. I got a copy of the builders report from the solicitor and went and relooked at the garage wall and discovered that there was some water damage there after all, that I had never noticed before.
Upon speaking to Agent A later on, it appears that the builders report wasn't the only reason Buyer 1 pulled out. It looks like finance and maybe pressure from her family and friends also influenced her decision. Which is a shame because she really loved the house.

Friday 10 November - Day 12
The property has its first listing in the Property Press.

Saturday 11 November - Day 13
2pm - Another Open Home. This time I'm out at Big Boys Toys watching Peter play paintball. 8 groups of people through.
7.30pm - I run out to the shops to get something for dinner and find Buyer 1 standing in the driveway staring wistfully at the house. She introduces me to her partner who she has brought along to see the house. I tell her she's welcome to have a look around the outside of the property.
9pm - Agent D came around with an offer of $2 from Buyer 3. Buyer 3 was a 65 year old one-legged man who lived on his own and was looking for a new house. The offer hinged on the sale of his existing property. We said we'd think about it but weren't keen to wait that long.

Sunday 12 November - Day 14
2pm - Another Open Home. 6 groups of people come through. Spoke to Agent A who said the interest was very strong and that she expected us to get another two offers the next day (both were waiting on the outcomes of backup offers I think).
4pm - Agent E brought some people to look at the house while Kat and I go down to the park. Through this whole experience we often had to leave the house become people wanted to come look at it. But because there were so many times I haven't included these in this summary. Apparently these buyers were very keen and spent half an hour measuring up all the rooms for their piano etc.
8pm - Told Agent D that we were very sorry but just couldn't accept Buyer 3's offer with the house sale condition attached. However we agreed to leave the offer on the table and he would see if he could come up with bridging finance.

Monday 13 November - Day 15
4pm - Agent E phoned to say that unfortunately her clients could only get finance to $3, and she was aware that our previous offer was for $5 so she didn't want to waste our time putting in an offer at $3. So we had one rejected offer and one offer evaporate and had heard nothing about these other two offers that Agent A said was coming. It looked like we were back to square one.
5pm - Agent A phoned to say we were back at a multi offer situation with at least three offers on the table, and the offers were to be presented to us at 6pm the following day.

Tuesday 14 November - Day 16
Peter has to rush off to Texas to be with his ill grandfather. Kat and I go and spend time with him at Auckland Airport between flights. The multi offer is postponed until 6pm Wednesday.

Wednesday 15 November - Day 17
6pm - The multi offers were presented to me in Barfoots office.
Agent D's client, Buyer 3, resubmitted his offer of $2 conditional on sale of his existing property.
Agent F originally had two offers for us, however one pulled out after having put in an offer on another house the night before. Her remaining client, Buyer 4 offered $3 conditional only on solicitors approval (no builders report or finance clauses). Buyer 4 is a single (divorced?) woman.
Agent G had a last minute offer for us. Her client, Buyer 5, only saw the property for the first time the day before. She offered $4.10 conditional on 7 days for finance and builders report. Buyer 5 is a young woman recently arrived from England.
I wasn't very keen on any of the offers, we had been hoping to get $5 again. However Peter and I had agreed that our bottom limit was $4. And I had already been living on my own for 2.5 weeks and just wanted it all over with. So I accepted the offer of $4.10 from Buyer 5.
So after 17 days on the market we had our second conditional sale.

Friday 17 November - Day 19
Second listing in the Property Press.
Agent G pops around and informs me that Buyer 5 has bought a copy of the builders report off Buyer 1. She also has two requests - that we remove the dirt from the side of the house entirely (I had shifted it so it wasn't against the house but it was still there), and that we change the settlement date to mid-January. After some thought I agree to the latter but not the former.

Saturday 18 November - Day 20
Open Home generates 3 groups including Buyer 5 showing the house to her friends.

Sunday 19 November - Day 21
Open Home generates 5 groups. Meanwhile Kathleen and I go out to the Santa Parade and afterwards to the Parnell Rose Garden.
I get a phone call from Agent F saying her client, Buyer 4, is still very keen on the house but cannot go any higher than $3, and would we consider her as a backup offer.

Monday 20 November - Day 22
I have a message on my phone from Agent G saying that Buyer 5 has pulled out of the deal. Apparently she said she couldn't get the finance, however on speaking to Agent A it seems more a case of cold feet and her friends saying to her "you paid that much for a house in Beach Haven???". So our second sale was off.
Agent F phoned again and said her client was still keen at $3 but I turned it down. My rationalle was that we'd already turned down other offers for $3 and I knew there were people out there who were willing to pay more.
Later that evening Agent A phoned to say that one of the people who saw the house in the weekend will probably put in an offer tomorrow. I say "I'm not holding my breath".

Tuesday 21 November - Day 23
Agent A brings over an offer from Buyer 6 for $4.40 conditional on finance, builders report and LIM report (which can take up to 3 weeks). Buyer 6 is a couple about our age, with no kids. They are offering a large deposit but don't want to pay it until the sale goes unconditional. That could be weeks away and doesn't commit them to anything and they could walk away at any time. I insist that this be changed to payable on acceptance of the contract. There are other things we want to change as well and I also add a 3-day escape clause. I agree to leave the $4.40 as is, in good faith, as we don't want to scare them off by making so many changes. I kinda wish I'd gone to $5 but Agent A strongly advised against this. She considered that the first two buyers had pulled out because they thought they were paying too much for a house in Beach Haven. I was happy enough with $4.40 as it is what we were offered by Buyer 1 once we took the price reduction into account. I made it clear I would not accept any reductions to this price, and Buyer 6 is already aware of the water damage in the garage. They accepted my changes to the contract.
So after 23 days on the market we had our third conditional sale.

Thursday 23 November - Day 25
Buyer 6 is concerned that the deck that was added to the house by the previous owner is not shown on the official Certificate of Title to the land. We bought the house aware of this, and were told at the time it is quite common. Agent A assured me it is still quite common and not having it on the Title is no big deal.

Friday 24 November - Day 26
Buyer 6's builder came by to do an inspection of the property.
Third listing in the Property Press

Saturday 25 November - Day 27
Another Open Home, only 2 groups go through

Sunday 26 November - Day 28
Another Open Home. 5 groups come through, including 2 on their second viewing of the property.
Peter arrives home from the US. I've now been on my own for four weeks and we are all missing each other. We decide that the time has come for me to join him Wellington and that we will leave the house furnished but unoccupied. It could be another two weeks before the sale to Buyer 6 goes unconditional, or it could fall over like the previous two sales did. In any case it could be weeks until the house is sold and I don't want to wait.

Monday 27 November - Day 29
I start making arrangements for Kat and I to join Peter in Wellington, such as arranging for the cats to be uplifted by the Petman and delivered to Wellington a week later.

Tuesday 28 November - Day 30
10am - I get a phone call from our solicitor who has been advised by Buyer 6's solicitor that they are asking for a reduction in the price by $0.40 so that they can officially put the deck onto the Certificate of Title. I say no.
12.30pm - Agent H presents me with a backup offer from Buyer 7 of $1 unconditional - no finance, no builders report. Buyer 7 is a couple in their late 30's with no kids, originally from Germany or Switzerland.
3pm - After talking with Peter I counter-sign the backup offer at $5.
7pm - Agent H comes back with a counter-offer of $3.60. He says that he doesn't think they'll go any higher and that the woman had to twist her partners arm to even offer this much. I stick to my guns and counter-sign at $4 which is our absolute minimum.
7.30pm - Agent H phones to say that they have agreed to $4.
We now have an unconditional backup offer. This immediately evokes our 3-day escape clause in the contract with Buyer 6. This means that Buyer 6 has three days to make their offer unconditional (i.e. be satisfied with their builders report, property report, and get the finance). If Buyer 6 does go unconditional then the house is sold to them for $4.40 and Buyer 7 misses out. However if they can't do it in time or if they decide to pull out then the house will be sold to Buyer 7 for $4, no questions asked. In either case the house is now effectively sold.
Finally, after 30 days on the market we have sold the house.

Wednesday 29 November
The sold sign went up on the board outside our house.
I had been planning on leaving today and driving down to Wellington, however the last minute development meant I had a few more things to do and pack before I could leave so I ended up staying another couple of days to get it all done.

Friday 1 December
Heard from our solicitor that Buyer 6 had made their offer unconditional (and had dropped the request for the deck to be added to the Certificate of Title). Our house was sold, to Buyer 6, for $4.40.
Kathleen and I hit the road for the long drive to Wellington.

Wednesday 20 December
Three weeks later Peter, Kathleen and I are settling in to our new life in Wellington. Our stuff has been packed up and delivered to us in our new house. Through friends from coffee group in Auckland I managed to get the house in Auckland cleaned and made ready for handover. The keys were handed over to Buyer 6 today, and the money deposited into our account. It's been a long and stressful journey but we are finally here and can start moving forward again (well, once we stop tripping over all these boxes).

Cheers,
Megz

Relocated

Kathleen and I have now joined Peter in Wellington, and we are back together as a family living in our new house.

It's been six weeks now since Peter started his new job in Wellington. Kathleen and I stayed on in Auckland with the intention of being there until the house sold. The impression we got from the real estate agent was that it would sell quickly, as other properties in the area had done. However it proved to be quite a saga which I will document in a later blog when I have more time.

So after being apart for a month we decided that that was enough, and Kat and I would come down to Wellington whether the house in Auckland was sold or not. On the day we left Auckland the house sale went unconditional, so that was a weight off my mind.

Kathleen and I drove from Auckland to Wellington over the course of two days. Normally Peter and I would do the nine-hour drive in one long day, but with Kathleen along I had to stop more often to give her breaks.

On Day 1 Kathleen slept while I drove from Auckland to Hamilton. I haven't been that way for almost a year and it's great to see the roadworks have finally finished and the dual carriageway almost all the way to Huntly makes a huge difference. We stopped for lunch in Hamilton and had a play at a park where Kat had great fun chasing the ducks. We then continued on to Taupo and once again Kat slept the majority of the trip.



Spent the night in Taupo at a motel. Kat was pretty well behaved although I still kept shhh-ing her every time she squealed so she didn't annoy the neighbours. Then there was the bachelor party who came back to their units at whatever time in the morning. And the guy who knocked persistently on my door at 5am only to find it was the wrong room.

Day 2 we hit the road nice and early, and Kat immediately fell asleep all the way from Taupo to Waiouru. We continued on for another 45 minutes to Flat Hills where we stopped for lunch and Kat got to see the pigs and goats and sheep and cow and chooks. Once again she fell asleep as soon as we left there. We stopped in to visit friends in Palmerston North for a late lunch and another play. Then there was the final drive from Palmy to Wellington.

With all the stopping it was 7.15pm by the time we arrived at Peter's mum's house in Island Bay. A very long day and a very long drive. Kathleen handled the drive very well, only complaining when I put her into her carseat.

It's great to be back together as a family again. We stayed with Peter's mum for a few days until moving into our own house. Peter is absolutely loving being back in Wellington. He says he has run into people he knows on the street every single day. His social life is very busy. In the week before Kat and I arrived, I think he was out every night. In the four nights we have been living in this house so far, we've only cooked one night. I have yet to catch up with any friends as I have been busy on house stuff, but I hope to do so this week.

It's great to be back in Wellington, but I have to admit there are some things I miss about Auckland. Like summer for one! Haven't seen much of summer yet here. But I'll save those things for another post.

Cheers,
Megz

Col. (Ret) Harry M Kemp

It is with much sadness that I have to report that Peter's grandfather, Col Harry M Kemp, passed away this week after a short illness. Thankfully Peter and his mother were forewarned a week ago and flew immediately to Texas and were able to spend several precious days with him.

I only met Grandfather a couple of times, but he was a very lovely man and just what I imagine a grandfather should be like (never having known mine). He was a quiet man but when he spoke it was with great thought and worth listening to. He taught me to understand and appreciate Gridiron, I'll always remember watching the Rose Bowl on TV with him and Peter when we visited in 1999.

Grandfather was an officer in the US military during World War II. He has written a book about his experiences. He ordered the evacuation of the town of Diekirch in Luxembourg, and this is commemorated in the National Military Museum in Diekirch which Peter and I visited on our trip to Europe in 2004. (See virtual museum tour Showroom 7). He also liberated the town of Colmar in France from the Germans. He has since been honoured by both the French and the Luxembourgers (?) for his actions.

Grandfather will be dearly missed by all, but especially by wife Margey, children Peggy, Dick and Buck, and grandchildren Peter, Richard, Mardie, Jessica, Morgan and Bryan.

Below is a picture of Grandfather with Peter, Richard and Mardie at the Alamo a couple of years ago.



-Megz

Food

I took Kathleen to Plunket for her regular 9-month checkup three weeks ago. They weighed her and found her to be in the very bottom weight range for her age. Their advice was to feed her more, make sure she gets enough iron, and let her have dessert as well.

Up until then Kathleen had been eating pureed and "slightly-chunky-but-still-pureed" food that I had cooked up in big batches and frozen into ice cubes. Things like pumpkin and potato and carrot and spinach. For her lunches and dinners we would defrost two or three cubes for her. She seemed quite happy with this arrangement and never seemed to ask for more food when it was all gone.

As we were intending to be moving house a week after the Plunket appointment, we used up all the ice cubes of food so that there would be none left come moving day. But then moving day got cancelled and suddenly Kathleen had no food in the freezer.

She ate tinned baby food for a few days and then I decided to try something I'd been thinking about for a while. One of the main reasons for making Kathleen's food myself has been so that she would get used to eating the same things Peter and I eat, so that one day we could all sit down together and eat as a family. (But the main reason for making my own food is to save the waste of tins and jars - what a Greenie!).

Then I found out that from 9 months she can eat just about any food that the rest of us eat. I had thought it was 12 months and was aiming for that. But when I found out it was 9 months, and she was now 9 months old, and we were all out of frozen food anyway, I knew it was time to experiment.

And so with Peter away living in Wellington Kathleen and I have now settled into a new routine. We both sit down together at 6.30pm and eat our dinner together. We eat the same thing, with hers chopped into small pieces. Usually I let her try to feed herself. Often there is a big mess afterwards. But she has really surprised me with how much food she will eat (sometimes).

The benefits of this new arrangement are:

• Kat is learning to eat more foods, and meals that Peter & I like.


• Kat is eating as much as she wants, rather than as much as I defrosted. I just keep giving her food off my plate until she says no.


• Kat is putting on lots of weight.


• I don't have to worry about wasting food / defrosting food she doesn't eat, because what she doesn't eat I will.


• I am actually making time to eat as well, which I haven't been doing much during the day.


• I don't feel quite so lonely without Peter here, as I have someone to eat my meals with - even if she's not much of a conversationalist.

Meals that have so far been successful are:

• Beef and Lamb casseroles. More successful as leftovers for lunch, but still enjoyable.


• Macaroni Cheese. With luncheon instead of bacon.


• Moroccan Lamb with Couscous. She loved the couscous even if she had trouble getting it into her mouth. I think more of it wound up on her face, down her bib, down her top, down her nappy, in her hair and on the floor than in her tummy.


• Mini Meatballs in a Tomato Sauce. Very messy but very yummy.


• Chicken and Broccoli in a Cheese sauce. She loved it the first night. Didn't want to know about it as leftovers the following night.

Meals that haven't worked:

• Fish Fingers & cooked carrot sticks. In fact anything she can hold one end and chew the other she doesn't like. I don't know if it's the size or the feel of it that's putting her off. Cut it up into tiny pieces and she'll consider eating it.


• Rice Risotto. Homemade, not out of a packet. Doesn't like the rice, I think it's too hard to eat.

That was the first couple of weeks, however in the last few days Kathleen has started going through a very difficult phase. Doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to drink, doesn't want a bath, doesn't want anything. Just wants to sleep and be held and scream a lot. I think it's probably either teething or missing Daddy (or probably both).

Anyone got any other meal ideas that are yummy for adults and babies, please leave a comment.


-Megz

For Sale

Three bedroom house on a crosslease section, approx 8 years old. Very private setting with bush and harbour views.

Only a couple of minutes walk to shops and primary school. Five minutes drive to mall, 15 minutes to city.

Includes garage with internal access, and wrap-around decks.

Garden needs some TLC.

Refer Barfoot & Thompson for more information: http://www.barfoot.co.nz/scripts/db.dll/details?sid=300.2&ref=351722



-Megz

A slight change of plans

We have had a slight change of plans with regard to moving to Wellington. Yes, we are still moving! However the sale of our property is taking longer than anticipated. First of all it took us a long time to get the garden up to scratch, movers organised, and the house de-cluttered before we could even talk to prospective buyers.

We had previous been approached by some people a year ago when we first said we were leaving, who said they were interested in buying our house. We had hopes that they would still be interested.

Our timeframe was that Peter was due to start work in Wellington on Monday 30 October. We planned to have the movers take our furniture away the Friday before, and then over the weekend we would drive to Wellington. In order for this plan to work, we needed to talk to the people about our house the weekend prior to our move. We spoke to them briefly and they had a quick look at the house. Unfortunately then they left town for a few days as it was a long weekend. So it wasn't until Tuesday that they got back to us and said that they would love to, but just couldn't afford it.

So there we were literally at the last minute having to talk to a real estate agent. She, and others, advised us that our house would sell quicker and better if it was furnished. So we made the tough decision that Kathleen and I would stay here and continue living in the house until it sold. We literally called the moving company the day before they were scheduled to come and asked them to postpone it until further advice.

Rather than drive down to Wellington over the weekend, Peter flew down on his own this afternoon. And he starts his new job tomorrow.

That leaves me here on my own with Kathleen. Hopefully things won't take too long and we will be reunited with Peter soon.

-Megz

Good News

After a year of searching, about a dozen phone interviews, and a handful of formal interviews, Peter has finally been offered a job in Wellington. Working as a Team Leader for Desktop Technology Services Ltd (DTSL).

His last day with Chubb in Auckland will be on Friday 27 October, and he starts work in Wellington on Monday 30 October. At this stage we don't have a date for when Kathleen and I move to Wellington. Hopefully it will be the same weekend as Peter, but that will depend on how things go here. We've got lots of work to do before we leave.

We have decided to sell our house, so have a lot of work to there to get it back up to standard. The yard has been pretty much ignored since Kathleen was born, and to be quite honest it was never really taken care of very much before then either. The outside of the house needs a good clean. The carpets are a mess - when we move our criteria for new carpets will be "must not show cat and baby puke stains!".

It will be good to get to Wellington and be nearer to our friends and family. But it'll still be sad to leave Beach Haven. I'll definitely miss my coffee group. It's been really good watching the other babies grow up with Kathleen and seeing what they're all doing. Kat is still the only one crawling, but I don't think Xanthe is far away from it now. I hope I'll be able to find another coffee group in Island Bay, but I doubt it.

We are going to be living in Island Bay once we get to Wellington. New contact information will be sent out via email once it is known.

In other news, Kathleen and I had a great time visiting in Wellington the other week. The weather was lovely so we took Kat to Lindale Farm where she got to see sheep and ducks and pigs, and to the beach at Days Bay where she had lots of fun playing in the sand.

She is growing up so quickly. Eight months now. She's really good at crawling, and shoots all over the house. She is now eating three solids meals a day. Loves Vegemite, carrot and yoghurt. Doesn't much care for meat, greens or corn. She now has the cutest habit of sleeping face down with her bum sticking up in the air, on top of the blankets with her head at the foot of the bed. She is currently learning to wave hello and bye bye. She now has six teeth, four on the top and two below, with the top ones just poking through in the last month.

She understands a lot of what we say. If we say "pussycat" she will turn around and look for the cat. And, in what I suspect is going to be typical behaviour for the rest of her life, she completely ignores us when we tell her "no" or "don't touch that". Case in point, the wires leading from our stereo to the speakers on the other side of the room. She likes to play with them. She likes to put them in her mouth (she likes to put EVERYTHING in her mouth). We tell her "no". She looks up at us then goes right back to playing with the wires again. We pick her up and put her on the otherside of the room with a different toy. She puts the toy down and crawls straight back to the wires again. Oh, I look forward to moving and being able to baby-proof the house.

Kathleen also loves playing games with us now. But I'll let you read about that in her blog.

-Megz

Updates

FYI. I have updated previous posts with photos and links.

PHOTOS have been added to Fathers Day

VIDEO has been added to A Week in Wellington

LINKS have been fixed for Overseas Trips and Mexican Restaurant

-Megz

Famous Last Words - Part II

Before you read this post, read this post.

So I'm changing Kat's nappy. She's giggling and I give her a zerbert. She scoots herself away backwards. And bangs her head into the wall (bad mummy for not anticipating this). She starts crying. So I pick her up and give her cuddles.

The crying doesn't last long and turns into giggles again. I say to her "You think that's funny, what would be really funny would be if you pee'd on me right now".

Aware of the dangerousness of this statement, I expect her to do so straight away. She doesn't.

Ten seconds pass. I say "I guess you're not going to then". No sooner had the words left my mouth than down comes the trickle.

Unfortunately the photo didn't turn out to well given I was the only one home and couldn't find the timer button on the camera.



Downside is that I only brought one pair of pants to Wellington with me. D'oh. Hope it dries quickly, and hope I don't smell too bad :-/

-Megz

A week in Wellington

Kathleen and I are currently in Wellington visiting with Peter's family. We flew down here with Peter on Thursday evening, as Peter had a job interview in Wellington on Friday. We decided to combine the interview with a bit of a holiday and spent the weekend here. Peter flew home yesterday but Kat and I are staying for another week.

Peter said the interview on Friday went well, but we don't expect to hear anything until the end of the week, or maybe even next week.

Saturday night Peter and I went out into town on our own. Kathleen stayed home with Grandma. It was great to go out, just the two of us. First we went to the movies and saw Clerks II (see review below), then afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at the foodcourt (neither of us were too hungry after all the popcorn). Then we met up with a bunch of Peter's paintball friends at the Ballroom and played some pool, and hung out drinking coffee until nearly midnight. How extreme!

Sunday evening the whole family (including Kat) went out to dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe. Kat hadn't slept very well that day and I was fearing a repeat of the first time we took her out. And yes she started screaming as soon as we put her in the highchair. However when we put a plate of mashed potatoes in front of her she began to have a lot of fun picking up handfuls of mashed potato and playing with it, trying to put it in her mouth, and having most of it end up in her lap. And the rest of us were able to eat our meals in peace while she played with hers.



As we are here for the rest of the week, if anybody from Wellington or Palmy wants to catch up with us, send me an email or a text message.

-Megz

Movie Review - Clerks II

Peter and I got the chance to go out by ourselves on Saturday evening (thanks for babysitting Mimi). We decided to go to the movies and see Clerks II.

We went to Reading Cinemas on Courtenay Place and got seats in Cinelounge. While the tickets are twice the price of ordinary seats, you do get to recline in Lazy Boy chairs, get your own personal coffee table, and all the popcorn and fizzy drink you can eat or drink. Plus there is a cafe menu and alcohol if you wish to purchase it. So by the time you throw the free popcorn and drink into it, it's not that much more expensive than a regular ticket, and it's sooooo comfy.

So we settled into our nice comfy chairs to watch the movie. I first saw Clerks on video about nine years ago. I don't think I 'got' it the first time, and it wasn't until the second time that I actually liked it. When Kevin Smith followed it up with Mallrats, well I really liked that. I'm not sure that anything Kevin Smith has done since then has really lived up to the first couple of movies. I think I liked Chasing Amy but I've only seen it once and can't remember. As for the rest, well they all got a bit commercial for my liking. So anyway, I wasn't expecting too much from Clerks II.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the film. I felt that it really lived up to the flavour of the original film. I don't want to give away too much, but it is set 10 or 11 years after the original film. The original characters Dante and Randall return. The Quickstop has burnt down and they are now both working at some hamburger joint. And as per the original movie, this one just follows a day in their life at work. Talking crap, slacking off, and pissing off customers, while Jay & Silent Bob stand around outside.

If you enjoyed the original movie, I recommend seeing the sequel. If you haven't seen either then I recommend seeing both, although you can see the sequel without having seen the first one. But if you haven't seen it before, be prepared for something a bit unusual. Like I said, it took me a couple of times before I 'got' it.

-Megz

Movie Review - My Super Ex-Girlfriend

This week our car needed to go to Toyota to get a new seatbelt fitted so that it would pass its six monthly Warrant of Fitness (mechanical check). The old seatbelt was a bit frayed. So since Toyota is right around the corner from the movie theatre, I dropped off the car and then went to the movies while they worked on it.

The first Wednesday of every month our local theatre has a Mums and Bubs session where you can take your babies along to the movies. It's dark so that you can feed them in privacy, and they can hopefully sleep, and it's full of other mums and bubs so no-one minds if they cry.

Kathleen and I went and saw My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Well, I saw it as best I could while also keeping an eye on Kathleen crawling up and down the aisle playing with the other babies. She had a good time and made a couple of friends.

Maybe it was because I was paying too much attention to Kathleen, but I didn't find the movie very interesting at all. It was just kinda boring really. It was too easy to be distracted away from the movie by Kat and I was only half watching it. I don't think I missed too much - I think it would probably still have been boring even if I hadn't had the distraction.

So not a movie to recommend I'm afraid.

-Megz

Father's Day

Sunday was Father's Day in New Zealand. I wanted to make the day really special for Peter for his first Father's Day as a father, to acknowledge just how much I really appreciate all his help and support. He plays with Kathleen and she loves it. He's really good at putting her to bed without her fussing. And whenever she wakes up during the night he always jumps out of bed to her. Although she has been sleeping through the night for some time now, she still wakes up several times a night. She sleeps with a dummy to help settle her, but during the night she will drop it or knock it out of her mouth, and then she will start crying. Peter always goes to her and puts it back in her mouth and soothes her back to sleep again. And I am so grateful for this because somehow he has the ability to do this and then go straight back to sleep again. Whereas if I were to get up I would then spend the next hour tossing and turning unable to get back to sleep. And as soon as I started drifting off, Kat would cry again. So Peter, thank you, I really do appreciate everything you do.

In the morning I kept Kat quiet in the living room while Peter enjoyed a sleep in. Then after they both woke up again I made omelettes for the family and we all ate at the dining room table together. Kat had her own special omelette cut up into tiny pieces which she was able to grab and put into her mouth by herself. Of course much more ended up in her lap than in her mouth, but she had a lot of fun and she still got something to eat.

It was a lovely day, so in the afternoon we went down to the park. Spring is definitely here now. We took Kat on the swings and slides but she didn't seem all that impressed. Then we found a spot on the grass and took her socks off and let her have a crawl around on the grass for the first time ever. Maybe she was getting a bit tired but she wasn't all that interested in crawling around. She liked the daisy and tried to put that in her mouth. She also wanted to put the stick in her mouth too but hit herself with it instead (oops).

That evening we finished the day off with a big meal of lasagne, Peter's favourite.

Photos to come soon.

-Megz

Overseas Trips

It has been 10 years since I did my big OE - three months backpacking around Europe by myself. It's so hard to believe that it's been 10 years. I've been reading my travel diary and I can just picture everything so clearly. It was one of the best things I've ever done. Unfortunately I did the trip in the not-quite-digital-yet age, so have no digital photos or electronic blog. One of these days I'll get around to scanning everything. One cool thing though is that I've recently managed to make contact again with someone I met while I was travelling. The internet is great for finding people you've lost contact with.

It's also the anniversary of another big overseas trip I took. Three years ago I took the month of August off work and went around the world visiting friends in the USA, England and Russia. For the past month I've slowly been uploading the photos to Flickr, for no other reason than they hadn't been uploaded yet.

At the same time I've also transferred my travel blog from Geocities to Blogger. My travel blog from Peter and my trip to Europe in 2004 has also been transferred across.

It's nice to look back and remember when I was young and free. We won't be doing that sort of thing again for a long, long time...

-Megz

Mexican Restaurant

As promised, Peter and I took Kathleen out to a restaurant on Thursday this week. We went to the Mexican Cafe in downtown Auckland. We arrived about 7 o'clock and it was already quite crowded. I think we got the last table on the balcony.

When Kathleen and I were in Wellington last time (about six weeks ago) we went out with the family to Mungavin Blues restaurant in Porirua. On that occasion Kathleen was very unhappy, did not want to sit in the highchair by herself, wanted Mummy to hold her the whole time, etc. So naturally it was with a bit of trepidation that I took her out again.

The first thing we did was to sit her down in the highchair by herself. I was expecting her to start screaming immediately but she was content to just sit there and look around at everyone and everything. There were lots of lights and lots of people and lots of noise. She looked a bit stunned but was definitely taking everything in.

Now, bringing your own food along to a restaurant is utterly rude, but a baby can get away with anything. So we brought along her bowl and spoon, and a banana. Banana's have got to be the easiest of all baby foods - simply peel, mash and eat. No warming up required, no refrigeration required. And they're so yummy. It was also a good distraction to stop Kat getting too bored while we waited for our meals.

I ordered the chicken burrito and Peter had the beef platter grande. Our meals arrived while Kat was still eating hers, so we took turns feeding her. Kat's spoon in one hand, my fork in the other hand, one bite for you, one bite for me. Just don't get the hands mixed up ... I don't think she'd like the jalapenos too much. Neither did I.

All in all it was a great night out. Of course it was a lot different from going out before Kat was born - we didn't stay out too long and keep her up late (no dessert for us), conversation was pretty limited as our attention was on her most of the time, but it was incredibly fun to share the experience with her, and see her looking round open-mouthed in wonder.

We will definitely be doing it again.




-Megz

CRAWLING !

It's official, baby Kat has started crawling. She made her first tentative steps on Saturday night, and now she is (slowly) scooting all around the room getting into everything. At first I don't think she realised the significance of what she was doing. She was just moving from toy to toy without any other purpose. I think to her it was as if the toy got closer to her, rather than she had gotten closer to the toy. But now she understands what she is doing, and will follow me if I leave the room. Of course first she'll cry but then she'll start to follow. Then she'll stop crawling and cry some more.

This new found skill has necessitated some changes on our part. Most importantly the removal of anything that looks like a toy but isn't - i.e. cords and wires, the heater (but only when she's awake, once she goes to bed the heater comes back out and I huddle in front of it again, brrrrr). It has also sparked a major spring clean from about knee level downwards, concentrating on all those little nooks and crannies that aren't noticable to big people but are just the right size for little fingers. Such as underneath the refrigerator. Ugh. Next thing will be to fit kiddy-locks to the cupboard doors, or at least to make sure there's nothing dangerous in the cupboards. Don't want to stifle all her fun by locking everything away.

I'm really proud of Kathleen picking up crawling so quickly. She has been sitting up on her own for ages, and for about a month has been launching herself forward from her sitting position, to be on her hands and knees. However she didn't know what to do then and would get stuck and drop down onto her tummy and cry. She has never really liked "tummy time". The first breakthrough came about two weeks ago when she learnt to roll over from her back to her tummy. I think all this extra tummy time might have been motivation for the second breakthrough about a week later, when she learned to push herself back up to a sitting position from her tummy.

Our little girl is growing up so quickly.

The cats need to watch out now ...


-Megz

Jenga!

Recently I bought Kathleen one of those toys where you put the pieces through the different shaped holes (not sure what you call it - a shape sorter or posting toy?). It's one of those typical ones that everyone has - round plastic ball, two colours, and has 12 different coloured, different shaped pieces that fit through one hole and one hole only.

Obviously she's too young to put the pieces through the holes, but it is a great toy for lots of reasons: the pieces are easy for her to hold, she can put the pieces in her mouth, the pieces can be banged together to make noise, the ball can roll along the floor, and in time she will be able to learn about the different colours and shapes.

That got Peter and I talking about toys. I much prefer wooden toys over plastic toys. Wooden toys are timeless and traditional, whereas to me plastic toys are mass produced and gaudy. It seems to me producers of plastic toys are always coming out with new toys that your child "has to have" or they will miss out on some crucial development step. Peter and I both agree that it didn't do us any harm to grow up without these toys. And we both agree that Kathleen doesn't need a lot of toys.

What's the best toy of all time? Lego. (Yeah, ok, Lego is plastic. I don't like the new range of Lego where the toy is practically made and you only assemble one or two pieces. I like having lots of Lego pieces and using your imagination to make whatever you want out of them).

Kathleen is too young for Lego now, but when she is older we will have lots of fun playing with it with her. So what's the next best thing to Lego for a baby? Wooden blocks!

We don't have any wooden blocks, but we do have Jenga. So, rather than run out and buy some purpose made baby's wooden blocks, we pulled out the game instead on Friday night. We have had great fun with it over the weekend. Peter and I played several games of Jenga (currently a draw). Kathleen has had fun chewing on the blocks. Peter and I have had a competition to build the best tower - it has to be as tall as possible, aesthetically pleasing, and stable. But the most fun of all has been us trying to build something, anything, while Kathleen sits on our laps and tries to destroy it.

Going ...	Going ...	Gone !
	The Amazing Towers of Jenga

-Megz

Sit ... Roll Over ... Good Girl

Kathleen has finally learnt to roll over all by herself. She can now roll from her back to her tummy. As can be seen in this video. She normally only does it when she's reaching for a toy that is behind her. Thankfully she hasn't figured out how to roll back to her back again, and hasn't made that further leap of logic that once she can do that she can get places. As soon as she realises that then I'm in trouble.

She is also getting closer to learning to crawl as well. At the moment all she can really do is push herself backwards, and gets very frustrated when the toy she was reaching for just gets further away.

It won't be long now until she's mobile ...

-Megz

Swann

Swann. That's my maiden name. Margaret Swann.

I always hated my surname when I was growing up. I hated it because it was an unusual name. When I said it, people never knew how to spell it. When I hand-wrote it, people never knew how to say it. I got called "Swain" so often. The worse was the time I got called "Swam". I always hated it and looked forward to the day when I could get married and change it.

But then when it came time to get married and change my name, it was really hard to give it up. After all, I'd been known by that name for 25 years and it was part of me. It felt like giving up my identity in a way.

Now I've been Margaret Hamilton for eight years and I can't remember who Margaret Swann was any more.

But all of a sudden the name Swann has become popular. The female lead in Pirates of the Carribean is Elizabeth Swann, and a new character has just joined the cast of EastEnders (yes I still watch it after all these years) and her name is Dawn Swann (she has just joined the cast on NZ screens, she has been in the show for 9-10 months in the UK).

And the other day I was nosing around on the Old Friends website and found another ex-Margaret Swann!

So suddenly I'm not the only one any more.

-Megz

Six Months

Kathleen is six months old. Where has the time gone? She has come so far in those six months. She's gone from a tiny newborn that just cried all the time, to a smiley, interactive child who sits up by herself and plays with toys, who loves to stand when you hold her hands to steady her, who really wants to get moving but can only go from sitting up to lying on her tummy, who is eating one solids meal a day and enjoys fruit, and who is starting to "talk" back when you "talk" to her. She hasn't changed in some respects though – she still hates being put to bed, hates being left alone, and loves being held and carried.

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I were talking about Big Life Events, and it is funny how they change your perception of time. By far the biggest event in my life has been the birth of Kathleen. And although it was only six months ago, I cannot remember what life was like before that. And yet I remember the day she was born so well. It's almost as though my life started the same day hers did. I guess it did in a way.

We have a regular daily routine going now. Every day is slightly different depending on what time Kathleen wakes up, but she normally wakes up sometime around 7am. Then throughout the course of the day she will have four 40 minute naps, and be up for about two hours inbetween the naps. She normally has fruit for lunch. I have tried to introduce her to vegetables as well but she doesn't want to know about it.

Kat is now well accomplished at sitting and is keen to get off her bottom and get moving. She will lean forward from her sitting position until she is on her hands and knees. Unfortunately once she gets to that stage she doesn't quite know what to do next and ends up stuck. Also if she is sitting down and you hold her hands she will pull herself into a standing position. She loves standing up.

She's quite the little drama queen too. She'll be lying down crying and as soon as you pick her up, or pull her up to standing, she is all smiles again. How do you tell a six-month old baby that you know she's faking it???

At the end of June/beginning of July Kathleen and I went to Palmerston North and Wellington for a visit. Kat is now a seasoned traveller, having made six flights and one train ride (PNth to Wgtn) in her life.

Recently everyone in our little family came down with the flu. Kat had it for about a week, I have finally shaken it after 4 weeks, and Peter still has it. We have all been very miserable.

Peter has been put forward for several jobs in Wellington but no luck yet. He actually flew down for an interview a while ago, and after a couple of weeks of leaving messages with the agency wondering what was going on, he finally got told "sorry they've decided to restructure the position". Grrrr.

After a six-month hibernation we are starting to think about getting our lives back again. When Kat and I were in Wellington we went out to dinner at a restaurant with the family, Kat's first time. It didn't go very well but she hadn't slept too well that day and was in a bad mood to start with. It was my mistake to try putting her into a highchair as soon as we arrived. I just wanted to see what she'd do. Well, she hated it, and didn't have any problem letting us know about it. So that's ok, she can sit on my knee while we order and maybe she'll relax a bit. When the food arrived we put her back in the highchair. Nup, still didn't like it. So grandma/Mimi and I took turns eating while the other kept Kat entertained in the bar. It might have helped a bit if Daddy had been there too.

After we got back to Auckland again I invited some old work friends around for dinner. I think it's the first time we've entertained since she was born. That went a lot better and Kat was well behaved and happy to play while we all sat around talking. Once again when it was time to eat she got a bit stroppy and once again we took turns eating. But at least we were at home so it was a bit easier.

Then this week we took her out socialising. One of Peter's friends is off on his OE soon and was having drinks at a bar in town. The three of us went along and Kathleen was very well behaved indeed. She spent most of her time just looking around gobsmacked at all the people and lights and things going on.

So each time we've done something it's gotten a little better each time. Next week we're going to put it to the big test and go out to a restaurant again. The key will be timing things right for when she's just had a good sleep and just eaten, rather than making a reservation and having to stick to it regardless of how she's feeling.

Will keep you posted.

-Megz

Lots of Achievements

Well it's only been about six weeks since my last big post, but Kathleen has grown so much in that time. She hasn't changed so much physically (although she does now weigh twice her birth weight), but developmentally she's a whole new girl. She is learning so much.

Biggest achievements in the last six weeks have been:

* Feet in the mouth. Probably not a skill that will get her a job later in life (unless she wants to be an acrobat), but she had been trying SO hard to get her toes into her mouth, that the day she finally succeeded was a big achievement. Now, every time you take her nappy off the feet go straight up to the mouth. In fact you have to struggle to get them down again to put her nappy back on!

* Sleeping through the night. Kathleen has been sleeping through the night for the last four weeks now. She sleeps from around 8.30-9pm until 7-7.30am. It has made life a lot easier for Peter and I. Basically we knew that she could sleep through the night because she had done it on occassion. So one morning when she woke up around 5-6am we just got up and gave her her dummy back and went back to bed. She pretty quickly got the message and went back to sleep herself. She still sometimes wakes up early, but as long as we give her the dummy she will go back to sleep.

* Sitting up by herself. About a week ago Kathleen finally learnt to sit up by herself unsupported. I guess it's probably no surprise that she learnt this skill earlier than most, as she has always preferred being upright to lying down. Her balance is pretty good and she rarely falls over. So now every playtime she spends some time sitting up and playing with her toys.

* Teeth. Kat now has her two bottom front teeth poking through. They both appeared within a couple of days of each other, around the beginning of June. This has brought its fair share of unhappiness to both her and I, but we are learning to live with it.


In addition to all this, Kathleen also smiles and squeals, and reaches out for things that she wants. She wants everything I have - if I'm using the remote control she wants to play with it. If I'm drinking out of a bottle she wants to put it in her mouth too. If I'm reading she wants to read too, only her idea of reading means stuffing the book in your mouth. I've taken to saving the junk mail that comes on the heavier glossy paper for her to play with, and she loves it - she can crumple it, and rip it, and stuff it in her mouth, and it makes lovely noises when she does so. It is one of her favourite things to play with, and it's free. Another favourite is museli bar wrappers as they also make lovely crinkle sounds, and are shiny and colourful as well. (Both 'toys' always played with under supervision BTW).

As for Peter and I, we are doing well. Still no news on the shift to Wellington. Although Kathleen and I are heading down that way again for a week or two around the beginning of July to see family and friends again. If anyone wants to catch up, send me a text message.

-Megz

Kat Is a Ham

Kathleen advises me that she has been updating her blog recently, and wants everyone to know about it.

http://katisaham.blogspot.com/

Cheers,
Megz

This entry brought to you by the letter "B"

It has occurred to me that everything to do with babies starts with the letter B. Even the word Baby starts with B.

First of all they begin life as a Bump. They then go through Birth and are Born.

Their little lives revolve around four main things:

* Breastfeeding / Bottlefeeding - or Boobie-time as Peter calls it.
* Burping, which closely follows the feeding.
* Bedtime, which for some babies occurs in a Bassinette.
* Bathtime in either the Baby Bath or the Big tub.

When it's time to go outside, they get strapped into a Buggy.
When it's time to play they may get strapped into a Bouncinette.

Popular toys are Bears, Buzzy Bees and Blocks.

Even the dummy or pacifier is sometimes called a Binky in the US.

About the only thing in babies lives that doesn't start with B is their Nappy or Diaper. However these items are intimately associated with baby's Bottom, which does start with the letter B. Perhaps we should rename them Bumpers.

-Megz

Three months

Kathleen is now three months old. The first six weeks seemed to drag on, but the last eight weeks have just flown by. That's probably helped by the fact that in that time she and I have been to Wellington twice for nearly a week each time, to visit family and friends.

The biggest news we have is that Kathleen has finally learnt to self-settle (i.e. fall asleep by herself after being put to bed). It wasn't until week 10 or 11 that this happened but since then she does it almost every time she goes to bed. It literally happened overnight - I had begun putting her to bed and letting her cry for five minutes before going back to rock her, and then one day she cried for 2 or 3 minutes and then stopped and went to sleep. I was so surprised. The first night it happened, Peter and I were both sitting in the living room saying "now what?" and "what's wrong?". I think there were several things that contributed to her learning to sleep - the fantabulous curtains from Tina that keep her room dark, the basinette I bought that hangs inside her cot and swings, but mostly I think it was just part of getting older and learning how to sleep. It sure has made our lives a lot more pleasant and easier to cope with.

The only issue we now have with Kat sleeping is that quite often she will only sleep for around 40 minutes at a time and then wake up. I will usually try and rock her back to sleep when this happens, which can sometimes be a frustrating and fruitless task. You can usually predict when you put her to bed when she is going to wake up, as she is very consistent with her 40 minutes. The reason for this is because a sleep cycle in babies lasts for around 40 minutes. In adults this is around 90 minutes (ref Wikipedia - Stages of Sleep).

So now that Kat is getting plenty of sleep when she needs it, she is a lot happier whenever she is awake. She will play with you or by herself for short periods of time. She loves watching TV. She is now getting to the stage where she will reach out for things if you put them in front of her, and if she gets hold of them they go straight in the mouth. She's really good at holding thin things like bibs and sleeves, but anything bulky like toys usually gets dropped.

She went through a stage of being very chatty, but this stopped when we went to Wellington at Easter. Now she has started gurgling instead and sometimes squeals (which is SO cute).

We thought for a while that she may have had reflux which was causing her unhappiness. We tried her on Gaviscon for a while but I don't know if it helped or not. I think the biggest improvement came from me changing my diet. I never knew so many foods could affect babies - the breastfeeding diet is even worse than the pregnancy diet. Most fruit and vegetables are off the menu, which makes life very boring. The hardest thing to give up was tomatoes, but since I stopped eating them I have noticed an improvement in her. It is very hard not to eat tomatoes though - go to a foodcourt and have a look at how many meals contain them - just about every sandwich or salad, all hamburgers and kebabs, most pasta dishes, all Mexican food. And I love tomatoes!

Kathleen is growing up well and life is getting easier for Peter and I. My days are no longer filled with trying to get her to sleep and I can actually get things done (so why no blogs for ages? you ask). I go out with two different coffee groups and its good to exchange ideas with mothers of babies the same age.

Peter, Kat and I went to Wellington for Easter, and Kat and I also went there for a week in March. Both times were to visit Peter's family but were also beneficial for me to observe Kat out of her environment and I learnt more each time about how she behaves in different situations. It was also great to be able to leave Kat with her grandmother and go out with friends for a change (thanks Marty & Tania).

We are still wanting to move to Wellington but Peter has yet to find a job there. He has had a couple of leads but no offers yet. So we continue living in Auckland in the meantime.

Photos on Flickr have now been organised into sets ... photos of Kathleen can now be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/repete/sets/72057594123678289/


-Megz

PS: Here's an addictive little game to keep you busy for hours: www.planarity.net