October-November 2000


We have a new niece!

Brent and I became Uncle and Auntie respectively (both for the first time!) at 2.50am on November 15, 2000. Brent's sister Donna gave birth to a beautiful little girl - Katie Maree Thompson. She weighed in at a healthy 7lbs 7oz. She let out a hearty scream as soon as she entered the world, but since then has been remarkably peaceful and alert - eyes wide open and cooing away, and hardly crying at all! It looks like she could be a very well behaved little girl!

We saw Donna soon after the birth - and she looked fantastic - very radiant considering what she had just been through! Congratulations to Donna and David - we hope you have a wonderful time getting to know your perfect little daughter!

Just two babies left to go!
A few weeks before Donna, on 5 November 2000, Fiona surprised everyone (including herself!) by going into labour 3 weeks early! The delivery was difficult and complicated and little Luke Peter Boocock was finally delivered by T-section. Luke has recovered well from the birth and is putting on weight nicely. Fiona is recovering also - but still quite sore. We hope you get more comfortable soon Fiona.

So next on the delivery list is Rose - due mid December. Then I follow a few months later! Here's a photo taken on Labour Weekend (how appropriate!) of the four of us all pregnant, just before the births of Luke and Katie!

Brent and I have now moved into our new house!

The moving day (on 4 November 2000) was a bit of a shambles - it rained all day [Thankfully we had hired removal men to take the bulk of the furniture - so all our things were transported safely with no breakages and only one couch got wet (but the water stain seems to have disappeared)]. It took us ages to move and unpack all our other stuff (I don't know how we accumulated so much?!) - but most of the boxes are now unpacked and put away. Unfortunately the previous owner took all the shelves etc in all the cupboards with her (!!! Not the usual thing in New Zealand!) so we have no shelves or clothes rails to put our cupboard stuff on (except for our own new wardrobe) - so there are quite a few thing still in boxes - we hope to sort out the shelving for all these cupboards in the next month.

We ended up getting a fair bit of cosmetic work done on the house before moving in - it has been newly painted and carpeted throughout; new lino has been laid in the family room and kitchen; new ceramic tiles by the front door, and a new walk-in wardrobe installation. It made it really nice to move in to - almost like moving into a new house! All that's left to go inside is the blinds and curtains (which we hope to get done before Christmas!), re-covering of the couches in the lounge, and small trimmings such as new handles on cupboards in the kitchen, etc. We're going to leave the bathrooms etc as they are for another year as it has been a bit pricey getting all this work done already!

Just to show off how far we've come already, here's a before and after shot of our new kitchen - notice any difference?!


Before
After
What has been done here is the removal of the serving bench, wood panelling and cork board outside the kitchen, new paint, and lino on floors.

Our next not-quite so big challenge is to organise all the baby stuff for the nursary - boy, there sure is a lot to sort out with the first baby! We already have the cot and carseat organised, but everything else is still to go (bedding, curtains, change table, high chair, stroller, etc etc!!!) Must try to get some more sorted now while I'm still not too big!

I'm still working hard at WestpacTrust - I finish on 2 February next year (going on one year's maternity leave).
   

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