DIY

You might recall about 18 months ago we set up what was known as "Camp Ollie" on our back deck at the old place. It was the perfect play area for a much younger Ollie to roll around while I could relax a bit as well. This was the idea behind our latest DIY project around here, a new and improved Camp Ollie, and Evie!!!

So with our downstairs previously unused deck as the location and the desire to create an area that gave us a bit more variety of play options on the many days we will have at home in the near future, we have been trying to figure out how to tackle this for a few weeks. Ideas of expensive outdoor furniture gave way to a great ebay find of some very old cane chairs and a bit of vision, a trip to Ikea, a few nights on the sewing machine sewing new covers and an afternoon of Nick spraying the chairs (well most of them) and this is what you get, all for the grand total of $200 (including some green tubs for toys which you can't see). I'm pretty happy with the result and look forward to many afternoons down there with Ollie and the new baby.

As you can see Ollie is especially thrilled with the fake plant I added. I figured real greenery didn't stand a chance against these Dower children.

It was during our trip to Ikea to pick up supplies that Ollie and I checked out what we hope will be his next bed when the time comes for him and the baby to share a room together. He was pretty chuffed with the idea of it but got a bit annoyed at the little girl who was rolling around in his future bed in the display room. On the way home I got an insight into his future negotiating skills when I told him he could have the bed when was 5. He said "no 3", I said "no 5", of course he then said "no 4". I think it probably will be closer to 4, but not just because of his keen bartering skills. I can't wait to take him back to Bali with moves like that.

In keeping with the repurposing of old furniture around here we also picked up a second hand change table as the one we had for Ollie was too big for the shared bedroom set-up we will be having in this house. Nick has given it a sand and a repaint and I've made a cover for a change mat for it - this small effort has finally made me feel like we doing something toward preparing for the new baby. We are now only 12 weeks away from her grand arrival so it is probably about time. Thankfully this has now spurred me into action and I've ordered a bunch of nappies (I'm mad enough to be trying cloth nappies on this baby - fancy pants new ones though, not those awful terry ones we all had - fingers crossed these are much less traumatic), and a few other essentials. So now we can kick back and do nothing else to prepare for a month or so, before having a last minute panic in July.
Fun outing for the weekend was a BBQ at Rachel and Christian's house. Ollie packed a bag and his Buzz tin with toys and snacks to take over. He just looked like such a big school boy (or at least prep) with his backpack on and his little lunch tin. When he got there he only wanted to watch his Toy Story movie (we have created a monster), but obviously there were a few scary bits - this is Ollie's latest trick when something is scary. I don't think it is especially effective at blocking the view but it looks pretty darn cute.
And one more thing that is super duper exciting this week. Because of the nature of it I won't go into any more detail than is absolutely necessary, but needless to say we are pretty excited about it around here - stand up wees!!!!!!