New baby, new bathroom. That's fair, right?

Our bathroom renovations have begun! 

Yes, two weeks out from when I'm due to give birth. (For anyone who didn't know, we are expecting baby number two at the end of the month). Clearly, the decision to renovate now was Paul's. He seems to get a sudden, extreme version of the nesting bug and undertakes fairly major projects in my final days of pregnancy. 

Last time it was our front porch. I left for hospital with the existing one having been demolished and returned to a brand new one. And this time it's the bathroom. Which, to be fair, has been in desperate need of work since we moved in. 

I hope it doesn't mean I have to keep popping out babies to get the rest of the house done.

The existing, pokey facilities (note the absence of an actual bath in the 'bathroom'):

Rosie currently has her "wish wash", as she calls it, in the
(also dated) laundry sink.
Which is getting a bit cramped.

Here is our handiwork so far, in pictures:

We've basically just removed the wall linings of some of the space.

And baby number two, at 38 weeks.

Do you - or your partner - have a habit of embarking on rather large projects at ill-advised times?

It's been a while. Whoops

Almost there: My 37-week belly. Nicely,
if not exactly comfortably, supported by
my ever-expansive hips.  

Well, this is a bit embarrassing. I've noticed my last post was all the way back when I first mentioned being pregnant. And now, at 37 weeks, I'm not far off being un-pregnant. So much time in between and all I've written is a big fat nothing.
I'd like to say it was because I spent those months time being incredibly busy doing incredibly interesting and important things. But it wasn't. Life in general just seemed to chew up my time and mojo. So, for anyone interested in hearing my excuses, or just getting an update, here's what I've been doing:
a) As mentioned, the renovations. Boy, they took a while. And we only did one room, really. But we did eventually get the place ready for us to inhabit. So then came:
b) Moving. If I remember correctly, all the cleaning, packing, actual moving, unpacking and cleaning again took a couple of lots of RDOs. Which, given we had our RDOs once a fortnight, meant the process spanned about a month. Which took us up to December and all the hijinks of:
c) Christmas season. Need I say more.
d) Working. Obviously, work is work and you deal with it. But, until a few weeks ago, it meant months of seemingly hard yakka. My previously beloved roster of nine days on-five days off was taking its toll on my pregnant body. Not helped by the fact that all too often shifts were stretching from a normal 10 hours to 11-12 hours. And I was training my replacement, which added a whole other level of drama. Then the husband started a new job, with an even more demanding roster. Meaning a lot of the work we'd shared at home now fell to me. Luckily, I had a supply of harden-the-eff-up powder handy, and would force it down whenever my sooking started to annoy even me.
e) Growing our bubba. As previously mentioned, possibly to the point of whiny overkill, I am pregnant. The above activities did, mercifully, ease off after a while. Just in time for all the third trimester fun - frequent doctor visits, dashing off from work to prenatal classes, and nights spent waking up constantly with leg cramps and heartburn - to kick in.  So I bid a sad farewell to any hope of recovering my energy levels. 

Until it came to a blessed, abrupt end about a week ago. When I finished work and started this blissful in-between time of having neither an alarm dragging me from bed every morning nor offspring to contend with. 
I know this too will come to a screechIng halt. And soon. But for now, despite my excitement at the idea of finally, FINALLY meeting our baby in (hopefully!) a few short weeks, I'm just enjoying - nay, relishing - the opportunity to sit back and do sod all.

What have you been up to lately? If you've been flat out too, I sympathise (and completely understand if you hate me for getting the chance to now put my feet up).

Renovation update. Also, I'm pregnant!

As is abundantly clear, I have been neglecting my blog lately. I've chosen to do so for a little while to focus on more pressing matters, like pregnancy and our renovations. So here is what we've been up to, and what's been keeping me away from blogging.

Our growing bubba:

My favourite photo from the 12-week ultrasound.

Our renovations so far, including pics of parts of the house in its original state:

The rather bare front yard after finally getting a mow.

The back yard, back verandah (prior to mowing) and bathroom.

The front door and lounge room, and the super-stylish kitchen.

The previous owner clearly had a thing for archways. These were the first eyesores to go.

Archways no more! Also, Paul looking very enthused about the work ahead.

Hacking into kitchen archway; loungeroom arch replaced, and me getting my flare on.

Our builder/handyman/instructor Charlie hard at work; the flooring that will go down; and patchwork in the kitchen.

Paul having a spot of fun ripping out an awful shrub:

Chained up. Say adios, shrub!

Over she goes.

And gone!

And, finally, there is one final thing taking up quite a bit of my time:

Work.
Don't get me wrong, I love overtime. But the timing of the recent bout of
longer days and extra shifts hasn't been exactly convenient.

Have you ever taken on the tedious yet exciting process that is renovating? Any tips?