Life hypothesis of a gen-y mum

Bathrooms + Kitchen Update

2018-04-04T18:32:00.002+10:00

We had our 2nd official home inspection yesterday. I say official because like I've mentioned previously we're not suppose to be on the property without the site supervisor, but I've snuck in a few times when doors were left unlocked.

While we were there the electrician's were installing lights, tiler was finishing the tiling and electrical appliances were being delivered to the property. Most of the change we can see between our last sneaky visit and today was on in the bathrooms and kitchen.

Stone tops have been installed in the kitchen and bathrooms. We selected the same stone throughout the house. Later on I realised this was probably not what I really wanted. During the colour appointments I wanted everything to be the same so I just automatically selected the same stone colour for the bathrooms. However what I realise later on is, what I wanted was consistency in the bathrooms not across all wet areas. I actually would have chosen a white stone top for all the bathrooms and same stone in the laundry, butlers (if we did it) and kitchen.

Inside our pantry, currently it has four shelves. We may do a proper butlers pantry later on. However I'm leaning more towards something that's more interchangable, think adjustable shelving solutions.

So glad we extended the kitchen island and bench spaces especially since we didn't do a butler's pantry.

Looking forward to enjoying this space with my family. Yesterday was the first time I've seen the stacker doors wide open and it really opens up the space even more. More pressure to get the backyard and landscaping done sooner too.

Bathrooms are starting to take shape. Happy with our feature wall however now I'm wishing we choose a grey or darker grouting so it could stand out more. We realised the white grouting fades the effectiveness of the feature wall. Again things you don't realise until they start or finish the work. You really do need an eye for this kind of thing, to foresee how your decision will impact the overall look of your home.

Also last week we received notification of a handover date! We'll have our house in a month! We're so excited and a little stressed too cause there's so much more to do with the house.

During our walk through yesterday we identified a few errors already:

Incorrect cornice in some of the rooms
Wrong shower heads in all bathrooms
Missing electrical points
Wrong garage door colour
Missing soft push on our kitchen cabinetry
Handless door on one of our bathroom cabinetry

Hopefully they resolve all this before handover next month.

Changes We Made To Master Builder's Home Design

2018-03-04T19:27:00.000+11:00

I've joined a Facebook group of members who are also building with the same master builder as us. I've found the group useful especially when I had questions in the early phases of our build and supportive with most people willing to share their insight. I also discovered ideas and inspirations from what other people have done to their homes and I also realised there were so many other things we could have done if we had thought if it at the time.

Like I've said before when you go to a display home what you see in these amazing homes are most likely upgraded options, therefore, the base design may be very basic. And to add the spaces and features you saw in these display homes are most likely an upgrade option.

I thought I'd document the changes or upgrades we made to our base Parkhill 36 home.

We choose the Oxford facade. Not going to lie it was the cheapest facade, but we rather spend money on internal upgrades. We just wanted a very basic facade so we did modify it a little by removing the centre panel their Oxford facade normally has.
Cornerless sliding stacker doors. Our home has an L shape element to it. Where two walls meet we removed the connecting corner beam so that when both sliding doors are opened it creates an open living space.
Third garage. All two-story homes come with a double garage as standard, but we added a third garage with a garage door opening at the back of it. We also changed the garage configuration so that garage closest to the house is a single and then the two other spaces is a double. We did this because assuming we needed to put something large at the back of the house there won't be a structural beam in the way.
We combined the study and lounge rooms in their standard design, therefore removing the wall between these two rooms making it into one room as this will be our office space.
We made Bedroom 3 bigger by extending it closer to the front.
Changed all built in wardrobe doors in sliding mirrored doors.
We created a separate room for the ensuite toilet. In current base plans, the toilet in the master ensuite isn't separated by a door. We added wall and door so that we can do our business in private.
We did floor to ceiling tiling in all our bathrooms.
We moved the fridge cavity because we wanted more kitchen cabinetry and bench space. Previously it was on the same side as the stove top but we moved it next to the pantry door.
We added a glass window in our pantry for natural light, since the laundry room was no longer next to the pantry, therefore, no natural lighting.
Added a shower to the downstairs bathroom.
Most of our windows are awning style and three panels. The two side panels open but the middle is just glass. We also choose very large windows, which I'm really happy about. I love natural lighting.
We extended the ceiling height of the ground floor to 2750mm.
Added a sliding door between the meals and theatre room.
Added this HUB which will set up the house ready for NBN, telephone and antenna connections. I don't know exactly what it is, it's Hubby's domain but he said we needed it.
Mostly square set cornice for downstairs, presto cornice for upstairs and cove for spaces that aren't really rooms like linen, garage, pantry and laundry.
I thought because we opted for the Diamond Range kitchen we could have any stone top and it wouldn't be extra. I was wrong. It's funny how the standard stone tops colours and finishes are one's no one would really want and all the colours that most people would actually want is an upgrade. So the plain light grey stone top we choose was extra which you pay by the metre. We got the same stone throughout all bathrooms too.
The front door we liked was extra. It was extra because of the size (due to increased ceiling height), and because we opted for a hinged door with pull back handles.
We increased our island length and width. I can't remember what it was originally but we will be getting a 1000mm x 3000mm island.
We changed the door to the pantry to a translucent glass door.
Our small balustrade will be glass instead of a half gyprock wall like it all the display homes.
We upgraded our air conditioner from the standard to the next option up and added 4 more zones with the standard 6 that is offered.
We added a feature wall tile in all our showers where the niche will be. Other than that upgrade we stuck to our tile range to avoid paying more for tiles.
We removed flooring from Clarendon's scope as we decided to do this with someone else to achieve the flooring look we want.

I won't go into our electrical because that was always going to vary depending on what we wanted to achieve with our lights and where we wanted electrical points. We didn't go too crazy but we did make sure there was at least two power point port in every room and sufficient lighting and electrical points everywhere.

Stuff We Missed

2018-02-28T15:27:00.003+11:00

I'm sure this post is going to have a part 2 and 3 as we continue on this build journey. Since my previous post, the following has happened:

Cabinetry has commenced installation

And doors to most rooms too

So now that the rooms are starting to take shape we've realised we with missed, or not thought of some things about our home such as:

1. Floor drain in the laundry

We actually picked this up during the frame stage. We noticed there was no hole in the ground in the laundry room. After looking through our plans, it seems this got missed. I guess we assumed all wet areas automatically get a drain, and I have a feeling it was in the original plans, but because we relocated the laundry no one raised that it was missing from the plans.

Hopefully, it won't be an issue, only if the room ever floods. We've had rain last week and this is what the room may look like if it floods. Inspector deemed waterproofing satisfactory so that's good to hear.

2. Not double-checking measurements

I mean we're already realising some of our rooms aren't as big in real life as it is on paper. I strongly recommend pulling out a measuring tape to help you visualise the size of rooms during the planning stage. Measure it up against your current spaces so you'll get an idea of whether the rooms in your new home is really that big (or small). One thing we didn't measure was the depth of cabinetry. Now that we can start to see our kitchen, we're noticing the top shelf isn't that ... deep. When we looked back on our plans it's been specified to be 80mm. I don't think that's very deep at all. So again pull out a measuring tape and compare your plans against same items in your current home.

Hopefully, more work happens this weekend and we'll try and have another sneak peak.

Stairs Are Up!

2018-02-21T14:24:00.001+11:00

Finally I can see what the rooms upstairs look like.

Our rumpus/kids retreat area. We plan to install some tables across that back wall you can see. So the boys can do their homework at one location outside their bedrooms where I can help them. The aim is so they can't have any electronic devices in their room, especially when they're teenagers, well that's the plan anyway.

Hallway looking in from the front of the house. Straight ahead it's the master bedroom. The first left is the shower and bathroom, and the second left is the 3rd bedroom.

This is one of the front bedrooms. This room will most likely be Eli's room.

The second front bedroom. This most likely be Kai's room.

The separate upstairs toilet. Next to that is a linen closet, Eli's bedroom and Kai's bedroom.

Upstairs bathroom. As you can see waterproofing is done so assuming tiling will start shortly.

Third bedroom for guests.

The master bedroom. I'm now worried there's not enough natural light in the room.

Our ensuite. The toilet will be behind the green wall you can see.

I'm surprised they aren't finished installing our walls. They've been at it since they returned from the Christmas break.

Our garage is also starting to take shape now that there are walls.

During our site walk-through last week, our site manager said kitchen cabinetry will be installed this week and exterior should be completed too.

I'm so excited to see our home finally coming together. I really want to move in already. I now see why people get cranky when builders extend completion or handover dates.

Construction Update - February 2018

2018-02-11T16:18:00.001+11:00

Today we visited our home. It's been about two weeks since we've gone inside. I'll drive past our home every 3-4 days, but there's always tradies onsite when I go past, so I can't sneakily go inside.

When I first walked through the unlocked gates I noticed our presto cornice was on site. This cornice wasn't available with our builder's standard range and but was available from their supplier, so we were allowed to place a custom order for this cornice type. As plain as it looks, this was considered not standard. It'll be installed mostly in the rooms upstairs. We'll be doing the square set in most of the rooms downstairs.

All the gyprock walls are up! The rooms are starting to take shape. The front room is now looking like a decent size for hubby and I's office space.

The laundry room has also turned out to be a lot bigger than I initially thought, now the walls are up. Everything else, I'm still doubting whether it's big enough 😜.

Sitting area. We're not sure what we're going to do with this space but it'll have a couch of some sort so you can sit down.

Where our kitchen oven and stove top will be. The poles and wiring you see on the floor is for the sink, dishwasher and microwave that will be on our kitchen island table. The room you see in the photo will be the pantry, and the hole next to that is the cavity for the fridge.

When you walk inside our pantry, to the left will be storage space under our stairs. This is what it looks like at the moment.

Can't wait until the stairs are put in so we can have a look upstairs. Hopefully, it's done by Friday as we've requested for our first walkthrough of our home then. Construction walkthroughs can only be done on a weekday, and I refuse to go by myself with both the boys with me.

View from the backyard. The scaffolding that our builder probably owns, (because they need it and a lot of it) but charge clients who build two-story homes for. This type of unnecessary cost that you know the builder is just charging for the sake of charging customers just blows my mind.

Home Build Update

2018-01-26T14:06:00.001+11:00

Wow, Christmas and New Year flew. Yay!! Why yay? Because work stopped between 20 December 2017 untill 15 January 2018, and from a home builder's perspective that's a long time waiting for things to be done to your home. Here are some photos of the house before Christmas.

So a lot did happen when they first put the slab down in mid-November. As you can see frames and roof were completed before their holidays.

This is what it looked like inside. Completed were most of the frames, wall lining, and air conditioning vents.

The main part of the house - the kitchen, dining and living. While we were standing here we started to feel the living spaces in our home felt ... small. We were even thinking, 'did they build the house to our size?' Cause our plans on paper makes our home look a lot bigger than it actually looks.

This "left over land" doesn't help. Look at all that land we could have still utilised. When we were still reviewing our plans, I did suggest to Ian to make the whole house an extra 3m wider. But our architect family friend did rough calculations and he estimated it would have cost an extra 70-100K on top. At least we have a decent amount of space for a backyard. However, my husband and I are not gardeners so we wouldn't know the first thing about creating and maintaining one.

More space at the back of the house. The amount of space on the service side was a surprise too.

As we drove around the street we noticed our solar panels were installed at this point too.

2018

The week before the builder said they would commence work again we thought we'd stop by and check up on the house. We were surprised to see windows, sliding doors and hebel walls were delivered onto the property, and electrical wiring started to be installed.

During the tradies first week back, we got an independent building inspector to review the workmanship. We had minor concerns about the frame, and not building experts and first time builders, we decided it's best we get our own inspectors to get an objective review of the construction. There were minor things our Inspector identified, but overall he said there was nothing he would raise a major concern about with our home so far.

This week we went back to our home to see how the build was going.

All the windows and sliding doors have been installed. I'm assuming this is the case upstairs too. There is a ladder to go up but I wasn't goint to climb up. Technically we're only allowed to be inside the home with the presence of our site supervisor.

The ceiling insulation batts have been installed. Surprisingly everytime we visited our home there was always a lovely breeze but the batts will add coolness in rooms in summer and insulation in winter.

Not sure if I've mentioned it before but our home is made out of hebel, not brick. Hebel is a type of concrete. If you think of commercial building, like shopping centres, they're made from hebel. I'm assuming they will still paint the hebel wall with the render colour we selected cause I don't think that's the colour we selected.

Now that my son has started school for the year I can go past our home more frequently, sneak inside and take more photos, especially now there is more traction happening with the build.

Our First Home Construction Update

2017-11-15T19:55:00.001+11:00

(Taken 9th September 2017)

It's been about 2.5 months since my last post.

Thought I'd document things we discovered or learnt over past two months:

Document all the change or variations. The builder will miss items you discussed with them, not respond to all questions in your email, and they'll forget to follow up on things. We realised they could be interacting with a few clients at a time. We had to be proactive and double check everything, question difference in design and contract and get clearly written answers on all our questions before we signed. Even the small things we question, for example, comparing construction drawings versus the contract. If the drawing didn't reflect it on the contract we raised it. Most got updated but some they said wasn't necessary to be updated for whatever reason. We trust everything will go smoothly and to design but we made sure we had written evidence of things just in case of conflict later on.
Master builders that build homes in the volumes avoid custom once off work/jobs. After our appointments, there were things we saw that we wanted to try and get our builder to do. They really avoid custom work, even if you're willing to pay for it. Some of the items that our builder couldn't accommodate: a slight decline on our stone island beach top near the sink for water waste, rectangle tiled drain waste, long handles for our sliding doors, and shadow line cornice.
You'll start to find things you've missed or doubting decisions. Already I'm regretting not doing walk-in wardrobes in all the bedrooms. I'm second guessing not doing a butler's pantry and cabinetry in our laundry. Although we can add these items later on, it would be nicer if everything was done and matched day one. I'm questioning if there's enough natural light our master bedroom? Maybe we should have made the window bigger or added another window to another wall. Now I'm realising maybe I should have made the door to the pantry a sliding one. Do I really want all our walls to be white? I've just started reaccessing decisions.

I can finally say our build has started. Our contract started we would start 2nd October but it wasn't until the 18th November we received an email stating our builder has everything they need to start building and a site manager was allocated to manage the construction of our home.

(Taken 9 November 2017)

We got a call from said site manager, about a week later who introduced himself and gave us a verbal timeframe of when things will start. He said the land will start to be cleared in preparation for drainage, electrical works then pouring of the slab. That's basically where we're at now. I believe they give the slab about a week to harden and assess whether the slab needs any additional work.

Hopefully, there will be more work done on the house between now and the holiday break. I'm sure the frames will be up so the builder can request for the next progress payment before Christmas.

Tips for Choosing What Colours to Select for Your Home

2017-08-26T17:07:00.003+10:00

Today I visited the Colour Studio ... again. When we first went there I felt overwhelmed by the choices and options, but the more I go, the less overwhelming it becomes.

Another reason why I'm spending so much time there is because hubby's left me with the task of choosing the colours. We just have slightly different taste and he was like, "it's your domain anyway, and I know you'll choose only the best." I can't argue with that, so it's my task to choose the internal and external colours. On the flip side, he's deciding on all things electrical cause that's his domain.

Choosing every component of a home isn't everyone's cup of tea but if you are building a home you plan to settle and live in for a long time, there's merit in the effort. Just like doing your taxes, you could either view the task as something you're required to do and just lodge it, or you could view it as an opportunity to get an understanding of your financial pulse and really put effort into the task.

Even as I write this post I'm still undecided on some options and colours, however I thought I'd share my how or tips I've used to help narrow in on selecting colours for our home.

Visiting a colour and flooring studio frequently doesn't sound like a lot of fun for most people. But if you approach each visit with only looking at stuff for one or two rooms in your home at a time, instead of trying to look at everything, you're utilising your time more effectively and more inclined to stay focused when you're at the show room. This also helps with decision making as you're breaking down each component of the home into small pieces instead of trying to tackle it all at once.
Grab samples and take it home. I always grabbed samples of colours or materials I really liked. This allowed me to see how they all look together and allowed me to show hubby my ideas and get some feedback on stuff I wasn't 100% about.

Stop looking at Pinterest. I realised Pinterest contains images of dream kitchens or bathrooms from designers homes. Designer meaning they're one of a kind, hence custom, therefore expensive. That beautiful wave shaped porcelain tiles you pinned might not be available at with tile shop your builder has contracted to do your (and the rest of the state's) homes.
But do get ideas for colours or styles from sites like Pinterest or home magazines. Pinterest helped me realise my style personality. Just like someone might suggest a dress would look great on you because you have the height for it, doesn't necessarily mean it's your style. For example, I know wood or darker coloured cabinetry is very popular at the moment and even though they look great, when I looked back at my saved images, I can see I pinned and gravitated to all white cabinetry. So although those trendy wood accent cabinetry look great, I think I will stick to all white theme for our kitchen.
Think about how each room will be used, where furniture will potentially sit in that space, and any additions you think you will be adding to the room in the near future. For example, I don't know what light fixtures I want over the kitchen island but I know I want three light points over the island table. Or how I use a hair straightener a lot so will need an electrical point in the bathroom near the mirror.
Keep it simple, stick to your original ideas, and stuff you liked. Chances are they're what you really want, you're just being confused by images you've seen, other people's ideas or opinions of other people.

Here are images I gravitated to and will probably try to replicate in our home.

Why We Went Over 100K From Our Base Price

2017-08-01T22:06:00.000+10:00

Firstly, what you see in the display home versus the actual base design of that home is always going to be different. There is a reason why it's a display home. Master builders they hook you in with their beautifully designed homes which has extra rooms and upgraded everything. It's only when you ask for the base price you'll realise the basic design probably doesn't include the study room or the butler's pantry, and you're going to have to add those extras that you fell in love with at the display home. "Oh, you want handles for your doors? ... That's extra"

Right now we're yet to do our colour and electrical appointment but already we have gone over 100K from our home base price. I've mentioned previously we've been forced to have a rendered home, as this is a requirement for the area we are going to live in. So even before we made changes, already we've had to go over the base price by a few thousand dollars.

Here is a list of our notable home design variances:

1. Lots of Structural Changes

We moved walls to create bigger rooms. In particular, the bedrooms and entertaining spaces like the meals and family rooms. We plan to never do this again and we don't want to outgrow our home so we wanted to make the rooms as big as possible. Fortunately, we have a big piece of land and if it was up to me I'd make the house even bigger! Unfortunately, Hubby wouldn't let me.

We also changed the structural location of our laundry. In the original design (and in the display home) to access the laundry, you had to walk through the pantry. We instead created a new room behind the walk in pantry for the laundry, leaving us with lots of pantry space too. Laundry spaces are considered a wet area, therefore tiled. Since this is now a big laundry space (2.7m x 2.4m) this also meant there was an extra cost for tiling too.

Current design on website and display homes

Our design. Created a new laundry room. We know it's a huge laundry but it will double as a storage room too, hence why we didn't add any cabinetry in this room.

2. Third Garage

We have the land space and it's something we knew in five years time we would regret not doing, so we added a third garage to our home.

3. Kitchen Upgrade

How it works with our builder is, after you have selected which home design you like, you select what quality fixtures you want to determine the starting base price for your home will be. We decided to stick to the middle range, which they currently call Sapphire range. However, we opted to get the Diamond range for our kitchen because we wanted higher end finishes for our kitchen.

We also extended our kitchen benches, the island and moved our fridge cavity location. Refer to images above.

4. Added Shower

The base design of our home didn't come with a shower on the ground floor bathroom. We expect and want family and friends over, and we want to accommodate our love for entertaining by adding this to our plan.

5. Extended Ground Floor Ceiling Height

Currently, the ceiling height of the ground floor for the Sapphire range is 2600mm we've extended the height to 2750mm.

6. Floor to Ceiling Tiling in Bathrooms

The kitchen and bathrooms were areas we are prepared to spend money on. They're spaces that are used every day so we wanted quality fixtures and finish. Floor to ceiling tiling is something we really liked and looks great when done right.

Other notable costs that caught us:

Air conditioning. There was a promotion where we could choose either solar panels/power for free or air conditioning for free. Solar panels were always going to be something we would get very early on. We've seen their benefits from our parent's homes when they get close to nothing, or in credit when they get their electricity bill. And moving up north where we probably will use the air conditioner a lot well, we opted for the solar panels.
Types of windows and doors. Front doors are surprisingly expensive. Stacker doors and awning windows are extra, so is making the windows bigger or glass translucent.
Sliding mirrored wardrobe doors are extra.
Home facade. They always make the standard facade basic and ugly. I'm sure the builders do this on purpose. So of course you're going to want a better designed exterior, which cost more than the standard.
Council application fees.
Structural and building requirements such as earth works, electrical connection and drainage.
The quote for our custom cornice order cost more than our Diamond kitchen! So we went back and reviewed which rooms we could exclude this cornice style in, such as the garage and walk in pantry to reduce this cost.

Like I mentioned earlier we haven't even had our colour and electrical appointment yet - yikes! I just remind myself and my husband we're never going to do this again, so let's think of everything we want and depending on the cost scale back accordingly. Also, we'll be paying for this for 20+ years so the stuff we do really want just add it to the mortgage.

Our Home Tender Process

2017-06-30T15:44:00.000+10:00

Firstly, an update we finally own our land!! It was finally registered and we settled last week. So of course now that it's ready, we want to start building as soon as possible.

However, we're still going through the tender process. We have progressed a lot in the past few weeks but it has been quite a long process.

Initially, I thought it's just about making sure walls, doors and windows are where we want it to be. But I've learnt it's also the time we need to be specific about the details we want in our home because firstly, this becomes the contract between us and the builder and any reviews and changes after we sign will be an added cost. Secondly, depending on the change they may not be able to do it because we didn't raise the request earlier and it's too late to make the changes. Thirdly, we provide the signed contract to the bank to reassess how much we actually need from them, so having a quote close to how much everything will cost will minimise surprises and monetary shortfalls.

So we've already been deciding on things like what kind of floors we want, how our ceiling is going to look, and how we think we'll use our spaces.

I thought I'd share some of the initial hurdles and surprises we've encountered to date.

Covenants

What are property covenants? They are rules set to help guide or restrain how homeowners build and alter their property. All homes have it and it's established and policed by your local council. That's why depending on what you want to do to your home you may first need approval from your council to ensure it meets their covenants. The estate we purchased our land from has, in addition to the council's rules, their own covenant that we must abide by. This information was given to us when we received and signed our contract, but admittedly we didn't review and question every item.

So now we learn first of all our home has to be fully rendered, no exceptions. When we went back to check out our land last February we drove around the estate to see if any homes were able to get out of this clause .... nope. Every home there was rendered. Even after we requested for an exception it was declined. Don't get me wrong rendered homes look great, but it is pricey, and then there's the ongoing maintenance cost to keep it looking great. So already we've had to spend 15K (this doesn't include the facade) on a feature of our home we didn't necessarily want.

Flooring

I remember seeing a picture of a mutual friend's new home and loving her floors, in particular, the design of it. Actually, you can see her home as it was featured in Adore Magazine. Her timber floors were a herringbone design. I want this for our floors too! Our flooring design was non-negotiable for me and our builder can't do what I want so we're going to get someone else to do our non-wet area floors post hand over.

(example of a herringbone floor design)

Ceiling

We wanted a shadow-line cornice for our ground floor space.

(example of how a shadow-line cornice/ceiling would look)

Initially, they said they could do it but then our builder's Construction Manager came back and said they refuse to do this type of ceiling due to issues they had with it in the past. I was really disappointed to learn this and expressed that to the builder. Learning this dampened my spirit a bit. I couldn't get over it. We were researching alternatives and although there was one, the supplier stopped manufacturing the product. In the end, we compromised with the builder to place a custom order for a cornice style that they don't offer but is available from their supplier. Still not happy but what can we do?

Despite all these things, the arguments over priorities and taste, sleepless nights thinking about the details, it's .... fun! I love thinking about every room and specifying the little details we want. I've always said I'm kinda boring when it comes to style. I consider my taste to be plain, but modern and .... boring, but I'm surprised how much of an opinion I actually do have about certain things, or have a preference towards something. I get excited picturing in my head how each rooms is going to look cause we've designed it that way.

It's exciting!! .... I just got to stop thinking about the ceilings.

Build Update

2017-06-03T11:33:00.003+10:00

I knew building a home would take time. We've been warned and we expected the time it would take to build our home would be longer than what the builder or land developer says it will take. I'm not bothered by it, but I have to admit the time has damped the excitement of relocating. I'm sure once we do start moving the rush will come back.

So an update post cause I've been reading other blogs and forums of people who have built homes and I enjoy reading and learning from other people's experience. If you are building or thinking of building check out Home One it's the whirlpool of home builders.

When we put our deposit down for our land back in September they said it should be registered by Christmas. It's June already. However, we did get an email 2 weeks ago from the property developer advising us that they've lodged registration of all the land on our estate with the council and expecting about 2-3 week turn around for titles to be registered!

Woohoo! Finally some real progress.

This email was also a heads up to let us know to start contacting our banks to get our finances in order because soon after the land is registered they will want the rest of their money for the purchase of the land.

The bank application process has also been a roller coaster ride. Although interest rates have been the lowest it's ever been, banks have been tighter on lending. It's really no surprise, however frustrating never the less.

We've faced some challenges leading up to getting approved for a loan. Before we even started we wanted to know how much we could borrow so we weren't wasting our time looking at locations or homes that we could not afford. This is how we learnt how tight banks were being at the moment and even with substantial savings hardly any debt our serviceability was pretty limited. In hindsight, this was probably a factor which gave us, even more, confidence to pursue that "sea change" we've always thought about doing. If you can't afford Sydney you got to buy elsewhere right?

My advice when it comes to the finance side of things, go with someone who is going to work for you. Someone who will take the time to explain things to you over and over again if need be, someone who is honest and experienced.

We've chosen a builder!! We choose the builder quite quickly. We were drawn to this one home because of how the stairs were designed. We dislike "grand staircases" - this is a personal preference ok. I dislike how a staircase and the void above one can take up so much space in a home. That's functional space you could be using. So the home we gravitated to was one where the staircase is kinda hidden behind the kitchen. I remember walking into this display home knowing it was a two story home, admiring the various rooms and then being surprised by discovering the staircase up to the second floor further down inside the home. We liked that feeling. I'm sure not everyone's style but was our deciding factor when it came down to selecting the home design.

We also realised later on it was a similar design to a home we looked at the first time I was pregnant. It was a one story home but there was a staircase behind one of the walls that took you up into the attic which was converted to a guest room, with its own ensuite and lounge area - it was a huge designer home. We always think about that home and we realised we gravitated to a design that was very similar.

Although we selected an existing design home we've made changes. If we're going to live in it for the next 15-25 years we want to be comfortable. I don't want to be walking past a particular wall everyday thinking, "we should've moved this" - modifications like that.

Of course changing the standard design costs money. Choosing high-quality finishes and making changes to rooms costs money, so whatever price you see on the website or catalogue for the home, expect to add another 100K to that price - and that's being conservative in my opinion. Yes, you can cut costs by doing some things yourself, if you know what you're doing. Yes, you can try getting more stuff included or minimise costs down by negotiating with the builder if you know what you're talking about. We've been fortunate to also know some people who are in the industry so we've had them review things for us, gave us the words to question costs, and validate plans. However, we're still at the mercy of the builders and their charges. I've struggled to comprehend certain things and costs especially when I apply my "Cam logic" to the situation. For example moving a room to the opposite side. My thought logic is 'I'm still paying for the room regardless why does it cost extra to relocate it?' Or another example is the kitchen island. When we measured the kitchen island in the display home against our plans, our one is smaller. To get the same size as the display home costs extra, but we're getting the bigger home design than the display home, so we've upgraded everything in the home, therefore, why is this costing extra? I get so defensive when they say things costs extra.

So that's the update. Next week I expect we'll be asked to settle the land. After we sign off on the prelim design it will go to our property developer to ensure our design meets our covenant agreements. That's been an interesting experience too, I'll save it for a separate post.

Purchasing Land Off Property Developers

2017-03-01T06:00:00.000+11:00

I've never purchased land before. I've never built a home before. We're still at the early stages, and so far it's been a ... manageable effort. I've flipped a few properties already but they've always been existing homes. They were also purchased based on different goals than what we have today. Previously our purchasing decisions was based on buying something that we see as a medium to long term investment and something that was cheap.

Purchasing land we definitely were more selective. Besides being the obvious - location and price. We found ourselves considering factors I never thought I'd care about such as, where the sun rises and sets, elevation to other properties, future infrastructure, public transport, even the shape and size of every side of the land.

We purchased our land from the developer or in other words "off the plan" meaning it's not ready for home construction. If you look at my previous post all you can see is piles of dirt. We were open to this option as we hadn't started looking at homes and wanted more time to save more money. I also think it's our cautious way of approaching this risk. We knew we need to make a big move in regards to property soon as we've been saying we would for the past 3 years. Every year as home prices increased, we would always look back and say to ourselves, 'We should've purchased that place we saw last year." Hence why our "location scope" trip last September resulted in the signing of contracts. When we went looking we had no preassumptions we would buy anything, but at the same time we knew we had to take a risk.

If you've every purchased an off the plan development what usually happens is after the cooling off period, and your conveyancer has thoroughly reviewed the contract and they can confidently say you're not at risk of getting a dud deal, you pay a percentage of the cost of the land. The rest doesn't need to be paid until settlement. In our case settlement will be when the land is registered with the council.

During Christmas when we went back to look at the land the road had been laid and grass was being watered at the time. So we assumed we'd get a call by January. It's March today and we're yet to an update on the land. I'm not too worried cause we're not ready to build and I'm happy to keep our money as long as possible. And from past experience developers usually start communicating really well closer to settlement, as they want the rest of their money real quick after they've done their part.

So that's the straight forward, no drama process of purchasing land off property developers work. However if in the case the land you're thinking of buying is already registered, your settlement will occur in only 4-6 weeks.

Here's an update image and if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen a similar post already.

Things I've learnt or tips I'd give others from our experience so far:

Ask all your questions, no question should be too hard or stupid for them. This is a big deal for you, they should understand that and not feel troubled to answer and explain things to you over and over and over again.
Ask other people who have purchased land about their experience or questions you may have. I was emailing friends, calling our parents, finding forums and Facebook groups (they do exist) to get the information and advice I was looking for. I don't claim to know everything and I like to learn from other people's experiences.
Do your research. If you're serious about an area or any property purchase you investigate. I assume you would do thorough research into the area you're considering buying before contracts are signed.
Ask for a better price. If you don't ask you won't know. Ask about any rebates, especially if you're a first home owner or maybe the development is giving one.
Don't forget stamp duty. Every property you buy you pay stamp duty and depending on the state that can be up to 5% of the cost of the purchase. So if the property is $850K that's $42,500 just going to the government. Sucks doesn't it! People forget about this so when you see the asking price remember to add 5% to the figure to manage your expectaions.

Have you built before? Got any more tips for this stage of the development?

That Sea Change

2016-12-01T06:00:00.000+11:00

One of the big changes that I can finally share is we're moving.

For awhile now we've been wanting to get a bigger home, but Sydney home prices in the areas we wanted to buy wasn't affordable for us, well not on a full timer and start up biz owner salaries. Even after discussing various scenarios with our financial planner, Sydney home prices was always the impacting factor. There were times I thought about going back to the corporate world just so I can have a consistent salary. But when I thought about giving up my business, or not being there for the boys, I would start to get emotional. I couldn't do it.

Even if I did go back to work full time, I didn't want a massive mortgage hanging over our heads, in addition to the cost of raising a young family. Like I said prices of homes in the areas we did want to buy in had sky rocketed in the past two to three years.

Friends would know, and maybe I may have even mentioned it on here, but we've been talking about a sea change for a long time. Even before we had children, Ian and I wanted to try living overseas but never did it because there was always an excuse we told ourselves which held us back. Well, no more!

For a good part of the first half of this year we were investigating areas to relocate to. We thought about schools, infrstructure, jobs and the kind of lifestyle we wanted and took those into consideration. We did day trips flying out to areas that we short listed to see if it was a place we could see ourselves raising a family. After a few months of research, thousands of kilometres of traveling, we found a new place we'll be calling home.

Unfortunately it's just dirt right now and obviously will need to build a home on top of it, but I'm excited about the whole process. I'm excited to move, I'm excited to build, and I'm excited to start our life in a new place. I'm sure there will be challenges along the way, everyone who has built a home has a story, but I say 'bring it!' I love being challenged!

A few people have questioned why move where there is no support in the form of family, no impeding job to move on to, or just questioning why move to this area altogether? All those fears are on our minds too, but if we dwell on them for too long it'll hold us back from trying. Ultimately we believe this is what's best for our family. It is a sea change for a reason. We don't want to be doing Sydney life somewhere else, we want a different life to what we have here. Not that it isn't amazing already, our priorities have changed and we're hoping to achieve an even better life by doing this move.

So watch this space. I'll be sharing the journey with you all. The purchasing rules alone is slightly different in another state than Sydney. I'll save that for another post.

Accidental Electronic Device Detox

2016-11-22T06:00:00.000+11:00

Just wanted to share a little win I realised lately. The boys no longer play with the iPad's. Not at home, not when we're out, but definitely at the grandparents.

It all started about a month ago. Eli dropped an iPad on the ground by accident. He was sitting down and had one on his lap. He stood up to grab some food and it fell a measly three inches. The screen cracked, so did hubby. Eli understood clearly he was in trouble and from the countless "I told you ..." statements he heard from his father and I he knew we were both extremely cross. So from theat moment he hasn't asked for it and because he doesn't play with one, his younger brother doesn't want to play with one either.

Since they no longer get access to one, they're playing with their room full of toys more. They'll say to me "I'm bored!". Which I respond with, "go find something to do then", and surprisingly they go off and play together more. This also means they're fighting more too.

Going out to eat as parents you rely on the iPad. For us definitely when the boys were younger, when they start to get restless we would pull out an electronic device and put YouTube on. Now they have no choice but to sit there and wait until everyone has finished their meals. I think they're eating more because they're not distracted. I think they're more engaged in their surroundings because they're not looking at a screen.

I'm not sharing this to show that I'm a better parent, far from it. I guess I'm sharing a progress made with my imperfect parenting. It wasn't like we decided on an electronic device detox, it just happened due to a situation.

Another interesting outcome from this is I've realised the boys do actually like to play a lot. They're always asking me to join them in some made up game using toys and our imagination, or get outside to play basketball or even just play a game of passing a balloon to each other.

They're very conscious of when I'm on the phone. They'll tell me to get off or follow me around bugging me until I give in and get off.

They do get access to an iPad when they're at the grandparent's homes. They'll ask for it shortly after they walk in. The other week Kai wanted to sleep over at the grandparent's place, and Kai never wants to sleep over. He was telling me to go home while he was holding the iPad.

I hope we continue this non-iPad environment for as long as we can. Eli starts school next year so I know we can't keep the electronic devices away forever. But I know we can restrict it if we need to .... and the world will still keep spinning.

Next, getting them to eat more veggies.

Should I Keep Blogging?

2016-11-09T11:19:00.000+11:00

(Asking Eli taking a photo of me. He include his Pikachu stuff toy in the shot)

It's been awhile since I've really blogged.

It's funny the longer between posts the harder, or the more hesitant you become to publish stuff online. The content I spent some time working on becomes irrelevant, or I start to question whether it's even worth posting.

Maybe I'll keep this post short and sweet just so I can get over these fears. Just like when someone starts going back to the gym, just rock up, have no expectations except getting your arse there.

So I'm here. I'm little blogger-unfit, or unwell or insecure? It's been a long time since I've shared something personal.

There are exciting and challenging things I'm currently experiencing, and me maybe 3 years ago I would be sharing those things on here, but now I'm a little hesitant.

I'm hesitant because the internet is evolving so quick and the online landscape is very different to three years ago. I never really use to worry about my online visibility, but with the increase of identity theft you just don't know who's taking your information and doing what with it.

I'm hesitant because I'm re-evaluating my why? This blog isn't about making money or lifting my profile so I'm sharing my personal experiences for what?

I'm hesitant because I run a business.

I'm hesitant because my children are growing up and I've realised I'm creating an online foot print of them that they might not want me to share. Remember people once you post it online, it's on there forever! Will my boys be happy knowing I've shared their allergy episodes when they were babies online? Can it be used against them one day?

I guess we all encounter these types of questions when we've been doing something for a long time and lose that spark that started it all for us. Just like going to the gym there comes a point you question it all. Usually, when you hit a plateau you need to re evaluate why you work out, or what your new goals are and change it up.

Maybe I just need to change it up?

Bloggers, business owners or even if you work for the man but usually love what you do, what do you do, or how do you keep yourself focused on your hustle or doubts?

Kai's 3rd Birthday

2016-09-28T06:00:00.000+10:00

Last week we celebrated my second son Kai's 3rd birthday. It sure doesn't feel like he's only three. I feel like he's older ... it's hard to explain. Sure the year flew however, it felt like he was stuck at two for ages.

He's still a Mummy's boy. Always wants me by his side. It's annoying at times but I've learned to live with it. I may be his favourite person doesn't mean he's affectionate with me. He hates kisses, he's even told me he likes hugs, not kisses. He's very much an introvert. He doesn't like attention and he hides his face when people notice him. He won't even give family members a hello or high five when he initially sees them.

He's still learning how to handle situations he can't control. Most of the time he reverts to yelling and sulking when things don't go his way, but now when I tell him, "it's okay you don't have to cry" or "tell me what it is you want" he calms down. We're still trying to help him learn this skill and it's been a tiring and tedious process. When I think about what starts the friction between the boys or the majority of the situations where I lose my temper at them, it's mostly to Kai's reactions to situations.

He's talking more. I've shared my concerns about his lack of verbal communication but he's speaking so much more in the last 9-10 months. Putting him into daycare has helped. We mentioned to the centre our concerns and his attendance there has helped him come out of his shell and communicate more.

He's actually adjusted to childcare a lot better than Eli did. We could say goodbye and leave the room without tears after a few weeks of starting. He looks forward to going and we can tell he really enjoys himself when he goes.

He's cheeky. Have you seen his normal smile? It has cheeky written all over it. He tattle's, he annoys, he teases, he pulls pranks and he fights as good as he gets.

He's definitely more strong willed and persistent. He will repeat whatever he wants until you give in. He will go at it for ages until the sound of his whining breaks you. I like to think I'm mentally strong, but this boy knows how to undermine me.

He still has a big appetite. He's not the fattest kid but he sure does love to eat. He grazes all day and still has room for his main meals. He's not shy to tell you he's "so so hungry" and he's first to come to the kitchen at the sound of food. Surprisingly he doesn't touch anything he knows he can't have. I don't need to hide eating chocolate or ice cream from him cause he knows he can't have it so he doesn't ask.

We find ourselves talking and reflecting on Kai most nights. Not because we have major concerns about him, but because he's so interesting. His behaviour, his development, his personality, we can't help but discuss how far he's come these past few months.

Happy 3rd birthday Kai. You make parenting .... hard. But your character, personality, and mannerisms is what's unique about you. I pray you continue to thrive in your development and grow into the person you're meant to be. We love you so so much.

Happy 5th Birthday Eli

2016-08-02T06:30:00.000+10:00

Last week we celebrated Eli's 5th birthday and this my annual birthday post.

Happy birthday Eli. When I think about you, my heart and eyes begin to fill. I’m so grateful to have been blessed with you as my first child. You're sweet, loving, thoughtful, beautiful and intelligent little human. You're a good kid and I'm already blown away by your maturity and loving nature.

As you've grown another year you've developed more into who you're meant to be. You're heart and mind is a lot more mature than people your own age. I know this because of the way his eyes water up when one of dad’s jokes goes a little too far and you try to hide your tears. Or when you asks me if I had a nap so I could rest. Or when you ask for things but then question whether it's expensive, cause you've heard us say those things in the past.

You know your place in our family. You help, you contribute and you lead when you need to. You're honest and take in everything we teach you, like not to hide secrets from each other. So you felt you had to tell your dad we were going Pokemon hunting when I told you we were going to sneak out to do it. I'm already so proud of you cause you continue to blow me away with your thoughtfulness, your fearless nature, your maturity and your heart.

Of course, you're still a five-year-old. You're at a stage where play always involves some form of pretend violence like fighting, pushing, and yelling. For you at this moment being number one is a priority so everything is a race or you have to be the first to do anything.

I pray that God always watches over you and protect you especially in moments we’re not around. May you continue to thrive, be in perfect health and be that sweet child that you are. I don’t know how we got so lucky with you.

We love you so much.

Review of Marina Bay Sands Hotel - is it really worth it?

2016-07-07T06:00:00.000+10:00

One does not travel to Singapore and not visit the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Hopefully one gets to stay there to experience the hotel, in particular, the infinity pool as this is the only way you will get to swim in it, or even get close to the pool unless you're a staying guest. This actually works in favour of guests as there are so many people visiting the famous hotel. There are bars and a few restaurants at the top, as well as an observatory deck all open to the general public.

Firstly upon arrival the bellhop (is that what they're called?) were so efficient. They knew it was too early for us to check in but took our luggage, gave us a ticket and told us to come back at 3pm to check in and hand the same ticket back and someone will bring our bags to our room.

I booked Marina Bay Sands Hotel through a third party website and a few days prior I was emailed to say I could upgrade our room for a city view for an extra $50 per night. I wasn't sure if that was a great offer but did find it humorous that the city view was more expensive than the harbour view. Usually, it's the other way around right?

The room was spacious I give it that. Inside the bedroom area, there was a bed, desk table, television entertainment unit, and a small sitting chair. You were able to open the large windows which lead you to a small balcony area. We had views of the harbour had views of Gardens by the Bay which was really pretty when the lights come on at night.

The bathroom was also spacious with a large bath tub, double vanity sinks, huge shower area, and separate toilet.

Everyone who was staying at the hotel gets a card key, even the children. So every person needs to have a card key with them to swipe themselves in and out of the pool area as well as access the lifts to their room floor.

Besides the pool, gym, restaurants, spa and viewing deck the hotel doesn't really offer anything else. I can not stress how busy this hotel is. There is no direct access to Gardens by the Bay from inside the hotel. Everyone has to exit, figure out how to get to level 1 to access the pedestrian pathway to cross over to the gardens. Mind you this same pathway cuts through the hotel, however, there is no access to it directly from inside the hotel.

The closest MRT station is also a little tricky. On the MRT map, you can see a station called Marina Bay so you assume that's the closest station to the hotel. However if you access the MRT via the underground shops the closest station is actually Downtown.

So after staying here for two nights is it really worth it? I think if you're really keen to get that famous infinity pool photo book one night. That is all you're really paying for anyways.

Have you stayed at Marina Bay Sands? What are your thoughts on the hotel?

Gen-Y Mum Update

2016-06-21T06:00:00.000+10:00

I mentioned previously there have been some shifts in my world lately. Ok that statement sounds so grand. I think as we get older and we form regular routines any small change are big shifts to our world, and that's what I really mean.

Firstly, I've been suffering from something I've been try so hard to hide ... psoriasis. I've been dealing with really itchy skin for a long period of time now. It's gotten to the point where it is every where and I was so uncomfortable in my own skin. I remember getting ready for a kids party I had was taking the boys to and looking at myself in the mirror, seeing the scars and I almost didn't want to leave the house. It definitely affected my confidence not wanting to interact with people. I'm finally getting treatment which is slowly repairing the damage it has done. It's still early days of treatment to try and control this condition. Adult psoriasis is hardly spoken about. I spent so many hours researching into what I had, "home treatments" to manage it and understanding what could be causing it. The worrying probably didn't help my condition either.

We've been thinking about what we're going to do about our permanent living arrangement. I've mentioned previously our current home was always purchased under the assumption it was going to be an investment, but life doesn't always plan out exactly as you imagine it to be. So we've been talking amongst ourselves, talking to our broker, talking to agents, talking to parents, talking to our family and weighing out options. We've got some big decisions to make.

The business has shifted ... actually, it's become more precise in its direction. I've decided to focus on particular industries which at the time I thought may be limiting but so far has worked out for the best. It kind of felt like I was starting again initially but because I'm clearer in who I want to target the work has come easier. The business has also put me in situations to things I didn't foresee I would experience, or maybe I was just too wide eye optimistic about everything at the start. Several months on I've felt the hurt and disappointment of losses, rejections, and betrayal.

CrossFit keeps me sane and I've started playing basketball again. It's been 3 years since I've played and I can really feel the difference as I've aged. I'm trying to ignore thoughts of high expectations on myself and to just enjoy playing again.

And lastly the boys ... well that's a separate post. They've changed so much since my last detailed post about them. Their characters and personalities are becoming more evident and individual. They crack me up, they make me so mad at times and they test every skill I possess as a human, but I'm so grateful I get to share this season of their life with them.

Enough about me, so how are you? How's things? What has been keeping you preoccupied lately?

Linking up with Jess

Gen-Y Mum Blog

2016-06-17T06:30:00.000+10:00

It's funny when you're not posting as frequently you start to lose your confidence in your writing. I frequently come to my blog desktop and start a new post. I usually blog when there are things are on my mind, and it's not always the heavy stuff either. I've got draft posts about the boys, draft posts on things I've been angry about, draft posts on successes, failures and stuff that's been going on personally. I have so many unfinished posts but as the time between posts grows longer I get more hesitant to finish and publish.

I get worried about how personal it may be. I made a decision a few years back that my blog content would be less about us personally and more about experiences. I am very well aware of the dangers of putting too much information about yourself or your children online, so a few years back I changed the direction of the topics and content I wrote about. But it's more natural for me to write about personal experiences so I find myself creating more content about my personal life.

I get worried I would offend people. Like giving my opinions on subjects such as parenting, business, friendships, and marriage that some might not agree with. I recently shared a blog post written by someone else about the dark side of parenting. Someone commented that it was horrible. I wasn't sure what she meant by her comment as I was too scared to probe her for more, but I think that was my first troll-er and that kinda surprised me. The past twelve months there's also been big shifts in my world. I don't know if it's the next phase in life, life as a business owner or simply because I've evolved. I've wanted to share those stories but feared it may upset people.

I get worried it's not good enough. I remember getting semi-serious about blogging, (which was when I started telling people my blog existed about 4 years ago) and reading somewhere that blogging in Australia then was still very much in its infancy compared to countries like the States. In the past six months alone I sense "blogging" has kind of exploded with so many new faces on the scene who are dominating the industry. I also decided way back my blog wasn't about making money but I still want to publish quality posts that people will want to read and share. I have doubts about my unpublished posts that they are not good enough to be seen by other people.

I get worried it won't get read. I should stop worrying about posting when really I should worry about whether anyone will actually read it. I like to keep stats of my posts and the past few posts haven't done that well compared to when I was posting frequently. No one wants to read about what to do in Singapore with kids unless they're actually planning to go there in the near future.

So where does this all leave me?

I attended a social media workshop hosted by a blogger who use to blog, who also then closed her Facebook account cause it distracted her from the real work she needed to do on social media. Each to their own, but I did think 'How can you call yourself a social media novice if you've turned off social media from your life?' Sure she's still very much involved in social media cause she lives it through her clients, but I've always said its hard to take advice from someone who hasn't or doesn't experience it.

And blogging is very much part of my me and my business. So expect some personal stories, some rants, opinions, kids spam and hopefully a layout revamp in the near future posts. So advance warning, sorry if I offend, if the content is crap and or if you don't agree with me, but I've been holding back from my little space for far too long.

Things I Said I Would Never Do As A Parent ... & Did Anyways

2016-05-29T06:00:00.000+10:00

They say children change you. It's true. You may not believe it, but you'll eventually realise that you're no longer the same person you were prior to children. I told myself I would be the exception ... I wouldn't let children change me.

Oh, how wrong was I? The "changes" that happens when you become a parent happens to all parents in varying degrees. Here are a few things I know that has changed about me since having children:

Stopped judging other parents

Since becoming one myself and realising it ain't as easy as I thought it would be, I stopped judging other parents parenting styles and decisions. No matter how much you say "I'll never parent like that" ... you probably will, in some form. When I use to see parents scolding at their child in public I use to judge them, but now I know better. I don't know their situation, I don't know them or what they're going through to make them snap it at that point.

Give in to all their requests

Before kids I convinced myself I would be the boss and they'll do what I said. How wrong was I? If they won't eat the food I made and ask for Coco Pops instead I'll give it to them. If they ask for the another ball at the store, I'll buy it for them. They're the boss and dictate orders, I'm the idiot who follows and does it.

Buy heaps of stuff they'll out grow in a few months

I only shop for the kids now. Before children I use to wonder why would parents buy all those expensive but cute outfits for their child only to be out grown a few months later. I now understand you want to buy it. Its not for show or approval but love. So what if those shorts costs the same as adult size shorts, he's going to look so cute in them, and I rather spend money on them than me.

Let them spend too much time watching TV or using electronic devices

Before I'd turn on the television so they can be entertained for a few minutes while I do something, but over time it would extend to the whole morning sometimes. Yes I feel some guilt but thank God for ABC4Kids because they helped teach my boys the fundamentals. As a parent we all feel giving our children the iPad is some form of neglect, but if they're watching the right content it's adding value, right? ... Well that's what I tell myself. I've recently downloaded the Bible for Kids App and it reads out loud the various Bible stories through cartoon illustrations. There's a multiple choice quiz at the end of each story and I'm surprised Eli selects the answer when I read each option out to him.

Let them eat junk food

Before children I had misconceptions on what kind of meals my children would eat. In my head I was determined they would be eating wholesome home cooked meals every night. How wrong was I? Firstly slaving over a wholesome meal only to be rejected get's pretty tired after awhile. We all hate when people don't appreciate the effort we put into things, and children are pretty blunt telling you when they don't like something. Secondly when you have kids who have food allergies, therefore already limited by certain foods they can consume, you're always trying to get them to eat. And if they're happy to eat nugget and chips everyday, nugget and chips it'll be. Sure it's not the healthiest but if it means they're eating, I'll take it.

Dress like a "Mum"

You can tell who the mums are, they've got a "look" and I told myself kids would not change my beauty regime or my love of fashionable clothing. How wrong was I? Make up is reserved for special occasions and I'm happy to wear denim jeans and a stripe or button down top all day every day. It's a tried and tested look and with limited time to think about my outfit before I step out of the house, I like to know I'm putting on something that's comfortable and safe.

I'm sure in the years to come I'll be eating more and more of my words in regards to things I said I would never do as a parent and actual reality. How about you? What are the things you said you would never do as a parent but years later did anyways?

Linking up with Jess

Review of Jen Orchard Gateway Singapore

2016-05-10T06:00:00.000+10:00

The first place we stayed at during our trip to Singapore was Jen Orchard Gateway near Orchard Road.

Being our first trip to Singapore we decided to stay close to a main area in the city that was easily accessible by public transport and close to places we can purchase necessities.

There are plenty of accommodation options in Singapore, it really is a matter of taste and budget. Initially, I was looking for a self-contained apartment style room since we were a family of four, but the costs were a little too much for us.

We narrowed down a few hotels that met our requirements, then we culled the list based on which one's met our budget and Jen Orchard Gateway came out on top.

Here's a review of Jen Orchard Gateway with my thoughts on some of the hotel's pros and cons:

Pro's

When we walked into our room we were greeted with a few bottles of water, some snacks and fresh fruits. There was also instant coffee packs, cups, a kettle, ice bucket and a few sets of cutlery in the room. There was also an empty mini fridge to keep drinks and food cool.
Room service replenished bottles of water every day which is nice for a place as humid as Singapore. There is actually an ice machine on every floor.
Fast WiFi is complimentary for guests staying at the Jen Orchard Gateway.
From a public transport perspective, Jen Orchard Gateway was a great choice. There was an MRT station was right under us, with a lift that took us right down to the subway, and a taxi stand right out front of the hotel.
The hotel's rooftop pool is definitely a highlight with views of Singapore skyline. The pool itself isn't that big however we didn't feel it was overly crowded during the times we went. You can order food and drinks by the pool from staff who roam the area attending to guests.
The hotel was in a good location along Orchard Road with walking distance to shops, places to eat, money exchange and transport options.
Room serviced every day and a nice note is left if they didn't so you can contact housekeeping to come and do it if you still want your room cleaned.
Multiple USB outlets to allow you to recharge all your electronic devices via USB. I love this room feature as this allows our limited universal recharger to be used on other devices.
The beds were comfortable and big giving us all space to sleep in.

Con's

There was a big stain on one of the walls in our room. Nothing that bothered us tremendously, however, management may want to look into resolving this.
No vents in the bathroom or toilet so steam can fog up the area over time.
Bathroom and toilet set up weren't the best. Firstly the walls were just more like frosted glass so not much privacy or noise prevention. Secondly, the toilet was a tiny space I could barely close the door when I used.
Our room wasn't that big. The bed took up most of the space, there was obviously the bathroom and separate toilet, cupboard, shoe storage, a desk with a chair, plus a one seater. Our room was a little too small for a family of four. We were given the option to upgrade to a bigger room at a discounted price when we first checked in, but even the discounted upgrade rate was more than above our accommodation budget. I was hoping they would give us a better rate considering we were staying 9 nights.
There was a 24/7 gym however it was really small and does not have a lot of equipment. I ended up taking some weights just outside by the rooftop courtyard to workout instead. However, one morning some guy, who I assume works there (he wasn't in a uniform so hard to tell) told me not to take out any of the equipment from the gym in the future. I held back from giving him a piece of my mind about his comment and responded with "Sure ... next time."

I would recommend Jen Orchard Gateway to anyone who's looking to stay in a modern hotel that's close to everything. One thing I learnt after staying at Singapore is that any area is a good area to stay because there are shops and lots of places to eat everywhere. Their efficient public transport system enables people to get around easily, so my only suggestion is to stay close to a train station to help you move around this city.

Linking up with Jess

Things to do in Singapore with Children

2016-04-18T06:00:00.000+10:00

We recently travelled to Singapore with the boys. Why Singapore you ask, why not Singapore? I've heard it's such a clean place, and that's a rare reputation for an Asian country. Honestly, the reason why we decided on Singapore was based on a promotion on cheap flights.

We decided to spend a decent amount of time there, not having been there ourselves before, and wanting to really experience the place. Plus travelling with young children we accept we need to add some "contingency days" to any overseas holiday we go on. And one of my best friends lives there now so any excuse to hang out with her is an added bonus.

Leading up to any holiday I like to research what to see, do, experience or eat at the location we will be travelling to. Unsurprisingly I found a lot of things to do with children and families in Singapore. Once again I started a spreadsheet listing all the things I found recommended to do. My list usually exceeds the amount of time available but I like to do this so I can cull this list with my husband, and as I learnt on this trip, with my eldest.

We did do a lot in Singapore but this blog post I list just the things I strongly recommend to do in Singapore with children based on our experience.

Stay at Sentosa Island

When my husband asked me if I wanted to stay there for a few nights I said no because that would mean we'd move three times during our trip, and with young children, I'm not inclined to change accommodations that frequently. Plus the checkout and in process can take up a whole day of your schedule.

But after visiting Sentosa Island and realising there is so much to do like visit Universal Studios, cool down at a Water Park, check out SEA Aquarium, and dine at the various places to eat, I realised that maybe we should have stayed on the island a few nights. We found ourselves going to the island three times during our trip. A process that isn't too difficult with Singapore's efficient public transport system, but an effort never the less with young children. So I suggest save yourself the effort and avoid the masses of people who also commute to the island everyday and stay on Santosa Island.

Legoland

My boys loved Legoland. They're boys, ofcourse they would. Legoland is actually in Malaysia but there are private tours companies that can take you to the park from Singapore. The trip to Legoland does require you to bring your passports as you will be going through customers and immigration both on the way there and back. So the commute to Legoland takes about 2 hours and may be longer if there is traffic.

I strongly suggest Legoland because unlike Universal Studios all the rides are for kids, although parents can ride many of the rides too. Eli took advantage of this and rode almost everything. Unfortunately, Kai was a little too small for a few rides which he protested in screams and tears. The park is a lot quieter than Universal Studios so in many instances we could stay on the rides and go again as there were no queues. We did go on a Tuesday but from what I heard from other people, it's the same deal most days too.

Singapore Zoo

I enjoyed Singapore Zoo! It's a huge zoo and when you ride the shuttle bus and take a tour of the whole place and see the amazing location the zoo is located on, you can start to see why it's so different from other zoos. Firstly, they have all the major animals all in one place. Secondly, it's such a big zoo, ample room for the animals to roam around so you feel like you're in their habitat. Thirdly there's so many shows and feeding times for all the animals, and in some cases, the feeding is done in an open space amongst the crowd. So animals will start to come and weave through the crowd to get the food from the trainers. To me, this adds to the feeling that the animals were within reach cause we could touch and feed them. There's also a Kids Area where children can play or chill out when you want a bit of a break from all the animals and walking.

Light Shows Around Marina Bay

For some reprieve from the heat take the kids to watch the various shows that around Marina Bay. There is a light show at Gardens by the Bay. The whole place starts to glow in lights as the sun begins to set, but later in the evening, there is a 15 minute music and light show around the Supretree Grove area that really show cases the gardens.

On the other side of the water is the nightly Marina Bay Sands light show. Head towards the restaurants around One Fullerton and from there you can see uninturrupted views of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and watch the lights show right by the water. The nightly light show is on at 8pm and 9.30pm and on the weekends another later show at 11pm. From there you can also check out the famous Merlion statue.

There is so much to see and do in Singapore with families. It's really a matter of whether your children are old enough to do certain things, what your family is into, and whether there is enough time to see everything.

March In Review

2016-04-11T06:00:00.000+10:00

Oh Hi! How are you? Long time no ... post.

I draft so many unfinished posts which I never get around to finishing so I'm hardly ever posting. If you follow my Instagram account (@genymum) I'm more active there.

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, and I realise March is a little late. But I had drafted this post a few weeks ago and I want to actually publish something, it's been over a month since I did.

So here's my March in review

I love spending time with my boys. Yes I am at home with them but when you're so focused on trying to run a business from home it's so easy to ... be distracted. Sometimes I think, 'They don't notice I'm on my phone' but they do. I'm always reminding myself to enjoy them as they are now, cause they won't always be this little and sweet.

I entered the CrossFit Opens again this year. I was hesitant entering because I haven't been in the best form the past few weeks. I'm still going to the box 2-3 times a week but I haven't been pushing myself, I'm just turning up to get a workout. I was sharing this sentiment with the owner of the box I go to and he was saying it's totally understandable. When you start up a new business so you're so focused on that right now that everything else takes a bit of a back seat, even he can relate. Every year as he takes on opportunities to grow the box, it takes up his time to be in the box, as a result he has become less fitter ... which is ironic. It was reassuring to hear that it's human not to be the best at everything you do all the time. Overall I think I did okay in the Opens. There were a few open workouts I think I could have gotten better results if I reattempted it before the cut off times, but that's the problem with always doing them on Monday instead of the weekend before.

The annual Easter hat parade at the boy's daycare centre. Last year was our first experience of this whole hat parade business, and what we learnt was the effort of the hat itself is not really a big deal. So this year I let the boys create their hats themselves. I purchased decorations to create the hat but I let them put it together themselves. It was actually a really stressful process for someone like me who has control issues. Firstly the mess, it was out of control within 3 minutes. There were fluffy balls, feathers, and paper everywhere. Secondly because I am not an arts and crafts person I don't have three pairs of everything, so defusing fights over the glue, scissors and who wanted the purple fluffy ball over the 100 other purple fluffy balls, was enough driving me nuts. Lastly, it took a lot of self control to stop myself from taking over and creating the hats myself. I had to physically move away ... I just couldn't deal.

March was full of celebrations for us. There's my nephew's 1st birthday, my God-son's 2nd birthday, a wedding and of course Easter.

We headed to Singapore for a family holiday. More on that in a future post ..

All these images are from my Instagram account, are you on Instagram? What's your handle name, comment below. I like stalking, I mean following new people.

Linking up with Jess

Review of The Sebel Kiama Harbourside

2016-02-23T06:00:00.000+11:00

A few weeks ago my family and I stayed at The Sebel Harbourside in Kiama. It was a last minute decision to go away, so accommodation options were kinda limited because the dates we wanted to go away fell on the Australia Day weekend. We were allocated room 314 and here's my review of the hotel.

The Positives

The hotel is located in a great spot of the little quaint seaside town of Kiama. There was various cafes, shops, restaurants, the rockpools, and the famous blowhole within walking distance from the hotel.
There was a lovely note from the hotel wishing us a happy anniversary to greet us, as I mentioned this upon booking.
Rooms were spacious with ample space for me and my family of four. Our room only had a bed, a table, and a small couch, but we could move around without feeling like we were walking over each other. Even the bathroom was huge.
Rooms were clean and serviced every day if you require it. I notice plenty of staff all over the hotel.
The gym at the basement level was amazing. They've advertised it as a world class gym, and it's pretty impressive. It was stocked with the usual cardio equipment but there were also free weights, bars, racks, functional training machines, kettle bells, medicine balls, ropes, bands - it did have everything. The gym is used by non-hotel members so depending on when you go it may be crowded.
Each room had a fridge and stocked with drinks and sweets which are obviously not free.
Each room had a balcony with a table and chairs.

The Negatives

The shower was a little moldy.
Bathroom basin was so small. For such a big room I don't understand why they installed such a tiny basin.
No safe in the room.
Air conditioning was not ducted but a reverse system unit which did keep the room cool.
Our room view was of the street, which was fine as streets were quiet. However, I'm sure a water view room would be nicer.
We did find two cockroaches in our room twice.

Overall it was a pleasant 3 night stay at the Kiama. I would come back to this town again for a holiday as it's very family friendly location. There are many playgrounds and outdoor activities to do, many of the cafe's we visited were delicious, and it's close to other places down south to visit such as Kangeroo Valley, Shoalhaven, Berry, and Jamberoo.

Linking up with Jess.