New Year, New Plans

I started blogging over ten years ago as a means to document becoming a father for the first time and coming to terms with growing up. It took me on a magical mystery tour beyond accounts of childbirth, marriage proposals, family trips and unlocked an interest in writing and prompted the beginnings of a novel and other journeys into the world of creative writing. But then as suddenly as it started, it stopped and real life took over instead.

18 months of unpublished thoughts lay left unsaid and whilst that time hasn’t been filled with notable tales of adventure, dismay and excitement, the preceding years before it hadn’t either. It was merely the minutiae of an ordinary, everyday life left behind as a legacy to remind myself and those closest to me what had happened, when it had happened and how we all went about it. Any comments, likes and shares were a welcome surprise and gladly received, but the motive behind my words was not for others benefit, it was for mine and mine alone - an accessible way to rabble on irrespective of who was listening.

But lots can happen in 18 months and the start of a new year seems the perfect time to pick up the keyboard again and waffle into the vacuum of cyberspace. We’ve lots happening this year and have drawn up plans and changes for the future. We’ve started a fairly major renovation project on our house after years of talking about it, and in the grand scheme of our relatively inconsequential existence it is something of a major milestone. The ethos behind the blog was to record the significant events as they happened, and for us this is an event worthy of the record.

With house prices in the local area going up at an astronomical rate, finding a suitable living space for our growing family proved to be a challenge that we could not meet. There is the added sentimental value of living in the house I grew up in, the house we bought off of my parents and slowly put our stamp onto, turning it from Mum and Dad’s house into our own. But as it stands at the moment, we have challenges in the near future that if we don’t act now could cause us headaches further down the line.

Hayden’s arrival changed the dynamics of our family and our needs as five are far different than those of four. Had Hayden been born a different gender we could have adapted without too much change, but two boys nine years apart meant that sharing a room between them was less than ideal. I appreciate that people do it all the time, but with equity available to us we are fortunate to be able to make the adjustments that we believe we need to, and by doing it now, in good time, it gives us the freedom to do it without pressure.

The plan is a fairly straight-forward one. To build a single storey extension at the rear of the house with an enlarged family room and remodelled kitchen. Place a downstairs washroom in part of our existing kitchen area and convert the loft into a bedroom with ensuite. Stephanie and I will move into the loft, Oliver will have our old room and Hayden will keep the boys room which we only finished the year before last. Phoebe will then have the remaining bedroom, giving us all room to grow without any future upheaval or desperate need to relocate. With house prices rising steadily around us, the challenge for the children as they grow older to move out will be even more difficult than it was for us, so making it as comfortable as possible for as long as possible for them has been a major consideration behind our plans.

Being novices at this and having no previous experience of major home renovations inevitably means that this journey will be fraught with obstacles, mistakes and wonderful surprises. But so was the start of this blogging adventure, becoming parents for the first time and not having a manual to guide us through it. It is all part of the fun of the journey and if anything learnt can be shared then that can only be a positive thing.