Oh dear... not so good at this blogging thing!

After reading C&J's new post from their blog I thought maybe it was about time I updated ours... lets see how long I last this time!

It's been a year since my last blog post, How slack is that, and a busy year it has been! Weddings, Birthdays, Pregnancies, New House and who knows what else! So I wont go into too much detail but will add a wee bit of everything!

Okay so I guess first of all, we have moved into a different place from our wee unit in Stokes Valley Rd, we are still in Stokes Valley but have moved around the corner to a nice wee 3 bedroom place, meaning a lot more space than our unit yay! We love it here it has everything we could ask for pretty much and hope to be here for a wee while yet. We have lovely open plan, kitchen, dining and lounge which gives Lexie lots of space to run around, and a nice wee patio area along with a sandpit, and vege gardens. Out the back is a terraced section which is not so great in winter, but we do have the landlords friendly goat Jesse who maintains it for us. Lexie thinks he is super awesome!

Next items on the agenda! Our busy couple of weeks over the holiday season :) Of course we had our first Christmas which was absolutely lovely, and we got to share it with Sharon and Becca, and also Catherine and Jeanette. The following week, we had a VERY busy weekend, it was Lexies first birthday on the 1st of January! We had survived a year! We were very fortunate that because of the big event the next day we had lots of loved ones around for it. We had an afternoon tea and barbecue at the local playcentre and it was a fantastic day! 

Opening Presents!

Eating Cake! Nom nom

She even had her own cake which she had at 4:27pm the time that she came into this world only 1 year earlier. Antz made her wee cake and I think she did a great job.

I do need to thank all the family and friends that not only came to her birthday to help us celebrate but that helped us to survive her first year. You are all very special to us and we love you all.





After Lexie's party it was time for Antz and I to go our seperate ways... WHAT? you may ask? Well the next day was our Wedding Day and so traditionally we decided that Antz would spend the night away from me and the next time he would see me is at the wedding!

So home it was to sleep and recover for another big day, We got married at Trentham Gardens and it was lovely. The amazing Jocelyn even performed the ceremony for us and the day went off without too many hitches but it was just perfect. We are again so thankful for all the family and friends that helped our special day to be. Here are some photos for those that may not have had a chance to see any yet. 

A special Mummy/Daughter moment

Brother and Sister

Being walked up the aisle

My favourite photo of the day

And all the guests!

As you can see from the pictures it was an awesome day, surrounded by close family and friends. I am so happy to have had that day for Antz and I to celebrate our love, and we are still just as happy ;)

Right! Last but not least, pregnancy! Yes even after my horrid pregnancy with Lexie we decided to go through with it again (with an outcome like Lexie how can you not!) So I am due September 4th with a little boy (according to the scan) This pregnancy, although I haven't had morning sickness to the same extent as with Lexie has been tough on my body, We know its worth it in the end and are now just on the countdown to meeting the new addition to our lovely family. Feel free to put in your predictions for when you think baby will arrive, I am thinking either the 2nd September (if being optimistic hehe) or the 8th September and I am fairly certain he will be a big boy!

I will sign off for now and will hopefully be back to update again when I can. Maybe give me a rev up if its been a long time since my last post.

Much love from all of us!

The countdown is on!

So this weekend is it! My first weekend checking out what people think of my "creations" as I like to put them, the last couple of weeks I have been sooo busy, sewing, buying material, organising everything to ensure that our stall at the market has as higher chance of succeeding as possible. I am generally up till this time every night doing all of the above and I tell ya I really will be disappointed if it goes pear-shaped but I also wont give up!

We also have a name now! It will be Dixiebug... see if you can work out how this name came about. Also when I say we I do mean Antz and I as if it weren't for him and the support he gives me none of it would be possible.

So please pray for good weather this weekend! Also lots of interest would be another good thing to pray for. I will update you after the weekend to let you know how it has gone!

kisses and hugs and love to all! xo

Lexie update :)

My gosh where has the time gone! Lexie is already 6 months old, I can't believe how fast they grow... I always thought everyone was talking bollocks when they said that they grow up fast! She is becoming more and more of a character every day though and we look forward to her progressing more in life in what she is able to do (although I am quite happy if she doesn't crawl for a wee while yet ;) )

Today was a rare sunny day in Wellington so we got Lexie outside and had a play on the grass, she was a little unsure about it all though so there aren't very many smiles in the following photos!

Her baby-led weaning is going great too! Some of her favorite foods at the moment are sausages, cucumber, croissant and toast with marmite. She is really getting the hang of getting food to her mouth now and is starting to swallow more. I tell you what though it can be quite scary watching the big bits of food in her mouth but its amazing what the human body can do, I've seen her bring forward bits of food that are too big to go down her throat.

And we will leave you again with a little video... No one makes Lexie laugh like her Daddy :)

Taking a chance

Hey everyone! So since Lexie was born I have somehow found the creative gene inside of me and so I have been experimenting with a lot of sewing. I have now decided to take this hobby one step further and will be setting up a stall at the Lower Hutt Riverbank Market on a Saturday morning to try and sell my creations. I thought I should give it a go because although my lovely friends say that they believe my creations are great, I feel I should see whether the public like them just as much. Here are some photos of some of the things that will be available at my stall.

Tutu Dresses and skirts:

Shoes:

Bib and dress (modelled by the Lovely Lexie of course)

So watch this space to see how the market goes and if it is successful watch out for a new website!

Alexandra Bethony Dixon!

Okay so a little overdue but here is a post dedicated to our wee ladybug

Born 1st January 2010 (just couldn't help but crash her Great Aunty Catherines 50th Birthday) at 4:27pm Alexandra Dixon was born into the world weighing a healthy 8lb11oz!

Our bubba was finally here and was a girl! It did actually take me a good couple of minutes to ask what she was in the chaos!

Now the story of her name in case anyone is interested, Antz and I had a list of names for both boys and girls that we had built up over the course of my pregnancy... Al

exandra was not on it! A couple of days before she was born Dad and Jocelyn were visiting and Dad was booking tickets for us to fly up to Auckland in April. He said he needed a unisex name for the infant ticket and came up with the name Alex. While I was in labour Antz and I were talking about the name Alex and how it could be made longer to Alexandra or Alexander and that it was quite nice. When bubs was born I looked over at Antz and asked about the nam

e Aurora, to which he didn't say a word which I took to mean "nope not the right name" so then asked that he as keen on Alexandra to which he said he really liked it. I said okay we can do Alexandra but it will be Lexie for short and so it was! Also her middle name is made up of both our names so is Bethony with an 'o' instead of an 'a'

The past 6 months have been fun but also have had their tough times as parenting always does. Have just done a small collage of a few pics over the past 6 months

What is she up to now??

Lexie as of last night rolled from back to front for the first time! She babbles like anything always talking (not sure where she gets that from) ;) We have started doing Baby-Led Weaning as her introduction of solids http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-led_weaning (a link to explain in a lot more detail) Basically we are not going the traditional puree route to start with but introducing finger foods straight away. She will basically have a bit of whatever we are having as her meals and it runs off the concept that "food is fun until one" as they don't need the nutritional values from their food whilst still getting formula. Not to say that she wont get any it just might take her a bit longer to start to actually eat anything than if you were shoving a spoon into her mouth. The idea is that you do not put anything into their mouth for them but let them explore and put things in themselves. If you do want them to eat something that requires a spoon then you load the spoon up for them but then give them the spoon to get to their mouth. It is A LOT of fun, and very messy and you just make sure you take lots of pictures!

Here is a couple from some meals so far!

I think I have probably filled my quota of babbling on now so will just leave you with one last wee video of our ladybug, note the noise she is making... although whats a bet she wears it out and then her first word ends up being Dada ;)

Back on board with blogging!!

Okay okay so I know I have been totally slack at this blogging thing... considering the last post I made on here I was still pregnant and Alexandra is now nearly 6 months old! I figure its about time I get back into it.

So....

We are still living in our wee unit in Stokes Valley and do love it! We will look at finding a bigger house next year most likely when we plan to start trying for baby number 2. On the topic of babies... Alexandra the absolute light of our lives! We are absolutely loving being parents. We have definitely had our fair share of tough times including reflux, sickness, sleepless nights and all the "fun" parts of parenting but it is all made worth it every time you look at her beautiful wee face (okay so we may be a bit biased) But just check our wee beauty out for yourself!

I will do a seperate post on what Lexie is up to these days but thought I should do a post to just update on everything first.

Like for instance, Antz is now a University Graduate, he now holds a Bac

helor of Commerce and Administration. Was great to be able to see him walk across that stage and finally have something to show for all his hard work. He started a new job in March at foodstuffs where he is now an E-Commerce Implementer... from what I gather the main focus of his job is trying to get all of foodstuffs suppliers doing all ordering/invoicing electronically. He is really enjoying it and we are really happy that he now works normal hours Monday to Friday 8:30-5 and is working just 5 minutes drive from home!

I am back at work one day a week at Dick Smith, This means Antz and Lexie have daddy/daughter day on a Saturday but I am hoping to find a

nother job which means I can have the whole weekend off without having to put Lexie into care. I miss only having the one day to spend with Antz and would

love to have weekends as full family time. I would love to be doing in-home childcare so that I can still stay home with Lexie, plus look after other children but unfortunately our house at the moment without having a fenced yard isn't suitable under ministry guidelines.

Of course how could I forget to mention that we are also now ENGAGED! I can't tell a story about a proposal as such we just decided it was time and that we wanted to do it, very much like us it was nice and casual. We have set the date for the 2nd January 2011 and have chosen this date since it is the day after Lexie's birthday, we figure this is a good time as then anyone around for the wedding has a good chance of being here for Lexie's first birthday as well. It will be a fairly small wedding but with lots of little personal touches. We are going to be having the wedding at Trentham Racecourse, and I have already got my dress! Though I do have to work my butt off a little over the next 6 months to ensure I fit into it ;)

Other than all of that we are just plodding along in life. Living, Loving and Laughing, Life is good!

Pregnancy, and Uni

So Uni is now over!!! Well apart from poor Antz having 4 exams to go! He has done so well including getting his first A grade for an essay this trimester! He is very much looking forward to finishing up after almost 4 years at uni, And I will start my Early Childhood Degree 2011 as long as all goes to plan. Antz has managed to get full time work at Quitline starting after the exams are over which is great. He will start job hunting for a job related to his degree but can take his time and make sure he gets the job that he wants rather than the first one that comes up.

I am now 30 weeks pregnant and in my last trimester, every day we look more and more foward to meeting our wee bub. I am still getting morning sickness so am not expecting that to go away until bubs arrives and am now getting many of the other symptoms that come on later in pregnancy including, heartburn, reflux, sciatic nerve pain, trouble sleeping, oh and almost any other symptom you could thing of. I have to say there are alot of things that I don't enjoy about pregnancy but things like hearing bubs heartbeat and feeling bub kick make it worth it and it will all be even more worth it once they have arrived! I will be finishing up work on the 29th November and am looking forward to that as am struggling with pain from being on my feet at work. I am also having a baby shower in two weekends time which should be good fun!

Anyway enough from me for now, I am hoping to update again after the baby shower so until then....