Welcome To The World, Wee Man

I'm so very, very proud and happy to announce that Claire and Scott became parents to Quinn Lethaby yesterday and 5.50pm.  Quinn weighed in at 6lb9oz and is absolutely gorgeous!
Claire did an amazing job and Scott looks as pleased as punch.

Averil and I, being the doting Aunties, went up to the hospital after work to sit and wait and could hear the effort Claire was making.  It sounded like a LOT of hard work.  We were silently cheering her on and then gave out a big 'Whoop whoop' when we heard the baby cry.  Such an exciting time for us.  Such an exhausting time for the parents!

We were delighted and honoured to get to meet Quinn when he was less than an hour old.  He is perfect!  So small, and so beautiful.  He slept the whole time while cuddling with his Aunties.

So proud of you Claire - you are a star!!
xx

Gavin The Grey(t)

August went by in a blur! I know I keep saying it but I can't believe how fast this year is flying by. It's almost scary.

Old Man Gav turned 40 on 24th August so, being the sneaky sneakster I am I organised a trip down to surprise him for his birthday. He already knew that Mum and Dad were flying in but what he didn't know was that Kathryn was flying with them, Claire and I were driving from Christchurch, and Averil was flying down the following morning.

Being a guy who has everything, we had to put on our thinking caps for what to get Gavin for his milestone birthday. With the help of Catkin's brilliant ideas we came up with a hot air balloon flight over Queenstown, for Gavin to take when it suits, and their Camelriders blog published into a book. Result! It all came together nicely and I think Gavin liked them both.

 

On the Saturday night Catkin and Gavin had organised for Hazel to be christened which we were all very pleased to be able to witness.  It poured with rain but luckily it didn't affect any plans we had.  Hazel was so good through her christening - she hardly made a peep.

Both girls were as gorgeous as ever and we sang and read books for most of Saturday. (When I say 'we' I mean 'I'). It was great just hanging out with the Southern Barts.  As always.

Averil and I set off for the long drive home on Sunday morning, diving via the airport to drop Kathryn off for her flight on the way.  We stopped in at Twizel to visit Eru's sister who is nearly due to have a little baby girl.  We made it back to Christchurch safe and sound, and a little weary, around 4pm.

What To Expect When You're Expecting

Name: Claire Lethaby

Age: 32

Week Number: 26

Due Date: 20th November

Baby Size: 20-something centimetres in length

Morning Sickness: None

Movement: Lots! Particularly at night and in the morning when still in bed

Symptoms: Sore legs, sore feet. Nearly has an outie! (belly button)

Diet: Remembering to eat little and often as there isn't much room for food in there

Weight gain: 8kgs

Cravings: Chocolate milkshakes and milk drinks

Exercise: None - just getting through the day is enough!

Sleep: Pretty disturbed with toilet time

Milestones: Having scans in 3D and getting a photo was awesome!

Can't live without: Stretchy waisted maternity jeans - everyone should have some!

What you miss: Ham sandwiches

What you're looking forward to: Ham sandwiches! Oh, and meeting baby, and finding out his/her sex.

Best Pregnancy Advice: Listen to your body - rest when you need to. Don't worry about what the books say they can be scary!

Any Mood Swings: NO!!! WHY!!!! Shut up!!!!! Emotional sometimes before 15 weeks

Work: The more sleep the night before the better

During your 26th week of pregnancy, your baby-to-be opens her eyes for the first time. She'll open and shut her eyes as she gets used to her new ability. Your little one is still on the small side. Her body may look fully formed on the outside, but inside there's fine-tuning taking place, including her lungs and her brain. Your unborn baby still has some growing to do!

Happy Henny Kitty!

On Friday night Claire, Averil, and I flew up to Auckland for the weekend for Kathryn's Hens Party on Saturday night. Kathryn very kindly picked us up from the airport and let us borrow her new car - a birthday present from Moos - to get up to Warkworth for the night. Bless her.

Warkworth never changes much, which is fine by me. It's always so nice to go back to familiar surroundings. And to get Mum hugs.

The plan was to head back to Auckland after lunch on the Saturday and spend a few hours with Kathryn before her Henny started at 5pm. So, making good use of my time, I went and visited the Letchers (Kristine, Derek, and William) for the morning. William will be 1 on 14th August so we had a little pre-birthday morning tea. He is just delicious and SO content and cuddly. I love him. I always think that first birthday parties are more for the parents to say 'Phew! We made it through the first year!' They are having a family lunch for him this Sunday. It was a lovely morning just sitting, chatting, and drinking cups of tea.

So on our drive down to Auckland we had to pick up a box of stuff that Kathryn's bridesmaids had prepared for her to wear for the night. She looked BRILLIANT! They did a really good job of organising the whole thing. Mum, A Mary, Heather, and Lynne Rosandich (Krystle, one of the bridesmaid's, Mum) arrived about an hour after us so we all had a glass of wine and got Kathryn dressed for her night out.


We met the others at the wharf in the Auckland Viaduct at 5pm and off we went on a chartered boat for 4 hours of games, dancing, eating, drinking and FUN. It was a really great night out on the water. Everyone had a great time and again, the bridesmaids (Nicky and Krystle) had done such a great job of organising. The boat even had a juke box - I LOVE juke boxes!

After arriving back at the wharf Mum & co headed back to Warkworth while we carried on at a bar in Auckland viaduct. We all got given a sheet of stickers that we had to hand out during the night with things like 'Worst Dancer', 'Best Pecs', 'Biggest Nerd', 'Nicest Eyes'. Silly but still funny. Claire, Averil, and I left around midnight to head back to Kathryn's where we were staying. And Kathryn got in about an hour after us... I think.... I was fast asleep!

On Sunday we lazed around all day while Moos (Alan) cooked us breakfast and lunch and made us a gazillion cups of tea. He's a keeper! We did manage to watch the NZ womens hockey team win a game against America at the Olympics which was quite exciting.

Then it was off to the airport and back to Christchurch.

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a very special lady in Warkworth who is turning 21 today again again again again again....... Happy birthday Mum! I hope your day was as lovely as you are. xx

LIVE! On location at Roxy Inn

I am currently house/cat sitting at Roxy Inn while Claire and Scott are on their belated honeymoon to Port Douglas, Australia. I am hoping it is slightly warmer for them there than it has been here. I'm enjoying spending quality time with the cats and having them share the bed with me. They are such good company.

Mum was down in Christchurch for a week at the beginning of the month during school holidays, before jetting off to Queenstown for a few days so see her grandies. It was so nice having her here. We had turns at having dinner at each of our houses so it was a bit like 'Come Dine With Me' but without the scoring at the end. Averil, of course, was on school holidays as well so was able to keep Mum entertained during the days which was nice.
On the Saturday we went out to the Raspberry Cafe in Tai Tapu with Scott's Mum, Dad, and Nana for lunch. It was great. Good company, good food, good setting.
As usual it was over all too quickly. But it sounds like Mum had a great time in Queenstown.





I've had quite a few cancellations this month with Intimo parties which has been a shame. There is a nasty flu going around down here and apparently 60% of Christchurch had it a few weeks ago. The hospitals are over flowing and having to send people to other medical institutions to be looked after. I guess it's to be expected around this time of year but the bugs seem to get stronger each year.
I have been asked to partake in a fundraiser tomorrow evening for Springfield School (not the same one as Bart & Lisa go to) so hopefully that might make up for the lost parties. Fingers crossed we get lots of bookings for August and maybe even some sales too.

Saturday is Averil and Eru's moving day. How very exciting!! They are hiring a truck this time to hopefully move all the big stuff in one trip. It should be all done in a few hours. Apologies for getting the suburb wrong in the last update. They are moving to Wainoni. Translation from Maori is 'wet bum'. Ha ha. Best original joke wins a year's free subscription to The Roxy Review!

Cousin Alex has been a bit of a super star of late. He left NZ last Sunday to go and try his luck at trialing for soccer in Poland. Just from his status updates on Facebook it sounds like it has been hard work and, I imagine, a LOT of sign language. Going over to warmer weather would have been a nice break though I am sure. He has travelled with his friend, Jesse, and they had to move from the first place they were assigned due to drug dealers. Sounds like they have a much nicer place now.

I had a little op done on my leg on Wednesday. I had been burnt by a hot water bottle when I was living in Edinburgh and the scar had healed into a wart-like bump on the front middle of my ankle. I HATED it and it would turn purple when the weather was cold. So I had it removed. Now I have a big long scar to replace it! It's early days so I am hoping it will heal nicely. A bit sore though. Luckily I had the cats to look after me post surgery.
The doctor who did the procedure is a plastic surgeon and specialises in breast augmentation. Renee, being a super nurse, had said that he was a real perfectionist and is VERY particular with his work. So that made me feel better - as long as I didn't end up with a breast on my leg!

So, you may or may not remember 2 years ago I was doing Weight Watchers and did ok losing 12 kilos. Then I went for a jaunt overseas and discovered gelato in Italy (Mmmmmm), then I came home and there were earthquakes. My way of dealing with said earthquakes was to sit in bed and eat chocolate for 8 months. SO, understandably the Weight Watchers went out the window and the WEIGHT piled on. Booooo!
It's time to start again and do something about it. Getting up off the couch was the hardest thing but I did it and have been on Optifast for 2 weeks with a total weight loss of 6kilos. Happy dance. Optifast is monitored through my doctors surgery and I go in once a week for weighing, ketone testing (to see how well my fat is burning up), and a blood pressure check. I have two Optifast shakes a day - one for breakfast and one for lunch, and two cups of non-starchy veges for dinner with 1T of olive oil. AND at least two litres of water. It is hard going but I am motivated by the results on the scales.
I have two dresses to choose from for Kathryn's wedding of which neither fits just now. The wedding is in November so gives me plenty of time. I WILL wear one of them!

The great thing about blogspot is that you can see what countries your audience is from. Yesterday I had 17 views from Latvia. Where? I had to look it up. This is what I found:
Latvia i/ˈlætviə/ (Latvian: Latvija), officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (border length 343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), to the southeast by Belarus (141 km),[8] and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden. With 2,070,371 inhabitants[5] and a territory of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi)[9] it is one of the least populous and least densely populated countries of the European Union. The capital of Latvia is Riga. The official language is Latvian and the currency is called Lats (Ls).
So there you go - The Roxy Review goes to Latvia!

Congratulations!!!

Big congratulations go out to Mr and Mrs Metcalfe who purchased a home yesterday by auction.

Congrats Averil and Eru. It's a three bedroom home with studio in Mairehau (pronounced My-de-ho although a lot of Christchurch folk pronounce it Marry-how). I can't wait to come and have a gander and I look forward to the housewarming!!

The Power Of 'Erbs

So, there's an old wives tale that says if you give someone a parsley plant, pregnancy is not far off. Our massage therapist, Jenny (who has just this year left us to move up to Auckland (boo hiss)) and her husband, Kuni, were trying for a baby and didn't seem to be having much luck. So remembering this tale I bought a little parsley plant for her and gave it to her on my last massage with her.

I got a text a few weeks ago to say that the parsley plant had worked and they are expecting a little baby later on in the year. Hooray!! It will be a gorgeous little baby too, Jenny is a kiwi and Kuni, is Japanese. Kawaii!! (that's 'cute' in Japanese for those who aren't as multi lingual as I am).

Which brings me to my next story. A few months ago Paula and Kazio (Aunty and Uncle) came for a visit. Kazio brought me TWO parsley plants. Suspiciously I asked him if he knew the wives tale and he and Paula both said yes. Ha ha - funny little people. Anyway, both plants have not survived so well and are pretty much dead. Says it all really, doesn't it.