He got the dog!

Yelp! Alexs Nans Westie is now minus some fur on her thigh!
Neighbours came over for a bbq - Alex loved the socialising.
Alex managed to see in the New Year by cunningly waking at 11.55 so Uncle Trev went and got him up for the countdown. Was a quiet New Years with the neighbours over for an early bbq then a couple of glasses of wine with the family here at home. All the best eveybody, for 2007!

Go Bush

Pats and Tony come to Dannevirke for the day so after some real coffee and decent brunch at the local cafe (which surprisingly exceeded my expectations!) we went for a drive to Ngapaeruru Reserve for a bush walk. Saw some tuis and a fantail and tried to put Alex in a Punga fern. Attempted to get lost to challenge our bush survival skills but ended up back at the car. Tony finally got to see his quota of sheep. Pats fed Alex, his bib and his highchair...
Cranked up the bbq 4 dinner before Tony and Pats returned to Palm Nth. Lovely day!

Lifes a beach...

Finally getting some summer days!! Warren, Cathy, Jono and Alisa left this morning to return to Auckland.
Went for a ride out to Akitio beach (an hour to the east) where I had a quick paddle but due to the water temp falling a little short of expectations, Alex was deprived of wearing his swimsuit. Had a nice afternoon tea under the pohutukawa trees with my mum, grandma and trev.

Famly BBQ

Had the Willis clan over for BBQ lunch today. The Auckland Williss arrived after waiting for cousin Alisa to get over her jetlg due to delyed flights from the States. Also saw the Palm Nth clan so Alex got to meet 4 of his 2nd cousins.
Alex had his 1st real evening without his mum who took off over to Palm Nth for Patsy and Tonys NZ wedding dinner. Alex went to bed like a dream but woke for an hour, so Uncle Trev did some boy bonding and settled him back to bed. I had a great evening being a real person again and caught up with lots of old friends!!!

Merry Xmas to all!

What an exciting day! First Xmas is great even if you are only 6 months old!
Now Alex is sitting, he could explore his Santa presents all by himself!! He got things that make noise, things to chew, things to push, things to cuddle, things to wear...one spoilt wee chap!! A personal thanks from Alex to all who spoilt him! Don't worry - not all these presents under the tree are his!
We had 15 people here for turkey and completely over-ate, which I suppose is the point of Xmas.
So a big merry Xmas to all of you out there!

Whens Santa coming?

Well, Alex is finally used to Trevors deep voice and is charming his uncle with his cheeky smile! His Great grandma (my dads mum) is now with us for Xmas and he has taken a shine to her walking stick and plays a mean game of tug-of-war with her! Nearly had her off the chair!!!
We had the pleasure of going over to Palmie agin today, this time to meet Auntie Patsy and Uncle Tony off the plane from the UK! Great to see them again! Spent lunch with Patsys whanau watching poor Tony getting broken into the Edmonds family (Tee Hee!!) before heading back home to get organised for Xmas eve. The kids from over the road came over all excited and the 3 girls helped give Alex his bath.

Santa sack has been put out and now we are waiting to the fat man in the red suit...

Its beginning to feel a lot like Xmas!

What a busy day! Firsly we went over to Palmerston North to pick up Uncle Trevor who has just flown in from Italy for Xmas. Considering Alex is supposed to look like Trev, they should bond nicely! Come on Trev, take him fishing!!!

Went round to Patsys parents for a cuppa beforehand and ended up having a big reunion as the Edmonds clan make their way home for xmas! Adrienne and Raoul turned up with Penny Lea after flying in from Melbourne, Lynn and Robin turned up (looking fantastic after their dramas of the last weeks) and Jeff, Kylie and Cohen popped round too! So, along with Dave and Glenys, Alex got to meet lots of people today! While we were there, Patsy text to say she had landed in Auckland.
Exciting!!

And on top of that, when we got home, Alex was quite comfortable SITTING for great lengths! Props himself up with his arms and manages to eat his own feet from a sitting position...

Mr Chuckles

Alex has found a new sound today - its a chuckle (as opposed to a giggle)! So everything has been amusing - he holds onto his toys and chuckles at them, chuckles at the dog, the curtains, Nan. Everytime I talk to him, he chuckles at me! I'm glad he's finding the world so amusing...
We went down to the local hall and watched Paula (our 6 year old neighbour) in her ballet breakup concert this evening. Alex found the audience and all the dancers all rather interesting - he made lots of friends in the audience too, sending out beaming smiles to all and sundry.

We saw Santa!

Today we visited the Fantasy Cave and Alex thought all the displays were pretty exciting. He got to sit on Santas knee. He didn't cry but did take a big handful of his beard!

The Xmas parade!

Well, Alex experienced his first Xmas parade today. Beautiful blue sky and hot so I was expecting Santa to be in jandals. Mum was playing in the band so Nan got to show her Grandson off to the town. Unfortunately the airhorns on the vintage cars, the sirens on the fire engine and even the BRASS BAND (one son is about to be disowned...) didn't go down well with Alex trying to compete volume wise by screaming the place down. Afterwards, we went to the new Dannevirke bandrooms and had a sausage sizzle and a can of Tui...mmmm...

My first Blog!

Now we live in NZ, this is the best way to share with everyone how Alex is getting on!

He is now rolling with a vengeance which makes it extremely difficult to change nappies. Its a battle of the wills but Mum always wins... It also means Nans dog has to watch herself as Alex has taken a bit of a shine to her -now he can move a bit, her slumber can be rudely interrupted by wee hands yanking on her fur.

Slowly introducing solids and thats going pretty good - pumpkin / sweetcorn is a winner with broccoli/peas a definite looser...