You learn something new everyday

And the last week or so has been no exception - particularly in relation to twins! Yup, I'm pregnant, and we're expecting mono-di twins! That's a fancy way of saying identical twins which share one placenta and have a thin membrane separating them (this is a good thing - means they won't be conjoined or get entangled). They are officially due on July 1st, but as they are twins, I think they will likely be here sometime in early-mid June. I have another appointment with the doctor in a couple of weeks, so I will check with her then.
I have been pretty sick with the twins, vomiting up to seven times a day meaning I have lost almost 4kgs. This concerned my doctor enough for her to prescribe me a pregnancy-safe anti-nausea which has been FAN-bloody-TASTIC!!! Since I started taking them almost a week ago, I have only vomited twice!

We told my parents before my hand surgery, and my best friend (S) when I went to visit her in Invercargill, but they were the only ones who knew. We announced it to the rest of the family on Christmas Day by giving them little onesies which said, "I (heart) My Aunty D" "I (heart) My Uncle H" etc. We didn't find out there were two of them until a few days before Christmas, so we had already made and wrapped the onesies, otherwise they would have said, "We (heart) Our Aunty D" etc.

The news of the twins is having the effect of people asking us if we are still moving to Adelaide...yes! We are! Sure, it's going to be doubly as difficult having twins with no family around, but I'm sure we will manage, we know no different. Plus my Mum will come over either before they are born, or just after.

xxx

Merry Christmas!

I'm going to be offline for a few days over Christmas, so just wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas!!!

xxx

Christmas?!? Already?!?!

Wow! I cannot believe that Christmas is next week!!! We've got all our Christmas shopping done - we ended up making the same thing for most of our family which made things a WHOLE lot easier! I think they ended up costing us $7.00 each, so not too bad! We did also get a couple of other small things for my brothers and sister-in-law and my parents, but in all, it has been a pretty cheap Christmas. Which is great seeings as we're still saving for our big move. Which is also approaching a bit too quickly for my liking at the moment!

I think Christmas day will be fairly low key this year. J will be in the Gold Coast and B, G and V will be in St Lucia. H and D are coming home for a few days, but I think they will be spending the majority of their time with D's family as they get to know their little goddaughter. They were here for the first two weeks of her life, but they haven't seen her since July. They are actually coming back for her Christening which is on Boxing Day - her parents planned that PERFECTLY!

xxx

One Step Closer

I handed in my resignation at work yesterday, so we are one step closer to Adelaide!!! We also had our dance school Christmas party night this Saturday just gone - that was SO much fun (I'll post photos of that once I get them!), but kinda sad at the same time. It's the last party night we'll be at, and The Husband has taught at the studio for 18 years, so it was a big thing for him especially. Every year at the Christmas party, a group of teachers and comp dancers do a floorshow. This year was a little different and along with the few teachers and comp dancers, a few people from the classes were also roped in...if they were male. It's always a big secret about what happens, but this year, it turned out to be an all-male ballet!!!!! The Husband was the lead dancer, and it was just the funniest thing!!! I hope someone got some great photos of that!

I only have 21 days of work left now until I leave...it's gonna go SO fast!!! Especially with Christmas and New Years in between.

xxx

And the stitches are out!

I had my stitches taken out today! It's so nice not to have my hand all wrapped up in bandages - I can get it wet now!!! I have had to wash my hair one-handedly a couple of times this last week, and trust me, it's not an easy thing to do! But...my hand is actually a lot more sore today than it has been since my operation so hopefully that goes away quickly.

Tomorrow night, The Husband and I are going to our dance school Christmas party. It's going to be SO much fun...but it'll be sad too. The Husband has been with the studio, and teaching there for over 10 years, and this will be the last time we see a lot of these people we are used to seeing every week. We are having another, smaller get together with the other teachers in a couple of weeks, so that will be good.

Anyways, I'm going to get me some strawberries and ice cream :-) The weather isn't doing a good impression of summer, but I can pretend!

xxx

Surgery

So...a couple of weeks ago, I had my appointment with my surgeon. As I had hoped, she gave me a date for my operation. Last Friday, I had a seed ganglion removed from the base of one of my fingers. It's pretty sore at the moment, as expected, but in the long run it will be SO much better!

It also means I have some time off work... I had great plans to go down to the park down the road and lay in the sunshine, reading books and magazines. Unfortunately, even though it *is* officially summer, the weather isn't playing ball and it's been quite horrible outside! But it's not all bad...they play reruns of Grey's Anatomy!

Christmas is fast approaching and we only have a couple of presents partly sorted. We really need to get onto that...this Saturday! H & D are coming over from Gold Coast for a few days (J is staying over there which sucks, but he just can't afford flights back at the moment), so it will be nice to have them around too.

xxx

Heading North

Southland...

Photos to Come

I will post pictures in the next few days of my totally AWESOME trip to Southland!

I'm not at work today, I've got an appointment in Hamilton with my surgeon...I'm *hoping* that today she will give me a date in the next few weeks to take the lump out of my hand! It has been driving me insane for over a year now - painful to grasp anything in that hand, or even wash my hands. I'm hopeful that she will be able to do the surgery in the next few weeks so that it will be all healed before we leave for Adelaide in January (which is coming up much too fast at the moment!).

Speaking of our move, we still have SO much to do! We have convinced my parents to hold a garage sale at their place this weekend, so we should get rid of a bit of our stuff there and then we will have more room to pack and we won't have to have big boxes taking up our lounge!

Anyways, I still have to have a shower and pack up the car with garage sale things before heading to the Tron!

xxx

Two Sleeps!

I am SO super excited - only two more sleeps until my weekend trip to Invercargill to visit my best friend in the world! S was my bridesmaid at my wedding, and I have only seen her twice briefly since January so it's going to be awesome to see her for the whole weekend.

xxx

Window Seats & Rainbows

The Husband and I both love window seats when we fly, and when we went to Christchurch last weekend, it was no different! The Husband had the window on our way down, me on the way home. I love being above the clouds - no matter how bad the weather may be, the blue sky is always there.



And on this flight, we even saw a rainbow! I've flown through lightening storms, but I don't think I've ever seen a rainbow from vantage point of an airplane!

It was a pretty good trip, Christchurch was SO cold though!!! I so hope that Invercargill is much warmer in two weeks time!

xxx

And we have Success...kinda!

Today, The Husband and I made attempt # 2 at the "Cow Cake" we are planning to make for my Dad's birthday next weekend.

Here it is:

I'm thinking it's a success!!! Well, definitely compared to last weekend's miserable outcome...now we've just got to taste it.

xxx

Fail!!!

It's my Dad's 60th birthday in a couple of weeks. He's a farmer, so The Husband and I have decided to make him a cake somewhat resembling this:


We made a trial cake yesterday, and the outcome did not resemble this:

In fact, it resembled this:

And that's the good part of it - the rest went in the trash!!! We're going to have to have another attempt at it this weekend...hoping for a better outcome this time!!!

xxx

Counting Down!

It's now less then four months until our big move! We've decided on a moving company to move the things we are taking, and we are slowly clearing out our cupboards and selling things - it's all getting a bit more real now!

We're pretty sure we know what we are taking with us, but I can just imagine there being a whole lot of little things we will come across we just can't bear selling or leaving behind.

I'm SO looking forward to January! It's going to be so exciting...and scary all at the same time! I'm hanging out for November/December when we can really start looking for a place to rent. We are keeping an eye out now, but they are all available now, or in the next few weeks. It's just good being able to see what kinds of places there are, and how much we can expect to be paying for the kind of place we are hoping to get.
Oooh, and we already have our first visitor planned!!! One of my friends from school lived in Adelaide for a year a couple of years ago, and she is planning a visit there in February, so that will be cool!!!

When it's 100 days until we leave, I'm getting a suitcase charm for my Pandora bracelet :-)

xxx

Heart Ache

My heart is aching tonight.

xxx

I'm Gutted!

So, for the past two years, my main mode of transport has my totally awesome, bright red Daelim e-five scooter named 'Oscar'. I've only had one accident, a few months after we bought him. We live in an apartment block, and Oscar lives inside, under the stairwell.

Me, V & Oscar:

Anyways, this morning, The Husband went downstairs to let some friends in, and Oscar was GONE!!!!!!!!!!

Some Bastards stole him. We can't quite work out how, he's not light, his steering lock was on while he was facing the wall, and you need a key to get in to where he lives. There must have been at least two people to lift him, and they must have had a van or trailer. Surely someone must have seen dodgy people carrying a scooter!!!

Oscar is awesome, and I just can't fathom how someone could do that, how someone could actually take something which doesn't belong to them. They mustn't even know what a conscience is. It just baffles me. And sickens me.

On a brighter note, today was Mum's birthday, and she and Dad came up to Auckland and we took them out to lunch, and gave Mum her birthday present:

She LOVED it!!!!!!!!! And lunch was great :-) We went to a new cafe which has just opened across the road, they have pretty good food and the prices aren't too bad either!

Anyways, here's hoping that the police find my Oscar soon. I'm going to be checking on TradeMe for the next several weeks, I have a feeling he might just turn up on there...

xxx

Damage

Seven weeks ago, The Husband and I were out salsa dancing at a club with some friends of ours. We were dancing a three-person salsa, and the other girl accidently stood on the side of my ankle, you know, just down the side of the sticky-out ankle bone on the side. Since then, my ankle has been bruised and swollen. Yup, seven weeks of painful bruising and swelling! I am kinda stubborn and I don't especially like a visit to the doctor, but I eventually went last week - just to make sure it wasn't fractured, or that I hadn't chipped any bone off. It's not (broken), and I haven't (chipped any bone off). Apparently I have "severe soft tissue damage." Not cool!

xxx

Been a While!

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted!!!

B, G & V have now gone back to Venezuela - it was so sad to see them go, although V was super cute! At Auckland Airport, there is a viewing area where you can see people who have gone through Customs on their way to the lounges. B, G & V came through, and looked up to see us waving to them, V didn't see us and was just waving because that's what her parents were doing! She soon saw us though, and she started grinning away, waving lots and then she starting running in our direction - SO sweet! We miss them all so much, and really hope they can get back to New Zealand next year too.

The Husband and I have been doing a bit to get sorted for our move to Adelaide recently. We've gotten a few good quotes to move the few things we are taking over with us, so we just have to compare them and what each company is offering for the price they've quoted us. Just yesterday we started putting some items on http://www.trademe.co.nz/ to sell, so hopefully we get a few bites on those!

It's Mum's birthday in a couple of weeks, and yesterday we finished the duvet cover we were making for her! It turned out so well, I'm stoked with it :-) Tonight I just have to make the pillowcases to match, but they shouldn't take too long!

I think that's about it for today!

xxx

V at the Zoo

We looked after V this weekend. We had a playdate with my cousin, H, and her 15 month-old daughter, M, on Saturday and on Sunday we took V to the Zoo for the first time! She LOVED it!!! She especially loved the chicken, rooster and baby chick families we came across (she LOVES birds!), the flamingos, the Australia aviary, and most of all, the sealions!!!

V pointing out the birds to her Nana:

Me with V & the little elephant:

Me & V checking out the elephants:

The Husband with V with the flamingos:

We loved having her stay with us for the weekend, and we are really going to miss her (and her Mum & Dad!) when they go back to Venezuela next weekend :-(

We have her first birthday party this weekend coming though, so that will be lots of fun!

xxx

Photos!

We only managed to get a few photos from the Nationals last weekend...doing the music took rather a lot of concentration!

I just loved this little lady! Her Ballroom outfit was pink - we nicknamed her 'Granny Barbie'!

Looking forward to this weekend - we are babysitting V, and we have a playdate at the Zoo with my cousins H, and her dauaghter M!

xxx

Big Weekend

This weekend just gone was huge for The Husband and I...we were DJing the music at the National Latin and Ballroom Championships. We worked two 17 hour days with four hours sleep on both Saturday and Sunday nights, but it was so much fun!!!!!! We had what had to be the best view of the dance floor in the entire stadium, and we also had the benefit of having a professional judge (who wasn't judging this particular comp) sitting with us the whole time so we learnt a lot from him! It takes him just over one minute to judge 6 couples on the floor - I have no idea how he could do that! I see a couple that I like and I usually watch them!

We had friends over from Sydney and Serbia to compete, so it was awesome to see them! And they all did really well, especially K & S from Serbia who competed in two premier events only, and winning both of them!

Monday morning I worked for one hour and then collected B, G and V from the airport (they had spent the week in Christchurch visiting family and the mountain). We spent the day at Waiwera Hot Pools - it was so much fun!

I'll have to upload some photos at some stage.

xxx

Booked!!!

The Husband and I booked and paid for our tickets today - we are off to here:

in January!!! So can't wait for this next part of our lives! Now we need to get onto selling things...

xxx

Our Weekend in Photos!

Saturday Night: New Zealand vs Australia - All Blacks won!!!

Sunday: One year ago, The Husband and I spent the day doing this...

Sunday: Me, The Husband, Mum, Dad, B, G and V went here: http://aucklandluge.co.nz/ This is B and V. V has just started walking in the last few weeks, and is walking almost everywhere she possibly can now!!!

The Husband and B:

G and Dad:

That's our weekend in photos!

xxx

Here already!

When we took the photo in to the shop to be put on canvas, we were told that it would take approximately 14 working days. We took it in on Sunday 28th June, then on Monday 6th July, yes FIVE working days later, we got a phone call to say it was ready!!! We came back to Auckland from Hamilton that afternoon and collected it from the mall on the way home. We LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't put it up on the wall yet...we aren't sure if we will put it up, or just wait until we are in Adelaide. But it looks fantastic :-)

In the weekend, I gave my niece her 1st birthday present - a quilt which I made for her earlier this year. It was early - her birthday isn't for another month, but I figured there wasn't much point waiting until then to give it her - they live in the Caribbean so it's not exactly cold there! I figure she can play on it, and with it when they are home, and she can keep cuddly warm with it while she is in New Zealand! Anyways...here it is:

Back...

Front...

xxx

It's almost tomorrow

Our family has been waiting for tomorrow for 14 weeks...tomorrow B, G & V arrive.

I had a great day today with H & D - we always have so much fun together, but it was a shame that The Husband had to work. And then both The Husband and I had to teach tonight but they were two good classes - one is a Stage 8 class which we've been teaching for the last several years so everyone knows each other well and it's such a great atmosphere! The second class was a brand new beginners class. It was a really good class, they picked things up really quickly.

I finally got the scarf I was knitting for G finished this afternoon - it's not quite as long as I would have liked, but I ran out of time, and it's just long enough so it's all good!

Anyways, I have nails to paint :-)

xxx

And it's clean!

The husband and I spent the weekend cleaning our apartment. It's now clean. Seriously clean! I don't think it has ever been this clean before - I mean, I even cleaned the walls!!! I also *think* it's semi baby-proofed in anticipation of our nearly one-year old niece coming to visit in the next few weeks!

On Saturday, we also managed a quick trip to the local mall. Our first wedding anniversary is in a few weeks, and I've been playing with photoshop on some of our wedding photos. One in particular I LOVE, and we decided to get it put on canvas, so we went to the mall and put our order in at the photo shop. I can't wait for it to arrive!!!!!

Here's the original:



And the photoshopped version:

Tomorrow afternoon my sister-in-law, D, is coming up from Hamilton where she has been for the last few days since arriving from Queensland last week. On Wednesday night, her husband (my brother), H, arrives from Queensland! I haven't seen H since early January, so it's going to be awesome to see him again!!! Friday morning we are all heading to the airport where we will meet up with my parents and little brother, J. My oldest brother (B), his wife (G) and their daughter (V) are arriving from the Caribbean!!! The last time B was home was four years ago for H&D's wedding, G has never been to NZ (the coldest place she has ever been is Brazil in the summer - she is going to be in for a huge shock!!!), and this will also be the first time any of us anitpodeans will meet V! They are here for six weeks, and V will be spending her first birthday with us.

I am halfway through knitting a scarf for G, and as I won't get much of a chance to get it finished after tomorrow, I best get back to it :-)

xxx

Hodge Podge!

My exam was yesterday afternoon - it went ok I think...I hope!!! Guess I'll find out in a couple of weeks!

Last week The Husband was away overseas, scoping out a few options for out big move (!!!) so we had someone else covering our dance classes. It was so nice to have a week where I didn't have to head out for the night, although it would have been much nicer if The Husband was home too! Anyways, Tuesday I was back into it with three hours of class, starting off with a teen class! I actually really enjoy teaching the teens - when they don't have their cellphones! - they usually so into it, and they really do enjoy themselves. It does help that they often pick up the steps a lot quicker than adults do!

My craft project of the week - I just made a couple of pockets for The Husband's new iPod Touch (he LOVES gadgets!!), rather boring really! I just used a scrap of black fleece that I had. I also have the cutest stripey fleece, but I'm going to use that to make myself some mittens!
I'm about a third of the way through making a patchwork duvet cover for my Mum for her birthday. It's not until September, so I've got P-L-E-N-T-Y of time! We have a fairly small apartment, so laying out the squares over and over again to figure out the prettiest layout, I scanned each square into my computer and created several different patterns using Microsoft Excel (the grids are SO useful!). Here's what it will hopefully look like:

I especially love the blue fabric in it - I've had my eye on it in the craft store for the last month or so, and I'm so glad we finally found an excuse to use it!

Anyways, I better go and find some things to throw together for dinner!

xxx

Next Week

I managed to get some study done in the weekend (I have an exam on Wednesday!), but procrastination, and the prospect of meeting my friend's brand new baby, got the better of me on Sunday afternoon! That and baking my favourite - Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip cookies!!!

I am SO excited - my oldest brother is coming home for a six-week holiday with his wife and 10-month old baby next week! I last saw my brother and his wife at their wedding 2.5 years ago in Venezuela - the time before that it was just my brother four years ago! He left New Zealand almost ten years ago now and he has, what I think HAS to be, the best job in the world!!! I'm really looking forward to meeting my gorgeous niece too, I've talked to her and seen her on Skype since she was only a few days old and she seems like such a happy and cheeky little girl, I just can't wait to give her a big cuddle and I only have to wait ten more days!

Anyways, off to get something sorted for dinner.

xxx

Floorshow

The husband and I did a ChaCha and Salsa floorshow last night at a school ball - it was SO much fun!!! ChaCha was to a Lady Gaga song (as requested by the school!) and the husband mixed in a samba cause salsa music just does not go with Lady Gaga!

We've done several floorshows together - the husband has done heaps! - but this one had to be my favourite so far, the kids were so into it!!! The music seems to go so much faster when you don't have a routine - the husband has been overseas all week, then had a dj gig at another school beforehand so we had no time to sort anything out - I only heard the music for the first time in the car on the way there!

The girls did SUCH an awesome job decorating the venue - it looked AMAZING!!! I wish I had taken my camera, or al least taken some pics on one of our phones!

The husband is out again now...dancing people through medal tests at the studio. I should be there but I have other things on my agenda today...like studying!!! I've got an exam on Wednesday - procrastination anyone?! I kinda wish my exam had been earlier - the next few weeks are going to be AWESOME and I'm SO excited! I would much rather focus on all that's going to be happening than on staying stuck inside studying!

xxx

Hi!

So here I am...in the big, wide world of blogging! I can't say I know where this blog may go, we might just have to wait and see!

xxx