Yummy!

We've started to get Max used to different tastes recently. Watermelon was his first go, which he took a liking to instantly by sucking on both the melon and my fingers. The other day we bought some mangoes and decided to give Max a taste of this wonderful fruit as well.


As all good Aussies know, the correct way to eat a mango is with your shirt off, while bending over the sink. To make things easier for Max, we took off all of his clothes and let him sit in the sink, and then gave him mango bits to suck on. He took an instant liking to this and had a wonderful time sucking the juice out of the mango. When he was done we put him straight into the bath to clean up the sticky orange mess, which he enjoyed almost as much.

Max and friends

On Tuesdays Max and I often go to a mothers group, where we both get a chance to get out of the house and make friends. Last Tuesday was the Christmas break up of the group, so we enjoyed a delicious lunch while the little ones tried to distract us from eating, with varying degrees of success.

We all had a great time and thought it was a good opportunity to take some photos of the babies all together. I like this shot because no one is the slightest bit interested in looking at the camera, but all have better things to do.


Max is far more interested in the little girl sitting next to him, who looks like she is just trying to keep him away. The others are either sleeping, looking at their mothers or at random interesting things more within reach. All are very cute though and were mostly well behaved.
Merry Christmas to all of them and we will see you again in the new year!

Mum and Dad take the night off

On Monday this week Max was a very lucky boy to have a visit from his Nanny. She came down on the train for her once-a-month visit, which this time we coincided with Cam's work Christmas party so that we could both go to that and let Nanny look after Max.

I was a bit worried about leaving him in the evening, since I am the one who usually baths him, feeds him and puts him to bed between 6 and 7pm, and the Christmas party started at 6.30. However, we managed to bring his routine forward by about an hour and have him in bed by about a quarter past 6. As soon as he was quiet, I quickly threw on some clothes and raced out the door with a few quick instructions to Nanny, to not get him out of bed unless as a last resort. Luckily I made it to the party before the entree was over and Cam saved me some food.

Max apparently woke twice after I left, but Nanny was able to settle him again just with a dummy and some soothing pats, and after that he slept through until 5am - what a trooper! And so Cam and I were able to enjoy a night out, and Nanny was able to relax and watch some TV and get some sleep. Way to go Max!

The following day Max got to play some more with his Nanny, and also to see his aunt Alison and cousins Sam and Caitlin and their newest addition to the family, the puppy Stella. We all enjoyed the visits and had a wonderful couple of days, especially our night off.

5 months old already!

Today is Max's 5 month birthday, so many happy returns of the day to young Max. We think he is doing very well for a 5 month old baby, so I thought I'd show off some of his best achievements with some photos.

Here is Max sitting up. He has always preferred sitting to lying down, and now he can do it unaided for a fairly long period of time. He is good enough at it that I am even able to leave him sitting by himself and playing with some toys while I get the camera and take numerous photos.


He can also manage to reach out, lean down, pick things up and then sit back upright while chewing on them/playing with them. What a clever boy!


Here is Max on his playmat. When we first put him on it, he would have fun by first just looking at the dangling toys, then reaching out to hit them, then grabbing them to pull down and eat as he got older and more coordinated. Now he gets the most enjoyment out of sitting upright and grabbing at the toys, and pushing the arch over completely to play with the pink tongue of the frog which you can just see in this photo.

I guess the other big thing for Max as a 5 month old is that he has two fully fledged and very sharp teeth. Getting a photo of these is always tricky so excuse the blurriness of this one and take our word for it that the teeth are very much present!


Other achievements for 5 month old Max include rolling from his tummy to his back, from his back to his side, (sometimes) being able to pick up his dummy and put it back in his mouth, reaching out and grabbing anything within reach (and some things that I didn't think were), laughing when he's having fun and sleeping through the night.

We think he is a very smart and talented boy - happy birthday Max!

So Accurate!!!

We recently went shopping and placed Max in the baby bit on top of the shopping trolley. The ones that look like a baby capsule in a car. We strapped Max in and he started eating the strap which was kinda gross. As we locked into the lock the strap in there was a sticker that said 9kg MAX. Going on his weight last week I would say that you could not get a shopping trolley that was better built for my son and his current weight and size!!

Good news!

The last week or so has been fairly quiet for the Batkin family. There are a couple of reasons for this, all of which are good.

Firstly, Max has slept uninterrupted through the entire night, twice now! We usually put him to bed around 7pm, and twice so far he has slept until 5am, which counts as morning and is the earliest time I will let Max get out of bed. I've stopped feeding him during the night, so if he does wake before 5 it's usually not for long and he goes back to sleep fairly quickly sucking his dummy. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue to increase, and I can go back to those days (which seem so long ago) when I can rely on getting a good uninterrupted night's sleep myself.

The second reason for things being fairly quiet is that Cam has started a new job and is quite busy at work. He is still at the Convention Centre, but after a number of years working as a Floor Coordinator, he has now been promoted to Event Planning Manager! Congratulations Cam! This job involves Monday to Friday work and regular hours, which will make it much easier for us to plan things in advance and to get away for the weekend now and then. It's also a step up for Cam, although it involves new challenges and will take some time to settle into.

One more item of good news is that we took Max to get weighed last week, and he now comes in at a hefty 8.8kgs. He seems to be getting longer rather than rounder, and is even starting to look a bit stretched in some of his 00 size clothes. Mine and Cam's arms are both increasing in muscle as Max increases in weight, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Look out Mr Bug!

Right from the time we brought him home from hospital, one of Max's favourite toys has been the bug that hangs above his change mat. This earlier post tells how he used to be screaming at us, and we'd go to change his nappy and he would start smiling at the bug.

We used to say 'One day you're gonna get that bug Max!' because of the way he looked at it so intently and focussed and smiled at it.
Well, that day is here! I was changing Max today and he looked at the bug just like he has always done, and then reached up and grabbed it, pulled it down off the curtains and started to eat it! What a clever boy.

Camping at the farm

Last weekend was a big one for the Batkin family with lots of interesting things happening.
On Friday evening Max and I loaded up the car and drove out to the farm where my parents live (near Millmerran), taking with us most of the food for the church youth group who were going out there for a camping trip. Cam left earlier that evening with the rest of the youth group and stopped overnight in Toowoomba with them to visit the Toowoomba Nazarene youth group.

On the Saturday morning Cam and the youth arrived out at the farm as well, where Max was back in bed after having woken up at 5am and playing with his Grandma and Grandpa for a while. Max even helped Grandma practice the hymns for church, as you can see in the photo.


The youth then headed off to the retirement home in Millmerran to spend time with the residents there and sing them a few songs, which everyone enjoyed. The youth then drove out to a farm on the other side of Millmerran to see some animals, including cows, newborn puppies, sheep and even an alpaca! By the time they were finished at the animal farm Max had woken up, so he and I drove in to the pool in Millmerran where we met up with everyone else and had a wonderful time swimming and cooling off. Max seemed to really enjoy it and went in both the kiddies pool and the big pool with the big kids.

When we got back to Grandpa and Grandma's farm it was time for the youth to put up the tents and learn how to make damper in camp ovens, which some local experts had specially come out and set up for them. Those who weren't busy with these activities got to go for a ride around the farm in the back of the ute, and Cam and I also each got to drive a quad bike with a couple of youth on the back. We had fun roaring around on these for ages!


While all of this was going on Max was happily playing with his Grandma. He also had a bath in the big green bathtub and apparently did several laps up and down. I hope he didn't miss his parents too much, but he was glad of some dinner when we finished on the bikes.

The next day we dressed Max in one of his best outfits, given to him by his great-grandma, and went to Grandma and Grandpa's church. The youth showed off their singing talents once again, and Max was very well-behaved for the many people who wanted to give him a cuddle.

After the tents were taken down and some more rides around the farm, it was time to pack up and head back to Brisbane. Max, Cam and I stopped off in Ipswich to attend the Watson family Christmas, where it was great to catch up with old friends and give Max a chance for a decent sleep upstairs on a bed, before finally heading home again.

A visit from Nanny

Last week Max turned 4 months old - hip hip hooray! Unfortunately as a result of this we had to take him back to the doctor for more needles. Understandably, Max does not enjoy getting poked with sharp things and the experience is a bit rough on both of us since I have to hold him still and hear his betrayed and hurt sounding cries and he has to put up with the actual needles.

To make things a bit easier, Nanny (Cam's mum) came down to visit for a couple of days to give us some moral support and extra cuddles, as well as spend more time with her newest grandson.


As you can see, Max had a great time playing with his Nanny and showing off all of his latest skills, such as sitting up, biting fingers with his tooth and chuckling and smiling more frequently. With so much attention he soon got over the needles and was back to his usual (mostly) happy self.

To help him to learn to sit, friends of ours have lent us a wonderful invention called a Bumbo, which is a moulded seat designed to keep young babies stable while sitting, once they can hold their heads up without support. Max had a great time sitting in the Bumbo on a chair at the table smiling and talking to Nanny and I and playing with a trauma teddy made for him by Nanny.

Since the teddy is easy to grab onto Max loves to chew on it. A couple of times he lost his grip and let it fall, but his position in the seat meant that Max's legs were a perfect resting place for the teddy's arms on the way down, and so he could pick it straight back up again!

All of us enjoyed having Nanny come to stay so much that she is now planning on coming down on the train once a month.

Christmas Party!!

Max went to his first Christmas party today. You think as his father and one of the organisers of the social club that I would have more baby specific things organised. I tried to but the teacups ride that was kinda baby friendly had a short last night and was a smoking mess. They gave us the mini ferris wheel instead. But the lady would not let me ride because I am too big and Max is too small to ride alone.

But Max did have his first encounter with Santa which did not end in crying from either side which is a good thing. It was kinda good as Max was in a slightly grumpy mood due to his second tooth being a big white bump that is about to break through any moment.

Max scored some Winnie the Pooh blocks which are kinda cool. He did seem much more interested in the wrapping paper however. So if you want to get Max a good cheap present this year a couple of rolls of wrapping paper will do the trick.

Max had the pleasure of having every man and his dog checking him out as he hasn't been at the Centre in a month or two.

Jo and I managed to have a pretty good time due to being able to have Max getting cuddles from friends whilst we enjoyed some hamburgers, chips and ice creams. I know some of you would be disappointed if I did not mention food in this blog somewhere.

I will endeavour to post a small video of him getting his gift in the next day or two.

Triple Trouble III

The last cousins visit took place about a week and a half ago, but things have been busy and it's taken a while to blog about it. All three babies are getting a lot bigger and have learnt new tricks, but each of them is different.

Gabbie (in the darker pink) is very accomplished at rolling over and manages to wriggle her way all around the playmat. Elke (lighter pink) likes to play with her rings and is better at starting to crawl by bringing her knees up when having tummy time. Max is better than both of the girls at sitting up by himself, but doesn't show much interest in rolling over.

All of them are super cute though, and seemed to quite enjoy looking, grabbing and occasionally eating each other while hanging out on the playmat. I think that means they're all still friends.

Teeth already ??!?

That's right folks, Max has cracked his first tooth - and not even 4 months old yet!
It started coming through at the beginning of last week and made him a bit grumpy, but I thought there's no way he could be teething yet so I didn't even consider that it may have been the cause of his discontent. But by about Tuesday last week you could actually feel the bump and see the beginnings of it, so after that there was no denying it! Thankfully he seems to know that feeding time is just for sucking and not biting though.

Since then his tooth has continued its journey out of his gums and can be seen fairly easily these days so I took the chance to try and get a photo of it for you, which only took 8 goes so thank goodness for digital cameras.

He loves to bite any fingers that come near his mouth, but isn't too interested in actual teething rings or toys.

I think the second one is on it's way from Max's general grumpiness the last day or so, but it hasn't emerged yet. Once it's out and both teeth are of a good size we shall let you all know!

Shpeedboat!

Max has only just started to chuckle and laugh, and it still only happens fairly rarely. We just don't know what will trigger his chuckles. As you will see it can be anything!! Luckily we caught one of these occasions on video while up at the Coplands on holiday - enjoy!

Weekend road trip

After working 10 days straight last week, last weekend we took advantage of Cam's 4 days off from work to take a short family holiday up to Maryborough to visit the Coplands.

We decided to do the drive up on Friday night after Max's last feed in the hope that he would stay asleep the whole way. Unfortunately he must not have been aware of this plan because he stayed awake most of the way until we hit the Sunshine Coast and I got in the back with him. This worked out wonderfully for the both of us because we then slept pretty much until we arrived, leaving Cam to drive and keep himself awake in the front, which he handled very well considering how much he'd been working.

On Saturday after Max decided that 5.30 was a good time to get up, the Coplands informed us that our choice of activities for the day included the Torbanlea camel races. I don't think they actually got much further in the list of things to do since Cam and Andrew were both keen to go along to this much hyped event. So we sunscreened up and left our nicely air conditioned cars to watch 6 camels in bright colours walk and then turn around and gallop past us. Unlike most other races, camels apparently don't want or need someone to tell them when to start running - one of them just goes for it and the others try to keep up. Also since camels are in a shorter supply than horses there was only the 6 of them, and so they just had several races against each other.

We couldn't let the opportunity to introduce Max to the camels go past, so after the first race we went around to their holding area to take some photos.

In between the camel races we had time to have a look around and see the other entertainment. Fortunately the good camel race organisers had decided to also hold some woodchopping events, so we wandered over to the woodchop arena, which was signposted and named in the honour of the local husband and wife woodchopping champions. Cam took one look at the names on the sign and had to call his mum to verify that he was in fact related to them! (no matter where we go, Cam will always manage to find someone he knows.) May and Theo Stutz, the champion woodchopping duo, were seated in a place of honour overlooking the action, so in a lull we went over to say hi and introduce them to Max.


After so much excitement and one more camel race, we headed out of the heat and back to the Coplands place for a yummy fish and chips lunch and some afternoon naps.

On Sunday morning we all went along to Andrew's church and caught up with the Maryborough Nazarenes after the service. Max was much admired but a little grumpy, so we headed home again and tried to interest him in some of Nate's toys. One that he really liked was the jolly jumper, since it lets him stand up and have a bit more control over his movement. Although he wasn't jumping on his own, he had fun dancing around and bouncing with some help.

Monday was another relaxing day with not a lot happening. Theresa had to go to work and Nate went to play with his friend Harry, so Max got some more jolly jumping time and Cam and I relaxed and hung out with Andrew. In the evening we headed over to Hervey Bay to catch up with Cam's parents and nephews for dinner at the Boat Club, which was very tasty. Max wasn't happy just sitting in his pram while the rest of us ate so we took it in turns to walk around with him and amuse him. Nanny and Max had fun watching the water feature.
After dinner Cam and his dad went to pick up his sister and her husband from the airport while Max had a feed and went to sleep and I played canasta with his mum. We said a quick hello to Bron and Lance when they got back and then headed back to the Coplands to get some sleep before making the journey home to Brisbane on Tuesday morning, which we thankfully made without problems despite some car hassles.

So thank you to Andrew Theresa and Nate for your hospitality and helping us to have a great weekend away!

Look how much I've grown!

These pics were taken 3 months apart. Hasn't he grown in that time!

General update (sorry for our slackness)

Apologies for being a bit slack in the blogging department lately. There hasn't been a whole lot happening, but there's a few little things that you may find interesting so I'll combine them all into one post.

Firstly Nanny and Poppy (Cam's parents) came down to visit Max (and us) last Tuesday. A fine day was had by all and we went out to Chinese for lunch to celebrate Nanny's birthday. Max was fairly well behaved apart from one screaming fit but he eventually calmed down after Cam took him outside and gave him a talking to, and we all had an elegant sufficiency and enjoyed the meal. Max gave out some cute smiles and talking noises to his grandparents and now has them even more firmly wrapped around his little finger. A grand day was had by all.

Max and I have now also attended a couple of parent's group sessions at our local child health clinic. I really enjoy these afternoons for the chance to get out of the house and chat to other mums and of course, compare Max against their babies to see if he really is as smart and gorgeous as I think he is. Since he is older than most of them he wins in the smartness department and I think he also comes out on top for cuteness. He doesn't always win the best behaved award since some of the others manage to sleep through the whole thing, but is instead smiling at the mums and babies around him and making cute talking noises so we have a good time.

Going to the clinics also gives me a chance to weigh Max and prove that it's not just our weak arms and imaginations in thinking that he's a nice big healthy heavy boy. As of last Thursday he weighed 8.24kgs, which is heavy for a 6 month old, let alone a boy who wasn't quite 3 months old yet!

Speaking of that, Max turned a big 3 months old on Friday! That time has just gone so quickly. We're really noticing daily achievements for him at this age now and he is rapidly gaining more control of his body, especially his hands which he loves to chew and suck on, and also to grab things and suck and chew on them. What a cutie!

Cutest to the Max!!

I know it is probably very scarring to make a pun out of your son's name in a public forum like this but he can't read yet and by the time he can I am sure we will have scarred him with much much worse.

We took this pic the other week and had to share it with you all.

The caption could go various ways. Max was ready for the landing of the mother ship to take him back to his planet. I also like why do you keep taking pictures of me when I am wearing daggy stuff on my head!

If you have any other please post them on the comments page.

Tummy Time

Max doesn't always enjoy his tummy time, but today he was quite happy for about 10 minutes looking at the colours on his playmat and being fascinated by the squeaking noise that it makes if you hit a certain spot.

I thought I'd take advantage of his happy tummy time to show off how good his head control and neck muscles are!

Look out Mum, I'll be crawling in no time!

Max's Baptism

Sunday was a very special occasion for young Max as he was baptised into God's family! Thanks to everyone who came along to witness and celebrate with us on the day - it was really awesome to have so many family and friends there.


Max was fairly well behaved for the church service, but by the time the actual baptism ceremony came around he was a bit hungry and loudly voiced his complaints all through the water being put on his head.


It may also have been just that bit too long to make him wear a dress. Although it was gorgeous and made the ceremony and memories of the day that much more special (thanks Nan!), I guess you can't expect boys to enjoy being dressed up like that for too long. Max made sure that everyone knew about his displeasure by competing with Pastor Nik for who could make the loudest noise during the prayer afterwards. I'm not sure who ended up winning but they both have good lungs!

Pastor Nik then gave a very good sermon about baptism and the importance of raising your children to know Christ both by what you as parents tell them and by what you do to set a good example and give them good guidance and boundaries. I'm sure it will be a challenge, but it's one we are looking forward to and know God will help us with, as well as Max's godparents and extended family.

Overall the day went really well, and we had a nice lunch afterwards as well, so thank you again to everyone who came along and brought food to share, and who helped set up and clean up afterwards. A special thanks to those involved in the service, especially to Christel and Shane for being Max's godparents, and Pastors Nik and Troy for running the service, and also to the worship team.

We had a great day and hope you did too!

Holiday!!!

Being a hard working provider for my family from time to time I am called on to miss a day off and in it's place is a precious day in lieu which brings on a 3 day weekend. So with this on the cards and having a pretty stressful run we escaped down to the far north coast of NSW and had 3 full days and nights in the charming fishing village of Evans Head.

We left just after Max's 6am feed to get the most of the day down there. After a pretty good trip and just one stop for a feed for Max we got to the house that was to be home for the next couple of days. It was a cool little bungalow that everything you needed really. It had 2 decent bedrooms and a sleep out area that had 3 sets of bunks. A undercover area outside with a big table and chairs and a very cool 4 burner hooded BBQ. I have never used one of these monsters before and it made a convert out of me.

Max was a bit grizzly after not sleeping the best in the car as he was too busy giving cute looks to Jo. We put Max in the pram and went for a walk over the bridge to the south side of town about 10-15 mins away to the fish co-op. It was pretty cool as they only have what is fresh off the trawlers that day. So we got some locally cooked prawns and a snapper for dinner. Poor Jo was doing laps outside with a almost asleep Max.

I could go on and on about the food and what a joy it was to cook with such fresh, good and cheap ingredients. But I have already been made fun of in the comments because of me always mentioning food when this blog is about the boy and not his father's gastronomic adventures.

Max coped pretty well with the whole being on the road and having to have showers instead of a bath. He hasn't screamed in the shower yet and we get the water over his face and everything. He is a brave little man that Max.

Max enjoyed lots of walks around town and went to the beach twice. The first time was for a walk and we have some cute pics of Max putting his feet on the sand and touching the ocean. But it was a windy cool day so we didn't take him for a swim just yet.


The next day we prepared Max for a big adventure his first swim. We did something brave or stupid for parents of a 10 week old we took his nappy off and put his togs on and then dipped him from head to toe in special bubba sunscreen. Max has acquired his father's colouring and is turning into a bit of a ginga!! He quite liked this process as I think he thought he was getting a massage. We drove down to the park near the river and Max did well not to befoul himself or the car seat (he was sitting on a plastic bag to save wrecking the seat). We got him down to the water and immersed him in a few times which he quite liked. The only problem when you do this to a sun screened baby is they get as slippery as a greased pig. Jo and I took turns putting Max in the water. He was very patient and didn't cry. it was his first time in cold water so we didn't know how he would go. But he did super. The water was a little too cold for his parents so after getting evidence of his first swim on video and stills camera we bolted with our mission accomplished.


We took Max down to the RSL for dinner and he had a wonderful time as he stayed asleep the whole time. Jo and I thought this was brilliant and had a wonderful time. For the record I had a ok mixed grill and Jo had the chicken parmiagana which she rated as pretty good.

On Saturday morning we drove back to Brisneyland and straight back to work and life as normal.

Triple Trouble II

Yesterday Amy and the twins came over to visit. All three babies were more alert this time since it's about a month since the last visit, so we decided it was time to introduce them to each other.

This is Max and Gabbie saying hello and checking each other out. They were both quite happy to stare and smile at each other for a fair amount of time so hopefully they've now made friends with each other.
Introducing Elke to Max didn't go quite so well because she was a bit hungry, so she rejected his talking and smiling by screaming at him. After a feed she was much happier though and I think she smiled at him as well, so now all of the cousins are friends. I don't know if that will last once they're old enough to steal each other's toys and be violent to each other, but for now everything's good.


In fact, Max was generous enough to share his playmat and bouncer with the girls (well he didn't have much say in it really). Here are Max and Elke playing together and sharing like good little children.

By the end of the visit they were such good friends that it was time for a group hug!

Baths by Grandma are fun!

Max's grandma came to visit early this week so that I would have someone else on hand to help after his first round of immunisations on Monday. After the inevitable screaming at being repeatedly jabbed with needles Max was very well behaved, and went straight to sleep!

When he woke up we thought he could do with a pleasant experience to balance out the nasty one and so Grandma gave him a bath, which he loved.

Happy 2 Month Birthday!

Today is Max's 2 month birthday. Hip hip hooray!

To celebrate, we went to the child health clinic this afternoon and weighed Max to see how his growing is coming along. He now weighs 7.12 kgs and is about 60cms long (hard to tell when he wriggles so much). Way to go Max!

In honour of this momentous occasion, I thought I'd make a list of things Max has learned to do in the past two months (in no particular order).

• poo and wee
• cry
• sleep
  
• suck on a dummy
• fart
  
• lift and hold his head up
• listen to music
• yawn
• open one eye
  
• breastfeed
• burp
  
• smile
• poke out his tongue
• grab on to things close to his hands
• suck on his hands
• kick
• wriggle his arms out from being wrapped
  
• wave his arms
• cough
• sneeze
• stretch
  
• make cute 'goo' and 'ah' noises
• look at interesting things/people
• arch his back
• hiccup
  
• reach out and touch things that interest him if they're within arms reach.

Here's some evidence ...Why suck on a dummy when you have hands?

Happy Birthday to me!

Poor Max

Max is a bit grumpy these days because he has caught a cold from somewhere. He has a nasty sounding cough and a stuffed nose which can make feeding difficult since has trouble breathing and sucking at the same time. Usually when he cries he sounds angry, but with the hoarseness in his voice lately he just sounds completely sad and miserable, and he looks at us with eyes that say 'Please fix it!'.

We went to the doctors yesterday and Max was given the all-clear on nasty things like throat and ear infections and doesn't have a fever, so apparently it's not the flu but just a cold that will get better eventually. Until then Max is a bit grumpy and miserable, and therefore Cam and I are tired and grumpy, so please pray for us.

Happy Birthday Cam!

On our recent trip up the coast we stayed with Cam's parents, who were delighted to get the chance to spend so much time with their newest grandson (even when he was screaming!). Cam's mum couldn't help but compare Max with Cam at his age, and so she brought out some old photos to illustrate her point.

In honour of Cam's birthday on Thursday, here are some photos to show you how cute he was, and how similar Max looks!

This is the best one for illustrating the family resemblance. Although Cam is a little older than Max in this photo it's obvious where Max got his cute chubby cheeks and facial expressions!


Evidently Cam has always enjoyed shopping for food by the grin on his face. I took Max grocery shopping the other day and put him in the baby seat in the trolley and I think he had the same grin!


There's that grin again! He looks as though he's barely containing his excitement in this photo and is having much more fun than the other two with their stick.

Max's Busy Social Life

Max is only eight weeks old tomorrow but his social life is already up there with the best of them. For a example of what we mean let's explore Max's movements starting last Friday night.

Max was invited with Jo and I to the Pre Season Launch for the Brisbane Bullets our local team in the NBL that are reigning premiers and happen to play at where I work. Max was not the only baby there and we got to catch up with friends of ours Jason and Angela Fiddes and their four month old girl whose name I am not totally sure on how to spell so I won't give it a go because I am pretty sure I will get it wrong. A good time was had by all and Max mostly slept in his pram the whole time. So a good time had catching up and seeing some people and eating canapes while drinking free cokes. A funny moment happened when my mobile rang and it was Copland. I handed the phone to Jason who answered and then completely confused Copland as he thought he had called us. When I did finally speak to Coppy he assured me that Parents of young children should be home caring for their child and not gallivanting around eating and drinking free food.

Saturday night saw us at a BBQ at the Fiddes place with lots of friends that have small children. Young Eli who is only a couple of weeks old was there with the rest of his family. The Coplands were also down for a visit and we even had a long time friend for us all Mr Dave Harris. We laughed lots we ate lots including Caine's world famous low fat brownies. I think Max screamed a bit but was generally pretty well behaved. It was his first time meeting a lot of people so he generally is quite well behaved.

We drove straight from the BBQ to my parent's place on the coast for Max's first ever visit to the Sunshine Coast. I still hold the record as I was supposedly six weeks old when I first went to the coast and Max was seven weeks old.

We had a pretty good nights rest before my sisters and families arrived from the North and the South and we went out for lunch to celebrate my dad's 70th b'day. Max got lots of cuddles at the house before we went out and by the time lunch came around he slept all the way through it!!

I had the next two days off so Max was visited by Bec Carroll and on the way back to Brissy we visited another Coasty friend Stacey and her boy Nic. We also are delighted that Stacey is expecting her 3rd bundle of joy!!

So back to work to recuperate!!!

First Father's Day!!

My first father's day started nice and early as I had to start work at 6. I had a pretty good day with lots of workmates wishing me a happy first father's day. I also received a number of good wishes in the form of sms.

I got home and Max was in his bouncer and having a bit of a whinge whilst Jo was slaving away in the kitchen working on a awesome home made lasagna. Max and I had a bit of couch time in which Max had a few small smiles at dad and then promptly went to sleep for the next 3 hours or so.

Before dinner I received all my goodies including two lolly necklace thingy's. I can't never remember what they are called but it is a thing they do at church on big occasions. I also got the new Paul Kelly album which I am enjoying even as I write this here blog.

The most touching gift I got though was the very cool card that Jo and Max made. It had Max's foot and hand prints on the front and inside. From what Jo was saying Max did not think having bits of his body covered in paint was not all that cool. It was a very cool card that was more of a letter than a card with how much my family appreciates what I do. It was really touching and humbling.

After a feed Max settled down and we had a wonderful home cooked lasagna with salad and garlic bread. We finished up with chocolate tart and ice cream.

It was a very memorable first father's day. I can't wait till next year!

Smiles for the bug

Like most babies I guess, Max can be a bit temperamental at times. Often he just won't stop crying for us and we can't figure out why, and so one of our techniques for cheering him up is to change his nappy. We have a colourful bug-like toy hanging on the curtains just above the change table, and from the moment we put it there Max has been fascinated by it. Changing him and letting him stare at the bug for a few minutes is almost a sure-fire way to make him happy, and it often works so well that he gives out big grins for the bug, while just a few minutes beforehand he has been screaming at us.


I don't know exactly why the bug makes him happy but the people who feed him and love him and look after him get screamed at. But to be fair he is giving out smiles to us more frequently these days as well, and the bug will only keep him happy for so long before he screams at it as well, so it probably evens out.

One of the Biggest!!!

Today is young Max's 6 week birthday. We all know the best way to celebrate that is to go to the Doctors for your 5000 km check up.

There seems to not have been a repeat of the unpleasantness that accompanied us on our last visit to the Doctors. No need for female incontinence pads this time. Jo took Max around to the doctors in the baby carrier and not the cumbersome pram.

So enough of the fluff and onto the gritty statistics. Max started off life at hefty 4.1 kg 9lb 1oz and then at three weeks and 6 days was 5.7kg or 12 5 1/2 oz and today he weighed in at 6.45 kg or 14lb 2 oz.

He is also stretching out at birth Max was 51 cm and is now 58.8cm!

The doctor said some babies struggle to get this amount of growth in 6 months let alone 6 weeks!!!

Let it be said that Jo's and my biceps seem to be on the increase and I think I know why.

Hopefully he may slow down a bit soon or I may do in my back by the time he is 2!

Something in the Water

I know it is very common to have the same things happen in your life as your friends as that is the stage in life you are going through. But we have just been overwhelmed with friends that are having babies.

There have been 3 born in just the last week. A warm welcome to the planet earth for Rosie who was born to Tim and Merryn. We got a sms at 4.44am last week from Caine and Sally welcoming young Eli to the mob. Then yesterday afternoon I got a message from Dan and Lydia welcoming Amelie to the group.

It is very cool to see and we hope they all settle in well and that everything goes well. It just means more friends for Max.

Hangin wit da homies

We were halfway through changing Max from his sleeping clothes (which included the beanie) into his church clothes when we realised what a cute little gangsta he makes. Don't you agree?

Road Trip!!!

On Friday night after a top up feed we headed out on the highway and for the first five minutes Max was not too impressed with the whole deal. We then realised that we had not yet turned up the stereo, but once we gave the boy some tunes he was all sweet. We are not sure how awake he was but he stayed like that all the way to Toowoomba.

We had not had tea yet and decided to try Weis Backdoor which is a rather unfortunate name for a takeaway but it is owned by the people who run the Weis buffet restaurant. Here is an interesting aside: the Weis ice cream company is pronounced one way and the Weis buffet is pronounced completely different. We got there just before closing and asked if we could still dine in which they allowed us to do. Jo's seafood lasagne came out first and I took Max and when my salt and pepper squid came out the lady offered to take Max while we ate!!

We left soon after and then Max decided that since everyone else had just eaten he was not going to the be the only one like that. We pulled over and gave him a feed and went on our merry way.

After a pretty good night and Max checking out his new surrounds we ducked back into Toowoomba so Max could see his great grandparents the Carters. We had a pretty good visit and they got to see their newest great grandchild.

We got back home and all had a very good nap. Max and Jo slept for about 3hrs each which was a pretty good effort. We did not have the chance to make it into Millmerran for the annual sheep races but with with the recent rains the track was rated as dead.

On Sunday morning Max went out to Yandilla church and got to meet his Ma for the first time and the rest of the congregation. Max quite liked the music but every time it stopped he would have a scream. But once the music started he was all happiness and light again.

This afternoon we had a bunch of visitors including the Uebergangs and his great uncle Mike and aunty Mary, and great uncle Shane and aunty Cynthia.

We have had a great time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Pfeffer.

We head off in the morning to face Brisbane again.