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.