More presents?!

Yesterday the mailman knocked on our front door with an exciting looking package for one Max Batkin. When we opened it, to our delight it was filled with wonderful goodies for Max from America!


It contained many exciting things like a dinosaur sleepsuit, a batman outfit, several cool storybooks, some yummy cookies, a baseball shirt and a cool toy that buzzes when you pull the string. There were also lots of cool little notes explaining the significance of the goodies.

Max fits very well into the sleepsuit, and really loves the buzzing toy. He figured out how to make it work very quickly and it keeps him amused for ages. He is yet to enjoy the other exciting gifts but I'm sure they will be just as big a hit.

Thanks so much to our American friends for sending over such a wonderful birthday package!

Happy Birthday!

After much anticipation on our parts (Max had no idea what was happening really), Max has now turned a very big 1 year old!! Congratulations son!!

We started his birthday celebrations on Friday night by opening his presents from Cam and I. Cam had to work on Saturday morning and we wanted to do this as a family with just the three of us before his party. So we all sat on the floor in the lounge room and had a great time ripping off paper and showing Max his birthday presents.


Then on Saturday afternoon, after Max was very patient while I was busy icing the cake and getting party things ready, we all headed down to the park for the party. Max always loves being the centre of attention so he had a wonderful time seeing his relatives and playing on the playground and just being outside with lots of new things and friendly people to see.

As our regular blog readers will know, Max always likes his food, especially yummy party food that he isn't normally allowed to eat. I made him a special rocketship birthday cake and gave him one of the stars to eat by himself and as you can see he thought this was awesome!


His aunty Alison took advantage of the different colours of icing to turn Max into a cross between Braveheart and Humpty Dumpty. We tried to clean him up when he was done with the cake, but as the rest of the photos will show, this didn't entirely succeed and he spent the rest of the day looking a bit like an alien. But he was very happy and if you can't make a mess on your birthday then when can you?

One of Max's guests got a bit scared by this little alien when he came walking towards her with both hands in the air and grabbed on to her for support!

The next major event of the day was the opening of birthday presents. Thanks everyone for your amazing generosity - Max had a great time opening them and will really enjoy playing with his toys, reading his books and wearing his clothes in the year ahead!


After we all packed up and headed home (huge thanks to all who helped carry everything back to the cars and take stuff back to our place - so much appreciated!) we put Max straight into the shower with Daddy to try and clean up his blue facepaint. Cam did a great job of making him look like the Max we know and love, but Max must have decided that he did want a blue face after all. While we were busy talking and cleaning up, he wandered into the kitchen and found the blue food colouring bottle in the pantry. Although we noticed this we didn't think he could do himself much harm with the lid on. Silly thought! He must have managed to suck up the dye through the lid because he ended up with blue hands (again) and this time blue lipstick to match!

What a cute little goth.
After we cleaned Max up yet again Cam and I headed out for the evening and let Nanny stay home to put Max to bed and babysit. He was so exhausted that he went to bed with barely a whimper that it wasn't Mummy and slept straight through until morning. Cam and I had a great night out and everyone had a good nights sleep.

Birthday Beanie

Last weekend Max's Nanny and Aunty Bronwyn came down to Brisbane for the 40th anniversary of the Inala church where they used to go. Max and I went along to the celebrations as well to represent Cam since he was working and was unable to make it, much to his disappointment. We had a really good afternoon and Max loved it because there were so many people there to supply him with junk food and toys like balloons and cake servers. Another reaon he enjoyed the day was of course seeing his Nanny and Aunty.

They bought him an early birthday present, which he loves to wear and thinks is hilarious to have on his head.

Unfortunately we didnt catch any of his smiles on camera, but he loves me to put the beanie on his head and then laugh at himself in the mirror.

Hopefully he enjoys his other birthday presents tomorrow as much as this one!

It Seems Like Just A Year Ago....

A year ago yesterday on the 12th of July we were expecting the Peanut. We were all action stations. We had bags packed, cd's chosen, snacks ready to go, a special leaning mat thingy, a massager, togs and towel for me. We were committed to the mission and were ready for the long haul as you can see by the above list. We were ready for most eventualities. We had non gender specific clothing ready for the Peanut to come home in and everything. We did however forget to take newborn nappies as they don't supply them at the hospital.

But the Peanut was comfortable and as we know now the Peanut was not ready for another week. Jo was definitely ready for the arrival and started around this stage to actively encourage the baby into the world by drinking raspberry leaf tea and going on long walks around the suburb and I think was pretty much willing to try anything that would encourage the child into the world. The only thing that seem to end up encouraging the baby into the world was that the day after being born the baby was going to be induced ready or not.

It is amazing to think that the our world has changed so quickly in the last year. I am sure I will continue to reminisce during the week. If you can remember what we were like a year ago waiting for the birth please drop a comment. It will be interesting to see what you remember.

A week at Nanny and Poppy's house

Last week Cam was feeling very rundown and sick and was advised to take the week off work to help him to recover and get back on track. So instead of me looking after two Batkin boys by myself, we decided to spend the week up at Nanny and Poppy's house so that everyone could have a bit of a break.
This worked out really well, since Nanny got to spend lots of time with her littlest grandson. She and Max had a good time going for a walk to get the paper in the mornings, playing with various toys, visiting friends and neighbours and getting wet in the bath (Max loves to splash so everyone ends up getting wet!).


It was also a good opportunity for Max to practice walking from me to Nanny and back again. Max also loved spending time with his Poppy, and by the end of our visit he was always happy to see him around the house and showed it by clapping his hands, smiling and stealing Poppy's beanie.

Nanny and I had lots of fun playing cards and chatting when we weren't busy keeping Max happy. If it was fine we also had fun taknig Max to a couple of different playgrounds near their house, and on rainy days we went driving around the area and took Max out for coffee and playtime at Bunnings while Nanny got some gardening supplies. Daddy stayed at home and caught some much needed rest, so everyone had a good time and enjoyed our break.

Thanks Nanny and Poppy!