Yo Gabba Gabba!

This morning Max and I (through a very well-connected Daddy) scored good seats at the first live show of Yo Gabba Gabba, which is a kid's TV show. Although neither of us was really looking forward to going (me because, well, watch some of their clips :)) and Max because he is a bit too young to explain that that's what we were about to see. He was excited about going in to visit Daddy at work and going to a concert, even though he didn't really know what that was!

I think we were both pleasantly surprised when the show started. They had a live band who played well, and the show was bright and colourful and had a good pace so that Max never got bored. For the first 10 or 15 minutes he just sat still on my lap and watched both the stage and the audience spellbound, since it was like nothing he had ever seen before, plus he recognised the characters from the TV show.

At intermission Daddy came in to check how Max was liking it, and we went for a walk down to the stage and the drumkit, which Max was very impressed by. During the next part of the show we went down in front of the stage for a while again, but this only made Max upset because he wasn't allowed actually onto the stage with the 'teddies'. He did enjoy the rest of the show from our seats though.

I DON'T want a cuddle Daddy! I want to play the drums!

Special guest Darren from Powderfinger doing the 'Roo-bot' dancy-dance

As a special bonus, due to Daddy's good connections with the event organisers, after the show we were allowed backstage to meet the characters from the show. We thought Max may have been scared by the big characters in their colourful suits, but he loved them instantly and had to be dragged away from them so that others could get their photos taken with them. He had no hesitations about going right up to the show characters ('cuddles!', 'teddies!'), but was quite shy and hesitant about meeting Daddy's other work friends in their uniforms.

Great timing from Daddy meant that he could be in the photos as well. Thanks to everyone who helped us get there and make it a fun time for Max!

A new cousin has arrived!

On Thursday last week (14th May) I got a wonderful phone call from my sister Amy to say that she had just given birth to a new daughter - Ingrid Leah Mutzelburg! She was born at about 6.30pm and weighed about 3.4kgs, or roughly 7.5 pounds, and has many very excited relatives!

On Saturday, after a busy morning buying fruit and veggies from the markets, cleaning the church, and going to a birthday party for some of Max's friends from church, Max and I dropped in to the hospital to visit baby Ingrid. We managed to arrive at the same time as my parents, which worked out great since Max not only got to see his new cousin but Grandma and Pa as well. Max was a bit shy at first but when he saw us all cuddling the baby he definitely wanted a turn too, and he was so gentle at holding her, patting her and kissing her. The inevitable pointing out of her features (eyes! nose! ears! hair!) wasn't quite as gentle as I'd have liked but he was really trying and did a great job of welcoming his new cousin the only way he knows how.

Grandma and Pa also showed great foresight by buying not only Ingrid some presents, but Max and the twins some stickers as well, so he had a great time helping Pa put them into the book in the right places, and also playing outside with Pa on the playground while I got a nice cuddle of my little niece.

We got some good photos of Ingrid being cuddled by various relatives, including Max, so here they are.

Congratulations to the Mutzelburgs and welcome to little Ingrid!

Mummy's Birthday

Last Saturday was my birthday, yay! :)

My two boys helped me to celebrate it in lots of lovely ways, starting with homemade pancakes with raspberry sauce for breakfast in bed. Max helped Daddy make them by telling him when there were bubbles in the pancakes and they were ready to flip over, and by sitting next to me in bed eating every other mouthful. After breakfast Max and Cam went to the markets and left me at home to sleep in and relax in bed which was lovely.

Later in the afternoon when we had all had a nap, we headed in to Southbank for a family afternoon out. We browsed through the Saturday markets that they hold there and I found a gorgeous necklace that I instantly loved (this happens very rarely), and so my lovely husband bought it as a birthday present! What a nice guy.

Max enjoyed the playgrounds and just watching all of the people. It was busier than usual, being Buddha's birthday, with lots of Chinese lanterns strung up and many different displays and food. 

The best thing about the event as far as he was concerned, however, was not the food (for once!) but the free drum workshop for children. He thought it was brilliant that they gave him so many different noisy toys and let him go crazy with them, although Cam didn't think it was quite so great being hit with the clapping sticks.

We picked up a delicious birthday cake on the way home and got Chinese for dinner for a nice finish to a really lovely day. Thanks Cam and Max!

Easter Adventures

Every year at Easter our church all go off to Mapleton for the annual church camp. Last year we all went and managed to have a good time even though Max chose that weekend to push out 3 teeth and was more than a little grumpy because of it.

Unfortunately this year was not any better. We arrived at camp on the Thursday evening and had a good car trip since Max slept for most of it. When we arrived, however, he decided that he had enough sleep and didn't need any more. I stayed in our room with him and every 10 minutes, had to go over to his portacot, lie him down and tell him to go to sleep, while attempting to do the same myself. After at least an hour of this, Cam came back to the room to find me attempting to put Max to sleep in the bed beside me, and rescued both of us by taking Max for a midnight walk in the pram to try and soothe him to sleep. This attempt also failed, since Max was still wide awake and would every now and again say 'moon!' or 'stars!' or 'trees!' or something. Cam gave up on the pram and tried to tire Max out by hanging out with some of the other men who were still awake and chatting, but once again Max foiled these plans by enjoying every minute of it and high-fiving everyone around. At about 1.30am Cam decided that was enough and came back to the room to try and put Max down again, which he eventually managed by 2am by lots of patting on the back.

Friday was a fun day at camp, despite our lack of sleep. In the afternoon we had lots of fun sports activities out on the very wet field, where Max decided to show off his forward-rolling skills and got so very muddy in the process. While Cam was showering him he noticed a bad rash that Max had been developing for the last few days. I originally thought it was just nappy rash, so put some cream on it and waited for it to go away. It had gradually been growing worse and spreading to other areas, so we thought we should go and get it checked out. So Friday afternoon we all drove down to Nambour hospital, only to find that Max actually had 'school sores', which is a type of staff infection that often goes around in schools or daycare centres, and which is highly infectious to children. We didn't want to risk him infecting the other small children on camp, and so decided to pull the plug on camp and head to Bli Bli to Nanny and Poppy's place instead.

It was probably just as well that we didn't stay, since Cam caught a tummy bug that apparently a few other people on camp also came down with, and was stuck in bed for much of Easter.

But it turned out ok, since Max loves visiting Nanny and Poppy and had a great time. He loved the chance to eat lots of 'chockit' as well! Bronwyn and Lance even came down from Hervey Bay to visit, and Max loved playing with his uncle Lance.

Max's First Sleepover

Last Saturday was the wedding of Shona and Aaron, two good friends of Cam and I (congratulations guys!). And although we took Max along with us to the ceremony at the church, we knew he wouldn't handle being kept up so late and expected to stay still and quiet at the reception while his Daddy was busy being the MC, so we had to try and think of who we could ask to babysit for us.

All of our relatives who live in Brisbane are over on the north/west/east sides of town and it's a major effort for them to come over to our house to stay here and put Max to bed, so we thought a better plan would be to drop him off at the twins' house to sleep over with them. It was on the way over that Max surprised us by saying 'cousins!' when we told him that we were going to visit Gabbie and Elke.

By all accounts the three of them enjoyed the visit a lot, especially Max. He wasn't at all upset about Mummy and Daddy leaving him at their house since he was having too much fun riding their bikes and playing with their toys. Shortly after we left they piled all three kids into the car and went to the park, which was another huge hit. Sounds like even the car ride was fun since they were all giggling away in the backseat.

When they got home it was time for dinner and a bath, which was yet another fun experience since usually Max has to bathe alone, and he definitely had more fun being able to share it.

After bathtime the three of them had fun building some block towers, and had even more fun sending them crashing down. Max and Elke thought this was a great idea so they also decided to crash on the floor!

Another great way to have fun with your cousins is to race them around the room. Apparently the three of them just kept running laps from the living area into the kitchen and back again. This was fine except when they decided to do it with a bucket over their heads so they couldn't see where they were going!

After so much fun it was finally time for bed, but not before Max gave Elke a goodnight kiss.

(That's right mate, hold them down so they can't get away!)

After a nice drink of milo, all three were happy to go to sleep and didn't make a peep until morning. Cam and I also slept over at the Mutzelburg house, so we were there to get Max out of bed in the morning (much too early!) and head back over to our side of town in time for church.

Many thanks to the Mutzelburgs for giving Max such a good time so that Cam and I could enjoy the wedding, and congratulations to Aaron and Shona!

How Cool Are You?

Max is generally going through a very cool phase at the moment. He is at that precious age where he just does stuff that makes you laugh or go wow I didn't know he could do that.


Here are some cool things he does from time to time:
Max likes to race Jo up and down the drive way and then he gets to hit the metal garage door to prove he has finished. The whole time he is running he giggles and says go go go...

Yesterday in the car on the way to see his cousins we told Max that we were going to see Gabi and Elke he replied with a joyful "Cousins"!. We had no idea he could say cousins let alone know who they are.

He has started to walk around the house backwards and then when he hits something slides to the ground with lots of chuckling.

He has started imaginary play so he feeds his toys or yesterday he told us Leo had done a poo. Unfortunately when you ask Max if he has done a poo which he clearly has from the smell and his strained facial expressions give us a joyful "Noooooo".

He loves to spin around on the spot and then fall down.

At the fruit and veg shop last week he gave the lady his compulsory hi-five and then pointed to his hand repeatedly saying "dicker, dicker, dicker" I then said no mate they only give you stickers at Woolworths. I am glad we get given spares from Woolies which we keep in the car for such occasions.

While enjoying our family pastime of reading junkmail Max has ability to point out every time a wiggles dvd is featured. He can now say all of there names. Murray is his favourite we think because he likes to play air guitar.

Somehow he knows what chocolates are when he saw ferrero rochers in the coles catalogue he said "yum, chocolate". Jo denies sneaking him chocolate when I am not around.

He does lots of other quite cute thing which I shall not bore you all with now. But we really love Max and the adventures he shares with us.

How to Get A Gumnut Out of a Small Child's Nose and Other Adventures!

Yesterday the 25th of March is Jo's mum's birthday. In honor of the occasion we got the clan together for dinner at the Everton Hills Tavern in Brisbane to celebrate as Jo's dad was already down and staying at Jo's sister's place. I got picked up straight from work and the kids were playing when Elke started to point to her nose and said "nut" it took her to say this a couple of times to realise she had a gumnut up her nose. Amy went to grab the tweezers and in this time the gumnut had gone further up!

So after a call to Kurt's sister who is a GP who didn't really know what she was working with because she couldn't see it. They also consulted several other medical types that suggested they go to the big hospital. To be honest we all thought they would miss out on dinner completely. They got to the hospital and when they got to see a doctor they had a look and got Amy to close the unblocked nostril and blow through Elke's mouth real hard and the offending gumnut popped out!!!

They were able to join us for dinner and a good time was had by all. The pub was no ordinary pub it was designed specifically in mind. When you walk in you see heaps of high chairs and a a massive playground for kids from 1- 12 and a computer games room. The computer games room had a camera and if you sat in front of one of the plasma screens you could watch your kids play in the computer game room. To really push it's kid friendly credentials they had their own permanent carousel. Max had 2 rides through out the night and had an absolute blast.

We left at 9 which is very late for Max and he was tired but not a little bit grumpy which is a win win situation for all concerned!

Happy birthday grandma!!