Maximilian

As I reported in one of my earlier posts, I am sleeping through most of the night since Feb 18th. I might wake up between around 4:30 and 5:30AM, but after a bit of reassurance by Maman or Papa and sometimes with the help of my dummy I soothe back into my sleep until the wee hours of the morning.

On the back of my sleeping patterns, I demanded to step up and move into my bed in my own bedroom. I started to take my intraday naps in my own bed and on Friday evening, 11 Mar 2011 for the first time I went into my big bed. Good bye Moses’ basket. I am now a big boy!

I enjoy my new independence and I am sleeping very well in the bed. So well in fact that from Sat 12 Mar to Sun 13 Mar I did not even wake up any more. I had a full night from 21:00 all the way until 7:30 the next morning. And my parents also have their bedroom back for themselves. I don’t know what they are doing there – but I would not be surprised if a new brother or sister is coming some time soon

All the best,

Max

Papa is very busy at work at the moment. I only see him a little bit in the morning when he gives me the bottle before he leaves for work. He comes back home when I am already sleeping. So I said to Maman – if Papa is not here we might as well go to the seaside.

And so we did: we went to Knokke where a lot of Maman’s family stayed during the half term holiday. So I had lots of people around me. They were a bit concerned that I might not like the iodine from the sea water – but I did not notice any real problems.

The water is very cold in the North Sea at this time of the year, so I did not jump into it. Now I am really looking forward to coming back in summer when it will be warmer.

Hi all,

I was very busy the last few weeks and I am so sorry for neglecting my blog recently. But the good news is that a lot of things happened and so I will bring updates with nice new photos in short order.

I shall start with my week in Brussels. I am still so overwhelmed by all the nice presents I got back at Christmas. My parents and I could not take them all back home to London at once. So we all decided to go back to Brussels in February to collect the second part.

I stayed for a whole week leaving on Sunday afternoon and return the next Sunday. Mamy is so nice to me and everything is there including my own car seat, playpen and a bouncer.

I would describe this week as pareto optimal. Everybody involved was better off and nobody damaged. I liked to come back and see Mamy who was in turn very happy to see me again. Maman was happy to meet with her friends and have a bit more time for herself while Mamy was looking after me and Papa had enjoyed his time alone in London to meet up with colleagues and friends. Papa joined us for the weekend in Brussels and we all went back home to London on Sunday night. Here are some photos from Brussels:

All the best,

Max

This week I have reached an important milestone with my weight. My weight is now in excess of 5 kilos. My parents are keeping a nice weight chart and it shows that I am gaining almost exactly 38 grams per day since the beginning of the year. Maman thinks it is a great work-out for her to lift me and I am a very smart free weight as I automatically increase the weight to match her increased strength.

My parents now believe I have sufficient energy reserves to make it through the entire night without feeding. So I tried and in the night from Fri, 18 Feb to Sat, 19 Feb I slept through the whole night. I woke up around 3:30AM – but instead of eating Maman gave me my dummy and then I continued to sleep until 6:00AM. I am not sure I have ever seen my parents so happy this morning.

This means I will probably soon move into my own room. I am really excited, so I don’t need to listen to Papa’s snoring any more I will also have a nice bed as the Moses’ basket starts to become too small for me.

I am also making friends. Maman is taking me to a lot of activities during the week which I find very interesting. We meet up with babies just like me for instance in the bump and sensory session:  here is a photo of my friend George and me right there. Or we go to the cinema or just for some tea.

All the best

Max

Yesterday I did a bit of London sightseeing. First of all we met Paul and Marjaana for brunch at Koffmann’s in The Berkeley Hotel. It opened quite recently and serves very French cuisine. The signature dish is pig’s trotters (I had no clue what that is, so my parents explained it is the feet of a pig and it is not to everyone’s taste).

From there we had a nice walk and we went to Harrod’s for shopping followed by a visit of Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament. We passed by my birth place, the St. Thomas’ Hospital and then we took the bus back home.

All the best,

Max

My parents went to the wedding of Ana & Christof in Bad Kleinkirchheim in Austria for the weekend. They left me back in London with Mamy and Isabelle. They looked after me extremely well and I hereby want to thank them so much for all the good care. My parents explained me that I missed a great wedding and beautiful photos can be found on http://www.shineonwedding.com/gallery/ana/

Two weeks ago I made my parents really happy. On Thursday, 27 January, I smiled back to Maman and Mamy and they got very excited about it. As a proof for Papa, Maman made a the below photo with her Blackberry. It is not the best quality – but more than sufficient proof. And in the meantime I also smiled at Papa – it would not be fair if only Maman gets the smiles. But she spends more time with me and so she deserves more smiles.

And last Thursday, Maman had dinner with the girls and Papa looked after me for the evening. He gave me a really nice bath and dinner. So I decided to wake up only once in the whole night between 21:00 and 7:00 in the morning. I have not yet repeated the same – but I will soon switch to eating only once per night. This will mean one of my parents can sleep through the entire night every other night.

Max

I have received the first visit from Onkel Markus and Tante Niki from Vienna. They came for the weekend especially for me. I got a Pleamle T-shirt which I am going to wear at the Villacher Kirchtag in the summer and I got a pillow and blanket with my name on it.

On Friday we had a cheese fondue followed by a the most amazing chocolate bomb created by Mirza. And on Saturday we went to a Belgian bar where my oncle and aunt had mussels and Belgian speciality beers.

They are really nice and took me a lot into their arms – I did not want them to leave on Sunday. I was so spoilt this weekend and I really look forward to seeing them again together with Alessia in March in Schladming.

All the best,
Max

I went to my first wedding last Friday – no not my own of course. It was Ana and Christof’s registry wedding in London.They were so beautiful and looked so happy. Congratulations again.

My parents will soon go to Austria for the church wedding but without me. So I was quite happy to see Ana & Christof at least for the civil wedding. I was very quiet and did not disturb the wedding. But when the registrar asked if anyone had any objections to the wedding I thought for a moment how funny it would be to start crying. But I did not – my parents would not have been happy with that.

I am back in London and the honeymoon period of the first six weeks is over. My adult life has started. My parents have introduced a day and night routine – from now on eating, sleeping and playing is done according to a schedule. I don’t really mind this and last night I have been sleeping 6 hours in one piece. My parents were really happy with me – so I might do it again tonight.

Secondly, I started to look after my own finances and initiated saving for my future. The friendly bankers at Raiffeisen Bank in Bodensdorf have opened a savings account for me. I have received Sumsi, the industrious bee. This is a savings box where I keep all the money which is given to me and I will save this for when I might need it.

In my last blog I also promised some pictures of my new playpen with my toy selection. I spend a couple of hours playing in the morning and then again a little longer in the afternoon. It is great to be in the middle of the living room with all my toys and close to Maman:

All the best,
Max