Maximilian

My holiday has unfortunately come to an end and I am back in London. I had a fantastic first Christmas in Belgium. Thank you everybody for the generous presents. I have received a playpen (fr: parc, de: Krabbelstube) from my parents which is now the home of all my new toys. I will show you some pictures of the playpen and my impressive toy collection tomorrow.

I would also like to wish all of you a happy new year. I spent a very relaxing New Year’s Eve – went to bed at about 21:00 and slept right through midnight. I don’t understand all the fuss. It is just another night. Papa asked me to be in good form for the morning to watch the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonics. The concert is great – I love the Danube Waltz but the Radetzky Marsch was a bit too fast for me this year – maybe I like it more next year.

I have some last photos from Belgium:

All the best,
Max

Three solid days of party have ended and I am exhausted. That is why I only manage to update all of you today. So let’s start from the beginning:

On Christmas Eve the whole Brassine family gathered at Jean Pierre’s house. There were a lot of people and I got a lot of presents. Thanks to everybody. I need to be very careful with Papa – he seems to like some of MY presents a little bit too much himself.

Christmas day was beautiful and sunny and we went to the park where lots of children played with their sledge. I am still a little bit too small for that but maybe next year I can try this as well. It looks like a lot of fun and I want to show to Maman how fast I am.

In the evening, we had dinner at Isabelle and Fred’s new house in the countryside outside Brussels. Fred’s family was there as well and some of them came from very far (Seattle in California). It was good fun and I got even more presents.

Yesterday on Boxing Day we stayed at home and a lot of friends came to see us. I also met some playmates in my age and I look forward to seeing them again. Again thank you so much for all the presents.

As always I attach some photos below:

My parents now call me snowmaker. They say wherever I go I bring at least 20cm of snow – even in places that don’t normally see that much snow like London or Brussels.

I didn’t tell them – but they are right. I just like white Christmas and so I try my best to have it. I really like Christmas. After lunch I was singing Austrian Christmas songs with Papa. We were singing “Leise rieselt der Schnee”, “O Tannenbaum”, “O du fröhliche”, “Vom Himmel hoch” and finally “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night). Did you know that Franz Xaver Gruber, the composer of Silent Night, was born on the same day as me (24 Nov) – just 223 years earlier.

I am now going to rest a bit because tonight we have the big Christmas party in Jean Pierre’s chapel.

Today was the big day. I was travelling abroad for the first time, taking the Eurostar to Brussels. There were some material disruptions to the Eurostar service in the last few days and I was a little bit nervous if everything would go fine…

According to Eurostar communications yesterday, a (close-to) normal train service was predicted for today. My parents were not so sure and we left our house two hours before departure. When we arrived at the train station things looked pretty normal. We cleared security and border control very smoothly. I hoped the French imigration officer would compliment my passport photo but no comment – I don’t like the French

Then train departed on time as well and the travel time was only slightly longer than 2 hours. The trees were going by so quickly and the whole landscape was beautiful and white.

Now I am in Mamy’s flat for the first time. Everything is very nicely prepared for me here. I have my own bath,  a car seat, a changing room and the beautiful Christmas tree. I am glad everything went so smooth and now I am really looking forward to meeting everybody tomorrow.

All the best

Max

A lot continues to go on in my early life. Last Friday, I really scared my parents for the first time. I developed a lump on the back of my head. My parents got very worried – so we went to the hospital. In fact, two hospitals: first back to St. Thomas’ where I was born and then to the Portland Hospital. Fortunately the diagnosis was harmless. Doctors say it is something called a cephalhaematoma (in German: Kephalhämatom = Bluterguss zwischen Schädelknochen und Kopfhaut) which should heal without medication or any other implications. I will go to the hospital again on Wednesday to have a scan which should confirm the diagnosis – just in case. 

At the same time, the weather conditions in London continue to be – well I would say normal for a winter. As you might guess it is not normal for the British. International travel is seriously disrupted and a lot of planes and trains got cancelled. I hope it does not delay my first trip to Belgium. I am really looking forward to meet all my friends and family in Brussels. My parents say my early arrival had to do with the fact that I wanted to witness the nice snow in London. I certainly enjoy it as you can see on the photos below.

I am having my first friends. They are not talking very much, but neither do I. But they are nice to touch and soft. And they look funny too. Here are some pictures with my friends. I will add some more pictures tomorrow.

As you all know there were some very important days in my early life this week.

Yesterday was Maman’s birthday. I gave her my first present and she liked it very much. In the evening, Papa took Maman out for dinner and they left me alone with Mamy. Mamy looked after me very well and I was really happy. I don’t mind if Papa takes Maman out more often as long as nice people look after me.

On Wednesday, I went to the Southwark Council Register Office together with my parents to collect my birth certificate. This provided the first official evidence that I really exist and that I have a proper name (not just Baby Lefebvre as they called me before). And today on Friday, 10 Dec I have received my first Austrian passport. It will be valid for 2 years and I can now travel into all countries of the world. I hope my parents will take me to some exciting places very soon.

To celebrate the receipt of my passport I have dressed up in a special way today. I will also host after work drinks in the City today and Papa has invited some colleagues from work and friends to join my celebrations.

Wearing Austrian colours to mark the special day

After the chill the last week temperatures were finally above zero again. So my parents and grandmother took me out of the flat. We went grocery shopping to Borough Market in my red max.mobil. There were so many people and different flavours – I really liked it. I hope my parents take me out more often.

In the meantime my appetite is becoming stronger and stronger. After having some difficulties in putting on weight in the first half of the week I am now gaining good weight again. My mother is providing delicious milk and she is so patient feeding me every 2-3 hours – even during the night. I am almost back to my birth weight and hope to grow much stronger over the next few days. My midwife came to see me on Wednesday and Friday this week and she was very happy with the progress. She will come again on Monday. I want to become as strong as my father one day and I want to be able to go to Belgium for Christmas so I can meet all my Belgian friends.

That brings me to the other important topic. I need a passport to travel to Belgium. My dad has kindly arranged everything for me and next week are some key administrative days in my early life. On Wednesday I should receive my birth certificate from the Southwark Council Registry Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will then need to officially legalise the document and I should receive it back with an apostille attached on Friday. And with that I should get my first passport from the Austrian embassy on Monday the week after next. I will keep you posted on my progress.

All the best,

Max.