21 March

Max & I went to a Good Friday Brunch (thanks Shelley!). Had a great time catching up with lots of people we haven't seen in ages. Max got so tuckered out playing with everyone, he actually fell asleep lying on my leg! Never done that before. AND he actually stayed asleep despite being transferred to pram, then car seat! Bless.

18 March

Finally it looks like we're getting some more teeth! It has been a bit of a break between sessions, and so far, so good. Max also has his first cold - and is incredibly snotty, the poor wee thing. Strangely enough, we had some great nights, so maybe he was just extra-tired. Then came the massive, record-breaking heatwave here in Adelaide, and back came the bad nights. I think the heat did play a bit of a part, but the teeth were definately a factor for one or two nights, and the head cold for a few more. We will have to start working on this sleeping thing again now that the heat has passed (for a while?). We had another physio appointment - and this time he seems to have made some good progress. He was 'challenged' a bit with a new toy where he had to work out a bit of 'pressing buttons makes things happen' logic, and to our surprise, he actually managed to figure it out. He's crawling very well, managing the pulling-up onto furniture and getting back down pretty well, and is quite happy to push larger toys around the lounge - albeit a bit awkwardly as none of them are on wheels! Physio says that standing/walking could be a few months away yet - very hard to tell now. This past week was very busy - three 'first birthday' parties (Congratulations Kia, Jed & Mitchell!) over the weekend, and visits from Baba & Digo and Chocha Hush during the week. Max did very well overall, but, as always, much better when other people are around than when it's just him & me. I really want to get his room finished, and we have picked out a couple of bits of nice but basic furniture from Ikea, but my uni fees fell due, and so we put that project off for a while until the bank balance is a bit better. I'm hoping that I can sell the clothes and bits & pieces that have been donated for my 'Tiny Lives' Campaign this weekend at a local Easter car boot sale - some are larger bits of Max's (rocker, floor play mat, carry cot) and there are about six or seven tubs of clothes, so I really hope we can thin it right down and get some space back - and make some money at last! The latest Foundation newsletter shows one particular piece of equipment the NNU needs - a dedicated neonatal echo ultrasound probe. At the moment they have to use a probe built for a much larger child's body, and they can't press properly as it would hurt the baby. So, the readings aren't as accurate as they could be. A proper premmie probe costs around $17,850, and it's been on Flinders' wishlist for a while. I don't hold any hopes that we can raise that amount from a car boot sale, but maybe we can drop a little into the bucket. Max had several cardiac ultrasounds, and when his PDA was ligated, it was actually a lot larger than the surgeon was expecting. Maybe a more accurate screening would have enabled his doctors to have put him into surgery earlier, and helped his oxygenation at the same time.

16 March

BIG party weekend - Kia's First Birthday, Jed's First Birthday, Mitchell's First Birthday, Mama's (not first) Birthday. Just a couple of pics:

12 March

Max's 'due date' birthday. He's 12 months corrected today. To celebrate, he had a Milky Way bar - his only chocolate so far (and no more for a while, either!). He wasn't sure initially, but soon got into it.

11 March

Another little skill - this toy was given to him at Christmas, and up 'till now he hasn't been that interested - suddenly it's flavour of the month! It sings songs and talks when you push the various buttons, and Max loves pushing buttons. However, he prefers the on/off switch to all others, so we hear (in very quick, rapid succession) "Hello! I'm a..." "Bye, Bye!" "Hello! I'm a..." "Bye Bye!"...etc...

10 March

Just a few food pictures - Max with noodles, Max and more yoghurt (and subsequent bath), Max and gelati on a 39-degree day.

5 March

Tonight we went to visit the "Northern Lights" Exhibition on North Terrace - high-quality projections thrown up against the buildings there (museum, art gallery, Bonython Hall, University etc). Beautiful, and really well put together. Max just loved the fountains, though, and was ready to go home when they were switched off...

12 February

Photo only - Max after self-feeding - yoghurt, and very proud of it!