Ki @ two weeks

We have been blessed to have had our new baby now for two week and two days. He has been a fantastic addition to the family. He has put on weight and is now 3.9 kilos. He is great during the day for Sharlene but does have a 'witching hour' during the night, where he is very unsettled and windy. When this is over he sleeps well again.

Zemiel and Azariah adore their little brother. They still try to pick him up at opportune moments. Their first thought in the morning isn't 'where is mum' anymore, but rather 'where's Ki'. We have even noticed an improvement in Zem and Riah's playing behaviour, in that they are getting along better. Of both of them, Azi is having the most trouble adjusting. He has been supplanted as the baby and he has regressed a little. He wants to be picked up and cuddled, calling himself the 'big baby'.

Sharlene has spent a total of 3 days at home in the last 15 days, so it really is 'business as usual' from her point of view.

Comparisons

So...Sharlene and I were curious who Zekiah is most similar to. So we thought that we would look back on our blog photos and get some perspective.

This is Zemiel in his first week.

Azariah, also in the first few days.

Zekiah at four days.

There you have it. A look into the future perhaps? See any similarities? Let us know what you think.

Meet Zekiah David Cole

Zekiah's been with us for a couple of days now. We came home at 8:00 pm on Thursday night and he slept the night beside us. I had to work on Friday, so I took Zemiel with me and Azariah stayed with Nana for the day. Sharlene got to spend the day recovering and relaxing. The boys didn't see the new baby until Thursday night. We decided that we would have a nice birthday party for him. So we all sang happy birthday and ate pizza.
The boys loved Zekiah from the beginning. Generally, they have been very gentle. Azariah has already tried to cover (smother) him with bubble wrap and walk the pram out the door (and down the hill onto the road). Zemiel has been quite protective too, by not allowing the dog to get close to the baby or the pram.
We've had visitors this afternoon and a barbecue tonight already, so a lot of our family and friends have already seen him.
The jury is still out concerning who he looks like. However, it does look like his eyes might be the same colour as Zemiel's.

This picture is of Zekiah just before we left the birthing centre. Approx. 5 hours old.

 This picture was taken Friday morning. Approx. 16 hours old.

Meet new Baby Cole

Today a new baby boy joined our family. The little fellow was born at 12 minutes past 3 this afternoon. He weighed 8 pound 1 ounce or 3.67 kilograms. He is 52cm in length with a head circumference of 34cm.
It was a fast labour, lasting about an hour and a half. After coming home from work, and then dropping the kids off to Nana's place, we made it to the birthing centre with about 20 minutes to spare! Sharlene had a water birth and I delivered him, which was a lovely experience. He attached and fed well from the start. All testing so far looks great, and Sharlene is going very well.
And here's the big reveal...

Azariah has had a Birthday Too!

I was just looking back on the time that had passed and realised that I hadn't put up any pictures of Azariah's birthday this year! Well, I ought to remedy that right away.

Riah's second birthday was held at Big Camp in Townsville. I had only just started my new job at the Early Learning Centre a week or so before, but I took the day off to travel up and celebrate it as I had originally planned. Sharlene and I designed his cake the week before. Azariah at the time (and still does really) had a thing for backhoe loaders, or 'backhoe lo-oa-ders' according to him. The cake design was that of a backhoe loader, cut and iced by us at camp. It was great fun to make and was good to have some friends around to celebrate with us.

Pictures....yes, of course. Here they are.
The cake...

The guests...

The spoils...

The fun and games...

Zemiel's Birthday

Zem turned four this week and although we didn't celebrate in grandiose style, we did have a party none the less. On Sunday, Sharlene and I made a number 4 cake. It had solid chocolate topping with road markings drawn out of icing and tic-tacs. I made some little cars from smarties and strawberry creams. Zemiel has been coming to kindy with me for the last few weeks on Monday, and so was able to share the occasion with his friends there as well. Sharlene made some cup cakes for him to share. He has been super excited about his birthday, calling it his 'happy day' and wanting to blow candles out all week.

Sports Day at CACC

On Friday we held our annual sports carnival. It was a beautiful morning. This was a relief because the previous week had been rain, drizzle and cold. Our kindy group joined in for the first hour and a half. We did some tunnel ball, ball passing, running races and a lolly run. We themed the week after superheroes, and so dressed up as superheroes on the sports day. It added a lot of fun to the carnival atmosphere. All the ELC kids received a medal after their race.

Back Online

We're back again, after a significant hiatus without internet or home phone. The reason for the hiatus is that we've recently moved house. The reason that we have moved house is that I have a new job. The reason I have a new job is because Sharlene finished her old one.

So, now we're kind of organised again. We have moved to Mackay. I am working as the Group Leader/Director of the Early Learning Centre at Carlisle Adventist Christian College. There's plenty of work to do there but it is also a lot of fun. I have a great team working with me. Zemiel has started attending once a week and is improving his social skills. He also goes to the Early Intervention Program twice a week. His talking has become clearer and he is also talking in longer sentences now. He is even starting to experiment with the words he's learnt. Azariah continues to impress us with his clarity and vocabulary.

Sharlene now has roughly 5 weeks to go in her pregnancy. We still don't know what gender the bub is.
She is enjoying the change from work and looking after the boys at home. Although she doesn't get to relax too much, she has easier days than working full time. She has also done a little relief at CACC over the past couple of weeks to help out our budget.

Anyway, it's time to go now. Hope your day is pleasant.

Car Upgrade

It's time to break radio silence. Zemiel and I have grown closer over the last few weeks while we were spending so much time together in New South Wales. We spent a day at CCAS catching up with past students and friends. We also attended a few playgroups with Leia and Becky.

I am greatly indebted to Ben and Becky for letting me stay at their place for (what ended up being) a week, and also to Sue and Glynn who let me housesit for few more days until our car loan was ready. Gaining said loan was really a comedy of errors. Between misunderstandings, delays, signing and faxing pages and a lot of phone calls made to the bank, we finally got our approval on Tuesday 24th May. I picked up the car on the Wednesday and started on the way home and arrived in Bowen on Saturday night. It sounds shorter than it really was, however, when the original plan was to be away for two weeks and that time doubles to 4, it takes its toll.

We believe, however, that the time away was used by God. For example, Zemiel has come back from the trip verbally expressing himself so much more than before. I've had a number of comments on how much he is now talking compared to the beginning of this year. He is also joining in with action songs and singing along. He is also sitting better for stories.

While we were away, Zem and I practiced a lot of remembering the events of the day and last night it all paid off. Yesterday, we went to the beach for a few hours and the boys swam and played at the park. At one point, we were eating lunch and a seagull landed on a post nearby, calling for food. Azariah took his piece of mandarin, walked over to the bird and reached up to offer it on his hand. The seagull refused and flew away. But that was the story that Zem retold us last night. It was a real break-through for us, as Zemiel has not told many stories. He continued to tell the story several times, adding more detail each time.

Azariah also has moved forward while Zem and I were gone. He spent a lot of his time with some family friends who also have little children. His spoken language and vocabulary has become quite outstanding. He helps with vacuuming the house and doing the laundry.

Trip to RIDBC in Sydney

One week ago, Zemiel and I left to come to Sydney and to spend some time in the preschools at the RIDBC to see what Zemiel responds well with. We hoped to get some idea of whether we focus on sign during his education or speech. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there have been mixed results for both preschool environments with significant advantages presented in each. So I fear that I may be no nearer a final decision than before. In any case, it enabled his teacher of the deaf to observe him and helped her to identify some strategies for working with him. Sydney has turned down the temperature! Even the locals are feeling the cold and it seems that it might be an early winter.

Here's Zem with some of his new warm clothes:

We stayed at the RIDBC in North Rocks for a a week and enjoyed the change of scenery and activities. Zemiel really enjoyed sorting out certain transport toys into their colour groups or vehicle types (sometimes both). Here's a pic of one of his sorting efforts.

We also set about to recreate a lego/duplo farm scene. Below are a picture of the original card and our effort.

I originally planned to pick up our new car from Sydney and drive home, but the top up loan for our house that we originally planned for has taken longer than expected to organise and so we are staying at Adrian's place for a couple of nights. I feel very blessed that Zem and I get to spend some extra time with him before he leaves for America.

Today, Zem and I went to the Australian Museum and stopped on the way at the ANZAC memorial. We had a blast all day. The displays were: Skeletons, Dinosaurs, Indigenous Australians, Chapman Mineral Collection, Gem Stones, Birds and Insects, Surviving Australia, Kidspace, Search and Discover, and Birds of Paradise. Of these, Zem loved the Birds of Paradise the best and closely followed by Birds and Insects and Surviving Australia displays. Kidspace was also a big hit with him. The mineral and gemstone displays were of little consequence to him and we spent about 3 collective minutes (out of about 5 hours) in both displays.

Here are a few photos taken from the day:

This fellow had all the birds attention.

The ANZAC memorial.

Seagulls living the good life.

Inside the museum, there was so much to see.

These blocks were cut by the original convicts. Each convict had their own particular pick mark 'signature' so their overseer could keep track of their daily quota.

Zemiel pointing out a starfish.

Zemiel showing me a butterfly.

The museum had a section for kids five and under. Here, Zem is getting excited over a funnel web spider under a large magnifying glass.

Still in the little kids area, Zemiel cheers as he completes a puzzle.

The entire museum boasted an amazing array of preserved animals. Here are only a few.

 I can't begin to imagine how many children must have patted this wombat. It is looking a bit threadbare.

One last thing, that we saw on the way out, was a huge sperm whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling in the foyer.