Good News

On the 11th August, we took Zem to Westmead Children's hospital for a number of tests. These determined if he actually did have auditory nerves at all and whether cochlear implants would ever be an option for him. If not, then he would only ever communicate through sign.

We have been informed that Zem is profoundly deaf up to 105-110 Db. We also were told that he DOES have auditory nerves on each side. The brain picked up information from both nerves (although not as much as a normal nerve). This has led us to think that perhaps cochlear implants would be a good option for him.

The specialists we have seen seem to indicate that both implants would be provided at no expense to us or our health fund. We have suggested and they agree that both the implants be done at the same time. This makes it an eight hour procedure. We are confident that he will hear 'something', however, no one is sure whether the implants will allow him to hear speech.

He has another MRI on the 3rd of October with a view to have the operation in late October/early November. We would appreciate your prayers at this time as we pray for the Lord's guidance in our family's life.

Zem also received his 1 year immunisations yesterday. He will be going for his first ever haircut tonight.

We are hoping to turf the front yard before Zem's birthday. This is my first Father's Day coming up. I missed out on it by a few days last year. It has been a long year. But to be honest, I'm not sure if I want anything. Perhaps that will change over the years. It is still sad to say, but now able to be said that we had a miscarriage at the end of July. We are sad but also understand that, by the sounds of things, the pregnancy was going to be quite high-risk anyway. As always, we place our trust in God and in His timing.

Sharlene seems to be getting plenty of business for her tutoring. I have spent the last few weeks working solidly on our Year 4 programs for the school's accreditation that is coming up next term.

Sharlene is heading north in a couple of weeks, for Karen's wedding. She is looking forward to that.
But that is enough for now. Until next time.

Double figures for Zem

Zemmy is 10 months old and this is what he can do:

* He can now sit unsupported for 5-10 minutes at a time. (This is good because he has no balance nerves in his ears. He will be delayed in his crawling and walking).
* He can now sign. He can say his name, ask for milk, and ask for more food and also wave and clap. He claps when he is happy.
* He understands 'no', 'come'
* He can take food from a spoon or a fork.
* He enjoys feeding himself.
* He eats everything. We havn't found anything yet that he has refused.
* He talks to his toys using 'raspberry' language.
* He goes to everyone. There is only one person that he has cried with. Truely a communal baby, he gets passed around to everyone.
* He also vocalises more than most people expect him to. At 10 months, he should not be vocalising much at all and should be quite quiet, however, he actually continues to make voice noises regularly.

A quiz about Zem

How well do you know Zem?
Here is your chance to have some fun and maybe learn a little about Zemiel.
Enjoy!

1. What is my middle name?

Arthur
Kingsley
Lloyd
Hope



2. How heavy was I when I was born?

2.98 kg
5.23 kg
3 tonne
3.38 kg



3. What is the first thing that I signed?

Milk
Mummy
Daddy
Goat



4. What is the first sign that my daddy taught me?

To say daddy
To clap
To say bath
To say mummy



5. I go to school how many times during the week?

1
2
4
8



6. What is the name of my toy elephant?

Andrew
Murgatroyd
Ollie
Alowisches



7. Where is my favourite place to be?

In the garden
In my cot
On the lounge room floor
In the bath



8. What is my favourite thing to play with?

Electrical cords
Balls
Toilet rolls
The dog



9. What is my favourite food?

Lentils
Pumpkin
Cauliflower
Jelly beans



10. How many sleeps do I have each day?

10
5
3
1

Thanks for visiting our blog. Hope that was fun. Please leave your comments.

Zemiel turns 9 months old!

Some pictures for you.

Of chooks...

We have had our chooks now for about 1 week. And we have some photos, to help you visualize their position relative to our house.

A view from our back door.

A closer view - this time before we put black plastic covering the nest boxes.

This time with the black plastic to stop the rain falling on the nest boxes.

A view from the inside of the roost, ledge and nest boxes. Currently, the chooks are roosting inside the nextbox on the left. All three of them cram inside of an evening to keep warm.


Because Sharlene's brother Adrian helped us a lot on our back yard, we offered for him to name one of our chooks. Sharlene's 'Nancy' is the one in the foreground, my 'Penny' is in the background, and Adrian's 'Moo' is in the middle

Dan's an uncle again!

We received a phone call early Thursday morning (12th June) to let us know that Dan's sister, Bonnie has had a baby boy. They have called him Braden. Great news for Zem, who now has a new cousin.
There is exactly 9 months between them.

Zem's specialist appointment

Last week on Thursday we went into Sydney to meet up with Zem's new specialist Cathy Birman. Newcastle Hearing Clinic did not send her any information so she just looked at the MRI cd that we bought down and read the report from the other Ear Nose Throat Specialist. Just looking at the MRI, Cathy thinks that there is still a chance of having a cochlear implant in the right ear. To get a 'clearer picture' she has organised more tests for Zem to have. These include an ABR, electrical ABR and possibly another MRI as the machine and personal at Westmead Children's Hospital have more expertise in this area.

So what does this mean for us you may ask? We have to keep Zem wearing hearing aids as much as possible, more trips to Sydney and an unknown end of year/ next year. We will try to keep you up to date with appointment times so that you can pray for us.

A bit seedy...

Well, Shar and I have now got chooks to put in our new chook pen. We purchased 3 isa brown x new hampshire chickens at 12 weeks of age. They are a pretty brown. Shar's named hers Nancy. I recon I'll call one Penny and Adrian (Shar's brother) has decided to call one Moo. I'm not sure if that will impact on the chook's mental health. I hope it will not affect it's egg production. Diesel has so far adapted pretty well to having some feathered companions in the yard...hasn't tried to climb over or dig under to get to them...yet.

Shar and I bought some grass seed last week and spent some time today mixing it with some sand and sprinkling it throughout the back yard. It's called a parkland mix and should end up growing couch lawn. I still have some sand left to wheel around the back, but that can wait and I hope this seed takes hold. I should know in about a week. The rainy weather should give it a good start as well...if the dog doesn't dig up the whole yard.

Shar and I also went out and bought some polydrain today. Since all the rain down here, we have something of a moat in front of our house at the bottom of the hill. We need to do a bit of surgery on the current down pipes to ensure the water is going to run off correctly. Really it is the first bit of plumbing that we've ever had to do, though it should be loads of fun.



Zem is moving and rolling around the floor like a maniac. Such an active little man. An update on what happened with our most recent visit to Sydney will be posted in the next day or so.

Until then...

Zem's trip to Mackay

Here are some pics from my trip north:

Here I am with Poppy Brian.



And again...(I'm so cheeky)



Here I am with Nunna Patti. She's taking me for a ride around the back yard.





I got a visit from Pop Cole and Marilynn.



And I met some cousins!




It was so fun! I learnt to wave back to Nunna Patti. I played ball with Poppy Brian. I got cuddles from all sorts of people! I can't wait until next time...

Zem

Zem's first chick

Before Sharlene and Zem left to go north, Zem had his first experience with some chickens, a calf and a few other young farm animals. Zem reportedly wasn't too fussed about the chicken on his leg.