Now we are Two!

And boy, is he well and truly Two!
James is a full on, thriving, active little boy, but by crikey does he have an attitude on him. He knows what he wants, and generally it's what ever Cameron has, or what ever i don't want him to have. He is impressively good at football, t-ball and anything that involves balls (of the sporting variety)
He is finally keeping his implants on for the majority of the day, though guarentees to take them off on the trampline and in the car. He also seems to enjoy the chaos that follows him throwing them up over the fence at the back of the garden, or lobbing them somewhere and sitting back watching while we all search the ground for half an hour. I am beginning to think that the bright purple ones would have been a better option.
Appart from a rather perverse sense of humor, James is doing very well with his milestones. He has a new bike that he loves to ride everywhere (including over his sister) and has started doing some very cute imaginary play. He brought Milly's toy duck into the lounge a few days ago, and waved his hand in front of his face saying "Poo! Stinky", then fetched a nappy and tried to put it on the duck. He has started to play WITH Cameron, rather than annoy him (most of the time) and even has a little patience with Milly.
His signing is coming on in leaps and bounds, and is actually helping him to learn to speak better, really giving a hammering to the thoery that teaching children sign with hinder their speach. James will learn the sign for something first, and then within a week he will say the word for it. It's like it flicks a switch in his head by learning the sign, then the vocab follows. He is saying a lot more words now, though i think he is a little behind with his speach. The lovely one is "Tank oo Mum" when ever i give him something, or standing in the kitchen and signing and saying "Toast" then signing and saying "Wait" while it cooks. I love to see Cameron and James signing, as well as hearing the chatter coming out of the pair of them.
Cameron loves signing, and even comes up with his own signing 'jokes' which we have to dutifully laugh at, though usually involve things like 'I love to eat my shoe' He is already passing us in his conceptual signing, and keeps asking us the signs for things that we really don't know. We hear "Well you'll just have to ask Darryl at signing class then won't you!" a lot.

All in all, things are progressing very well. Our next big step is deciding what school we will be sending Cameron too, as i want them all at the same school, and also what a school that will be supportive of the few little extras that come with James. Apparently Paremata School is pretty good with the signing side of things, and i have even been talking to a couple who currently live in Auckland so their son can go to Kelson School, who are keen to try and set up a Bi-lingual class in one of the local schools here. I think that would rock for all the kids, as it will be main stream schooling, just bi-lingual, and i think so many kids would get heaps out of that. We will be working towards that with them over the next while.

That's all for now. I will try and be a little more on to it and update more often, but with three moving, full on kids time is at a premium. I'm lucky to get to pee during the day without company, let along get on the computer. But still, here's hoping...

Update at last!

Well, it's been an absolute age since i last updated James' blog, and a huge amount has happened since then.
I guess the latest news first. James had a visit from Joanne, his Habilitationist from Van Asch, last Friday, and it went so wonderfully well i just had to come on here and brag just a little. The best news was that he had no goals set for him, as he is right where he should be for his age. He is making a huge amount of noise all the time now (as anyone within a ten mile radius can vouch for) and can follow a massive number of instructions. He is also starting to talk, though he is good at doing it for Joanne and just laughing at me and John when we attempt to get him to say anything.
So far, his vocab consists of thank you, gentle, go, car, dog, Eddie (the cat), cuddle, down, Gaga (Grandma or Grandad), Daddy, Mum (but not to me. He says it when looking for me), more, Tutu (Cameron, or anything Cameron related) and a few others that i will remember later. He also signs light, down, finished and signing (as in, 'good signing')
Apparently, for a little boy not even 18 months old, this isn't bad at all. Cheeky little monkey was just messing with us all along!
Family related news - James now has a little sister, and is slowly getting used to not being the baby anymore. Emelia Rose was born just over two weeks ago, and is thriving despite being cuddled constantly by Cameron, and poked repeatedly and squealed at by James. There were a few teething problems in the first week, but we have discovered that if James is allowed free access to the baby (as long as he's not hurting her) then he is happy and pats her, then wonders away. I have also learned to feed her with James cuddled up under the other arm, and often Cameron too, so though its a little crowded, it's nice and warm too.
So all well, if pretty busy in the Whale household. Daddy is taking James to Van Asch next week, so hopefully all fantastic news from there too. I will try and get back here to let you all know.

Just a little note to say we have changed venue for James' birthday party.

It will be at Beanstalk Kindergarten, Duncan St, Tawa (Opposite Tawa College) same bat time, same bat channel.

This gives us a little more freedom if the weather goes bad, and more things to keep the little ones occupied while the big ones actually get to relax. (In theory)

On a different note, John and i started our sign-language classes last night, and had a real ball. It was wonderful, and amazing how quickly we could learn a lot. It's much easier to do the class than try and learn through books, and heaps of fun as well. We now know how to say our names, ask other's names, talk about teaching, learning, greetings, etc. And all from one class.

The boys are continuing to thrive, though we are having real trouble keeping James' implants on him at the moment. It seems to have become a habit to just immediately pull them off as soon as he has a free moment, or just if he wants some attention. He will pull them off and actually wave them at us as if to say 'Well? What are you going to do about it?' ARG!!! it's driving me mental! We have a few things to aim for before our next Van Asch visit, and i am starting to despair that we won't be able to do them because he spends more time swinging his implants around his head than actually wearing them. Toe-rag! And then he gives me that grin! Who'd have cute kids eh?

One Year On...

This is it! The big one!
James' First Birthday!!!
The little boy who wasn't supposed to last out his second day alive, who wasn't supposed to do the things other kids did, who would possibly never even crawl, let alone walk... well, look at him now! He is standing on his own, shouting all the sounds he can come up with, feeding himself, and beating up his big brother. (I didn't say they were all positives).
So we are having a party, because after all, any excuse is a good one! I would like to extend an invitation to family, friends, and all of you wonderful people who have helped us to get so far with both James' fundraising, and with a pretty hard year.
So... on Saturday the 7th March, at around 11am, we are having a picnic at Willowbank Park, Tawa. (On the proviso that the weather holds. If not, then i am not sure where we can all squeeze in. Will fill you in on that later). Please bring a plate of something, some cutlery and plates for your own family, and perhaps a blanket to sit on. We will bring a BBQ for those who want to get all flash and actually cook food. There is a kiddy playground there for the big and small children among us, as well as a big park to kick balls and play. We would really love to see you all there, and Thank you all for being the people you are.
Take care, and hope to see you all on James' birthday.

Belated Merry Christmas to all

Things have been pretty busy around here (funnily enough) over Christmas and with Cameron's third birthday. All is well though, the kids had a wonderful time throughout the Christmas week, and we even got to head away camping with the boys on Cameron's birthday, which was a real highlight.

A wee catch up, as a huge number of things happened all at once around christmas...

Firstly, HUGE thanks to the Sunrise Rotary Club. They applied for a grant on James' behalf, and got it, which added considerably to the funds.

Secondly, the Wainui Youth Group told us that they fundraised over $1200 from their concert! Absolutely amazing! You guys really are an incredible group of people.

Thirdly, thanks heaps to Ray from JagAir. His auction of a scienic flight over Queenstown, among other things, raised nearly $3000 for James' ears, and was an amazing donation.

And last but not least... We have been trying to get more information about funding through the government, thanks to a comment from a Little Treasures reporter who is writing a story on James. It turns out that the government funded both implants for a wee meningitus girl in Auckland, with pretty much exactly the same details as James. This led the Southern team down at Van Asch into a frenzy, trying to find out what was going on. And if this was the case, then what made this case special and other children not. This is still going on, and we too are writing to our new government to see what can be done. However, it led to the Southern Hearing Charitable Trust calling a few days before Christmas, and saying that though they can't write off our whole debt, they can halve it, in the interests of ensuring equality between the Northern and Southern groups.

So, just like that, we have all the money we need to pay off James' implant, and pay for the first upgrade needed in 5 years. ($10,000 every 5 to 7 years)

Suffice to say, it was a pretty Happy Christmas for us here.

Due to the sudden reduction of our debt, we also have a little money left over now, from the $25,000 it turns out we needed. We are very hopeful we can continue with a Charitable Trust set up by the Sunrise Rotary Club, and sometime in the future, help another Meningitic Child to get their second implant. If we can get something good for someone else through all this nightmare James has been through, then perhaps there can be a positive in this after all.

Have a wonderful new year everyone.

Wainui City Life Church Youth Group Concert

We had a wonderful night out on Saturday night at a concert organised by the Youth Group of the Wainui City Life Church. This wonderful group of young people completely planned, organised, ran, and performed in a concert to raise funds for James' implants.

It was a great night, with all the Hutt Youth groups taking part and performing songs, dances or musical peices. It absolutely ROCKED!!!

Cameron had the time of his life dancing away, and we literally had to drag him out well past his bed time to head home. It was so wonderful to see such a motivated and caring group of people going out of their way to help someone else. The world needs more people like you!

So thanks heaps to the Wainui Youth Group, and all their helpers and family and friends, for a wonderful night.

Yay for James and Yay for the Lions Club!

Some more great news...

First of all, James and i went back down to Christchurch last Wednesday to see the lovely people at Van Asch, and all went so wonderfully well that Joanne didn't see any need to set more goals for James, as he is exactly where he should be for his age! He is even a little ahead in some things (brag brag brag!!!) and, God help us, is crawling! Cameron is totally unimpressed with this, as James now follows him everywhere, and wants to play with what ever Cameron is playing with. It's very cute to watch, but i know first hand just how annoying little brothers are, so can sympathise. (Sorry Alex, but it's true!)

Secondly, i met with two of the lovely gentlemen from the Tawa Lions Club this morning, and they had the most fantastic news - they applied for a grant from a Lions NZ Charitable Trust (and i can't remember the name - will try and find out) and they got it! The whole $6000. of it! This, along with all the amazing work the local Lions have been doing, means that they have fund raised almost ten thousand dollars so far, and are still going! They are a totally amazing group of people!

Which brings me to the last note. The Lions are doing a fundraiser here in Porirua on the 10th of December. It is a movie night at the Reading Cinema, Porirua. Tickets are $20 each, with spot prizes, lucky tickets etc. All the money raised goes straight to James. And the movie? Well James Bond of course! The latest installment of the 007 movies 'Quantum of Solace', which should be a fantastic movie. I will e-mail everyone as well, but please tell everyone you know. It's a great excuse for a night out for those like us who are stay at home nana's, and as i said, all the money raised goes to James.