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Saturday 25th July, 2009

School holidays are over and things are nearly back to normal.
Both Micah and Keilee had their birthday's over the holidays. Can you believe Micah is now 9 and Keilee 6? Doesn't the time fly.
We had a great holiday in chilly Tasmania, visiting my mum and fitting in as much site seeing as possible.
Micah continues to do well at school and has begun guitar lessons as of last term.
He had his Yearly blood test on Friday and we look forward to great results.
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings
Mel

Friday, October 26, 2007 9.40pm

It's becoming an all too familiar beginning... I know it's been ages.

Micah is doing so well.

We have had two hospital check ups since I last wrote. One was his oncology appt at Mater Children’s. All is great and we will be back in ….. 12 months!!!

The second was day surgery. Not so great but gave us the results we were looking for. It was thought that Micah wasn’t producing growth hormone and was not growing. He is very short for his age and has not yet made it onto the “normal” height/weight chart.

The good news was that he is producing growth hormone. The other news is that if he doesn’t grow and gain weight he may need a little help. It has been suggested that if there is no improvement by November we seek to apply for a grant ($10,000) to start him on growth hormone. This means daily epi pen injections. At his present growth rate he has the predicted height of 160cm when fully grown. One hormone he may be able to get an extra 10cm.

Initially his height was not a major concern. He is so cute. But he is now 7 and over being cute. He actually hates being called cute and is becoming quite conscious of his lack of height. He is about the size of a normal 5 year old. It is because of his concerns and self esteem that we are considering the hormones. It’s early days yet.

With that all aside it’s been go, go, go.

School holidays are now over and it’s back to school for Micah, Kindy for Keilee, Work and study for Stef and I.

The kids have had so much on lately. I’ve updated the photo’s for you to check out their latest adventures.

I’d love to share more but I should be doing an assignment. Only 2 more subjects for the year for me.

I really hope update you again soon.

Blessings
Mel

Thursday, July 19, 2007 9.45pm

Finally I have a few minutes to catch you up.

Our Tassie trip was great. Micah’s biggest desire was to see snow and on the last day WE DID! We had a snow fight and Stefan showed us all how to make REAL snowballs. Being from Germany he had a lot more experience in that area.

While in Tassie we visited the monkeys in the park at Launceston, ventured on several short bush walks and views several beautiful waterfalls, collected shells at the beach, went pony riding at the markets, visited a bee farm and went on many lengthy scenic car trips.

The kids were thrilled to see their Nanny and Pa, it’s been about 10 months since Nanny visited.

Our trip home from Tassie ended with Micah’s check up at Mater Hospital in Brisbane. Just a routine check up and a not so nice blood test. After a day of flying Micah and I headed from our motel for a blood test before dinner, he was fine until he saw the needle and then he freaked out. He thinks the needles at the hospital are sharper than the ones here in Toowoomba and hurt more. It may be that he has had so many port accesses (needles) in Brisbane that he relates those to routine blood tests. Anyway after tears and having to hold him down, it was over.

The next day was Micah’s two appointments: Oncology and Endocrinology. In between we met with Da for the traditional Lime malted milkshake and a play at the playground at Southbank. The kids look forward to their milkshake every time we meet Da in Brisbane.

Micah’s bloods are all good and within the normal range.

The Good News: Micah doesn’t have another oncology check up for 12 months!!
The not so great news: He is due back at Mater for day surgery for an endocrinology test. Nothing major but still not pleasant.

The Endocrinologist is a little concerned that Micah isn’t growing at the rate he should. He is now 7 and weighs 18 kilos and is 110.3 cm tall. Not a large boy by any means.

We are not overly concerned, but will be pleased to receive the results of the test to see that he is producing the right amount of growth hormones.

This weekend we are having a scrap booking birthday party for Micah. He turned 7 the day after we got home from Brisbane.

It’s been a really busy time for us, with Keilee turning 4, Stef and his Uni, Me with Work, Study and family and Micah with school and footy.

Thanks to those who have signed our guestbook, it’s so great to hear from you.

I hope to update again soon.

Blessings

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 8.11am

Journal is in the process of being updated. Please feel free to check out the previous entries. The photos are new.
The new update should be on soon. Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to sign Micah's guestbook.
Blessings
Mel

Sunday 15th, April 2007 2.51pm

We hope you all had a lovely Easter. Our chocolate supply will probably last us many months to come.

EASTER
We had a lovely Easter with Oma and Jenny staying for the long weekend. The children were thoroughly spoilt (as usual) with the highlight being our traditional Easter egg hunt. As usual there were many, MANY eggs to be found, and we were still discovering lost eggs days later.

We also had a treasure hunt with clues that eventually led to a cupboard full of Easter gifts from family. I spent the evening before planting all the clues.

I (Mel) worked over the long weekend at the AGMF (Australian Gospel Music Festival). It was a chance to earn a few extra dollars. Now that Stef and I are both students every extra bit helps. I was home for all the important events.

STEFAN
In May and into June Stefan will be leaving us for 3 weeks to do the practical part of his Uni course, teaching in a rural location. He will be teaching in Mitchell which is about 6 hours from us. It will be interesting to see how things go with dad being away for this amount of time. Boy am I going to have to be organised with school, footy Sat & training Wed, Kindy as well as working at school and at my nanny job. Life will never be dull. 

KEILEE
Keilee has been her usual adventurous self. Lately she has wanted to be a little more hands on in helping me with “mummy jobs” such as cooking and house work. Although I am happy for the assistance it usually ends up taking twice as long. I can sense some mums out there smiling to themselves.

MICAH
School is much the same. He continues to do well.
He had his first ever school disco a few weeks ago. It was set to finish at 9pm at which I thought he would never last, due to the fact that he goes to bed about 7 each night. He and his dad got home just before 9! He had such a great time watching the music clips on the screen and running about with all his friends.
Stefan went along as a parent/supervisor so that he could keep an eye on Micah and bring him home when he was tired. Micah can’t wait for the next one.

Saturday was Micah’s second footy game for the season. He got his very first goal. We were all so proud. He has come a long way from last year when he would often be seen swinging on the goal post or wearing a witches hat (field marker) on his head.

His next hospital visit is July 10th (the day before his 7th Birthday). We will be in Brisbane over night, so if any of our Mater friends are going to be there please let us know; we’d love to catch up.

Micah continues to enjoy his Gifted and Talented activities. Next week they are doing mathematical puzzles. He is very excited as he loves anything mathematical. I really think that him being on Glyconutrients as well as taking fish oil has contributed to him being so analytical as well as being able to concentrate for long periods of time.

UPCOMMING TASMANIA TRIP
It is with much excitement and anticipation that I tell you of our upcoming trip to Tasmania. We were there 2 years ago thanks to “Make a Wish” and are very much looking forward to going back.
My mum and step dad have very generously paid for our airfares, and so on June 30 we fly off to spend just over a week in Tassie. We arrive back in Brisbane in time for Micah’s hospital check up the next day.

June in Tasmania is very cold and Micah very much wants to see snow for the first time. Although the temperatures last time we were there went below 0˚C we still didn’t have snow. Maybe this time, we are praying so.

I’m supposed to be doing an assignment, so I will head off for now.

Blessings
Melanie

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 8.45pm

Can you believe its March already? Believe me it’s all happening.

MICAH
He loves his new school. Being the social butterfly, he had no problems making new friends and fitting in. His grades are excellent and he loves having a different teacher for music, sport and Religious Ed. His teacher Miss Brown is lovely and always greets me with encouragement. We just have to work on getting Micah’s listening ears working he loves to have a chat when he should be listening.

AFL (Australian Football League) training begins again tomorrow after the summer break. This year he will actually fit into the smallest uniform unlike last year when it was too big. This is a very encouraging sign that he is growing.

KEILEE
She is growing into a little girl every day, only a hint of my baby girl remains. Next year she will be at BIG school with Micah.
She is currently going through a puzzle fad, where she will spend ages sitting putting together every puzzle in her room.
She loves playing with her guinea pig Jo. Micah’s guinea pig is George. By the way they are both girl guinea pigs

MUM (me)
With the beginning of the New Year I got to thinking about the future. My baby going to school next year and missing Micah too much already, what could I do? I know I’ll get a job at Micah’s school.
I have now begun studies at TAFE to become an Education Assistant (Teachers Aid) and have gained 1 days paid work and volunteer 1 day a week at Micah’s school.
I am working in the Special Education Unit with children that have disabilities and love every minute of it. I get school holidays off to spend with the family and work school hours. It has worked out so well.
Micah and I have tuck shop lunch together once a week and that time is special. I am making the best of him not being too embarrassed to be seen with mum.

STEFAN
Today is Stefan’s first day back at Uni and so things are starting to get back to normal. He did really well with his summer course and is very excited about doing his environmental studies this year.

FAMILY OUTING
Last week we gave Micah the day off school and travelled down to the Gold Coast to Wet n Wild water park. We all had a wonderful time watching the children on various rides and having fun in the water. Oma and Jenny spoilt us with the tickets as well as dinner that night at Nandos. It was a huge day and we all slept soundly that night.

Feel free to check out our new photos.

I hope to update you all again soon.
Blessings

Sunday, January 14 2007 10.15am

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

As another year begins so does a new season in our lives.

MICAH
Micah starts a new school this year. Due to Micah¡¦s insatiable desire to learn we have decided that the state school down the road has more to offer him than the small Christian School that takes us 30 mins a day to travel to and from. Not that the Christian school wasn¡¦t lovely (and costly) but this change betters us all in many areas. Micah is very excited about the move. It will be very different to his old school. For one thing his entire year 2 at the new school is the same size as his whole school from last year.

Yesterday Micah finally took off the training wheels on his bike. He has been so timid in doing this, but with a gentle prompting from dad and the bribery of chocolate all went well. Yes there were many ¡§stacks¡¨ but the grass is soft and the trampoline paddedƒº.
Needless to say there are a few bruises today. Praise God we don¡¦t have to worry about platelets anymore.

The school holiday have been packed. Micah has been very keen to participate in the local holiday club activities. He¡¦s been rock-climbing, roller-skating, to the movies and to some great parks.

HOSPITAL VISIT
Our visit to Mater Hospital at the end of the year was great!! All is very good. His bloods are perfect! The only negative was that the endocrinologist would like Micah to put on a bit of weight. He is below every percentile and so we need to get him back on the chart. We are not sure why he is so skinny but he¡¦s healthy and that¡¦s the main thing.

We had the usual overnight stay in the motel and met Da (his grandfather) for lunch. It was a big day with two separate appointments and we didn¡¦t get to spend as much time with Da as we would have liked. Da took Keilee while we had Micah¡¦s appointments which was very helpful.

KEILEE
Mmm Keilee? Well today Keilee thought she could fly:). She moved the play gym about a metre away from the trampoline and¡K you guessed it, JUMPED! Needless to say she missed and hurt her shins. Nothing that a pineapple and coconut ice block couldn¡¦t fix.

Keilee is loving chlildcare at the moment. Her best friend Cate has just started and she can¡¦t wait to go. Every morning she asks if its Kindy day. She goes 3 days a week.

Keilee is also riding her bike, with training wheels. I took the two of them to the bike park last week. Keilee has no fear. I think she needs a little more practice with the brakes though. Even before she had ridden her bike into the park she had run into a tree and then the fence.

Keilee keeps us on our toes and continually entertained.

MUM & DAD
Well as for Stefan and myself, same ¡¥ol.

Stefan is still studying Education at University. He has been doing an extra subject over the holidays, so we haven¡¦t quite had his full attention.

I am still working at the children¡¦s clothing store ¡§Pumpkin Patch¡¨. I love the work but as is in most situations there are a few personality challenges. But hey I can work beyond that. My hours have been all over the place these holiday¡¦s but I look forward to getting back to my 2 days. My boss really wants me to work more days but at the moment I am enjoying being a mum and don¡¦t wish to miss anything with my little darlings. Sappy I know. They just grow up way too fast.

On that note I¡¦ll finish. I pray you all have a wonderful new year with much happiness and health.

Blessings

Friday, November 24, 2006 3.08pm

Yes we are back.(thanks again Ali) Boy it¡¦s been a while, sorry about that.

Now let me see???

Micah had his routine blood test today. After the initial resistance all went well. We are just waiting for the results. We¡¦re pretty confidant all is good.

Our next appointment at Mater Hospital is December 5. The ritual lime malted milkshake with Da at South Bank and an overnight stay and then back home. You know¡K same ol¡¦ same ol¡¦.

I am now working at pumpkin patch and despite the odd assault by shoplifters all is good there.

Micah is changing schools next year to state school that is just down the road. We all went for a tour a few weeks ago and although we were not dead set thrilled we definitely were not apposed. It seems like a pretty good school and has a positive reputation. This will mean that we can walk Micah to school and also that Stef is keen to get involved with the sports program when he¡¦s not at Uni. Many positives. Have I convinced myself yet? Mmmm not sure.

With the hot weather the children have commenced swimming lessons. It¡¦s a shame that Micah has forgotten everything he had learned prior to his hospitalisation. Now that his port is out it only seems natural that we begin again. Keilee is enjoying her lessons very much ,although she is a little timid.

With the silly season approaching things only get more hectic. Christmas Parties galore as well as relo bashes and catching up with friends, not to mention more work for me at Pumpkin Patch. Micah¡¦s school finishes a week earlier than most, you know the story regarding private schools; you pay more and get less ƒº. We have our mothers group christmas party Dec 10.

After that we have December birthdays, Mine & my sister Mandi¡¦s Dec 15, my brother in laws 24th, and Stefan¡¦s 27th But we shouldn¡¦t forget the most important birthday of all JESUS.

If I don¡¦t get back before Christmas, may you all have a wonderful time making memories for years to come.

Feel free to check out the lates photos and don't forget to sign our guestbook, we love hearing from you.

Many blessings

Wednesday Sept, 2006 8.48

Sorry for delays in update. We are really busy.

Off to see Colin Buchanan in 20 minutes, so I hope to catch you soon.

Blessings.

Saturday, July 29, 2006 10.38

As usual life is very busy, so I will try very hard to condense the latest.

Keilee and Micah’s purple party was fun. It was a little tainted by the fact that both the children, especially Keilee hadn’t been well. There is some sort of flu thing going around and it has really knocked us all about. All is well again now.

After the party we had the surprise arrival (to Micah & Keilee) of Nanny, Pa (from Tassie) and Nanna (from Sydney). It was the first time Nanna (my grandmother) had visited our new home in Toowoomba. It was so great to see them all. The kids were still not 100nd unfortunately sent Nanna home unwell. I felt pretty bad that she got sick too, but there really wasn’t much I could do.

The day after our visitors left was our hospital visit. Micah firstly had his oncology appointment. As expected his white cells were up but everything else was GREAT!!! We had the pleasure of meeting up with one of our favourite 8 East families who had been with us from the start. Joseph and his mum Jenny. It was so great to see them, I was so excited to catch up and then my heart sank as Jenny told me of Josephs relapse. He had finished treatment and was in remission for all of 2 weeks. 3 years of treatment and now they are back to where they started, even worse. It makes my heart ache when I think of all they are going through. Please pray for them, they are truly a wonderful family and have shown much kindness and friendship to our family.

Dad came and met us at the hospital and took Keilee out for a ferry ride while we went on to our next appointment.

After our Oncology appointment we headed over for Micah’s endocrinology appointment. Stef’s mum met up with us there. After measuring "everything" all seemed to be good. We are still awaiting final test results. Micah was about 9 months behind in growth last visit; things are starting to catch up this time. We actually made it onto the chart into the 3rd (the lowest) percentile.

Later that evening we were invited by Stef’s mum (Oma) for a lovely dinner at Southbank and then walked her to the train station for her trip home. Although it was a hospital visit it was a very pleasant visit to Brisbane. We drove home to Toowoomba the next day after a morning in the city.

Apart from that things are pretty normal. Micah is doing very well at school and we are approaching Micah’s last AFL game for the season.

Next weekend we are very excited about another brief visit from Nanny (Tasmainia) and AUNTY MANDI and cousin DANIEL(Sydney)!!

Until next time,
Blessings.

Saturday June 17, 2006 10.57am

Fire Dancers, helicopter rides, the balloon king, Harley rides, jumping castles, Han gliders, vintage car rides, Santa and lots of presents. This very briefly describes our incredible Christmas in the Mountains stay a last week. Thanks to Zonta and Make a Wish we had the most incredible 2 ½ day away at Mt Tambourine. Believe it or not the above mentioned is only some of the incredible things we did and all in 2 ½ days.

Micah and Keilee were totally spoilt. We enjoyed getting away from the same ‘ol and meeting some incredible families. Big kisses to darling Gia and a big hi to Lee, two of the amazing kids we met.

We also had a beautiful lunch at a place called Songbirds and travelled there by an English double decked bus. Of course we sat up the top at the front.

I can’t praise the organiser Vanessa from Zonta enough. There was so much going on all the time and to co-ordinate it like she did took real skill. I could tell things were a little frazzled at times, yet she kept her cool and kept things under control. Thanks again Zonta and Robbie from Make a Wish.

Micah’s footy is getting better each week. We’ve gone from swinging on the goal posts, wearing the witches’ hats and hanging off the opposition players, to getting fully involved and marking and kicking. Micah is really improving each week. He loves training because they get to play “stuck in the mud” even though by the afternoon it is freezing. Good thing he has a devoted dad shivering on the side line.

Keilee’s 3rd birthday is coming up in at the end of the month (June 26th), and Micah’s is 15 days later (July 11th). We have so much planned. Oma and Jenny from the Gold Coast are coming up for Keilee’s birthday and staying the night. They bought her a bike with training wheels and lucky Stef gets to put it together the night before.

The children are having a combined PURPLE party at scallywags, a kids play gym. Next is a surprise visit from Nanny and Pa from Tasmania and Nanna (my grandmother) from Sydney. They are staying for 3 days.

Somewhere in there we are trying to organise a visit from Da and Merci from Brisbane.

After that…..

Micah has his next hospital appointment July 18. The first appointment is his oncology visit to Dr Leslie at 8 East, then we go directly to his endocrinology appointment at Mater also. After a big day we plan to stay the night and travel back to Toowoomba the next day. We are hoping Da will be able to join us for the traditional lime malted milkshake on our visit to Brisbane.

I must go as Stef needs to study for Uni exams.

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to check out the latest photos.

Blessings.

Monday, April 17, 2006 1.45 pm

An email from my friend Allison has prompted me to get my act together and take some time out to update Micah’s page. Sorry it’s been a while. Thanks Al.

Now where to begin..?

EASTER!! We hope you all had a lovely Easter, we did.

We are currently having a lazyish day after much excitement and adventures. Stef and I did go to the gym this morning though.

The Australian Gospel Music festival has just come to an end and with Jared (Micah’s step brother) Oma and Jenny staying with us Easter has been HUGE.

Micah was really blessed and had the opportunity to meet one the biggest and best, in my opinion, Christian bands around…NEWSBOYS!!! After being escorted to the front of a very long line we waited 1 ½ hours for the Newsboys to appear. Once they finally arrived and were interviewed on stage, and then Micah was escorted into the tent to meet the boys. They were all really nice, but the whole experience was very rushed. I did manage to get a photo of Micah with Phil Joel the bass player. Later that evening I was able to visit the Newsboys in the “green room” before their concert, and get Phil to sign the photo that I had taken earlier that day.

Jared and I moshed down the front of the Newsboys concert and after a fantastic show and an excellent message from Peter Furler Jared and I headed to the Café to hear and see more amazing talent. The AGMF was a great experience and we are already looking forward to next year.

Micah was way too tired to stay up for the Newsboys concert but I think he enjoyed the rest of the AGMF especially the rides.

Easter Sunday began with a HUGE Egg hunt. Our lovely elderly neighbours traditionally watched the hunt over the fence as the two littlies raced frantically around the yard trying to find as many eggs as possible. Keilee’s bag got so full that she could hardly carry it. Jared hid a few tricky ones for Micah this year, one of which we discovered hours later after the hunt had finished.

The littlies also got blessed with gifts. Micah got a book called “Egyptology” that excited him immensely as well a dinosaur colouring in book. Keilee got a heap of “my little pony stuff. Even I got spoilt with a new cutter for scrapbooking. I can’t wait to use it for the first time tonight.



Micah’s health has been pretty good. He did however have a fever last week that resulted in a rash. Although this is perfectly normal we are always wary. We got some excellent cream from Mannatech that healed the rash really well called Emprizone. I highly recommend it.

We received a letter from the hospital to say that they are concerned with Micah’s lack of growth and that he has an appointment with the endocrinology department of Mater Hospital in July. He is currently just over 1 metre tall and will be 6 in July. He is growing just really slowly. We are believing for a growth spurt before July.

Micah has his first footy game this weekend. I think it will be so cute. He is so small compared to the other kids in his under 8’s team. He has really been enjoying training and now Stef (his dad) is helping coach. I think that Micah is quietly chuffed that dad is involved.

Micah leaves tonight to spend a few days on the Gold Coast with Oma and Jenny. He comes home just in time for his friend Danielle’s party and his first footy game. I think Keilee will really miss him, me too of course.

Other general news:

Keilee has finally stopped sucking her fingers, and about time too. It ended when I had to tape up one of her fingers as the quick on the side had gone and it bled often. After about a week it was all good. I still catch her when she is really tired of an evening and fast asleep. I take them out with very little resistance.

As for me, I’ve just gone back to work. I am working as a merchandiser 3 days a week. Not my ideal job but it’s something I can do and the hours are incredibly flexible which is great with a young family.

Gotta go and pack Micah’s bag.

Feel free to check out the new photos. I try to update them with each new entry.

Blessings
Mel

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 1.48pm

As usual the time has flown. Like most of the general population life is busy.

Firstly many of you may have been awaiting Micah¡¦s latest results. He had his blood test here in Toowoomba and the results were sent to Mater hospital. This is the first time his veins have been able to handle a needle. The last attempts his veins collapsed. I was so proud of him, hardly a word and no tears, which is good for me too.

The results are¡K.. Best EVER!! Not a single thing showed up as abnormal in his bloods. Unfortunately there is a however. However¡K Dr Leslie is not happy with Micah¡¦s growth, or should I say lack thereof. He sent Micah for a bone scan to see if he was growing as he should. The scan showed that he is growing, but is way below the normal percentile. He has referred us to an endocrinologist and we are awaiting their call. We are praying and believing that growth hormones will not be necessary and that by the time Micah¡¦s appointment arrives he will have had a growth spurt. This will also mean we will need to buy him new clothes, any excuse for shoppingƒº.

After our hospital appointment we met Micah¡¦s grandfather Da at Southbank for the ritual lime malted milkshake and then finished the day with a surprise for Micah. One of Micah¡¦s friends Aden has moved to Brisbane, and so we organised for him to meet us at Southbank for a swim. Micah was so excited to see him and after the initial screams of delight he ran and gave Aden the biggest hug. We finished the day with an ice cream and then boarded the car for the long trip home.

We also had the pleasure of Micah¡¦s big brother staying with us during the holidays. Jared is now 16 (he lives with his mum) and that means that in N.S.W he has his learners licence. Guess who took Jared driving? I must say that he did very well and followed instructions to a ¡§T¡¨. We spent some time at home, had 11 teenagers over for pizza and a movie and then headed to the Gold Coast to finish off his stay. Micah and Keilee loved having their big brother here and are very much anticipating his return at Easter.

One of Micah¡¦s other adventures during the holidays was his new teeth. Micah had three rotten looking teeth in the front of his mouth, the rest were fine. Due to Micah¡¦s diagnosis we are given priority to any dental work. One of Micah¡¦s fillings broke and so a visit to the dentist was imminent. The dentists were great. Because they were not very busy they not only fixed the broken filling but also cleaned and filled Micah¡¦s front teeth. This was quite a lengthy process, but I think if you ask Micah, it was worth it. His teeth look great!

Micah is still very keen to follow his passion and become an Archaeologist/ Palaeontologist. The other day we picked up a brochure on Egypt from the local travel agent. He enjoyed reading it so much that he took it to school for show and tell. He shared with his fellow students all about the pyramids and hieroglyphics. This Easter he will be getting a very thorough book called Egyptology as well as the usual insane amounts of Easter eggs and chocolates.

Year 1 at school has been great. I really like his teacher Mrs O¡¦Keefe. She handles Micah¡¦s excess of enthusiasm very well. We have joined forces and directing this ¡§enthusiasm¡¨ positively and have seen some very positive results. He is still enjoying maths very much and still asking for extra to do at home.

Keilee has just fallen out of bed which means that my time is now limited. Her afternoon nap is nearly over. I put her back to bed, but I know that it is only a matter of time before she appears by my side ¡§to help¡¨. She is still sucking those fingers, but we have finally found a deterrent. After trying vinegar, bicarb soda, mustard powder, stop suck paint, nail biting polish and bandaging her fingers, would you believe lemon is the answer? Now all we have to do is be consistent.

On that note I will finish. I hope to fill you in again soon.

Thanks to all those who have signed Micah¡¦s guest book, it is great to hear from you, and don¡¦t forget to check out the new photos.

Blessings

Mel

Thursday, January 5, 2006 11.44am

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

The beginning of 2006 brings a few other new beginnings.

Micah starts Yr 1 at Glenvale Christian School with a lovely nurturing teacher Mrs O’Keefe as well as AFL in March. He is already exercising and running in anticipation of AFL. Initially he was concerned that he wouldn’t be good enough, but we explained that everyone in his team would be learning. He thought on this for a few moments and then found our answer to be acceptable.

Keilee has moved up a group in Kindy and although she is 2 ½ is allowed to do the activities with the 3 year olds. Toilet training is progressing, but we are not there yet.

Christmas was great, very busy though. I must confess that I am pleased that it is over. The children were thoroughly spoilt as usual.

Church is keeping us incredibly busy with several different meetings and commitment each week. Children’s church goes back this week and due to the fact that I’m the Director my holiday has now come to an end. The kids are really excited about it starting again, and that is encouraging.

Micah’s next hospital appointment was due to be Jan 16, but Dr Leslie is away. We will be doing Micah’s bloods here in Toowoomba and then travelling to Brisbane in February instead. Micah is looking forward to seeing his favourite nurses in Number 8 (8 East oncology ward).

Stefan is off to Uganda on mission in February and so we have been trying to pay for airfares, injections, food, accommodation etc. There is still a long way to go, but we believe that when the time comes the provision will be there.

I have to go and finish the children’s church lesson, so I’ll be back later. Hopefully not too long.

Monday, December 5, 2005 8.45pm

The end of the year is drawing close and with that brings my birthday, Stefan’s birthday, my sister’s birthday and my brother in laws birthday. Not to forget the most important birthday of all JESUS!!

Micah has finished Pre-school for the year. Last week was his school concert. Amongst a number of items he was a dingle dangle scarecrow. He is such a cutie, when he smiles you just can’t help smiling right along.

Micah’s school report was excellent, Stefan and I were very proud. He is already counting the days before he starts Yr 1.

We have family all over the country and so our Christmases have begun. I ended up in hospital for a week with an undiagnosed illness so my mum flew up from Tasmania and we celebrated our first Christmas for the year. Our next one will be a combined birthday/Christmas Dec 17 and the next Dec 24 will be a combined brother in-law birthday /Christmas on the Gold Coast. Somewhere in there Stef and I have to give the kids their presents from us.

Micah is really into the movies Robots and Madagascar and loves playing with Magnetics. His greatest pleasure wait for it…. Maths!! Any books, games or puzzles that involve maths and he can play on and on for ages. Hey I’m not one to complain.

Micah’s step brother Jared, will be coming to stay over the holidays and Micah is psyched. Jared is meeting us in Brisbane. Micah is due for his next hospital appointment around the same time so we will be able to pick up Jared and get Micah’s hospital stuff out of the way at the same time. It usually takes us about 1 ½ hours to travel to Brisbane.

If I don’t get back to Micah’s page before Christmas have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and healthy new year.

Blessings
Melanie

Friday, October 7, 2005 8.20pm

As you can see we had the privilege of meeting Colin Buchanan. For those of you who aren’t in the know, he is a fantastic Christian children’s entertainer. He sings songs and has many wonderful ways of sharing the gospel. He also does grown up music (as Micah puts it) and can also be seen on old Playschool videos and the latest Playhouse Disney shows. Busy man.

All four of us went to Colin’s concert, yes even Stefan. It was great. Colin has such a gifting. It makes me smile even now at some of his antics. Colin “YOU ROCK!” By the way Colin lives just a few houses down from my Aunty in Heathcote, Sydney. How would you be? What a small world.

Apart from the excitement of Colin we visited a friend’s farm, now that we live in the country. Micah and Keilee got to ride a pony, feed a 2 week old calf, feed the chickens, hold baby turtles, drive a tractor and if you ask Micah he’ll tell you that he got to play Gameboy. Needless to say the children slept well that night.

In just 2 more sleeps is the opening of our new church “On the Edge Christian Centre”. I must say that underneath the chaos of organisation there is much excitement. Stefan has been preaching while Ps David has been away in the U.S. Now that he is back Stef can concentrate a bit more on Uni. Another busy man.

Stef’s mum and our friend Jenny are coming up from the Gold Coast this weekend to celebrate the opening with us. They have been such a great support in helping us get the church up and running. The kids will be thrilled to see them also as they always get spoilt.

Micah is doing very well at school and just craving challenges. He has wanted to be a Palaeontologist for some time now but Stefan has talked him into becoming an Archaeologist instead as they can look for treasures. He even showed him most of the Indiana Jones and the last crusade movie. We had to cover his eyes for some scenes, bit scary.

I must end for now as I need to finish some more preparation for children’s church.

Blessings

Monday, September 5, 2005 7.58pm

As usual it’s been ages, I know. No more excuses, I’m just slack.

I will try not to make this as huge as the last entry, but at the same time fill you in with all the goings on.

Micah hasn’t been well for about a week. He had a very high fever and was vomiting. I am so glad he hasn’t got his port anymore otherwise it would have meant a trip to Mater Hospital.
Anyway, after the fever finally broke Micah broke out in a terrible rash all over his torso that gradually got very itchy and spread to his legs. It was so bad under his arms that we couldn’t pick him up.

About 7pm Saturday night it was really bad and despite giving him antihistamines the rash remained. At this point I decided to take him to the local hospital. To cut a really long story short, after a 3 hour wait we were seen to. At this point the doctors were concerned that because of Micah’s medical history, and the symptoms, he may have relapsed. I freaked for all of 30 seconds and then reminded myself that he is healed and then entertained the thought no longer. The rash was quite unusual and several doctors came to see him. What can I say, my boy is special.

After inserting a cannula and doing bloods and a chest x-ray, all was good. We still had to deal with the mystery rash. We dosed him up with Phenergan and headed home. The doctors felt that it would probably start to settle down with regular doses of Phenergan. We got home about 12.30am.

I am pleased to report that today 2 days later the rash is starting to disappear. In fact Micah attended his athletics carnival today. He didn’t go super well but did get a few 2nd place ribbons in team events. Well done buddy. I must at this point congratulate Stefan (his dad) for coming third in the fathers sprint. Micah was beaming as Stef pinned the ribbon on Micah’s chest. It was a lovely day.

Now backing up a bit to a few weeks back.

We were very blessed to receive free entry to Australia Zoo. Thanks Claire. Along with that Claire (from Aust zoo) wanted to celebrate Micah’s good health and gave us our own VIP guide. We also got to feed the elephants and Micah and Keilee fed the camel too.

We met up with some good friends from the Blue Mts NSW Steve and Nicki and they joined us on our Australia Zoo adventure. We all had a great time. At the end of the day we were presented with gifts for the children and adults, as well as three photos that Micah had taken with the alligator, eagle and cockatoo. We are so grateful to Aust. Zoo for their generosity.

Our recent Mater Hospital visit came and went without event. Micah’s bloods were good and he is progressing as he should. It’s always lovely to catch up with the nurses that made our Mater stay that bit more bearable.
While we were in Brisbane (At Mater) we took the children on the River cat ferry and had lunch with my dad (Da). The children had their ritual lime malted milkshake with Da at Southbank and we all travelled home to Da’s by ferry, where we had left our car.

Micah is enjoying school 5 days, although we have had a few breaks for Australia Zoo, a trip to the Gold Coast and most recently his illness. Maybe next week will be normal.

Well that’s enough for now. HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all those special dads.

Blessings

Friday, July 22, 2005 9.20 pm

Ok guys, I know that I am evil not updating Micah’s page for over a month! Forgive me. As you will see we have had a lot of adventures.

It would take me hours to document everything so I’ll give you heaps of bits and pieces.

Firstly for all of you who were waiting with baited breath, Mandi had a BOY!!! Woo Hoo. I am a very proud Aunty of Daniel James Berto. This baby giant (compared to my tiny 5 foot nothing sister) weight just 2 ounces under 9 pound and was a wopping 55 cm long. Needless to say it wasn’t the best birth, but boy are we glad he is here.

Keilee and I very excitedly jetted off to visit Aunty Mandi and Baby Danoo and of course Uncle Richard the last week of June. I had only just forgotten what it was like to have a newborn, but it all came flooding back to me after two nights with minimal sleep.

Whilst in Sydney Keilee turned 2! My baby has grown up. We had a lovely afternoon tea with family and of course Keilee was very spoilt.

We week ended with flash flooding on the Gold Coast (where I was supposed to be flying to) and so we couldn’t get home for another 3 days as the airport was flooded. Micah was not too distressed at this time because he had been having the time of his life staying with his grandmother and Jenny. They had been to the movies, the wildlife sanctuary, parks and just about every fast food place you could imagine. Micah had been living it up.

Keilee and I finally met Stefan and Micah at Gold Coast airport early June, went back to Oma’s and opened more presents for Keilee and Micah’s upcoming birthday, had dinner and then headed back home to unpack and re pack for Micah’s Make a Wish trip to Tasmania which was just days away.

The next day was still school holidays so we send Keilee and Micah off to Keilee’s kindy for the day and sped around washing and packing etc. Micah loves Keilee’s kindy so there was so problem him going. They have a great play centre and a hot lunch each day.

A few days later we were off jet setting again!

We woke @ 4am and drove to McDonalds for breakfast on the way to Brisbane Airport. Our first stop was Sydney where we were very excited to see Aunty Mandi and Micah’s new cousin Daniel.

We only had a short stop over and in about 20 minutes we were boarding our next flight to Launceston. Before we disembarked Micah was treated to a special viewing of the flight deck where he sat and pretended to fly the aeroplane with the pilot.

Nanny met us at Launceston airport. We picked up our hire car and after a brief stop for lunch at an old bakery then we headed back to Nanny’s house. Nanny lives in a very big house with 7 bedrooms and a fire. Because her house is so big it is very hard to keep it warm, so Nanny bought Micah and Keilee their very own hot water bottles. Micah’s water bottle had a monkey cover and Keilee’s was a pig.

While we were at Nanny’s we went shopping in Launceston and visited Grindleworld and had fun playing put put golf. Micah would like me to add that we had fun even if mummy loosed a lot.

We also visited Cataract Dam where Micah and Nanny went on the chairlift and we all walked over the wobbly bridge. Micah was a little concerned and needed a little encouragement to continue once he was half way across the bridge.

Micah took many photos with his make-a-wish camera. We couldn’t help laughing at the thoughtof what the printed photos might look like. Some of the photos were taken at funny angles and heights.

At Nanny and Pa’s we had a very rich chocolate and cream cake with a number 5 candle for Micah’s Birthday. He eagerly opened the many presents from Nanny and Pa. It was a good thing that Daddy had packed an extra bag to take everything back home with us.

We had a lovely time at Nanny’s and all too soon it was time to say goodbye.

On Micah’s 5th birthday we headed off to Cradle Mountain. We stopped at a fantastic bakery in Sheffield for lunch and then onto the Cradle Mountain Lodge.

Upon our slightly early arrival to the lodge we were presented with our keys and headed off to our Spa suite. Our first impressions of our cabin were very pleasing. It was warm and cosy with soft lighting and very comfortable surroundings. The children had their own room and our queen size bed was in the main part of the cabin not far from the sound of a crackling fire.

After the children very excitedly checked out every nook and cranny of the cabin we settled in and then headed off for the first of many bush walks. This walk was only 30 minutes. Keilee was tuckered out after about 20 minutes of up and down stairs, whilst Micah was powering on. Did I mention that it was cold? About 8˚ C.

Over the next 4 days we walked and explored. We toasted marshmallows on the fire and ate heaps and heaps at the Tavern and Restaurant. Breakfast was fantastic! I’m sure it was Micah’s favourite. Each morning Micah would walk me around the buffet asking for a bit of this and that. His favourites were the watermelon, strawberries and Nutrigrain, the porridge came in close second. I must say the porridge was something special.

On our 3rd evening Micah and I went spotlighting for animals with a guide from Cradle Mountain Lodge. There was Micah and I as well as another couple from Brisbane. We all piled into a troop carrier and keenly followed the spotlight with our eyes as we drove. Micah was sound asleep within the first half hour. In that time we did see some wallabies d wombats. The day before Micah and Stefan saw a wombat out the back of our cabin. It surprisingly let them get quite close.

We also visited a place called Tasmazia. There were 8 different mazes to go into that were made of hedges and all types of things. We also visited a place there called Cubby town, where there were many little cubby houses to play in. There was a fire station,
a school house even a dentist. Unfortunately Micah got a bit sick so we had to leave early, but we still had fun.

Micah had a day out with dad walking around Dove Lake. It was a good 3 hour walk and Micah began to get tired upon his return to the car park. He did so well.

After a very packed week it was time to say farewell. Our last morning was literally freezing, -2˚C to be exact. Our car doors were frozen shut and we had to water them down to gain access. We rugged up and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast to do discover that the lake outside the dining room had a layer of ice on it. No snow unfortunately but a wonderful holiday.

Now that we are home:

• Micah is now going school 5 days a week. He was only going 3 before our trip. This is his first week and I miss him already.
• Micah has another hospital appointment next Wednesday
• Micah is going to watch a game of lawn bowls on Saturday, his new found passion. Go figure. He gets so excited and really into it. He will get to play his first game on Fathers day Sept 4.

Well I think that is plenty for now.

Thanks for visiting.
Love and Blessings

Monday, May 16 2005 1.24pm

Sydney with Keilee was great. The flight with Keilee .. not so great. Keilee faught sleep at 9.30pm and finally succumbed just before we boarded, only to be woken to have a seatbelt fitted. We then had a very tired and cranky little girl who let the whole airplane know about it. We finally had to resort to our new best friend “the naughty stool” threat. (Thank you super nanny, for all those who watch her on TV.) It worked! She finally fell asleep just in time for the pressure of the decent in her little ears to wake her up in pain. Tears again.

Nanny and Aunty Mandi picked us up from Sydney Airport and we finally arrived home to Aunty Mandi’s at 11pm. After all the catching up and looking at pressies from Nanny amongst a number of other things I got to sleep about 2am. Keilee had fallen asleep in the car and was now sleeping in the soon to be born babies cot. The next day was Aunty Mandi’s baby shower. It was lovely. I caught up with my good friend since first class at school, Keryn and her little boy Samuel. Boy I miss them. The day was a big success and I crashed into bed with the sound of football in the background. I don’t even remember my head hitting the pillow.

The next day was what we term “a relo bash”. The family got together for mothers day at my Aunty Lyndals and we had brunch. Then back on the plane to head home.

Meanwhile…..

Micah and daddy had the time of their lives shopping with Oma and Jenny for mothers day presents (I was very spoilt this year) and clothes for daddy. Its not that daddy doesn’t have clothes. He has now taken on the position of Associate Pastor in our church and according to Omar and Jenny needs to look the part. Stefan came home with some wonderful things. He looks great. Thanks Oma and Jenny.

Micah Keilee and I all had haircuts hours before Keilee and I had to fly to Sydney. Micah looks the little man he always does and Keilee looks all grown up. It was her first haircut. She was very good, we even saved some of her hair. (see photos).

Keilee and I are heading back to Sydney at the end of June and Micah is going down to the Gold Coast to be very spoilt by Oma and Jenny for the week. We then get back for a few days and fly to Tasmania for Micah’s make a wish. Believe me, it’s all happening.

In between all that we have another hospital visit, so I’ll keep you posted. We are believing for the best results ever!

On top of all that, Keilee started kindy (childcare) 2 days a week last week. The centre picks Micah up from school on Friday afternoons and he gets to play and have afternoon tea there until I pick him and Keilee up.

Thursday was Micah's good friend "Sams" birthday. We had a pre party party on Thursday and celebrated with all Sam's family and friends on Sunday. HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY SAM!!

Oh yeah, I have begun working Fridays at the church office assisting Ps David.

As you can see it go, go, go around here.

I hope to catch you again soon.

Love and Blessings

Sunday, April 17, 2005 2.30pm

Hi there,

I know it’s been ages, the time has just flown. School holidays were full on and now that Micah is back at school it’s been a matter of catching up… mainly with housework.

Micah’s new school buildings are great. They are huge and full of lots of fun things. Keilee loves home corner with the babies and beds and dress up as well as the play stove and food. It’s always a challenge to get her to leave after we have dropped Micah off.

Micah has been his busy self at school. His teacher Mrs Skinner reported that on Wednesday she was on playground duty feeling a bit sad (her mother in law has lung cancer). Micah was busy playing with his friends when for no particular reason he ran over to Mrs Skinner and put his arms up to her for a cuddle. She said it was just what she needed. How sweet, I must admit that Micah can be very sensitive at times.

A few weeks ago we were contacted by Make A Wish and asked if we would be the representative family to promote Make A Wish day. We met with the Make a wish volunteers and Mayor at the Mayor office for a lovely afternoon tea, photos for the local paper and basically just to say hi. It was a nice afternoon. Micah loved being the centre of attention and especially liked the Mayor because she kept filling his pockets with jelly snakes. Poor Stefan had his hands full with Keilee, she hardly stopped the whole time.

Speaking of make a wish we are just awaiting confirmation and details of our snow trip. Oliva from M.A.W has been fantastic. Mum is really looking forward to us coming to Taassie so that she can spend time with her grandchildren. The last time we saw her was for a few days in November. It’s so sweet, Micah prays at night that Nanny wont miss him too much and that he won’t miss Nanny too much.

Stefan took Micah to see ‘Robots’ at the movies during the holidays. We also bought Micah a robots poster. He stands in front of his poster in awe, reciting lines from the movie and giggling at the scenes that only make sense to him.

We also had a visit from our good friends Andrew and Deanne and their children Lydia (7) and Josh (4). They live on the Gold Coast, so it took them a few hours to get here. It was so great to see them. The children played beautifully together while we chatted and laughed and basically caught up. I wish they didn’t live so far away.

I am busy making plans for our (Keilee and I) trip to Sydney in May for my sisters baby shower, it will also be mothers day so we are trying to cram in as much as possible in the few days that we will be down there. There is a big mothers day brunch on the Sunday we have to leave to come home.

The week before we head off to Sydney, Stef and I have a leadership trip to Ballina NSW. We are part of the leadership in a new church here in Toowoomba. The children are very excited to be staying with Oma and Jenny in their new home. Oma and Jenny are moving Monday. Since Stef’s dads death in Sept they have found it too much to look after a 4 bed home and work the hours that they both do. The new home sounds great.

Keilee has been great today. She slept well this morning after her intial 'time to get up' at 5.30am. Micah is having quiet time in his room and she is happily playing in her room. Finally I have a moment to catch up with this journal.

Oops I spoke too soon.

Micah has just decided to join me in the study and continue on his 1000 piece puzzle, so my ‘quiet time' is over. He loves to chat while I’m on the computer and it becomes very difficult to concentrate.

Micah is really excited about his dad and him staying up tonight to watch Willy Wonker and the Chocolate Factory. We already have the popcorn organised.

I will try to update again soon.

Love and blessings.

Sunday, March 27, 2005 10 pm

Happy Easter to our friends and family. Today we celebrate the fact that our Lord rose from the dead and LIVES!!!

Wow what an Easter we’ve had. It has been full on.

This weekend is the AGMF (Australian Gospel Music Festival), here in Toowoomba. We have had Stefan’s son Jared staying with us as well as Stefs mum and Jenny. Jared has travelled daily to the AGMF to see some fantastic Christian bands as well as braved the circus, farm animal exhibit and Rocfish (a children’s band).

Jared is 15 and lives with his mum in Emmaville near Glen Innes. It has been some time since we’ve seen him and it has been great to catch up. Micah is so proud to have such a cool big brother. I must say that Jared has been great with the kids. On the first night Keilee came out of her room with her blanket, put it on Jared’s lap and then put her head down to sleep. I t was pretty cute.

I’m finding it a big hard to write tonight as my heart is heavy for some dear ones, Jacob (www.caringbridge.org/me/jacob) and Nickie (www.caringbridge.org/me/jayden). I have just finished reading their web pages and I must admit that there have been tears. Our family has crossed paths with these special families on many occasions at Mater Children’s hospital and I really feel for them as they face their individual struggles. Please keep them in your prayers.

Last weekend we had the pleasure of a visit from the Kroon family. This family is another of the special families we met at Mater. Hanni HAD cancer and is now doing very well. She is on glyconutrients as is Micah. We visited the Japanese gardens and a nearby park and the kids had a great time playing soccer and cricket with Mark, Hanni’s dad. Micah really enjoyed seeing Hanni and her brother again. It really was a great day.

Micah has also been very busy at school as his teachers Mrs Skinner and Mrs Cahill will testify. He is still enjoying Friday’s swimming lessons and has now decided that the bath is a great place to practice his swimming techniques. Needless to say we need to mop up after his baths.

His brand new school buildings have been completed and the whole school (all 65 of them) will be moving to the new premises after the Easter break. The classrooms are huge compared to the old ones. Micah is not the only one that is excited about the change.

Speaking of school, last week some of the boy in Micah’s class, including Micah, decided that rooster heads as I call it were trendy. So for a week Micah had to have a rooster hair do for school. At the end of the week I decided that it was time to finish that trend and so we went back to a spiky fringe. Rooster heads are now a thing of the past.

Time for bed. Catch you soon.

Sunday, March 13, 2005 4.30pm

Well I am glad to begin on a good note. Micah’s behaviour has improved greatly. There were moments over the last few weeks when Stef and I were saying to each other “who is this child?” He wasn’t getting into mischief as such, just being down right disobedient. I pray that it was just a passing fad and we will never see the evil twin again.

We had a visit from 2 lovely ladies Kathy and Vicky from Make a Wish. They came to meet Micah and discuss his snow trip wish. Stefan & I had made a request that it not be to the snowfields and had hoped we could go to Cradle Mountain in Tasmania instead. Micah really enjoyed their company. I lost track of how many books Vicky ended up reading him.

It will be great if we can go to Tassie. Mum lives there, and she is desperately missing her grandchildren. We had to time it for when Stefan had University holidays and it works out beautifully time wise with the pending birth of my first niece or nephew. Mum and I will be home from Sydney visiting baby Berto (My sister Mandi’s baby due 6 June) for a short while and then we are off.

Speaking of baby Berto I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of May 6 so that I can fly to Sydney for Mandi’s baby shower. Keilee will be accompanying me and it will be the first time some of my Sydney family will have met her. It will be interesting to see how she goes on the plane. A good practice for when we have to fly back again the following month. I am so excited about the arrival of my sisters baby. I think I am feeling just as impatient as she is, perhaps more so as I REALLY want to know if it’s a boy or a girl. The suspense it just too much.

Back to Make a Wish. Our family has been chosen to be the Toowoomba Make a Wish family. This year they begin a Make a Wish day, just like Daffodil day that raises funds for Cancer research. We have to go to the Mayors office and meet the media and do the formalities that are involved in declaring the first Make a Wish day. Stefan will be at Uni so I’m not sure how it will all go with both the children, especially Keilee. She wont sit still for a moment. I will need lots of prayer for April 4 please.

Micah has been very helpful today with the housework. I am trying to teach him the principal that “if you make the mess you clean it up”. I was cleaning the bathroom today and so I decided to give Micah the scrubbing brush and soapy water to clean to toilet floor. He has a habit of missing when he goes to the toilet due to the fact that he doesn’t watch what he is doing. He is just too busy looking around or talking. He didn’t do a bad job either. Both the children tried to help today. I had to decline Keilee’s assistance just as I caught her climbing into the nappy bucket full of water. I’m not sure how she thought that was going to help me?

I really am meaning to finish this journal, it’s just that I haven’t had the chance to write down all our caringbridge and other friends web addresses yet and I’d hate to loose contact.

Catch you later.

Sunday, February 27, 2005 2.30pm

Firstly Micah’s blood results were better than good, they were fantastic. His platelets were nearly 200! We are so pleased. Our next visit is in 4 months.

Our hospital visit went pretty well. Unfortunately we had tears when Micah had his blood test. Dr Leslie said he’s probably just out of the routine. It wasn’t a problem in the past because he was having them so frequently, nowadays its every few months or so. We stopped into the Starlight room to visit Captain Starlight and I couldn’t believe that after seeing so many children she actually remembered not only Micah’s name but Keilee too.

Dad met us up in the oncology day unit just in time to take care of Keilee for me so that I could speak with Dr Leslie in peace (nearly). Actually Micah was the best behaved he has ever been. Dr Leslie is very pleased with Micah’s progress.

After all the hospital stuff was out of the way it was time for our usual pilgrimage to the Rebock outlet store for some bargains, $110 worth of bargains actually. We got some really great stuff. The children were very bored and so we soon headed off to Southbank for lunch.

Dad spoilt the children with a lime malted milkshake. Keilee had no problem finding the bottom of the cup. We had some seafood and chips for lunch and then a lovely walk to the lagoon. We had decided earlier not to bring our swimming things and at this point were regretting the decision. Micah pleaded with us “just to get his feet wet”. I’m sure you can guess what followed. Yes he got totally wet. We weren’t too upset, it was really hot and we did happen to have a change of clothes with us. I did have to turn the stroller that Keilee was in around so that she couldn’t see Micah as we were not prepared to go in after her.

It was a huge day and the children slept most of the way home. It would have been very easy for me too since we began our day at 5am.

Today was Market Day. We headed of to get our organic fruit and veg as well as a few MORE plants for Stefan. Micah is currently having quiet time in his room and Keilee is sleeping.

Speaking of Keilee sleeping, we took the side off her cot yesterday. After her testing the waters vocally for about 2 hours she slept soundly. Last night was fine apart from the broken sleep we endured each time she fell out of bed. We have very large cushions stacked next to her bed. Today’s lunch time sleep appears to be more successful.

My “quiet time” is now coming to an end. Micah is finished quiet time and it’s nearly time to turn on the sprinklers for the children to have a bit of a run around. I think there was mention of an ice cream too.

Before I go,on a bit of a sad note, our friend Jake(http://www2.caringbridge.org/me/jacob/) from hospital is not doing real well. His bone marrow transplant has failed and his Leukaemia is back. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. He’s a really great kid.

I will be back maybe once or twice before my final entry so I hope to catch you then.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 8.30pm

Welcome to Micah’s page especially for those first timers. The reason I say this is that unbeknown to me Micah’s site address was published in the local paper. I’ll back up and tell you what that’s all about.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting Merryl and Nev from the Chronicle (our local paper). Merryl is writing two stories that involve Micah. One that was published today about internet journaling and one on Saturday that shares a little about Micah and his journey and challenge with Aplastic anaemia. As I said I didn’t know that Micah’s web address was going to be published, mind you I didn’t request that it not be.

At first I was a bit freaked out with the knowledge that the general public were going to get an insight into the private life of the Cops, but I figured that if it encourages even just one person then that’s pretty cool.

In the article I mentioned that I wasn’t sure when I would conclude Micah’s journal. I now feel that with Micah doing so well, and the fact that this journal isn’t so private anymore, it marks the beginning of the end. This really isn’t a bad thing; there are so many other things I could be doing and although this journal has been such a great outlet, as well as keeping in contact with all our family and loved ones from caringbridge the time to move on is soon approaching. Don’t worry I’ll give you plenty of notice. In fact I think it will be soon after Micah’s next hospital visit on February 25. Of course we will be saying goodbye with a BANG! Micah’s results will be reason to celebrate, I just know it.

Our Gold Coast visit was interesting to say the least. Perhaps I should say “costly”. We ended up having to purchase a new car battery and then have to pay to get our car stereo re coded. Apart from that it was great to see my dear friend Julie and her family again. I have been missing her so much since we moved in November. Of course the children were thrilled to see Oma and Jenny again.

We spent Saturday afternoon at Julies and stayed a bit longer than anticipated due to the battery dieing; which was fine with me. Staying at Julies that is, not the battery dieing. Micah had a great time playing with Julies son Josh, and Keilee was in her element with Paige and Jason about. Jason is the son of Julie’s (and my) friend Sue.

For some reason Keilee was really unsettled that night. I finally got her settled and off to sleep about 1am. Needless to say I was pretty shattered that day, as was everyone else in the household apart from Micah who was totally oblivious to Keilees’ cries.

Sunday after dragging ourselves out of bed we joined Dad and Merci for lunch at Robina. The children were very spoilt by Merci after being taken to Toyworld. Micah chose a game called Incy Wincy Spider. I kid you not, from the time he got home and opened it he was playing for 3 hours. By the end the whole household had played several games and Micah was quite content to continue on his own knocking incy wincy off the web by turning the (fake) dripping tap. I highly recommend this game for young children.

Monday saw Micah’s return to Pre School and praise God his behaviour had improved. I wasn’t so optimistic upon my arrival to pick him up as the teacher was having words with him and another boy. She shared with me later that it was just maintenance. Micah and the other little boy had been having a bit of a play rumble when they should have been paying attention. School is so different to a childcare environment.

There was one incident that I’m afraid Stefan & I am responsible for though. Micah decided that in the middle of morning tea that he would relieve himself (outside) much to the horror of one of the little girls. I was so embarrassed when the teacher told me. At home Micah is allowed to pee on the garden when it is just us and we hadn’t taught him any different. He now knows that this is not apropriate. I wonder what else we may have to instil that we hadn’t thought of. Hopefully nothing.

Well that’s enough for now. Please don’t forget to sign Micah’s guest book, we love hearing from you.

All the best until next time.

Thursday, February 10, 2005 8.05pm

Today has been a very long day. In fact it seemed so long that I ended up putting Keilee to bed at 5.30pm thinking it was much later. Good thing she was tired too.

Micah and I spent the next 2 hours eBaying and picking out clothing that might be suitable for his snow trip, which is incidentally about 6 months away. We did win a bid on some clothes for Keilee though so all is not lost.

Micah’s swimming lessons last Friday went very well. I am such a wooz though. I couldn’t believe that I was feeling all teary watching Micah back in the pool having swimming lessons. I remember one of the last lessons he had before his diagnosis where he fell off the slide and hit his head rather badly. The most horrific bruise came up that looked like if it burst blood would have gone everywhere. It was only a short time later that we found out that the blow could have in fact been fatal. The hairs on the back of my neck stick up just thinking about it.

Next…

As you may have read in the last journal entry Micah’s was photographed at the library story time and the photo published in the local paper. Well this week it’s Keilee’s turn. No photo but she did win a competition. We entered her in a comp to win clothing labels, and all sorts of name stickers. It was nearly $70 worth. I thought it was a good idea as I will probably be looking at enrolling her in day care later in the year, just for her own development. These name stickers etc will come in handy.

We are off to the Gold Coast this weekend to visit Stef’s mum. Micah and Keilee’s Oma. We had planned on going to Wet n Wild but Micah’s behaviour has been particularly horrible over the last fortnight and him damaging a car with his car door after being told not to open his door, was the last straw. I know that since his diagnosis he has been very spoilt and I am afraid that we may have created a brat. The disobedience has been most evident since his commencement of school. We are praying for wisdom in this matter and hope that we can deal with this in a positive way. He is so gorgeous most of the time; it’s just those moments of disobedience that really upset us. On a more positive note even today I witnessed an improvement. School tomorrow will be the real test.

Keilee is now 19 months. It’s a bit sad that each month marks the number of months that Micah was diagnosed as she was born 6 days after Micah was hospitalised. Keilee has been very busy developing her climbing skills. The most recent achievements have been up the shelves in the pantry, onto the washing machine and collecting books from her shelf standing on the change table. She also fell of the end of Micah’s bed which is quite high; you need a ladder to get up. As most of you may know she is pretty tough, a small complaint and then business as usual.

I’ll end now and catch up with you all next week after our Gold Coast visit.

Thursday, February 3, 2005 4.40pm

Yes we are back and of course as you know there is never a dull moment when it comes to Micah.

Micah is enjoying school. In fact when we were discussing our best and worst things for the day on Tuesday as we do, Micah shared that his worst thing was that he didn¡¦t get to go to school. If only he kept that attitude for the next 13 years.

Speaking of Tuesday we attended story time at the library as we often do. This Tuesday they had guest readers promoting their Read Aloud program. Micah being as shy as he is (not), sat down the very front and contributed to the stories on many occasions. There was a photographer and reporter from our local paper ¡§The Chronicle¡¨ present and they just happened to take a photo of Micah ¡§contributing¡¨ for their newspaper article. (See photo).

Micah starts swimming lessons again tomorrow. He had to stop his lessons after he had his port inserted and hasn¡¦t been back since. Now that the port-a-cath is out look out teachers here he comes! Micah started lessons when he was 12 weeks and when he had to give them up he was quite upset. I know he is going to enjoy them immensely now he is back in the water. I wonder how much he will remember as it has been 18 months since his last lesson. I hope to start Keilee soon as finances allow.

Today we met Stefan for lunch at the Japanese Gardens. The children had a great time playing in the playground. Micah kept coming back to us telling all about his adventures whereas Keilee was quite content in getting in as much play as possible in the time we were there.

Oma and Jenny came to visit on Sunday and took Micah and Stefan to the markets. Stefan came home with heaps of plants and Micah came home with a budgie. Initially he called it Pidgie because he had trouble pronouncing budgie, but we have all agreed on the name Sky. Can you guess what colour HE is? Yes blue.

Sky is only a baby but boy can he be a bit vocal. A bit like a little boy I knowļ.

Thanks for dropping by and please leave us a message so we know you¡¦ve visited.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 8.18pm

For those of you who are waiting to hear what surprise we had in store for Micah on his first day of school, make yourself a cuppa, sit back and read on. I might add that this is not a mystery to Aunty Mandi who couldn’t wait, and called me to find out what the surprise was. I must say in her defence that I’m not good with surprises either.

Monday was Micah’s first day at Pre-School. The day began as any other with Micah coming in at 6am. He had totally forgotten and once I reminded him his face lit up and the adrenaline kicked in. Breakfast, teeth cleaned and then dressed in his uniform for the very first time. I might add that his dad and I had a competition to see who could sew Micah’s school badges on the best, due to my very sad initial attempts. Between you and me I think my effort is best, mind you the badge that Stefan sewed on isn’t going anywhere in the next millennium.

Now a bit on insight into Micah’s surprise; as you probably know Stefan is German and in Germany they have a tradition that on the first day of school the child is presented with a large cone. This cone is filled with toys, lollies, pencils etc. I had been tirelessly creating a large cardboard cone for Micah covered with stickers, his name glitter and stars etc. My scrapbooking tools and materials really came in handy. All I had to go by was Stefan’s description and a very old photo of him and then his brother Gregor on their first day of school.

So now Micah is dressed his hair is spiked and we are ready to go. Stefan got out his photo album and showed Micah a photo of him in Germany on his first day of school, of course holding his cone, and then a photo of Gregor and his cone and then right on cue Micah asks “do I get cone?” Out I came carrying a cone that was nearly as tall as him. I might have slightly over estimated the size.

Micah was stoked as he dragged his cone around checking out the stickers. We took a few photos at the front door and then dragged the cone into the study where he eagerly tipped everything out. He and Keilee had a great time going through the goodies. Very soon after we were off.

We got to the school car park and met up with his friend Harley. Micah was so excited to see him. We then proceeded into his classroom. Micah was so busy talking and looking around and then suddenly it dawned on him and he exclaimed rather loudly in front of all the parents and teachers “hey mum they are all wearing the same clothes as me!” It was priceless. We all had a bit of a chuckle. Bag down, name tag on and then see ya mum. That was it. He was at school and basically I could go now. He really wasn’t concerned as to whether I was there or not so off I went, to the dentist I may add.

3pm came rather quickly with all my running around. I picked Micah up and asked him about his day. The first thing he told me was that they did some action songs and he didn’t want to sing the boring song but they made him. I later established that the boring song turned out to be our National Anthem. After explaining to Micah that he needed to learn the National Anthem for when he gets a gold medal at the Olympics I think he may be a little keener next time.

The next day we visited the library for story time for the first time. It was great. There was a good size room with mats for the children and chairs for us oldies. The story teller sat in a large chair at the front. We had 3 stories of which there was a song and dance at the end of each and then we finished off with craft. It was very well done. Keilee loved dancing with the songs. We’ve been informed that next week is very special. The library is promoting reading to children and there will be a television news crew as well as the local newspaper taking photos and doing stories on the day. I know a little person who won’t be too shy to share his opinion.

Today is Australia day. Being the patriotic Aussies we are we stayed home out of the rain and did the housework. I put on some old home videos of when Micah was Keilee age for the children to watch. You know it’s funny (not really); I watch videos of Micah and the time is not measured by age but in months before or after his diagnosis. I wonder if other people do that. It’s a bit morbid really. It’s when little things like this come up that you realise that your life will never be the same. It’s the very small subtle reminders that make you count your blessings on a daily basis. Less than two years ago we didn’t even dare think about Micah starting school, we were grateful for each day and dawn. We thank God that we have so much to look forward to.

Thursday January 20, 2005 9.20am

As this week comes to an end we are preparing for Micah’s first day of Pre-School. We have a really cool surprise planned, but you’ll just have to come back next week to see photos and hear about it.

The school holidays have been filled with so much fun and soo many activities.

Last Saturday (our family day) we had morning tea at “the duck park”. While most of my time was spent chasing Keilee and trying to keep her out of the water (unsuccessfully) Micah and Stefan had a great time at the playground. The park was beautiful with a huge water fountain, a bridge and of course heaps of ducks. It’s funny you save all your old stale bread for the ducks and the kids decide they want to eat it. Go figure.

Micah had a new friend Sam over yesterday along with his little sister Cate. Keilee ran circles around Cate as they all had a great time dipping fruit pieces in yoghurt and running around the yard. Some food actually got in their mouths.

Micah met Sam at Kindy and when Sam found out Micah was leaving to go to Pre School, had many tears. His mum left her phone number for me and hence our wonderful play day yesterday.

Last week we had a visit from my good friend Julie and her beautiful 4 children, one of which is Micah’s good friend, Josh. We checked out the shops and had lunch at the golden arches (McDonalds). It was so good to see them that we all didn’t want them to go home to the Gold Coast. We are planning a day at Wet and Wild, a waterslide park for Valentines Day so we hope we can get them to come with us.

Must go, we are off to see Postman Pat at the shopping centre.

Catch you soon.

Monday 10 January, 2005 1.30pm

About 4 days ago we received a call from “Make a Wish” evidently a lovely man named Brent Lillie from the Gold Coast had won a Hi5 prize and had donated it. The prize included entry to Movie World, Front row tickets for the concert and a personal meeting with Hi5.

The whole day seems just like a dream. It was such a wonderful experience for Micah who is without a doubt a big Hi5 fan. He even wore his Hi5 jeans.

The day began with Micah and I going on the Toons town rollercoaster and then the Toons Town rollercoaster and then again the rollercoaster. He was even singing the Hi5 rollercoaster song as we went around.

While most of the younger kids were at the first Hi5 concert we made the best of the children’s rides well and truly. Even Keilee enjoyed a few rides, coming off exclaiming “more”.

We met up with the PR person Elizabeth shortly after and met her again at the Hi5 concert. After meeting with Micah and seeing what an outgoing little extravert he was, she spoke with some people and came back to us with the offer of Micah riding with Hi5 in the gold limousine in the Movie World parade. This day was just getting better and better.

After dragging Micah off the rides and a little lunch we finally headed for the Hi5 concert. It was fantastic. Micah danced his little heart out down the front with all the other adoring Hi5 fans. It was so funny; one of the actions to the songs involved Hi5 putting their arms around each other, so of course Micah did that too to a girl standing next to him. You should have seen the look she gave him; I don’t think that she was impressed.

Keilee sat on my knee aghast at the reality of Hi5, as she has only seen them on TV. It is the only program that she will actually watch from beginning to end.

After the concert we headed off for a much earned coffee break before we were to head back to meet Hi5 in person.

We met the Make a Wish representative Melissa as well as Elizabeth and another lady from Movie world and their photographer as well as the Hi5 manager outside the auditorium doors.

Micah was allowed to play and dance on the Hi5 stage. The next thing we knew the Hi5 team were coming down the stairs towards Micah. He just stood there amazed as they came closer and closer. I couldn’t help but get emotional. Nathan got to him first and gave him a huge cuddle and then he was passed around the whole band with a cuddle from each of them.

After some initial photographs Hi5 sang Micah’s favourite Hi5 song and he did the actions along with them. It was so gorgeous. They then chatted and Micah stood up and they sang another song that he did actions to.

The time flew yet Hi5 took their time with Micah and I’m sure they made him feel like he was the most important person in the world.

Then suddenly there was a huge rush to get autographs and get everyone into the limo for the Movie World parade. Micah was whisked away and we were quickly ushered out and taken to the best vantage point to view Micah and Hi5 in the parade.

The parade was fantastic! Micah sat on Kathleen’s lap and waved to everyone with both hands. It was so special. Evidently Movie World has never let a child go in the limousine in the parade ever. Micah was the exception.

Micah was escorted back to us to watch the remainder of the parade and then the excitement of our day came to an end.

It was a day that I just know that Micah will be talking about for some time to come. Mind you Micah’s enjoyment of the rollercoaster always seems to creep in when asked about Hi5.

Monday, January 3, 2005 8.10pm

After many Christmas celebrations we finally enjoyed Christmas Eve with Micah’s Omar and Jenny on the Gold Coast. Both children were very spoilt and some of the gifts that Micah got from us Stefan was very keen to help Micah set up. The playmobile pirate ship was very popular indeed.

Before our journey home the children and I went to a friends 1st birthday party. It was so wonderful to see all our Gold Coast friends. Micah and Keilee didn’t stop the whole time we were there. It was like a huge reunion. There was our friends from church, missionary friends from the Philippines as well as new friends that we had been in contact with but had not yet met from South Africa.

It was also Stefan’s birthday on the 27th December, so happy birthday darling.

A few days at home doing house work and tidying up and then the New Year was upon us. We didn’t have any great plans. About 6pm I had an invitation to join our new friends Jo and Mark and their children Harley and Shekinah for a little get together. Stef stayed at home with Keilee and Micah and I were home by 9pm.

New Years day we had hot apple pastries for breakfast and headed off to Picnic Point where there are several really good playgrounds and bushwalks. After Micah and Keilee had finished some serious playing we had morning tea and went on a small 1 km walk. Keilee took the lead and walked all the way. I shouldn’t really be surprised as she has an abundance of energy. I actually had parents at the playground comment on how adventurous she was climbing and sliding down some of the biggest slides.

Omar and Jenny came up from the Gold Coast New Year’s Day. Jenny took Micah and I to the movies to see “The Incredibles”. Micah really enjoyed it. I am however going to have to try to teach him that he needs to use his quiet voice throughout the movie. He was so excited and had many vocal outbursts.

Omar and Jenny stayed the night and we headed off to the markets or as Micah calls them the “outside shops” the next morning for a sticky beak. We were very close to buying two ducklings, as Stefan and I had pet ducks on a property we once worked, but sanity prevailed.

Today Micah and I had a great time making a mess in kitchen as well as some apple muffins. We made the best of Keilee’s morning sleep and got to cooking. Keilee woke up just in time to help with the cleaning up. I gave her the mixing bowl and spoon.

We also had a visit from Micah’s friend Kayden, his 6 month old brother Josiah and Maddie and Sue. The children played endlessly only stopping to decide what their next adventure would be. It was a pretty warm day so I turned on the sprinkler thingy on the play gym and the boys had a great time playing king(s) of the castle. They also gave us a show where they sang songs and had a great time pretending to be animals and vehicles running around the back yard. Keilee was not left out. She was often seen running after them trying hard to impersonate her big brother.

Needless to say both my darling children are sound asleep in bed which is where I hope to be very soon.

ZZZzzzzzz.

Wednesday, December 22, 2004 7.30pm

Christmas is approaching and the year end is soon to arrive. Wow what a year.

I couldn’t help but be a bit nostalgic at the memories of 2005 and thank God for the many miracles He has performed throughout the year.

We, the Cop family would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have visited Micah’s site regularly or one off throughout the year and blessed us with kind words of encouragement. Thank you to our family, friends and other caringbridge friends for dropping by and we look forward to continuing our journey with you all next year.

May you have a blessed Christmas and may the New Year bring you health, wealth and happiness.

Loads of Love
Stefan, Melanie, Micah & Keilee

Wednesday, December 15, 2004 8.20pm

Welcome to Micah’s page.

Firstly HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY MANDI !! Today is my sister Mandi’s Birthday and funny enough mine too. We were born on the same day exactly two years apart. Freaky hey?

Today the children and I had a very packed day. While Keilee was sleeping this morning we put together Keilee’s rocking chair that her great grandmother NeNe gave her for her birthday. Now that we are in our home and she has her own room we thought she would love her own rocking chair. Needless to say her room is filling very quickly. We have recently added a baby doll stroller and rocking horse as well as a rocking horse for Keilee as she kept trying to ride her dolls one. I picked up Keilee’s rocking horse for a bargain at a local 2nd hand children’s store.

Micah and Keilee had a great time getting into their balls, bikes and Micah’s skates while the car was with Stefan today. We found Micah’s skates at a fete last year and now that we have a large open concrete space for him to ride them he was off. We also discovered that if you put batteries in the back the skates make noises. I’m not sure if that discovery was good or bad. (see photo)

I am happy to report that Stefan got the job with TAFE. He has begun a 4 week contract with the potential for further employment. His superiors love him and are already searching the institution for any available positions. You can’t half tell that I am proud of him.

With Stefan now working it leaves me carless. Much to Micah’s excitement he gets to catch the childcare bus that picks him up and drops him off at our door. Tomorrow they are going to the movies to see some movie with Tom Hanks, the something express. Stef tells me it sounds like a good movie.

With Micah at childcare/movies I might actually get some things done around the house. Micah has just been given a rewards chart that he adds stickers to each time he completes a task or helps out. That’s great except now he has become OVER helpful and it takes me twice as long to complete anything. Don’t get me wrong I am pleased for his contributions.

This Saturday our Brisbane family are coming over for Micah’s 2nd Christmas celebration. The first one was with Nanny and we have another with his Omar and family friend Jenny on the Gold Coast Christmas eve. The tree is already stacked with presents mainly for the children. They are so blessed. (See photo)

Omar and Jenny are coming up on Sunday with the first instalment of gifts for the children as we won’t be able to bring everything back from the Gold Coast. Micah is getting his first 2 wheel bike (with training wheels of course).

I’ll fill you in on the details next time. Until then be blessed.

Thursday, December 9, 2004 2.30pm

Firstly Nanny’s visit came and went as quick as that. She was only able to stay for 2 days but boy did we make the most of it.

Nanny arrived Sunday morning in time to have a cuppa with Stefan and I and we headed off to church. Nanny stayed home with the children and helped put up the Christmas tree.

Nanny had a big bag of presents that she wrapped while we were at church and we all opened those that night. We were expecting 2 boxes of presents to arrive in the mail the next day. Nanny had posted them as they were too heavy to take on the plane.

The next day we pretty much shopped till we dropped. Nanny bought us things for the new home and then we hurried home to see if the 2 boxes of presents had arrived. To our surprise there was only one. (After a huge saga the 2nd one turned up a week later) The children had a great time opening MORE presents. We planned an early night because it was a big trip to the hospital the next day.

Tuesday we all headed of to Mater Hospital which is about a 2 hr drive. Micah chatted all the way while Keilee cat napped. Upon arrival we all needed a comfort break but couldn’t find parking. We had stopped for drinks half way to Brisbane and we needed to find parking and fast. Needless to say Stefan was the most desperate after a HUGE ice coffee. Micah prayed, and as we turned the corner someone was pulling out. We unloaded the car in double time and headed off to the hospital with Stefan in the lead.

Once everything had settled we were shipped off to the adult hospital across the road for Micah’s blood tests. He was so good, he didn’t complain once. I guess it’s not so bad if you don’t have to do it on a regular basis. We then went to the Starlight room for some computer games and Keilee watched Barney on the Big Screen.

Our turn for a consultation with Micah’s doctor came and went with little event. Micah’s blood results were great! Platelets 157 Woo Hoo Hb 139 and everything else was fine also. Our next visit isn’t until 11 March.

After lunch and a bit of shopping in the Reebok Outlet store Nanny had to leave for the airport and we headed home. Micah was quite sad as he waved Nanny off in her taxi. The next morning he shared that he was missing Nanny and hoped she would come back soon. Me too.

Last Sunday was the Ward 8 East Christmas Party. Micah had a ball. He was so excited to see some of his hospital friends especially Joseph. They had all sorts of junk food a sausage sizzle, pizza, a visit from Santa and dancing competitions of which Micah won two. The fire brigade and police turned up too to join in the fun. It was a huge day. We left while it was still daylight and headed to Omar and Jenny’s on the Gold Coast much to Micah’s delight.

We stayed on the Gold Coast for one night. The children and I visited our good friends the Nichols; Julie, Deryk, Bradley, Lisa, Joshua and Paige. We were all sad to have to leave again. Stefan went for coffee with his mum.

This afternoon Stefan has a job interview with TAFE. Which means that Micah gets to catch the Kindy bus home. He is looking forward to it very much. I can’t wait for him to come home so that I can hear all about his day.

Check out the latest photos and feel free to drop by again to hear our next exciting adventures. Please don’t forget to sign our guestbook so we know that you have stopped by.

Friday, November 26, 2004 9.20am

2 more sleeps until Nanny comes!

Micah is so excited. He has wanted to make up Nanny’s bed for about a week in anticipation. Micah hasn’t seen his grandmother for 8 months. She will only be here for two days but we plan on making the most of it. Nanny is coming to the hospital on Tuesday when Micah has his next lot of tests. We are believing for fantastic results.

The Cirque de Soleil (Circus) was fantastic. Stefan tells me that Micah was shouting to the circus performers “that’s great!”, “Well done” and clapping and cheering. They both enjoyed it very much. It worked out really well as dad lives just down the road from where they had set up the circus. We all walked to the circus together. Micah and dad lagged behind as Micah chatted non stop all the way. Dad, Keilee and I headed back to his place and waited until the circus was finished. We all then enjoyed a lovely Italian meal together. Thanks dad. After our visit to Hamilton we embarked on the long trip home. Needless to say the children were worn out and slept all the way home.

Finally we have found a childcare location for Micah. It is called “home and garden” it’s quite nice and Micah has proven to be quite a celebrity. Anyone who has met Micah would know that he is not shy. He had a great first day and it was so lovely to see how excited the children were to see him when we arrived for his second day. It’s been good for Stefan and I too. It’s amazing how much you can achieve with the absence of children. We still had Keilee with us but things were a little more manageable.

Not only did we find a nice childcare centre we found a great school for Micah. Next year he starts Pre School at Glenvale Christian School. Micah and I went to check it out last week and yesterday Stefan and I had a formal interview with the Principal and a board member. All went really well and they are only too pleased to take Micah next year. I couldn’t believe how emotional I felt at the thought of my little boy starting BIG school. I didn’t think that I would be one of those blubbering mothers saying their farewells on the first day but now I’m not so sure. I can just imagine it; Micah takes off totally confidant and happy to leave his poor mother for school and there’s me a blubbering mess.

With Micah starting school next year we need to buy the usual school shoes and uniform. Stefan & I had a look at the uniforms and discovered that the smallest size shorts are size 4. Micah is still wearing mostly size 2, some 3. Due to his illness his growth stopped. He is now starting to grow again, but still has a bit of catching up to do. His principal is lovely and said that whatever fits that is similar is fine for now.

Micah and Keilee have made some new friends from a church we visited a few weeks ago. I get on well with their mum Jo. I hope to see a lot more of them once things settle down. Micah had a great time getting into mischief with Harley and Keilee thought it was just wonderful to be doted on by her new friend Shekinah. (See photos) Harley is going to the same school as Micah next year.

We have decided that we will not travel to Sydney for Christmas this year. It would take us approximately 11 hours and with the children it’s just too much at the moment. We are still pretty tired with everything that has been going on.

We are however having 3 Christmases. As you can imagine this sounds great to Micah. Our first Christmas will be when mum comes over. Micah is so looking forward to putting up the tree with his Nanny. The next Christmas is here at our place. Dad, Merci (his wife), Nene (the children’s great grandmother) and my Aunty Dianne are coming from Brisbane and Omar (Stefs mum) and Jenny (family friend) are coming from the Gold Coast. After that we head to the Gold Coast for another Christmas with Omar and Jenny and our good friends. It will be a little sad not having Opa there this year. I think Stefs mum will appreciate our company.

Micah and Stefan have just left on errands. I have also included a birthday shopping list. My birthday is approaching and Micah has lots of ideas for presents. I can’t wait to see what they finally come up with.

I’m off to catch up with the housework. Happy thanksgiving to all our friends on the other side of the world.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004 9.04am

Yes we are in our brand new home.

I’d like to say all went well, but there were just a few adventures to be had. It went a little like this: The brand new dishwasher flooded the kitchen and pantry then decided that it didn’t want to work properly, the brand new washing machine came without instructions and due to user error didn’t work as expected, the back wall of the garage needed repainting, the main power point to the family room gave out electric shocks through the attached appliances, the driveway was missing chunks and then there is the dead lawn just to mention a few.

As you can imagine it has all been pretty stressful but we have seen a light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday we visited a local childcare centre in view of enrolling Micah. Needless to say we are looking at other options. Today we are visiting a Christian School and childcare that sounds similar to where Micah was going on the Coast. If all goes well we will enrol Micah for next year. It sounds great.

With all the stress of everything the transition for Micah hasn’t been particularly smooth. He hasn’t been able to run on our dead grass outside while we have been making revival attempts and has basically been stuck inside apart from the odd shopping visit. We hope to make amends soon. Today we are going to the golden arches (McDonalds) for a happy meal and a play after our school visit.

Micah and Stefan are currently shopping at Bunnings (a local hardware and everything shop) Micah has offered to help dad to find some really pretty plants.

Micah does have a special treat in store. The “Make a Wish” foundation called and they have been given tickets to the Circus Ole. I think that’s what it’s called. Anyway it sounds pretty special. Micah and Stefan are going on Saturday afternoon. It just so happens that it is in the same suburb as my dad, Hamilton Brisbane. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. Keilee and I will grace dad with our presence while the boys are at the circus.

Coming up with the adventures of the Cop family….
• A visit from Nanny from Tasmania
• Details of the Circus
• Have we found a new childcare for Micah?
• Will we make a trip to Sydney for Christmas?
• A visit to Mater Hospital for the usual blood tests
And more.

Well what I thought would be a quick note has yet turned out to be a letter. I’ll fill you in on our adventures again soon.

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004 8.40pm

Hello and welcome to Micah’s page.

Today was Micah’s last day at his Noah’s Ark Kindy. He was pretty excited because we organised a bit of a farewell party with chocolate crackles and white chocolate cake with raspberry swirls. We also made bookmarks for all his friends with a photo of Micah on it and a little farewell message. We attached a chocolate to the bookmarks. I wonder how many actually made it home.

Along with Micah’s last day at Kindy was his last tennis lesson on the Coast. Yet another thing I will need to source once we move.

Speaking of moving, the house is finished!! Stefan, Keilee and I went up on Monday to check it out. Woo Hoo, it looks great. We are all set to move on November 1.

For those of you who read the last journal entry my radio interview for Mater stars went Ok. No one I know heard it so I’m pretty good with that. Hopefully though it helped in Mater Children’s hospitals fund raising efforts.

We are off to the library tomorrow to return all Micah’s books etc. This time we wont be taking any home.

It’s kinda sad with all the finishing off things we are doing this week, well for me anyway. Micah is really excited about making new friends. He is really looking forward to catching up with the Fairfull children who live in Toowoomba. (Friends we made in hospital). Hopefully we can get together soon if all goes well.

Friday Micah, Keilee and I are spending the day with Micah’s friend Josh, his sister who is Keilee’s age Paige, and their mum, my good friend Julie. This family is very dear to me and I get sad at just the thought of leaving them.

Well that’s about it for now. I might even be writing from our new home next time.

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a message in Micah’s guestbook.

Friday, October 15, 2004 7.46pm

Hello and welcome to Micah’s page.

We have just had another big week (as usual).

But firstly I would like to send HUGE congratulation to Aunty Mandi on the announcement of her pregnancy. Micah and Keilee are going to be cousins, Woo Hoo!
Micah has been praying for Aunty Mandi for some time now and in doing so I have been dodging all sorts of conception questions, I am soo not ready to go down that path. Ever find yourself saying “just because”? It’s a pretty lame explanation but I am so glad that at 4 Micah settles for it.

Sunday Micah and I had a ball at Childrens church. I was on the volunteer roster for the morning and was in charge of the babies. Thank you God that there were no poohey nappies. Micah had heaps of fun with his friends Nadine and Charlotte. The girls love to dress up. (see photo).

Monday and Tuesday Kindy and Tennis. I had a quick chat with Micah’s Kindy teacher and we are planning a little farewell party for his last day on Oct 26. Micah has already requested chocolate crackles, a vanilla cake and lollies for his friends. I think we can manage that, but can the teachers manage the children after all that sugar. We’ll add them to our prayers the night before.

Wednesday we invited Micah’s friend Josh (Nicholl) and his mum and little sister Paige to the library for story time. Micah loves to sit down the front and contribute (continually) to the conversations during story time. The theme this week was “let’s visit the zoo” and there were a few books that Micah was familiar with from Kindy. Of course everyone was made aware of the fact. We later went for icecream then home to view our new books, tapes and videos.

Today was pretty hot. Micah and Keilee were in and out of the little shell pool all day. We had the sprinkler on for a short while. Just enough time to make the back yard that was once covered in grass into a mud pit. Of course they thought that it was great.

It was pretty funny this evening. Because it has been so hot I offered to read Micah his stories out on the back pergola, where the shell pool had been left from earlier today. Before we went back inside to go to bed Micah walked over and turned the bug zapper off. Without looking he turned abruptly and fell straight into the pool, (his second bath for the night). I think it cooled him down for a good night sleep.

Tomorrow we are off to the outside shops as Micah calls them. He is of course referring to the farmers markets. Oma has just picked up some part time work selling goats cheeses there. Micah loves the plain goats cheese the best. Oma brings home all the samples and afternoon tea usually consists of all types of goat’s cheese with corn chips. Pretty yummy.

Mater Hospital public relations called today to organise to have me speak on the radio regarding Micah and hospital etc. For those of you who live in Brisbane I will be talking with them at 8.30pm on Tuesday, Radio station 4BC. Pray I don’t say anything dumb.

Well that’s about it for this week. Catch you soon.

Sunday, October 10, 2004 2.46pm

Welcome back to Micah’s page.

Last week was very busy… as usual.

One of the highlights was a trip to Toowoomba on Friday to check on the progress of our house. It is nearly finished. We move in on November 1. Woo Hoo!!

The trip was eventful to say the least. There were bush fires all around the Toowoomba area and we got stuck on the highway, not moving, for about 2 hours. We were then turned around and had to be diverted a back way home. The trip all up usually takes about 2 hours, this time it took 6 ½ hours. The children were very irritable on the trip home understandably. We arrived home about 9.30pm, just enough time for Stef to get ready and leave for work.

I found a great Kindy for Micah and was very excited about Micah starting next year until I found out the fees and the fact that they needed to be paid up front each term. I was so disappointed as it sounded perfect. With Stef being a full time student for the next 4 years I have to try to adjust my brain to a new budget. I know that there is a perfect Kindy and school out there for Micah; I just haven’t found it yet.

I was contacted by the Public Relations person for Micah’s Hospital, Mater Children’s. They are doing a fundraiser for the hospital and have asked if I would mind saying a few words on radio about the hospital since we’ve spent a considerable amount of time there. I said sure pretty much straight away. It’s only now that I’m becoming a bit nervous. I hope I don’t say anything stupid.

Micah is currently busy counting the money in his money box with daddy, its banking week. Micah is saving for a purple car with sparkles and stars. Mmmm maybe by the time he can drive, that might be trendy.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004 3pm

Hello again all.

As usual the time has passed me by in a blink.

Firstly Micah’s latest blood test results were a huge surprise. His platelets have shot up from where they had levelled out for some time around 86 – 91. They are now…… drum roll please……………..147!!!!!! We can’t ignore the fact that Micah has been taking Glyconutrients and it appears that things are really starting to kick in.

Although his blood is great he has had a tummy bug (putting it nicely) for 3 days now. He is back to 11 kilos. Not happy. It took us so long to get him to just off 13 kilos and now we are back to scratch. As you will see from his photo album he is still quite small for a 4 year old. His friend Josh in the photo is 4 also.

The photo I refer to is of Micah and Josh as Playhouse Disney Live. They had a wonderful time last week dancing, singing and interacting with Monica and Kaeng. The whole show was great. Even Keilee enjoyed it clapping and pointing from Mummy’s lap.

Micah’s Oma and her friend Jenny arrived home from a holiday up north this afternoon so we no longer have the house to ourselves. It was nice while it lasted.

Thanks to those who sent emails and left messages regarding Stef’s dads’ death it was very thoughtful. Things seem to be getting back to normal. We received his ashes last week and are planning to take them out on a boat to scatter them out to sea in the near future.

Our next trip to the house is next Friday. We are now at lock-up stage. The driveway is in and they begin the tiling next week. It’s all very exciting. We are so grateful to Stef’s mum and Jenny. If it were not for their continuing generosity we would have been waiting a long time before building our own home.

We are now praying that Stef will be able to find work before we move up otherwise I will be living with the children in Toowoomba with weekend visits from Stef until he has work in Toowoomba. I just know it will all come together fine.

Until next time.

Friday, September 17, 2004 9.14pm

I know, I know, it’s been ages. I think you’ll forgive me when you hear the latest. Mmm now which one first?

Well I guess we will begin with the passing of Micah and Keilee’s grandfather Opa. As you may know we are living with Stefan’s parents. Last Friday about 7.30am we discovered that Opa had died in his sleep. He was 79 years old. After a visit from the Ambulance, Police and Funeral directors Opa was taken away.

It was all very confusing for Micah. Oma and I were very sad and we had to explain that Opa had gone to heaven to be with Jesus. That all went well until Micah saw his body in bed and exclaimed “no he hasn’t he’s still in bed”. After further explanation Micah and I spent time in his room playing while Opa was taken away. Micah’s final words on the matter were “I’ll miss him”. Aren’t children just precious? They just accept what you say deal with it in their own little way and then life goes on.

I think Keilee has missed Opa. She seemed a bit lost around morning tea time for the first few days. Opa and Keilee would sit together and share his lunch (her morning tea) See photo. She really enjoyed that time with him each morning. Opa was so patient with her and I know that she valued that time with him. I’m just so glad that I have photos to show her when she is older and share with her stories like how he used to sneak her Nutella sandwiches when I wasn’t looking.

Opa’s son Gregor and his wife Michelle flew up from Sydney for a few days. We had a very small family gathering and a very sad viewing before Opa’s cremation on Tuesday.

Just before Opa’s death Keilee had a little accident by getting her finger jammed (with a little help from mummy) in the hinge of the bedroom door. To top that off she got a really bad infection in the finger, aided by her constant sucking of her finger and ended up in hospital having to have minor surgery. Gas, needles, scalpels and bandages later we went home. About 4 days after surgery her finger looked pretty bad. We had a trip back to the doctors and she removed Keilees fingernail. Keilee still has it bandaged, mainly to stop her sucking it and give it a good chance to heal. It still doesn’t look great but it’s on the mend.

Now it’s Micah’s turn.
All is going ahead with Micah’s “make a wish” and we are officially off to the snow next year.

I had an interview with Micah’s kindy teacher last week and as a proud mum can’t help bragging at how well Micah is doing. His teacher feels that even though Micah is only 4 academically he is ready to start school. That pretty much blew me away. Stef and I have decided that he could wait another year instead of 2 that we initially planned, and then start. He is still quite small even though he has begun growing again and also lack the maturity we feel needed to begin 5 full days of school.

Wednesday we went to Micah’s kindy fair. I kid you not, Micah spent over an hour going up and down a huge wavy slide. Stef and I got tired just watching him.

There is heaps more I could share but this is getting way long.

Finally we visited the house in Toowoomba. The bricks are on and we now have a good idea of how our new home is going to look. Micah had a great time chatting with the brickies while we perused the inside. We finished our day in Toowoomba at a fete with a jumping castle. Micah jumped himself silly until he ran out of puff. We were convinced that he would sleep all the way home…..NOT. He chatted and chatted and chatted, with every second sentence started with “mummy”. By the time we got home I was ready to change my name. It is a 2 hour drive home. See my point?

Thank you so much for visiting. Many of you are in our thoughts and prayers. We love hearing from you so please feel free to sign our guest book.

Friday, September 3, 2004 8.47pm

Firstly, the results of Micah’s blood tests were good. Platelets 95, Hb 119. The best in ages. Thank you to those who contacted me concerned I really appreciate it.

While I’m thanking people I really would like to mention a huge thank you to all the Quilts of Love angels. We really appreciate you kind messages of encouragement. You have been with us since near the beginning of our journey and your messages always bring a smile to our faces. Micah loves looking at the pictures you attach to his guest book and of course his wonderful quilt. Thanks again.

Micah has pretty much recovered from his illness and is back to being the little handful that we all know and love.

2 Nights ago marked an achievement with Micah. He slept with the light off!!! This is a big deal for us. Ever since Micah spent his 3 month stint in hospital last year he has had to sleep with the light on. I guess he got used to the lights in the hospital. As many of you may know it never really gets dark in hospital or quiet for that matter.

This week I went to kindy for the morning with Micah. I watched him have his tennis lesson and then Micah and I taught his kindy friends how to do the signs for animals (in sign language). Micah’s grandmother has studied sign language and her parents are both deaf and mute. She has been teaching Micah and I so that we can show the kids in Kindy. Keilee is now signing “food”…. often, as well as “finished” in her own little way. We haven’t quite go the hang of “milk” yet.

Speaking of Keilee she now thinks that she is a big girl and can stand on a stool and brush her teeth just like Micah. I guess it doesn’t matter to her that she can’t see over the sink (see photo).

Our house is coming along well with just a few hiccups. Anyone know about the legal obligations when it comes to fences and retaining walls?

We plan on being in Toowoomba next Saturday (hope you’re reading this Nicki). The roof will be on and the bricks laid. It will really start to be looking like a home. Word is that we should be in by mid November. That’s when the next adventure begins, job hunting etc.

Stefan has just woken Keilee by yelling at the AFL (footy) umpire on the TV. I keep telling him that he can’t hear him. Best be off.

Thanks for stopping by, we love to hear from you.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 1.50pm

I have to be quick as we are due to head off for a blood test in about 20 minutes.
Micah hasn’t been very well over the past week. He started with a temp of 40.2 that comes and goes frequently. He has an awful cough as well that makes him cough so hard he vomits.

We visited our local GP yesterday who sent us for a chest x-ray thinking it might be pneumonia, praise God it wasn’t. We then had to go for bloods and some awful nose tube thing that made Micah’s nose bleed. As if he hasn’t been through enough. I was able to talk them out of accessing his veins and convinced them that if it was necessary we could do it when we were at Mater Hospital on Friday.

Today Micah is a little better, he is currently sleeping. Unfortunately though we didn’t get enough blood yesterday from 2 finger pricks so we are back for more today. It’s a good thing McDonalds is just up from pathology and an ice-cream works well as a bribe, although he hasn’t eaten much at all today so I don’t know how well this bribe with work.

Apart from the adventures with Micah from the last few days things have been good.

Saturday we visited our slab. Yes we have graduated from a block of dirt to a block of dirt with a slab of concrete. Well we’re excited.

Micah and Keilee had a great time at the parks around Toowoomba as well as the adventure of exploring their new home. Micah even went a lay down in his bedroom to be, which at present is just concrete. We stood in the garage, then the kitchen and at the imaginary front door. It will be great when everything is finished.

Last week we had a visit from Robby and Sue, two volunteers from “Make a wish”. Before they could even ask Micah what he wanted he blurted out that he wanted to go to the snow to throw snowballs at trees. Where he got that idea from I don’t know. He was quite the host showing them his bravery beads and telling them all about the movie “Cat in the Hat”, which I don’t like at all.

The report for his wish has been lodged and we should hear back soon. We hope to go to the snow next year when Keilee is a bit older. Chelsea from “Make a Wish” called today and wanted to know if she could use the photo of Micah on his dinky (you may have seen it on this site in the past) for a special certificate they are giving. Of course we have no problem with that.

Today amongst all the running around and a 9am doctors visit with Micah, I received a call from Howard’s Storage World. I had shown interest in some casual work there a few weeks ago. Stefan and I were looking at all the wonderful things in there that we would love to put in our new home. I commented in jest that I’d need to work there to pay for it all. I then thought why not. I could do a few hours here and there.

To cut a really long story short I had a formal interview today and they will be ringing me with my roster this afternoon. It’s amazing how God provides in ways that you least expect.

Time is up so I’ll say bye for now. Feel free to check out our photos of our adventure to Toowoomba. Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, August 12, 2004 9.47am

Hi and welcome to Micah’s page. We love to have visitors.

The past few weeks have been quite eventful. The whole household have had some sort of tummy bug, except for Stefan. He thinks he’s some sort of health guru and parades around the house gloating about the fact that he’s only one who didn’t get sick. Good thing because if he did get sick everyone would know about it.

Micah, Keilee and I had a visit to kindy last Wednesday. He usually goes Monday and Tuesday but there was a special vegetable puppet show on. Keilee was amazed and pointed at the puppets making oh and ah sounds. Micah was pretty funny, it’s amazing how kids come up with things. The lady who was presenting the puppet show was sharing with the kids how fruit and vegetables have little vitamins in them and that they are so tiny that we can’t see them. Micah called out “Yes you can, I have vitamins in a jar at home”. The adults attending got a smile from that comment.

Speaking of funny things, I have a tip for the week. When staying overnight with your young children at a family or friends house ALWAYS make sure that you do up the drawstring on your PJ pants. Need I say more?

Now that we are living in a house there is a lot more room for the kids to run around. Micah has a little red wagon that holds his Megga Blocks. Keilee has discovered that if she climbs in someone is bound to pull her around. (see photo) Her laugh is so contagious. Micah took her for a spin the other day. He then demanded it was his turn. I’ll give Keilee marks for trying, but Micah was just a bit too heavy. It’s so great that Micah and Keilee play so well with each other.

Micah missed Kindy and tennis on Tuesday due to an early morning vomit…. in our bed. Kindy called today and said that they had a vacancy for Micah if he wanted to come in on Friday. Does he? Oh yeah. That means I’ll have the day to myself, with Keilee of course. What to do? I know that after the ironing, vacuuming, washing and dusting I’ll find something. Coffee anyone?

Thanks for visiting and I hope to catch you soon.

Saturday, July 31, 2004 8.03pm

We had a lovely day today at the farmers markets and then the beachside park.

We took Micah's dinky (tricycle) and he happilyl led me around the 1km circuit.... twice. (see photo)

Our new main page photo was taken today at the park. I just love this photo.

Keilee is cutting a nasty big tooth and was feeling a bit off. I gave her a feed and she slept the majority of the time whilst we were at the park.

It was a beautiful day with the sun out and a slight breeze. Stef's mum (Oma)and our family friend Jenny accompanied us.

Last week we had a call from the PR department of Mater Hospital. They wanted to do a story on Micah to encourage others. We were only too happy to help. The story is brief but to the point and has a photo of Micah on it, so I believe. It is for a promotional newsletter. I'm looking forward to seeing it in print and I really hope it does encourage others out there that are struggling.

HOUSE NEWS!! We have a start date...finally. August 24. Praise God!!! We are already planing a trip to Toowoomba to see our slab.

That's it for now and thanks for visiting.

Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 2.15pm

Welcome again to Micah’s page.

Again I have the pleasure in sharing with you good news. We received the results of Micah’s bone density scan and all is well. He has the growth of a 4 year old. Not bad considering he just turned 4.

The doctor is however concerned with Micah’s eating or should I say lack of, and has referred us to a dietician. We should hear from him/her in the next week or so. Some days Keilee (age 13 months) eats more than Micah.

Micah’s next Mater Children’s hospital appointment is early September. I look forward to another visit to the Reebock outlet store nearby. We purchased some real bargains last time and now that I am frequenting the gym all have been put to good use.

All is well in the Cop household with all 7 of us under 1 roof. So far we have been given space and we all seem to co exist well.

Saturday Stefs mum Linda, her friend Jenny, myself and the children went to the farmers markets. Micah calls them the outside shops. We had a great time shopping and tasting all sorts of interesting foods. I tasted goats cheese for the first time. By the time we had visited all the different stalls tasting we had no need for morning tea. Keilee really enjoyed all the new flavours except the paté.

Keilee has just woken so I'll fill you in with further details soon.

Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, July 22, 9.20am

Hi Everyone,

Yes we are back.

After a huge 3 days of cleaning and unpacking I can finally sit down to fill you in on the latest.

Micah had his visit with Dr Leslie at Mater last Friday and things are looking good. Stefan and I felt quietly pleased even if Dr Leslie mentioned the word relapse one too many times. He feels we still need to be cautious and look for signs. We believe HE IS HEALED!!

One concern the Dr had was that he hadn’t grown. We are very aware of this. He is currently 96cm and weighs 13.65 kilos. Evidently he should be at least 3cm taller. We were sent down for a bone density x-ray and I will be calling today to hear of the result. Hopefully now that Micah’s haemoglobin is back on track his growth will begin again. Most kids his age are wearing size 4 clothing; Micah is still a 2, nearly 3.

The move in with the in-laws has proven to be very positive. They have been a great help with the kids and it has given me time to finish cleaning our townhouse and run necessary errands. I know the kids are having a great time being spoilt.

It has been a bit of a challenge with the two children sleeping in the same room. If one awakes usually the other isn’t too far behind and then we have to get them both back to sleep. I’m sure things will settle in a short while.

Tonight Stefan and I going on a date. Coffee and cake, a quick stop at the Target toy sale and then a movie. Stefan has been busting to see King Arthur. The children go to bed about 6.30 so we can head off shortly after now that the grandparents are here.

Oh by the way Dr Leslie gave us the go ahead for Make a Wish and has sent off the signed forms. I look forward to hearing from them. How exciting!!!

Monday, July 12, 2004 12.30pm

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY MICAH!!!
What a great party we had. This time last year we were in hospital feeling quite disappointed at the cancellation of Micah’s party. This year it was party on!!

We combined Keilee’s 1st birthday (June 26) and Micah’s 4th. Most of our good friends were there as well and the delight of family, some of which we hadn’t seen for over 12 months.

Aunty Mandi flew up from Sydney but had to leave shortly after, much to Micah’s great disappointment. He awoke this morning forgetting she had left looking for her.

We had some friends from 8 East (hospital). A special hello to Louise and Hanni.

Glen the magician was fantastic. Micah laughed so hard I though he was going to wet himself. (See photo)

Overall it was a wonderful afternoon and Micah and Keilee were blessed with some wonderful gifts. Many thanks everyone.

Friday Micah had a blood test. Great results. Platelets are back in the 100’s. 105 to be exact. Hb 113, W.C 6.8, Neuts 4.9. How good is that.

I spoke with the “Make a Wish” foundation last week. They have sent the paperwork through to Micah’s doctor and basically it’s up to him whether or not he deems Micah eligible for a wish. This time last year I would have said without a doubt. Now Micah is doing so well that I have a small doubt that his wish may not be granted. In some ways that’s not a bad thing. It’s just so wonderful to have a healthy child again. I wish nothing less for all of you out there that are fighting illness.

We are frantically packing and changing details etc so please forgive me if I lose touch for a short while. We actually move in with the in-laws on Sunday and our furniture will be moved to their garage on Tuesday. Lots of cleaning to do also.

Our email will remain the same should you wish to contact us.

All the best and catch you soon. Thanks for dropping by.

Saturday, July 3, 8.30am

Just when you thought I was lost. I’m Back!

Well it’s all happening in the Cop household. Its official we’re moving! Now before you get all excited it’s not to our newly built home in Toowoomba, that hasn’t yet begun construction. Not long now though. We are moving in with the in-laws. Brave or stupid, I’m not sure. Our lease is up and the home we are renting is on the market for sale so basically we have to move. If we rent a new place our home could be (please God) finished before the 6 month lease period. We could end up having to pay 2 lots of rent. So the last week we have been packing and sorting and transporting things to Stef’s mum’s house in the next street. At least we don’t have to move far.

On top of all of that Stefan has started full time work again now that Micah doesn’t require a full time carer, and for the first time ever I am at home alone with both the children. I’ve had to organise my day better and be more time efficient as my helper is now at work. It has proven quite a challenge but I think I’m getting the hang of it. Now that Keilee is walking I literally need eyes in the back of my head.

Due to school holidays Micah has a break from Kindy. They begin again when school goes back.

I’m also trying to go to the gym 3 days a week. It was fine when Stef was home to watch the children but now I have to rely on my mother in law to baby sit. That means driving the kids over and then picking them up again afterwards. It will be much easier when we are living there.

By the way we leave on the 20th July.

Last week my mother in law booked Micah an appointment with a modelling agency. I decided to go along and check it out. Micah was surprisingly quite well behaved. We waited for ages and Micah happily chatted and sang for the people in the waiting room. I thought he’d get really bored and rouge, but he did quite well. They loved him and are in the process of putting him on the internet for prospective advertisers. Who knows where it will lead if anywhere.

Our challenge next week is Micah and Keilee’s birthday party. We have invited heaps of people and are currently awaiting final numbers to confirm final food and beverage purchases. The party is next Saturday.

Micah and Keilee’s aunty Mandi is flying in on Friday from Sydney and little does she know that she will be accompanying us to pathology for Micah’s blood test. She’s pretty good with his bloods as she was with us in the hospital 12 months ago when he was first diagnosed.

Things are pretty crazy with everything that is going on, but I will endeavour to keep you posted. Thanks again for visiting.

Sunday, June 20, 2004 3.11pm

Today marks our first anniversary of Micah’s diagnosis of Aplastic Anaemia. We celebrated his health by participating in the 5k’s for Kids walk to raise money for Mater children’s’ hospital. In doing this we drove past the hospital, looked up at the room we were first assigned and reminisced what was going on this day 12 months ago. In 6 days time I was to give birth to our beautiful baby girl.

The memories although very emotional were overridden by the fact that Micah has come so far and is doing so well. We thank God for the fact that we still have our darling little boy and the fact that his recovery is nothing less than miraculous.

The walk itself went well. It was lovely walking along the river with hundred of other people all out to have a great day. Micah walked quite a distance but was lured by the look of an easy ride on the front of Keilee’s pram. Once we made it half way we were presented with a spiderman ice cream which I’m sure due to the sugar content encouraged Micah to jog the last kilometre to the finish line.

It was so funny watching Micah at the opening of the event. He was so scared of the people dressed up in costume, a clown, post box and even Humphrey B Bear. Then there was Keilee who was right into it, walking around and attaching herself to anyone’s leg that was stationary long enough. She had no problem patting the rabbit the clown was carrying.

The two children had a wonderful day and the trip home became very silent as they slept soundly in the back seat (see photos).

Saturday, June12, 2004 2pm

Hey there we're back.

I didn't think it would take me so long to get back but as usual time flies and before you know it a week has passed.

Micah is doing so well. We took the tegaderm off his op site on Thursday nite and all looks like it is healing well. He still has a noticeable lump where his port was. I wonder if that will settle down or go away. Anyone know? The scar of course is quite obvious as they cut over the original scar tissue, but Micah is young and we believe in time it will fade. Hey if that's the worst we get after all this time I'm sure we can cope.

The stiches were dissolvable so we haven't had to worry about going back to Mater since the op. His next appointment is on July 16 with Dr Leslie. I really hope this time he can find it in himself to be a bit more positive. After each discussion with him I find myself asking him "so that's good isn't it?".

Now back to the saga. Our home. I called to check on the progress of our home as we felt it was taking some time to begin construction. We were at least hoping to have the slab layed in the next few weeks. Upon calling I discovered that the person that was dealing with our file had "dropped the bundle" so to speak and left. We then discovered that our home was not going to begin construction in the near future as the plans had not even been drawn let alone gone to council as we were originally informed. At this point I took a deep breath. Ok... so we now have plans and are awaiting council approval, for real this time. At this point we are looking at moving in around Christmas. Great time to get at removalist cheap, not.

We believe that although there have been some huge delays, when our home is finally finished the timing will be perfect. Can't wait to show you.

Keilee is now walking without difficulty, sometimes becoming a little too confidant when she tries to catch up with Micah and he little feet don't go as fast as her body. She is currently cutting two teeth up top and it has been giving her (and me) quite a bit of grief. Needless to say we didn't have much sleep last night. Stefan was working last night and I nearly called him around 1am just to let him know that he wasn't the only one awake at this awful hour. Needless to say Keilee is sound asleep at present and Micah is having "quiet time" in his room.

Keilee's first birthday is soon approaching which also incorporates the anniversary of Micah being diagnosed with Leukaemia. We now know that it was Aplastic Anaemia (Severe)no better, no worse. I was just saying to Stefan today that we can look back and see how far we have come and next year will be the same as we reminiss and count our blessings.

Saturday, June 5, 2004 8.00pm

Yes "that day" has come and gone. Micah has his port out! No more foreign bodies in his little body, no more drugs and very few blood tests and hospital visits. Sounds great hey!

The whole day went very well. (See photos) Many thanks to captain starlight in the starlight room for putting a movie on the BIG SCREEN and keeping Micah occupied. He also got to go on the starlight channel and say hi to his friend Joseph over the TV in the hospital.

Micah was moved from last on the theatre list to first and even though some thoughtless people were eating in the day unit Micah was oblivious. We had fantastic doctors, surgeons and anaesthetist. All were very friendly, helpful and informative.

We know that all the prayers from our friends made a huge difference. Thank you to all of you who prayed for us.

All went well bar the bone marrow biopsy of which they had to do twice as the first puncture didn't produce the required result. In fact he had 4 punctures in all. Two of which were to take small bone samples. Micah was only aware of the bone marrow biopsy when he felt the bandage on his back hours later. I had to laugh, upon coming home he proudly mooned our neighbour to show her his bandage.

We received the results of the biopsy the next day and are pleased to report that all is well. I wish I could tell you exactly what they said but Stefan being male took the message and only gave me the gist rather than the exact details. It was either a) the results were very good, b) they are the best results he's ever had or d) his bone marrow is back to normal. We now have to wait until July 16 when we have an appointment with Micah's doctor to find out exactly what he said. Basically all are good so I'm not too concerned.

I have to go and feed Keilee so I'll tell you more about our adventures with our new home so come back soon for the next Cop saga. " And these are the days of our lives" :)

Monday, May 24 2004 1.50pm

Hello and thanks for visiting Micah's page.

Last week as usual was quite eventful. I think one of the highlights for Micah was a visit from his "hospital friend" Hanni. Hanni was diagnosed with a highly cancerous tumour behind her ear. She too is taking the Glyconutrients and her tumour has completely disappeared. Pretty amazing hey.

Last time Hanni came over she wore a dress and it was only then that Micah discovered that she was a girl. Being bald it was quite confusing for Micah to establish a sex. Now Hanni has hair and is looking great! (see photo album).

Micah's theatre day is just a week away. We have schemed with Stefan's mum to distract Micah from eating by catching the train to the hospital. He has never been on a train and this could be quite exciting for him. We will drop Micah and his Oma off at the station, drive up and meet them at the hospital. That will give Stef and I (and Keilee) time to have coffee before they arrive. It could be a late night as we have been given a time of about 3.30/4pm for his op. After recovery we will see how he does. Last time he was fine. Then the time before it took hours for the bleeding to stop, but his platelets were a bit low. He will no doubt have a blood test before his op.

Micah still hasn't grown much over the last year or so. He is still wearing last years clothes and has a stock pile of the next size awaiting his growth. His lack of growth has been attributed to his low Hb (red blood). Now that they are normal we look forward to seeing him shoot up. Please pray with us that this will be the case.

Keilee is of course getting into more mischief than ever. She is taking up to 3 steps at a time but not walking just yet. I tell you what she is fast. If you leave the gate on the stairs open she's over there like a shot. It's funny, if I see her have a sudden burst of energy in the direction of the stairs I can pretty much guarentee that the gate is open and then it's a race to see who can get there first. Oh yeah, we had our first full nights sleep in over a month last night. My sleep was only broken by a little visitor at 5am. Good one Micah.

My mum visited for a day from Tassie on her way up to Brisbane for work training. Micah this morning told me that he misses his grandma called Nanny. How cute.

Micah is at childcare and Keilee is sleeping so I guess I'd best make the best of it and get the floors washed otherwise it just isn't going to happen. I bet there are people out there nodding their heads knowing exactly what I mean.

Off to ride the mop. Thanks for visiting.

Friday, May 14, 2004 8.38am

Horray!! We finally have a date for theatre. Micah is having his port out and bone marrow biopsy #5 on June 3. One thing I'm not looking forward to and had blocked out of my mind was the fasting. Micah is a grazer and eats constantly throughout the day. To withhold food from Micah is torture for him and me. Thank goodness for the starlight room and the red cross ladies. Hopefully he will be kept occupied and wont think of food. Yeah right!

Micah had his first blood test in about 6 weeks. Prior to this they were weekly. Results are ok, we would have liked to see his platelets at 100. Hb 117, Platelets 85, WC 11 Nuet 8.5. He currently has a bit of a cold which would explain his neuts and WC being up. We've been pretty slack in giving him his Ambrotose lately and will get strict again to get his immune system back on track.

Keilee is taking 2 steps at a time and then dives into our arms. Stef says "thats not walking, it's falling with style". For those of you who have seen the movie Toy Story, you will apreciate his humour.

We've had a few delays with the construction of our new home. Paperwork has been mislayed (not by us), but now all is back on track.

Thanks for visiting, catch you soon.

Friday, May 7, 2004 6.55pm

Hi everyone, Keilee and I are back from Antarctica. Ok so it was Tasmiania but it was pretty cold if you get my drift.
We stayed in doors for most of our stay but it was great for Keilee to finally meet her other grandfather and for mum to spend time with her.
By the time we left mum had her all dressed like a little girl. No jeans and jacket, a DRESS!! (see photo)
Micah on the other hand didn't have a day without event. He and his dad had a very full week. They called me every night in Tassie and some nights Micah was just too busy to talk, and to think I was worried he would miss me.
Still no news from the hospital about Micah's theatre date. He has gone from having weekly blood tests to not having one is 6 weeks. After speaking with the Registra at the hospital today Micah is going to have a blood test early next week. I can't wait to see how good his levels are.
Not much else to report at this stage. Keilee is currently sneaking her little fingers around the keyboard as I type so I will finish off.
Thank you so much to all those who signed Micah's guest book recently, it was lovely to hear from you.

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 8.04pm

Well today has been full of surprises.
One thing that wasn't a surprise was that Keilee didn't sleep through the night. It's nearly been 3 weeks of broken sleep and I am shattered. Micah has decided to come and visit if Keilee wakes and then I have to get them both back to sleep. Micah is usually pretty good at going back to sleep.
My mum called today to check on the progress and once she heard the latest decided to shout me a trip to Tassie to give me a break. Pretty cool huh? So on Thursday Keilee and I are heading truly down under to Tasmainia for a weeks holiday.
With the girls being away Stef has some great things planned for the boys inlcuding a bush walk with Micah. Micah hasn't been bush walking since his illness where he was walking about 6 kilometres. I just know he is going to have a great time. One of the other things Micah will be doing is spending the night with his grandmother "Oma" while Stefan works. When I told Micah I was going to Tasmainia and that he could spend the night at his Oma's he wasn't in the least bit concerned with my departure. Talk about make you feel wanted.
I know I'm going to miss him, but at the same time I know he will be having the best time with Stef as well. Oh by the way I'll miss Stef too.
My Step dad Jim has never met Keilee so this trip will be pretty special for that reason. He doesn't know we are coming and I hope that he doesn't all of a sudden start reading Micah's web page.
I'll write again soon upon my return. Thanks for visiting and I pray all is well with you and your family.

Thursday, 23 April 9.20 am

Sorry for not updating for a while we haven't had a great deal to report. No news is good news right?
We are still waiting to hear from the hospital about a date for Micah to have his port out and his bone marrow biopsy. I called the hospital 3 times and finally had a call back yesterday to inform us that Micah is still on a waiting list and we might hear something next week.
We were planing to have Micah's next blood test at Mater on the day of the op but since that seems to be a while away we may have his bloods done here on the coast again. He is now on monthly bloods, which was this week. He seems fine and we have no cause for concern. We figure that if the doctor was concerned and wanted bloods he'd give us a call. We don't really want to have to subject Micah to a blood test if it is not really necessary.
Last week I (Melanie) went to a Mannatech conference here on the Gold Coast. Mannatech is the company that provides Micah (and the rest of the family) with the glyconutrient dietary supplements that we have attributed to Micahs recovery.
The conference was fantastic. I heard some incredible testimonies and was asked to share a little about Micah. Afterwards I was approached by so many people who had questions or words of encouragement. It really was a fantastic day.
Micah is still happily taking the glyconutrients and as far as we are concerned we will all be taking them for the rest of our lives. We just aren't getting the nutrients we need from our food. Pretty sad isn't it?
Micah goes back to dancing/singing this afternoon. He only has 2 more lessons left as we are trying to save for things related to our new home. He is still playing tennis and attending Kindy (childcare) 2 days a week.
We have started planning Micah's birthday in July. It is set to be pretty big as last years party was cancelled due to Micah being in hospital. We will also be celebrating Keilee's first birthday at the same time as they are only 15 days apart. Micah is so excited and especially looking forward to having his aunty Mandi visiting from Sydney.
Thanks again for visiting and leaving your encouraging messages in our guestbook.

Sunday, April 11, 2004 7.44pm

Well I can say with much confidance after today that Micah's platelets are fine.
I know this because he had a bit of an accident today. Micah was being his usual self with excess energy and was hitting a balloon around his grandmothers lounge room, triped and fell face first onto the coffee table. He hit the table so hard with his front teeth that it actually took out a chunk of wood. Needless to say there was pleanty of blood. The good news is that it stopped bleeding after a short while and all his teeth remain intact. He is however a bit sore and bruised above his top teeth but it was nothing a big bowl of icecream couldn't fix. I tell you kids are so resiliant. I think I'd still be complaining if it were me. As for Micah he is sound asleep after a HUGE Easter Sunday.
The day began with us attending church. Afterwards the church ordered a heap of pizzas for everyone but we opted for a healthier home lunch at Stef's mums. Before lunch we had an easter egg hunt around Stef's mums garden and not only found eggs. There was a nasty big red back spider hiding under the hose. A few small eggs went missing before the hunt and we think that a certain little dog with a grin on it's face might know something about them.
Tomorrow I plan to stay in my PJ's until at least 11am and do the ironing and other housework that has been neglected lateley due to our busy social calendar. Also the townhouse that we rent is for sale and we expect a busy week of potential buyers through so I don't want them to turn up to a messy home. Even though we are only renting and we may be kicked out once our lease is up, if the new buyer so decide, we want to do the right thing by our landlords. I'm sure that they will apreciate it, all the way from Canada.
We have a street party tomorrow afternoon. We are all bringing food to share for an early dinner. We have quite a few Filipino's coming and I love thier cooking. Looking forward to it very much. The last one was great...until it rained. Most of us in the street also have young children so it shouldn't be a late night. Thank goodness as I am still trying to catch up on sleep after the other night with Keilee. Praise God she slept through last night. All is back to normal with her now, she's even eating more than Micah, which isn't hard.
Micah prayed tonight that Jesus would make him tall. Due to his illness he stopped growing. Now that things are getting back on track we are looking forward to seeing some growth. He is still wearing size 2 jeans (most kids his age are in 3 - 5). Even the size 2's are a little big around the waist. He has put on 500 grams in the last 2 months which makes him 13.5 kilos. I don't think that he is overly concerned about his height it's just the other day he wanted to go on a ride at the shopping centre and he was a little too short. I'm sure it wont be too long. (no pun intented)
Hope your easter was great and please keep in touch.

Friday, April 9, 2004 7.46pm

Finally I have a few moments to myself.
The children are sleeping soundly and I am relaxing for the first time today.
This morning Keilee woke just before 5am after Micah woke me at 3.40am to tell me he had a dream about crabs biting him. Stef had been awake since Micah's visit so he took Keilee downstairs and let me sleep to 6am. (what a champ).

Once I got up it was get everyone dressed and ready for a 7am breakfast with friends at the Hinze dam. I cooked pastries the night before and our friends Andrew and Deanne brought bacon & eggs that they cooked on the BBQ. It was an excellent morning. Micah really enjoyed playing with their 6yo Lydia & 3yo Josh at the playground nearby.

The latest news with Micah is that the surgeon from the hospital was to give us a call before easter to organise a date for theatre to have Micah's port out and another bone marrow biopsy. Needless to say we haven't heard anything yet. Still waiting.

Now that Micah is off the cyclosporine his excess hair is beginning to fall out. His back nearly looks normal and the growth down the sides of his face has ceased. His arms and legs are now a bit patchy, but that is only obvious if you look for it. He has a lot more colour in his face too due to his blood counts being very close to normal. Praise God.

On Thursday we took Micah to the movies to see Cat in the Hat. I must say that I wasn't overly impressed but Micah seemed to enjoy it very much. Keilee stayed with Stef's mum. I think Micah really enjoyed just having mum and dad to himself for a few hours.

What do you think of Micah's new banner? We love it. It is so Micah. Thank you so much Helen for all the time and effort you put in just to make it perfect.

We have a big Sunday planned but I fill you in on what we got up to next time.

Have a wonderful safe and healthy Easter.

Friday, April 2, 2004 9pm

Wow, where has the day gone?
Our day began with the alarm going off at 5am. Then it was go go go! We had an appointment with Micah's doctor at Mater at 8.30am and it takes about an hour to travel to the hospital. Getting two little ones organised whilst still half asleep is quite a challenge.
Micah's bloods were excellent (for Micah). Hb 117 and Platelets 102. Both up from last time.
Some of the best news is that Micah is getting his port-a-cath out in the near future due to the fact that we haven't used it in months. The doctor will be speaking to the surgeon in the next day or so. Micah now only requires blood tests monthly and so we might wait until next bloods to go to theatre. He will also be having bone marrow biopsy #5 at the same time.
Speaking of good news..
We have just purchased a block of land (thanks to the help of some incredible friends and family) and will start building our home in the next few weeks. Where? Toowoomba! For the overseas readers Toowoomba is about 2 hours west of Brisbane, Queensland.
Through all the excitement I am very aware that we will be leaving one of the best churches we have ever been invloved in as well as some fantastic friends as well as Stefans mum, dad and a very close family friend Jenny.
Yesterday we drove with the children to Toowoomba to look at our block of dirt. Micah seemed more excited than me. I think the thought of having a back yard is very exciting as at present we have a small piece of concrete. (See photo album for Micah and piece of dirt).
In Toowoomba we visited 3 different parks with playgrounds and had lunch at Hungry Jacks (Burger King). You wouldn't believe it Darrin & Tepany Fairfull (Jayden's dad and sister (www.caringbridge.org/me.jayden))turned up. We hope to catch Nickie next time as she was working.
Keilee has just woken for her feed. Gotta go.

Thursday, March 25, 2004 7.44am

Sorry for taking a while to update you. Things in the Cop household have been pretty busy, as usual.
Micah's blood test results were very good. His Hb was 102 down slightly from 106 and his Platelets up to 101 from 87.
We received a heap of Glyconutrient products from America last week (thanks James & Kasey for bringing them back)and Micah is very enthusiastically taking them. A few of them taste great. Already we have noted some small but positive results in Micah's condition.
We spoke with Micah's doctor yesterday and he is very pleased with Micah's progress. We normally have a blood test every week but he said that it would not be necessary this week. We have an appointment with him next Friay at Mater Hospital where we will be discussing the details of taking out Micah's port and having bone marrow biopsy #5.
Sunday Micah's Aunty Mandi is coming up from Sydney for a few days. Micah is very keen to see her, me too. Upon her arrrival dad and his wife Merci are coming down from Brisbane and we will all be having a late lunch together.
Keilee is doing very well, trying hard to walk. She is getting into all sorts of mischief. Her latest effort is climbing up onto the table of Micah's little table and chair set (see photo album). We've had to turn it over in her presence as she fell off the table just the other day.
Speaking of Keilee she has just woken so I'll end now.
Thanks for checking in.

Monday, March 15, 2004 1.30pm

As you may notice we have made a few changes on Micahs web page. Micah picked it. In doing this we lost a bit of information so I'm trying to fix that too.

Firstly Friday's blood test results. Not fantastic but not bad either. Hb down to 109, Platelets down to 87. Still within safe distance of a transfusion. I asked the Doctor if the fact that Micah had a bit of a cough could have affected his counts and he said "it might", which came accross to me as "I don't really know". I'm expecting a call from Dr Leslie, Micah's main doctor today. I suppose it would be easier for him to call if I wasn't on the internet.

Last week was a busy one. The usual Kindy, tennis and dancing for Micah and swimming and mothers group with Keilee. On top of that we had the pleasure (not) of dealing with nits. There was a sign at Micah's kindy warning us about them and guess who bought them home? Me! The one day I decided to wear my hair out. Needless to say we are nit free now thank goodness.

We were planning to go to Wet n Wild this week but we'll wait and see how Micah and Keilee's coughs are going. Keilee has been a bit sniffy too.

Today is usually a Kindy day, but they are having a pupil free day as it is associated with school, so we have the pleasure of Mr Mischief's company. Back to Kindy tomorrow as well as tennis.

Oh yes while I remember, Thank you Frank and the comitte of the Saints AFL club for Micah's Auskick footy, t-shirt and cap. It was so thoughtful. Micah is very much looking forward to playing AFL when he is old enough.

Thanks for dropping by and we'll keep you posted.

Sunday, March 14, 2004 2.30pm

Lost info when we changed the page.
Kids awake so will update soon.
Thanks for visiting.

Sunday, March 14, 2004 2.19pm

Hello friends and family,
Firstly Friday's blood test results. Not fantastic but not too bad either. Hb down from 110 to 106 and Platelets down from 119 to 87. In speaking with one of the doctors the fact that Micah has had a bit of a cough could explain the drop.
Keilee has been a bit snotty too and quite unsettled.
On top of that we had the pleasure of head lice. Micah's kindy had a notice up on Monday informing all the parents. Well this parent brought them home. We've had to do all the usual stuff like wash all the sheets, pillow cases towels, brushes and hats, just incase I had nothing better to do.
Micah is really enjoying dancing although he finds it difficult to stop and listen. He is always on the go. "Doe a dear" has become our new bedtime song.
Nothing much else to report at the moment.

Friday, March 5, 2004 8.11pm

Oh Yeah another big Woo Hoo!!
Oh yes there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are so close that a normal life is nearly slapping me in the face.

Todays results:
Hb 110 - NORMAL!!!!
Platelets 119 - Nearly at our target of a minimum of 150.

Today Micah came off his cyclosporine. NO MORE!!! It's kind of funny as we ran out last night after his last dose. It was just meant to be.

Of course Dr Leslie isn't saying a great deal about how well Micah is doing but he has given us the odd piece of encouragement.

Dr Ram (head of oncology) came to share with us that he is having Rod Gilchrist and Ian Radetz (two well learned Mannatech men) come and do some training with the staff on Glyconutrients in April. Micah's results are a great testimony to the miraculous results they can produce.

There was talk about removing Micah's port in the next month or so. How good is that? A bone marrow biopsy, number 5, was also discussed at the same time but that may no longer be necessary.

Micah began tennis lessons on Tuesday and just loves it. Anything to do with balls or sport and Micah is in to it. He really enjoyed rolling the balls down the hill.

Micah is also going to singing and dancing lessons. I think he enjoys it, but finds it hard to stay focussed. It doesn't seem physical enough for him. Saturday's lesson has gone from half and hour to an hour. It will be interesting to see how he goes. His teacher is very professional but doesn't exactly ooze personality. I wouldn't be devestated if he wanted to do something else. We'll see how he goes tomorrow.

Our next blood test is Friday, here on the coast. We'll know more as to if he will be back in Brisbane once we get Fridays results.

Thank you to all those who have been leaving messages of encouragement. It's very much apreciated.

Friday, February 20, 2004 3.16pm

Todays results are...
FANTASTIC!! Yet another BEST EVER!! Woo Hoo!

Platelets up from 91 to 118, we exceeded 100 yet again, just a little way to go to get to our minimum target of 150. Hb was of course UP from 97 to 100. 100 is the minimum of normal.

A little on the negative is that Micah's kidney reading was a bit high. We have been giving him a glyconutrient supplement called Plus that has been repairing his kidney and liver, but last week got a bit slack. I feel pretty confident that once we get strict again the results will be favourable.

On another good note we have reduced Micah's drug intake of Cyclosporine to .25ml once a day from twice. Won't be long until he is off it all together.

Today we had to flush Micah's port. It hadn't been used for months. As expected kicking and crying was involved. The nurses were prepared, they know what Micah is like. His port is a bit mobile, and it has taken more than one attempt in times gone by, but we are pleased to report that we got it in first go. Well done Nurse Bernadette.

Well I could go on but it is way too hot to sit in front of the computer today. Last night we got to a low of 27 degress and today is exceedinly hot. Poor Keilee is really feeling the heat.

Thanks for visiting

Sunday, February 15, 2004 9.44pm

Ok, First blood test results. All down, just a little. Hb 97 down from 100 & Platelets 91 down from 113. Neutrophils perfect as usual.

Wow what a busy week we've had. Blood test came and went with minimal drama. One quick fingerprick and it was all over. Not thrilled with the results but not unhappy either. I'm getting a little impatient and want everything to happen overnight.

Micah enjoyed Kindy this week. I picked him up on Tuesday with plans of visiting the library with him before we went home. You can imagine my shock when I arrived to see my little boy resembling the Hulk. He had been spray painting green and it was literally all over him. His arms, legs even the soles of his feet. I tried my best to wash him clean but it really was a soak in the tub effort. Our library trip was brief and then home to the bath. By the way he had a great day at kindy.

Saturday, (was that only yesterdy?) was a big one. We began with Dancing at 9. I didn't get lost this time. Stefan came home after work and drove us a "new" way. I'm sure I'll be fine next time. We purchased Micah's tap boots and the the taps and his teacher will put them on for next week.

After Dancing we were home for about an hour then off to the Coffee Club with Jayden's mum and dad, Nickie and Darrin. It was so good to see them, they looked great. I still haven't gone into depth about Jayden's passing with Micah, I just told him a while back that he had gone to be with Jesus. That seemed to be enough information for him and so we left it there. By the way if anyone wants to sponsor Nickie she is shaving her head to raise money for the Leukeamia Foundation check out her web on www.caringbridge.org/me/jayden.

After coffee we left straight for a birthday party. It was such a hot day but it didn't deter Micah, he had energy to burn. Needless to say he crashed at about 5.45pm that night.

The week ahead is huge beginning with Keilee swimming and Micah going to Kindy in the morning and yet another birthday party for Micah in the afternoon.

Our next blood test is in Brisbane at the Mater on Friday.

We'll keep you posted.

Friday, February 6, 2004 7.10pm

Todays results were great! Hb is up from 87 to 100!! Woo Hoo! Platelets down a little from 120 to 113. He has grown 1cm and put on 500grams. All good.
Today he had a fingerprick but the next visit will see his port accessed as he needs to have it flushed, it hasn't been used for months.
The meeting with Dr Leslie was positive, we even got some encouragement. Before we got the blood test results he was speaking of different drug and transfusion options to increase Micah's Hb, after the results we ended up decreasing the dose of Cyclosporine even further.
The head of oncology Dr Ram Supiah is having Rod Gilchrist address the doctors and staff at the next training meeting regarding Mannatech and Glyconutrients. We are so pleased that he is making the effort to look into Glyconutrients. With Micah, Hanni and Jaydens results how could he not.
Tomorrow Micah has his first dance/singing lesson, he's pretty excited. He also has a birthday party in the afternoon, so we have another big day ahead.
On a further positive note the hair growth on his back has ceased and is starting to thin quite obviously.
Keilee at the ripe age of 7 months is busy pulling herself up on the furniture and pushing Micah's plastic table and chair set around the place. She sits very confidantly without assitance and is enjoying 2 meals of solids a day.
Micah's next blood test is here on the coast next Friday. After the last experience of having to drag him from the car Stefan will be coming along too.

Friday, January 30, 2004 7.47pm

Todays blood test was that of an adventure. After the last pathology test where his vein collapsed I had to literally pry Micah's fingers off the car door and carry him kicking and screaming. The actual fingerprick was over and done with within moments but I think the memory of our last visit was still fresh in his mind. It's amazing how strong he can get when he fights blood tests. When he has his port accessed it takes 2 nurses and myself to keep him still. Thank goodness we haven't had to access his port for months. Seeing your child upset and knowing that you are allowing the pain is something you never get used to. Micah gets over it quickly, it takes me a lot longer. Stefan is at the point where if he has the option he wont even be present, it upsets him a great deal also.
But on a less somber note today results were good. His Platelets are continuing to go up. Todays were up from 103 to 120, his Hb was down just a little from 90 to 87. Once again no transfusions.
Due to the advice of a doctor friend we had further blood tests done not so long ago. The results indicated that Micahs' liver and kindneys had been affected/damaged due to the use of the drug he is on. We are now weaning off the drug and have begun giving him some additional Glyconutrient products and his liver and kidney function have greatly improved. It is our belief that they will be restored to normal in time.
Micah is back to his normal two days a week at Kindy next week. He had a great day at Kindy on Tuesday playing with his old friend Hope as well as making some new friends.
Micah also has his first singing and dancing lesson next Saturday, we'll see how he likes it.
Keilee starts swimming on Monday. Today for the first time she pulled herself up on the furniture and in her portable cot. This meant that Stefan had to lower her normal cot as she could possibly pull herself over the top. She also started two solid meals a day. She loves her food. You should have heard the tant. when Linda's dog ate her rusk at dinner, another first. All these milestones make me feel a little sad, my baby is growing up. Oh yeah, she also crawled properly for the first time today. Big day today.
Speaking of big day, I have more to do before bed so I'll finish now.
Next blood test is Friday in Brisbane. Until then.

Sunday, January 25, 2004 2.10pm

GREAT NEWS ONCE AGAIN!!
Fridays visit to hospital once again proved fruitful. I had a very productive discussion with Micahs doctor and was quite encouraged at his progress. Although the Doctors are not as enthusiastic or as positive as we are it was good to take with us some encouragement.
After last weeks horrific blood test I was dreading the most recent. It turned out to be a real non event, which is great. We didn't deem it necessary to access his port due to the fact that Micah hasn't needed a transfusion in months, and so it was to be a fingerprick. Joanna the hospitals professional fingerpricker had it over and done with with minimal fuss.
The results were quite encouraging. Platelets up to 103 and Hb same as last week 90. Still not where we want them, but well on their way.
We started weaning Micah off the Cyclosporine a few weeks ago and with Fridays results were given permission to lower the dose further. Can you imagine how difficult it is to administer .4 of a mil. Any suggestions?
Micahs' friend Joseph was in the day unit for theatre, finally he's been able to go home after 7 or so weeks. He's back for chemo next week unfortunately. Please keep him in your prayers as he is not doing so well. Joseph and Micah are about the same age and we have known Joseph from early days in hospital.
Micahs' kindy orientation went without a hitch. He was really pleased to visit and is looking forward to making new friend. Micah and his friend Hope as well as another child have been held back in the younger group due to their ages being borderline. The cut off is the end of June and Micah is early July and Hope early August. The two get on really well. The teachers have a special program for the older children and so they will be getting some special attention at times. I think that will be most beneficial.
Oh yeah, further good news. Micah is allowed to go swimming in public pools, which means he can go back to swimming lessons. The Doctor said because he has never been Neutrapeenic (due to the Glyconutrients we believe) and as long as his port wound is healed from accessing he can go swimming.
I took him to our complex pool on Saturday for the first time in 9 months and would you believe it it was closed for a week due to sanitary reasons. It should reopen on Monday and we will be the first in. Also Micah has been wanting to go to Wet and Wild for quite some time now so we'll be saving our pennies and taking him to celebrate.
Something else we found out was that Micahs height and weight or lack thereof is due to his Hb (Red cells) being so low. Hopefully once they're fully functional again he'll catch up. We're still sitting on around 13 kilos.
Keilee is 7 months tomorrow. She is now sitting up unassited and has 4 teeth. I can't really say much more about her apart from the fact that she is just perfect. The heat has knocked her around a bit and she is now sleeping downstairs in her portable cot during the day.
Micah has a blood test here on the Gold Coast on Friday and then next Friday at Mater Childrens hospital.
Let me just finish with todays blessing.
Last week we went to the Coffe Club here at Robina to buy some coffee club dollars to bless Josephs mum and dad. They had been in hospital so long and we wanted to just do something little that might lift their spirits. It turned out that the Robina Club only had $20 vouchers and I had only planned to spend $15. Basically they couldn't help me. That was fine. Today we went back to buy our coffee as usual and the manager Jo, came and asked after Micah. She then asked if I had managed to get the the club dollars last time and I explained what had happened. Next thing she presented me with 2 x $20 vouchers. One for Josephs parents and one for us. I was so suprised. Bless you Jo, you are wonderful.
There is a Coffee Club oposite Mater Childrens hospital so when we are up in a fortnight we will be spoiling ourselves and blessing Josephs parents. It just goes to show that there really are some decent people out there and despite a sad teaching I saw on a Gumby video you can get something for nothing.

Monday, January 19, 2004 3.06pm

Sorry for not writing for a while. It's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster.
Last week Micah's friend Jayden died. We had only seen him days before and I honsetly thought that we would be seeing him again.
Micah had a blood test the day and time of Jaydens funeral. That was awful too. Micah's vein collapsed as they tried to draw blood. He then had to have two more needles as fingerpricks to get enough blood for the required tests. I'm still awaiting his results. I guess they would have called if there was any concern.
Micah has just woken from his lunch time nap and is requesting his afternoon tea.
Off to Brisbane again on Friday for further blood tests and a chat with Micahs doctor. Stef can't come because he is doing night shift and will need to sleep Friday. Stef's mum Linda will be coming.
Friday afternoon Micah has his daycare orientation so we need to be back by 12. Please pray that he doesn't need a blood transfusion. I'm quietly optimistic.

Friday, January 9, 2004 1.57pm

Todays results were OK. Platelets UP to 128, good, Red blood Hb DOWN to 82, not so good.
We met with Dr Leslie who is Micahs main doctor and he has recommended that we start to wean Micah off the Cyclosporine. Micahs' blood tests indicated that it was starting to affect his kidneys which we are not happy about.

We met with Jayden and Nickie. At first Jayden was a bit sensitive and grumpy but after a bit of a chat he began to come around. We didn't stay too long as Stefan hadn't slept from the day before, he did night shift last night.

Keilee got her first tooth yesterday and we were all very excited. Micah couldn't wait to see it after I called him at his grandmothers. He actually got to feel it before he saw it when Keilee tried to munch on his fingers. Everything now goes into her mouth. Now that she is mobile we all have to make sure our shoes have been put away, perhaps her sense of smell isn't quite developed.

Our next blood test is next week and we get the results of the Cyclosporine test in the next day or so. Our next visit to Mater Childrens hospital is 23 January with Micah having his Kindy orientation that afternoon.

I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, December 31 2003 10.16am

Have to be quick as Keilee has just woken.

GOOD RESULTS, even better than last week. Micah's Hb has stopped declining and has actually gone up one. We were getting close to transfusion level but now we are heading in the right direction once again. His platelets are pretty much the same as last time.
Poor Micah had to have 3 fingerpricks due to the fact that he didn't bleed well. That is good in one way, it means his platelets are doing their job.
Micah and Stef went to the hospital to see Jayden yesterday. I'm glad I didn't go, it's much easier to stay positive in a positive environment. Aparently Jayden didn't even know they were there. We still pray and believe for a miracle, but it's hard not to feel a little sad at the same time.
They also picked up Keilees Polio injection. Due to Micah having been on Pretnisone Keilee is unable to take a live culture orally. It is quite a danger to Micah. Dr Anthony Herbert at Mater has been fantastic and very helpful in organising all of Keilees injections and check ups.
Micah is going from strength to strength. We continue to give him glyconutrients and can only give favourable results.
Thanks for keeping in touch and don't forget to sign our guestbook and check out the latest photos.

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 2:52pm

Ok you're allowed to read todays entry. GOOD NEW again today.
Blood test results were quite pleasing. We used an additional glyconutrient product alongside with his ambrotose and the results are good.
PLATELETS 123 Woo Hoo!! Hb 88 not too bad, not great. Down from 92 last week. We seem to think that his last blood transfusion has knocked his red cells a bit and they have become a bit lazy. It will please me greatly when they start to climb again. One thing at a time.
Today has been incredibly hot. The children have been doing their best to cope but it is hard. Especially because Micah isn't allowed to swim in the pool. Too much risk of infection in his port. The worst thing is that you can see the other kids playing in the pool from our home. We've set up a small pool like water holding thing in the back yard. He seems quite pleased for now. But until his port is out (hopefully February) it means no pool for the whole family.
Micah is due to go back to Kindy at the end of January, so on one of his Kindy days I plan to take Keilee to swimming lessons. Micah started when he was 12 weeks. We decided to wait a little longer with Keilee.
The other night made me a bit sad. Micah shared with me that he didn't like the lump in his chest (his port) and asked if I'd make it go away. I just told him soon. He's never really been concious of it before now. Thank goodness his hairy body hasn't concerned him. Mind you that's something we can help with.
We are all looking forward to a lovely christmas at Micahs Oma and Opa's home. Then carols that evening. It should be lovely.
Please keep Micahs friend Jayden (http://www.caringbridge.org/me/jayden) in your prayers, the Doctors have given him little hope. We still believe in miracles.
Sorry to end on a sad note. But we are very thankful for Micahs health and his wonderful progress. He really is a miracle child.
Bless you heaps and have a great Christmas.

Wednesday, December 17 2003 8.13am

Micah was pleased to have a visit from his friend Hanni on Friday. Because it was so hot our plans of going to the park were discarded and we ended up at McDondals where it was cooler. It was good to see Hanni doing so well. She is also on Ambrotose. Her hair is growing and she has finished her treatment and had her central line removed. It was so encouraging speaking with her mum Pamela. (See photo album)
Monday afternoon saw us visit pathology for another blood test. Last time we had trouble bleeding his fingerprick so we used a bigger needle this time. No trouble this time. There was blood everywhere, on the floor and all over Stefans hand and through his fingers that were holding Micahs hand. It must of hurt because Micah cried longer than usual.
I didn't like the fact that he bled so well. It's often an indication that his platelets are low.
Tuesday morning we got the results. It was as I had feared. Platelets 77 down from 96 (3.12.03) and Hb (Red cells) 92 down also. NOT HAPPY. Not low enough for a transfusion but where we were having a blood test every two weeks we now have our next test Monday.
Micah is still very healthy in himself. Even though his Hb is a bit low he is not pale or pastey looking.
We'll just have to make a huge effort to get more Ambratose in. That often helps.
Looking forward to better results Monday.

Friday, December 5, 2003 9:45AM

Wednesday we had our next trip to the hospital in Brisbane. Micah in our eyes is doing very well and we organised to speak with his doctor about going off his medication.

We arrived at 8am and finally had his port accessed about 10am. He had his cyclosporin blood test as well as his usuals plus we requested a whole lot more for a doctor (Ian) we have recently been introduced to through Mannatech. Mannatech provide us with the glyconutrient powder that has aided Micah in his recovery.

Ian is going to study the results and let us know if Micahs diet is lacking any important nutrients.

The results of Micahs usual blood test were OK. Not as good as we had hoped but not bad either. Platelets were down a little to 96 (they were 111). His Hb was up from 77 to 115 but keep in mind he has had a blood transfusion in between so that really isn't an accurate indication. White Cells and Neutrophils up and good.

We met with Dr Lesley and finally got some type of indication as to where Micahs treatment was heading. Evidently they have only been studying his condition for 10 years and still have a lot to learn. We have agreed with the doctors that we will monitor his results and if all goes well (which it will) and his levels continue to climb and maintain healthy levels they will begin to wean him off the cyclosporin and his central line will be removed. Woo Hoo!

We dropped in some of the glyconutrients that Micah is on to Jayden. He was still sleeping after having two ports surgically inserted. Micah has one.

Jayden's diagnosis in dim but we are praying that he will have a huge turn around with the aid of the glyconutrients.

Sunday is the Ward 8 Oncology christmas party at the RNA grounds Brisbane. It's bound to be huge. Micah is singing Jingle Bells with the kids to release the christmas CD they recorded in November.

Monday 1 December 1.31pm

Just a quick update today.

Sunday 23rd Micah had a blood test. All his levels were low due to a mystery infection but had risen slightly from the day before. His red cells were up from 73 to 77 and a blood transfusion was an option. We decided to go ahead. He was already accessed which meant we didn't have to give him another needle and we thought we'd just give him one final boost.

We don't expect him to need further transfusions. He is doing so well. We keep pumping in the glyconutrients and we believe they make a huge difference.

We are back at Mater Hospital on Wednesday for another blood test. I'm looking forward to further great news.

Sad news is that Micahs friend Jayden is quite sick so we'll be visiting him with some of Micahs glyconutrient powder.

While we are in Brisbane on Wednesday we plan to take the children on the river cat. Micah is pretty excited. We are planning lunch at Bretts Warf.

Saturday, November 22, 2003 8.11pm

Where to begin?

Thursday Micah had a blood test in Brisbane. FANTASTIC results. His platelets were back to normal 168 and his red blood was up to 88. No transfusions. He did have to have his port accessed though which did not make him happy. We are so pleased with his results.

About 2 hours after arriving home Micah got a high temp, then the shakes and threw up. He was pretty sick. If Micah gets a temp it can be pretty serious. It could mean an infection in his port and for those that don't know his port goes directly into one on the major arteries of his heart.

I called the hospital and as expected we had to return. I packed the bags for myself Micah and Keilee and we were off.

Stef started his new job Thursday night as a Residential Care Worker at a Drug and Alcohol Detox centre so I had to go to the hospital with the Kids.

Keilee was great. We got a cot for her and she basically just slept.

Micah is home tonight and we have to travel back to the hospital Sunday and Monday for antibiotics. He is still accessed so we have to be a bit cautious of our activities. No lounge room rumbles.

So far the blood tests haven't shown any infection which is great. It usually takes 3 days to get the all clear. We are feeling quite optimitic.

Tuesday, November 11 8.22am

Just a quick entry before I take Micah to Kindy.

Blood test yesterday. Platelets up yet again! 88. Blood down to 82, not so good. Usually they transfuse when blood levels drop to 80 but we are going to try to stretch it as long as possible. The Doctors have said that we will do another test Thursday week and see how things are going. That's good. Micah isn't fond of finger prick blood tests, well any blood test really.

I think part of the reason his blood is still low is that we haven't been able to sneak enough gluconutrient powder into his drinks and food. We'll try to be a bit more sneaky.

Friday, November 7, 2003 5:21 PM CST

Yesterday was a real emotional rollercoaster.

Firstly good news. Micah is doing really well. We got the OK from the Doctors yesterday for him to return to Kindy. He starts on Tuesday and will go each Tuesday until the holidays which is only 4 weeks away.

The sad news is that one of his friends from Ward 8 East at Mater died. I haven't told him and won't. I'm not ready to try to explain death to my 3 year old.

We've had Micah on a powder called Ambrotose. I am sure that it has aided if not initiated Micahs recovery. The Doctors are pretty baffled about Micahs results. We just smile and nod, we know what is making a difference.

Thursday, October 30, 2003 4:44 PM CST

Today Micah had another blood test to see how his platelets were holding. I pretty much expected to have to go to hospital Friday for a transfusion. Thursday is 14 days since his last transfusion a new record.

The hospital called with his results. Monday his platelets were 45 not bad for Micah. A normal person has platelets about 150 - 500. Anyway today they had gone up all by themselves. They were 53. Not bad. His red blood cells had dropped to 95 but thats still not bad. Everything else had gone up; his white cells, Neutrophils and platelets.

We have to go to hospital on Monday for a cylcosporin level, so unfortunately we will have to take blood by accessing his port. But it's been over 2 weeks since the last one so it shouldn't be too sore. It is still a bit bruised. Last time it took 4 goes to get the needle in. Evidently his port has become a bit mobile and it was a bit hit and miss.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 4:36 AM CST

Today we start on a very happy note. Our beautiful 3 year old had his 4th bone marrow biopsy which has shown new cell growth.
He still requires blood and platelet transfusions but who knows what tomorrow will bring.
He no longer has to have daily injections and we look forward to him ceasing the terrible cyclosporin drug.
Our faith in God has gotten us through some of the most traumatic times and we hold onto hope in Him for a total recovery.

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