Day: March 15, 2007

janine canham’s husband matt sent magnificent and me an email in april 2005. it was an email we had hoped to receive in early june and the headline told us all we needed to know: THE CANHAM BOYS ARE HERE!

they were indeed. born three months too soon, at 28 weeks, sam and his equally as tenacious brother josh were born in hong kong, at queen mary hospital which had housed our own triumverate just one year previously. the boys have since compensated for their 2lb5oz & 2lb 11oz rather humble beginnings – they are bonny…racing around hong kong and their mandarin is coming along so well that they will soon be ordering meals for their parents at local restaurants.

the canham boys are here, and unlike many preemie children, they stayed with their parents on earth. and janine, after emerging from the nicu experience with her own scars, vowed that she was going to do something to help preemies. donating clothes and stuff to the queen mary only took her so far…her vision was greater.

janine hooked up with  BLISS, a charity that campaigns for improvements in neonatal care so that more babies survive and have the best quality of life worldwide. BLISS ensures parents are supported as carers by providing a freephone helpline, specialist publications and website. BLISS supports the development of innovations in all aspects of caring for premature and sick newborn babies.

she will be running in the London Marathon in April, to raise money for BLISS. she would love your cheers and sponsorship so that BLISS can help other preemies thrive as josh and sam have done. the canham boys are here and waving at the finish line, proud of the effort their mother has made for preemie babies worldwide. if you visit www.janinecanham.com you will get to her site, where you can make fast, simple and totally secure donations. if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

this will be janine’s first marathon.  she is training hard and aiming to run it (42.2km or 26.2 miles) in 4 hours or under. but for janine the purpose of this marathon isn’t about hours or minutes. it is to give babies’, years.

if you can, please give – or at least post a message to wish her well.

finders keepers …. i like that part

the other day sebastian was thrilled to show his father and i something that he had found on the playground. it was a tiny little spiderman figureine or something of that ilk.

"finders keepers, losers weepers" he proudly recited.

that’s a great little ditty for justifying when you’ve found something and don’t want to give it back.

"do you really think so?" asked his dad.

vigorous nodding followed. even his siblings backed him up. yes. its the law.

sebastian, how would you feel if gina found Special Blanket and took it home?

i would be very sad. and i would cry.

but sebastian, finders keepers! that means she can keep it if she finds it!

not if it is mine, mummy!

i love the logic of kids. it is so what adults think but dont’ say anymore.

sebastian is having a tough time right now with the fact that all his friends are going to a different school than he will be going to next year. this year he knew two kids when he started off at small world Christian kindergarten. next year, he won’t really know any of them. and it is a huge school with five grade classes. FIVE! and sebastian still thinks that he will be in the same level as adam and the other kids he used to be in school with before i held him back a year.

he has informed his father and i that he doesn’t want to go to kennedy school. for a couple of days he was saying he wanted to go to new zealy, which we thought was new zealand. we jollied him along for a while, ho ho, new zealand is a great place for a family holiday, etc etc etc, and then he said that new zealy was in hong kong and that was where he wanted to go to school because that was where all his friends were going next year.

i saw the penny drop and watched it move away from my child.

sebastian, do you mean you want to go to glenealy school?

yes!

oh baby. we don’t live in that area.

but that’s where i want to go, mummy.

there’s nothing i can say that will make him feel better. i can promise him he will make friends, and i know he will. but right now, he wants to go to another school and there is nothing i can say that will make him think that another school is a good alternative.

"if i have to go to kennedy school, i will be very sad!"

losers, weepers.