RFS update

Hi all. Just a quick update on what I have been up to with the RFS. As promised in a previous post I said I would let you know how I went with my Advanced Fire fighting assessment. It went well. We had our practical pumping assessment first which presented a couple of scenarios that we had to interpret, identify the best action and execute our techniques to the satisfaction of the assessors. The guy I was partnered with from Winmalee had no problems. Next was the theory. There were three separate exam papers. One was Advanced Firefighting Principles, Advanced Firefighting Technical and Mapping & Weather. I forgot a couple of things on my first quick pass, but after spending some time mulling it all over it all came to me. When my theory papers were "marked" by Steve from Valley Heights he said it was refreshing to see someone had spent the time to learn their stuff properly and that my assessment was the best of the day!! Cool! So I passed, which is a relief as I didn't spend as much time preparing as desired due to the arrival of you know who.

On Tuesday I attended an inter agency terrorist response exercise with about three hundred other members of the RFS from far and wide, including Heidi. It was a 4:30am pick up at Faulconbridge and then off to Holsworthy army base. I will not go into all the details, but people were made to look like they had been in an explosion on either a bus or a train. Both a train carriage and a bus were blown up for the exercise. Pig carcasses were placed in each and when I asked about this apparently they are put in there to gauge the effects of the blast on a body. It looked quite strange to see a pig carcass dangling over the back of a seat in an exploded bus! There was a lot of time spent sitting around waiting but the actual exercise itself and the makeup efforts were very impressive. I took a couple of sneaky photos of one of the "blast injuries" of a guy that played one of the dead.

Well that's all for know. I will update again soon...

DADDY'S FIRST FEED

We bought a new breast pump so I can practice expressing and get it down pat before going back to work. This meant that Daniel was able to give Xavier his first bottle feed. We were a bit worried that he may not take to it but after screwing up his face initially he decided that all was OK. He has now had two feeds with his Daddy which has been very special for Daniel (good for the bonding) although he did give Daniel a few strange looks initially as if to say "hang on, this isn't right". Ben's turn next time.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW ADDITION

Sorry it has been so long since we last blogged. A lot has been happening as you know.

Firstly, we have to welcome baby Xavier to the family.

He came just one day after his due date, although this was driving his Daddy mad - he was eagerly waiting the arrival of his new bubba. Things were made worse by baby Fraser Colquhoun arriving promptly on his due date!

Never the less, the wait was worth it and Xavier Christian Hale was born;

Sunday 12 October 2008

Time: 9.52pm

Weight: 8lb 71/2 oz or 3.845Kg

Length: 54cm

All went well and both Xavier and myself were fine - so good in fact that we left hospital on the Tuesday - desperate to get home to the peace and quiet and away from the noisy hospital. We took the early discharge option where the midwife will come to your house for the next 7-10 days and check on you and bub.

So far he is settling in well, we haven't found a routine yet but he generally manages up to 5 hours a sleep over night and daytime sleeps vary. Just when I think we have some sort of routine he changes again. He is very alert and very good a lifting his head. He is starting to make eye contact with us and hopefully won't be long before the "wind" smiles turn into real smiles - can't wait.

Ben has been a fantastic big brother and is quite happy to cuddle his little baby brother even when he is howling his head off. He has been good at being able to settle his baby brother too! Ben was in Townsville the two weeks leading up to Xavier's birth, he flew back on the 12th October. Heidi and Ian offered to pick Ben up on the day just in case Xavier decided to make his grand entrance...........good job they did. At the time that Heidi would have been at the airport collecting Ben, we were headed for the hospital! What a nightmare it could have been, the airport is about 2 hours from the hospital. Ben ended up staying the night with his cousins, Daniel did call him after Xavier was born but he was already in bed asleep, although he did talk briefly to Daniel he doesn't remember the call!

Daniel took the first 3 weeks off work to spend time with Xavier and I, it was nice to have the support. He is a very devoted Daddy and I think he wishes he could have longer but he has organised to have two weeks off again at Christmas which will be nice. The only thing he doesn't seem to handle well are the poopy nappies!

In between sleeps I have managed to keep in touch with work and do a few jobs from home for them, I arranged to have remote access so I can dial in and do work at home. It helps keep the brain functioning and also helps keep my business manager, Claire, sane as she also has to look after a couple of other centres too. I'm doing things like the rosters and did the banking reconciliation - something Claire hates as I can usually balance mine and she never could prior to me starting at the centre. Down the track I will do a few more things and if I keep track of my hours I can get paid for them once my paid leave runs out (in about 4 weeks).

Well that's about it for now, sorry it's taken so long and I'm not sure when the next blog will be but we will do our best.