Lou Lou has Landed!

Tara went for her first leg fitting today - and within minutes (and after a couple of minor adjustments) - it fitted her perfectly! Like Cinderella. AND she walked!!!!! Just a few steps - but one small step for you and me is a giant leap for Tara! She's even grown taller - just by having the prosthetic on...because now she's better balanced.

So sad we didn't realise how fab today would be - we thought it would just be a fitting - nobody (including rehab) knew she'd take to it so quickly. So Tone and Jadie actually weren't with us. But we did the video thing (small bit below when she was walking to Cassie - who had come along for support). Cas kept telling Tara how much she loves her family and her life. And Tara agreed and said again how God really wanted her to be like this, and she's so happy.

Theme tune for today: Hey, hey, hey, what a beautiful day.

It was a day full of such lovely moments - sooooooo cute to see Tara stand for the very first time in her life, with two socks and shoes on!!!! She just stood there, frozen, getting used to it when the prosthetic was first put on. And then she made some small baby steps to the mirror, holding on to Mandy the physio, so she could see what she looked like. Grinned like a cheshire cat. Then we did the whole walking with the bars thing. She didn't wanna stop & kept taking her hands off the bars so she could walk free. Rob, the prosthetist, and Mandy were SO happy with her and let her bring Lou-Lou home! She needs to practice walking a few minutes in the morning and a few more in the evening. Has to take it real slow - coz any little blister can mean having to wait weeks for it to totally heal, and then start the whole process all over again.

We'll be staying in Brisbane next week for a few days for Tara to have intensive walking lessons in rehab. And Tara's back on one tablet a day - the phantom tickles were just too much and she said she'd rather have the tablet while it's doing a good thing. The docs today agreed that it's better to keep her on it for at least another month - coz it's important to be on painkillers while she's learning to walk.

On the way out of the hospital we bumped into Tara's gorgeous surgeon - Dr Paul Pincus. Pic here. As you can see - he was just over the moon for her - and says he can't wait to see her walk into his office unaided in 2 weeks' time, when we have our next appointment with him.

It's funny how just a taste of walking on two legs for a few minutes has now spurred Tara on to want more and more. She's now fully into the idea of getting an athletics-type prosthetic (like the Olympians have). Before she used to say they were too ugly - but now that she's felt what it's like to walk on 2 legs; she just can't wait to run. She wants to run faster than the other girls. So I said we can look into it - maybe use some of the funds Jean-Luc has raised - which would be really fitting seeing as he's a top athlete.

Had another magic moment when we got to the train station and the girl at the coffee bar offered the girls an extra free marshmellow muffin with the one they'd already bought...and altho' they SQUEALED in delight - instead of guzzling it down, they kept it for Jadie & shared the one they had.

The three of us were just SO excited about getting back and showing Tone and Jadie that we forgot to phone before leaving Brisbane, to let Tone know what time to pick us up. Such dorks. But we had a fab time waiting - and Tara quickly whipped on Lou Lou again to surprise Tone...altho' he was so busy talking he didn't even notice straight away.

But Jadie did. She was really excited and also found it a little weird. She's never seen her sister walk towards her with two shoes on. She played with Lou Lou afterwards - couldn't believe how heavy 'she' is. The girls have so given Lou Lou a personality - they're LOVING her - she 'slept' on the train so we all had to whisper...and tomorrow Tara's taking her to school for show and tell. She did say this evening that now she really wonders what it's like to walk on two real feet.

Our long weekend was great. (Funny that we have a public holiday for the Queen's Birthday but England doesn't.) Tone, Gav and some mates went on a surf trip to NSW (altho' Sian - he's still not totally laid back!). The girls and I did an amazing birthday party, swimming, play date, ice-creams and lovely coffees and conversation with Gela (so divine that she was with us just before Tara walked for the first time, just like she was with us the night before Tara's op). And thanks to the Paton girls - our girls are now playing imaginary DS with beautiful drawings they do on tissue paper...so their real DS stays unplugged. Time is still our biggest enemy - like with everyone - just not enough time to get all our work done, do Tara's appointments & everything else that crops up from homework to Cas suddenly needing a minor op on her lip last Friday.

So life is so totally not dull - and if we don't reply to emails or calls - pls know that we LOVE getting your news (it feeds us!), but we're just swamped in too much work (not complaining!) right now to answer properly sometimes. Sorry!!!! I think the biggest misconception about our whole Tara experience has been how hard everyone thinks it has been for us emotionally - but it's seriously been a very happy, light and joyful time - the hardest thing has been the disruption to our working hours. That's what's been stressful beyond words - tryna stay on top of things. And being DESPERATE for just 30 minutes of having nothing to do. (Pic here of Rob the prosthetist.)

CONGRATULATIONS to Zigs and Christian!!! And a HUGE hello and hope you get better soon soon soon to (Jimmy's) Zack. Video below of Tara walking to Cas for the first time in her life.