Happy Birthday Stumpie Star!!

We had a FAB birthday party for Stumpie Star - went to a chocolate bar restaurant at the Mirage - deliciously decadent. They put a little candle in the middle of Tara's choc fondue and we all sang for Stumpie. Can you believe it's been a whole year since Tara's amputation! Wow.

On Stumpie's birthday Tara happened to win a prize for her amazing progress in swimming. Such a great sign of how much her life has improved in one year.

As you can see in the pic - she's currently wearing a pretty thick sleeve around the top of her prosthetic - it's because she plays so much that the thinner ones were getting destroyed too quickly. It's funny coz now people will ask her what's wrong with her knee...and get a small surprise when they discover that the rest of the leg isn't quite real!



Other news - I by mistake bullied a photographer into taking a photo of the girls at their Sunday School play on Easter Friday - I thought he was the church photographer and saw he was leaving as we arrived so I did the whole "I don't think you got my girls yet" blah blah. Soooooo embarrassing - turns out he was from the Bullie (The Gold Coast Bulletin) - and apparently the girls featured in the paper yesterday...but we were away in Yamba with Micky Blewitt, Gav etc. - so the newsagent's gonna order in an old copy for us.

Yamba (a town that's like South Africa in the '70s) was fab - including brilliant rainforest walk during a major downpour!

Tara received another lovely letter from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh - after Tara had sent her a Good Luck card for the elections (Ms Bligh won). And Queensland Events phoned last week to discuss an event at the end of this month where they may need Tara to be present in her role as Junior Ambassador of the Gold Coast Marathon. The Premier will be there as well. Will keep you posted.

The girls are happy, lovely and very, very sweet. They even made Granny's bed when they stayed there the other night - without her even asking. Cas had a fantastic adventure in Sydney with her form for a couple of nights, learning about Aussie history.

Jadie was placed third in a local drama competition (how's that for increased confidence!) and a couple of Tara's pics have been chosen for a school Art thingie that's coming up.

Tomorrow Tara and I are off to Brissie for a check-up with the surgeon. She wrote him a card to say thanks for the op. Here's a transcript:

Dear Paul Pincus Thank you for looking after my leg so well. Everyone thinks my stumpy is one of the best stumps that they've ever seen! I really like my stumpy and I am really happy with my stump. I couldn't put on jeans before. I couldn't run fast and keep up with all my friends. I couldn't even play certain games that I loved. Thank you once again. I am so happy with my stumpy and now I can do all the stuff that my friends can do. I'm going in the marathon again this year, and in some other races too. Thanks so much. My stumpy means so much to me. Lots of love Tara xox

Soooo sweet. Hope everyone's well, well, well! Some extra Yamba shots below...

Our Little Tumbleweed

Tara's been totally gorgeous the last few weeks (well she always is) - but she's just doing the cutest thing - she's discovered tumble turns (something she could never do before) - and so now she 'tumbles' everywhere - up the corridor to her bedroom and across beds, floors, lawns and the beach. She's like the happiest tumbleweed you've ever seen.

Sometimes you forget she's even had an amputation - and you think she's forgotten too - and then she'll say something...like we were reading her notes about the Olympics last year and she saw again how the torch was lit on the 25th of March - and she immediately said "oh, wow - that's the same day I had my operation". So it's there - imprinted on her mind. And the other day she found the tape recorder with the conversation the whole family had before her op - and she cuddled up on the daybed outside and listened to the whole thing again.

Last week also - the girls had a swimming carnival and 2 days before she said "to be honest, I'm worried I'm going to be left behind after the races when I'm putting my leg back on - and the other girls will go back to the tents without me". Of course it turned out the school had everything beautifully organised with someone to accompany Tara at all times and hold her leg while she swam etc. But it was sweet that she was concerned coz sometimes she just gets on with it so well that you forget to ask if she's doing okay. (She did fab in the swimming races btw - and came first in her freestyle race! That's her with the blue cap waving at the camera before the race. )

We keep needing replacement parts for her leg because she plays like any other 8-year-old (LOVES the bars on the school playground) - but instead of getting cuts and bruises that can heal - she kinda damages her leg - and then it stops working so well and it falls off when she's running! Not a great situation!

Cas and Jadie are gorgeous too. Jadie's been invited to possibly represent the school in breaststroke - so she's off to a carnival on Saturday. And Cas is LOVING all the new stuff she's learning at school. Did you know there's a type of fly (gall midge fly) that's born inside it's mother's body? Well - when the babies are born, they eat Mum's insides...and within 2 days they've devoured her whole body?! Thanks Cas for that info!

Jadie was voted Class Student Representative for the year which is a big responsibility and fantastic for her. She was very nervous to try out for the position - and almost didn't - but at the last second she thought "I have to do this to help my confidence" - and hey presto, she made a speech along with some other brave girls, and Jadie won the job. She's loving it - having to help organise events like selling ice-lollies to help raise money for the fire victims. (All the girls at school also had a Free Dress Day and were asked to donate $1 or $2 for the fire victims - Tara donated $10 of her own saved-up pocket money - which was just so, so sweet and she totally inspired Cas who also then donated $10 - Jadie managed $5 - and they said they didn't just want the money to go to the children, but to the grown-ups too "because grown-ups are also people and they also lost a lot in the fires".)

Tara was voted Form Captain & is taking her role very seriously and giving stars to girls who behave well (even Jadie got one yesterday). Cas tried out for the same positions in her class and didn't get in - but she's got such a great attitude about how the girls who were voted in deserve it just as much and what a great contribution they'll make.

Tone's doing well - tryna lose a little of that weight he gained with his mum's fab cooking over the past 2 months - so he's out power-walking, and surfing when it's dark and the sharks are hungry. Argh!

And Granny Paula's just officially become an Australian Permanent Resident! Very exciting!

Other than that - the usual parties, beach, tennis etc... Happy Weekend everyone! Happy Belated Birthday Filipa, and HUGE thoughts and hugs Kim!

New Year Catch Up

Happy (belated) New Year to everyone! Hope you all had a fab festive season and have a divine 2009! And let's hope we all get to see each other this year!

The last couple of months holiday have been soooo busy but also gorgeous. The girls have had almost daily visits with their grandparents (and we've had lots of delicious dinners c/o YiaYia!).

So lots of family stuff, plus all the usual parties, beach, pool, ice-skating, movies and sleepovers with their mates.

We had a fabulous camping trip with the cousins to Broken Head - sooooo beautiful. The kids climbed trees, walked along cliffs and explored caves - the whole Enid Blyton thing...except for the wild turkeys that kept waking us up and the humungous Joanna the Goanna who took a daily stroll through the tents...

YiaYia, Bapou and Granny came thro' for a day for YiaYia's birthday - lovely bbq and afternoon in Byron Bay where we were spoilt with dolphins, turtles and even a lovely harmless snake.


Tara was amazing. Climbing the tree obviously wasn't as easy for her - you had to keep stepping over branches where balancing on each leg was vital - but she persevered (even when we told her she could be proud of what she'd already accomplished) - she was just so determined to do what the others could do - and finally - about 24 hours later - she could reach the most precarious parts of the tree, parts that even courageous Cas was scared to go to.

Fab parenting tip: look away. Also had to look away when Tone took the girls surfing. Argh! Very cute tho' - and Tara again was just so adamant that she could do it too - so she did.

Her new leg hasn't quite been a dream yet. Part of it broke before we even left - so luckily she still had old LouLou altho' it's too short for her now. So cute to see how she's grown since having two legs - so it seems exercise really does help you grow! The broken part of new LouLou has now been replaced so hopefully it'll be okay now. Hold thumbs/cross fingers.

So crazy - we had to go back to the prosthetist last week to get a microchip put into LouLou - apparently Queensland government insist on it - they have such a shortage of funds - and then they waste money on stuff like this.


Jadie's confidence has improved SO much - but she still won't let us stop praying for her confidence because she says we spent years praying for Tara's leg - so she's owed at least a few more months. She was a little star at her modelling graduation show - which was fab because Granny, YiaYia, Bapou and Janet were also all there to cheer her on. You should've seen after the show - Jadie, Cas and Tara jumped up on the catwalk and were doing their own show - and then suddenly Jadie started dancing across the stage, doing faux ballet and really just performing with absolute abandon - and you could tell that she was physically feeling the joy and freedom of what she can do if she doesn't let shyness get in her way.

Cas is lovely and gorgeous (hmmm, feels like my word for today) and just keen to save the world and save the environment and win at rummy. She nearly went on a fantastic NIDA acting course...but she broke my $4,000 laptop with her ipod (forcing the earphone thingie into the wrong place) - so all theatrics remained at home.

There's been lots more - a lovely night with twins Lucy and Jessica who raised money for Tara's leg earlier this year - such fun for our girls to really get to know them coz they were babies when we were neighbours in Sydney. And from their holiday apartment - we watched the most amazing mini-cyclone - with chairs flung into the pool. We've also had a brilliant weekend down at Yamba with Mickey and Michelle who've just moved over from SA; Tone's been to Adelaide with his folks to visit relatives and eat fresh food from their garden and more, more, more.

Not sure if you saw the lovely message left for Tara on the last blog entry from a little girl called Aijana (10). She wrote "my grandmother read about you in a magazine. I also have CP of the Tibia and also see Dr Pincus. We have been reading through your blog over the past month or so and you have inspired me to write one for myself. We also have other things in common, like dancing and singing and I also love puppies like you. I have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Dixie and she had puppies in August this year. You and your family look like you have lots of fun. Keep smiling!"

Aijana - if you're reading this - Tara just LOVED your message. Thank you, and she looks forward to meeting you one day.

OK. That's the big catch-up caught up.

Again - happy, happy 2009 to everyone! (Pic of us on the beach on New Year's Eve - our first grown-ups only NY for YEARS!)

Happy Holidays

Wow. Can't believe how time flies. So much has happened since last blog entry.

Father Daughter Day at school was gorgeous. Tone couldn't believe how many fathers turned up. Good on the dads! While Tone was in Cassie's class, the twins were 'adopted' by friends' fathers; and coincidentally Tara's adopted dad has actually had an Illizarov Frame himself - he needed it from racing motorbikes - and is very good friends with Tara's surgeon. Small world.

And a lovely lady phoned us from north Queensland - because her daughter had seen the photo of Tara in the New Idea and said "look Mummy, she's my friend - she'd understand me"...because her daughter also has pseudoarthrosis and has had ops and different kinds of braces since she was a child. When we told Tara she just BEAMED - she knows exactly what the little girl means about "she'd understand me". We're hoping Tara can meet her in Brisbane next time they're at the hospital. She's 10 now and has been advised not to jump or exercise for fear of breaking her bones again. So Tara's very lucky with her newfound freedom!

Altho'...the new deluxe leg has not been as smooth sailing as we hoped. We've been back and forth for appointments, trying to get it fitted correctly. It pinches her, gives her sores etc. We've had to ditch the silicon in favour of another material because her skin didn't react well to it, but I think we're almost, almost there. She cried momentarily yesterday because she was frustrated with part of it that won't stretch properly - and you know when she cries, that it must be bad coz she always tries sooooo hard to be positive. In fact one of the mums at school was saying that we always go on about how supportive everyone's been - but that we forget that it's Tara who made it so easy for people to be supportive because she never played victim or whinged.

On Friday Tone and Tara went to Brisbane to have the leg spray-painted (like a car!) to match her other leg as closely as possible. That also helps with waterproofing it - but we've decided we don't want her swimming with the same leg - it may just deteriorate too quickly...so we're going to get her old LouLou transformed into SplashyLou instead! Can't wait. We just can't watch her battling to hop in the ocean and not being able to play on the shore with her sisters and friends anymore - so yesterday we actually let her go in the sea with old Loulou - and it was fabulous! She body-surfed, ducked under and over waves and had a BLAST!

So funny - remember the charity - Montrose - who called to reject us? Well they called again to reject us again - they forgot they'd already done the deed! Tony also spoke to Dr Slaughter at Royal Children's - and he's given the all-clear that Tara does not have the pin stuck near her heart. Whew! Thanks for those prayers!

And (Queensland Premier) Anna Bligh sent Tara a little doll called Kelly, whose legs are amputated, similar to the doll she received in hospital. The Premier also sent such a lovely note - isn't that divine that she thought of Tara straight away! And Tara - after much begging from Jadie - is letting Jadie share Kelly with her.

School's finished - won't bore you with details but the girls got lots of certificates for great effort and Jadie got a medal for her academic achievement, plus she's been promoted into the mini swim squad.


Their nativity plays were gorgeous - Cassie played a Granny soooooo well - and it seemed to make her wiser - she came home with great observations on life - including that our bodies are on loan to us like DVDs from God's video shop, so we have to look after them especially well.

Janet arrived from London just in time to watch the twins' performance. And brought with her the most exquisite lavender from Christine's garden in Antibes. Merci beaucoup! And then my mum whisked her off to Noosa and Lady Elliot Island where they've been watching turtles laying eggs.

YiaYia and Bapou have also arrived from South Africa for a couple of months - so the girls have had HEAPS of fun playing with them everyday and forcing Bapou to swim with them. Plus there've been movie premiers (High School Musical 3), Christmas parties, ice-skating and all the usual stuff. (And the unusual - like looking at the smiley crescent moon with Venus & Jupiter sparkling nearby every evening last week.)

Altho' this blog has been going for less than a year - so much has happened in the lives of those of you who've supported Tara in her journey. Lizzie lost her friend, Pierre lost his dad, Zigs and Christian got married, Jason & Lisa had a baby, Annie got breast cancer, Sian started a new practice, Craig lost his brother, Tia moved to a new country, Jaspar got a fantastic new machine that lets him communicate, Ted wrote a new book...and Nick and Staci's little Toni - the cutest 4-year-old you could ever meet - has just been diagnosed with Wilm's Tumour. The good news is it's contained in one kidney and after some chemo, his kidney will be removed and he'll get to live a totally normal fantastic life. But for now - we know how difficult their journey must seem - and so we're all praying for a speedy recovery and for lots of strength for Nick and Stace as they hold their little son's hand while he goes through this new chapter in his life that we know will be filled with lots and lots of love.

Lots of love to everyone! And enjoy, enjoy the holidays.

New Idea and New Legs

I keep meaning to update but we've lost one of the cameras that had the photos on I was gonna upload. Blah.

Next week we'll be able to post some super-professional ones from Taefi Photography - who took photos of Tara and family for New Idea mag. And it's out in stores RIGHT NOW! So if you're in Australia - take a look at page 60.

Jadie's tamagotchi crisis that she wrote about a few weeks ago has been solved! Jason found a lovely tama in Chamonix and sent it her way! Thank you! She's ECSTATIC!

Tara also had her x-ray - and so far it all looks good (and she took it to Show & Tell). Thanks sooooooo much for prayers - always appreciated! We've just gotta wait for Dr Slaughter (!) at the Royal Children's to check it out and confirm all's okay.

And her prosthetist phoned yesterday to say her new leg should be ready next Thursday. We had a fitting (well, Tara had the fitting) last week and a few adjustments were needed.

It's amazing how FAST things are changing in the prosthetic world. When we first saw them a few months ago, the latest greatest legs were the ones with a pin on a sleeve you put over your upper leg, and then clipped into the pretend leg. But now it's all hydraulic suction kinda gear. No pin required.

Tara takes a few steps...and squeaks a bit as air leaves the leg - and then once it's all gone, the leg is tightly secured.

As you can see from the pics here - the silicon sleeve is rolled on (far left) and then the prosthetic leg is attached - here there's still the ugly pole showing thro' coz they're adjusting height etc. - they'll put a cover over it when they've finished & then we need to go to Brisbane to get it spray-painted as close to her leg colour as possible. No more tights (or stockings as they say here).

We had another photo shoot last week where it would've been so fab to have had Tara's water leg - running on the beach. She tried to run with current LouLou on the sand, but it kept coming off; and she couldn't go near the water. Blah. She's also finding the socks are becoming too itchy (with summer). New leg doesn't have socks - has silicon. Some say it makes you sweat more - others say that after wearing a silicon sleeve for a while your stump stops sweating - so we're aiming for that one. Tara's phantom tickles are now at the end of her stump - isn't that amazing - they've moved from where her toes used to be to just below her knee (so that's where her head now tells her her ticklish toes are).

Tara and Jadie's school camp was brilliant - they loved it - and the divine Mrs D said that she wishes all the kids could be as independent as Tara. She had no hassles with her leg - altho' Jadie did come back with a mega bruise and burst blood vessel - so she's the one who had to go to the doctor.

Cas went with Dylan and Granny for a long family walk up at Springbrook (in the rainforest with waterfalls) - very excited coz she saw a snake and lots of other Aussie animals.


At school they've all been having heaps of fun - they designed and made hats for Melbourne Cup Day - Tara got into the finals and was desperately annoyed to not win...but she was convinced she'd win the poster for best Year 3 kid in Acacia - but she lost out to none other than her own twin sister! Can you believe it - out of all those girls - it had to be Jade who won - which was actually better I think coz Tara was at least happy for her...and now more determined to win next year.

Yesterday Tone and I watched them do a beautiful little play at chapel - all about how important it is to be a good friend and help others, and treat a friendship like you do a plant - nurture and water it. They were soooooo good and cute and adorable. Tomorrow they've all gotta be at school early for a breakfast bbq with the dads! Lucky Tone. I can sleep in!

Otherwise - lots of the usual stuff - beach, tennis, movies, ice-skating, dinners at Granny, fab Halloween night with the cousins, sleepovers with friends etc.

The girls are counting the sleeps till YiaYia and Bapou arrive in about 10 days' time. Very excited.

And big prayers and lots of love for Annie this week.

Rollerskates, monsters and a wire

Hello! Been the usual busy time with some wonderful magic moments brought to us care of Tara and her gorgeous sisters! Like the afternoon that we were picking up Cassie's camp photos - and a mentally-challenged man chatted away to us. Afterwards Tara said "I feel so sad for people who have something wrong with them." And then she burst out laughing and said "oooh, I've got something wrong with me too...but I don't want anyone to feel sad for me. I'm very happy!" And the conversation evolved over the next few days to the point where she realised that, just like her, most other people with issues are probably happy too and don't want anyone to feel sad for them. And then she pointed out that actually there is no division between people with something wrong with them and those without - because "everyone has something wrong with them, you just can't always see it."

She also had a great conversation about the kids at her old Australian school who "didn't like me and didn't wanna play with me because of my leg" - but she says it all in such a beautiful matter-of-fact way - you can see she didn't take what they thought of her onboard at all - she left their thoughts with them.

At school, the fab and lovely Mrs Donohue asked the class to write a letter about anything that they are currently concerned about. Tara wrote that she actually had no problems of any concern...but that when her dad was a kid he used to be scared of monsters and had to jump from his door onto the bed!

And her tenacity continues. One evening we noticed that LouLou may just fit into Cassie's old rollerskates. And the next night, lo and behold, Tara came rollerskating down the corridor in her PJs - she'd secretly gone and put them on. Scary but fab! And she's still tryna master tennis (with the most patient dad in the world)!

Other news - I was invited to do a speech about South Africa for the local Rotary Club and sooooo would've normally said 'no thanks' - but after the experiences this year with these 3 little girls - Cassie with her French speech, Tara with her speech to the Premier, and Jadie mastering her Evonne Goolagong speech - I was inspired by them to also lift my level! And - with a HUGE thanks to Kim S. and Melanie W. (and Alex & Stu for their Aussie support!) - I managed to pull it off. Whew! Could NOT have done it without you guys! The girls were SO excited with the certificate I received afterwards - just like theirs.

We had a lovely surprise this weekend when Tara's other Godmother - Phil - came up from Melbourne (pictured here...with sunnies as big as Tara's!) - fabalicious. And most exciting news is that Tara may get her new leg tomorrow!!!!! Altho' we won't let her start wearing it till next week - coz she and Jadie have an overnight school camp this week, so best to keep it simple with old LouLou. The school's been amazing at ensuring the facilities will be suitable for Tarakie - a chair in the shower (so she's not sitting on the floor like she does at home) etc etc. So funny actually coz one of the help groups - Montrose or something - called us to enquire about Tara. They're a group who assist people with amputations etc. Anyway - after all the questions - they called us back 2 days later to say they will not be offering any assistance to Tara coz she's "not bad enough" - and it was so weird coz it still feels like you're being rejected...even tho' of course you're so glad that Tara's considered so normal that she doesn't need help!

Still no news about whether Tara's one of the kids with a wire left near her heart. Frustrating. Many phone calls. But still no answers. Oh dear - in the 15 minutes since I typed this - we've had a phone call from the Brisbane Royal Children's to say Tara did have that particular catheter in her arm. So she'll have to be x-rayed to see if she has the wire lodged inside her BUT the good news is that so far the children from Royal Children have been okay. Still not nice tho'. You get that nervous feeling. Argh! Small prayers please! Will keep you posted...if she does have it tho', it should be ok - just a small op to remove it. Happy Week Everyone!

Welcome Home LeggieLoo Quilt

YAY! Gela came down from Brisbane and brought Tara's LeggieLoo quilt, which her and her friend Catherine have finished off BEAUTIFULLY...even tho' Gela was meant to be recuperating in bed from her op! The LOVE and dedication that's gone into the quilt are just extraordinary - especially since Catherine's never even met Tara...and Tara only met Gela properly the night before her operation (Gela had already been a brilliant support when Tara was a baby having a million ops - but Tara had no memory of those days...thank goodness!) That night before Tara's amputation, Gela turned what could've been a nerve-wracking evening into the most fun and giggles the girls had ever had - she painted Tara's left foot so that she could leave colourful prints of Leggie Loo all over a piece of canvas material. The girls also wrote messages, and Big Foot (Tara's right foot) got a look in too. Tara kept the canvas tucked around her during the week in hospital, like a security blanket...and then we gave it back to Gela to magically transform it into a quilt that tells the story of Tara's journey this year. The girls fought over who was allowed to sleep with it, they just love it so much. And Tara took it to show-and-tell on Friday.

So lovely re-reading the messages the girls wrote to Leggie Loo like Tara's one saying "I love you. I will miss you a lot. Thank you for teaching me things. You are lovely. bye!!!! Love Tara".

One of Jadie's messages read:

To Leggie Loo
It was the last day of seeing you. It was very tough for you I think.
Love Jade!

Cassie wrote:

To Leggie Loo
We will all miss you! I love you so much!
love Cass xox

And one of them wrote "Leggie Loo was a great friend".

They're all loving LouLou tho'...even tho' she does occasionally (hmmm...frequently) stand on her sisters' feet by mistake!

First week back at school was fab. Jadie's loving her new role and Cassie went to New South Wales for a school camp for a few days - learning to canoe and do all kinds of fun stuff in the lake and the ocean. Had a LOVELY evening with Neal who was up on business from Sydney...and brought Gela, the quilt, flowers (thank you Gussy!) and truckloads of chocolate with him (which Tara also mentioned in her Show & Tell).

Shame - Tara shed a few tears because Jadie's been invited to play at a friend's house tomorrow and she hasn't - but just feels right for Jadie to get her first play on her own (Tara's had a few already). Jadie loved her first modelling lesson this morning and we had yummy dinner and bingo at Granny's tonight.

Last night the Baxters came for a sleepover and we adults went out for dinner in Tedder Avenue - and spotted Dicko (from Australian Idol) and Nigel (from the US So You Think You Can Dance) - which was kinda fun coz not much normally happening in our neck of the woods!

Tony happened to buy the newspaper today...and there was an article asking parents whose children have had operations in the last year to please contact this Hotline. And blah - turns out that some children have been left with wire lodged near to their hearts from the catheter that was inserted in their arm to give them antibiotics and other drugs. It's not life-threatening but requires an op to remove it. Only 3 hospitals in Queensland have been affected...and the Royal Brisbane, where Tara was, is one of them. Argh! Hopefully Tara's not one of the kids that had this particular catheter (altho' of course we feel for the parents of anyone whose child did use it). But they'll only let us know next week. Yikes. It's never over.

Home for the holidays

Oh sob - it's back to school tomorrow...which means Tone and I have to wake up early. Argh! But very exciting for Jadie - she could barely sleep tonight, so excited about being form captain.

We've had a fab holiday tho' - here at home - with a constant stream of gorgeous friends from around Australia. Tone and Phil and all their childen have been up from Melbourne for the past 10 days. Tone (Wits) and I both noticed how not one person at their resort's swimming pool actually stopped to stare at Tara - even tho' she was hopping around the pool and diving in sans her prosthetic leg. I think she was just acting so 'normal' and so full of fun that nobody had a chance to even see anything out of the ordinary.

There have been a few moments tho' when the kids have played games - and the boys aren't as keen as the girls to have Tara on their side...coz she's a little slower. But the girls have so made up for it that I don't think Tara's really noticed. And if she has - it's just more impetus to learn to run faster.

She's been learning to ride her new bicycle (which was donated to her by a very kind cycling shop owner in Melbourne). And even tho' she fell off twice - she got right back on it again. All 3 girls are also learning to play squash and, as Jadie mentioned in her blog entry (where she had a go at Cassie!), they also had daily swimming lessons during the holidays. Tara's stroke is great - she was placed in a higher group than even gorgeous Cas! (Very funny & soooo fab to see Cas laugh at herself. Nothing like your younger one-legged sister being a better swimmer than you!)

Donna & Fraser came for a sleepover; and Steve & Sian, Zoe & Portia and friends also stopped in from Noosa. All divine. And Tara just loved playing tennis with them. Love her get-go attitude. She didn't think twice about playing with the older girls, even tho' she's only just begun learning tennis and it's a rare miracle when that ball gets over the net.

We had another media interview - this time over yummy milkshakes at Bahia - for the Queensland Events magazine which comes out next year.

And most importantly, Tara got a cast taken for her next leg!!! Hopefully she'll be in the new leg by the end of October. Wow! She had to go in and get the current leg fixed a little - was hurting her around her knee so she couldn't wear it. Blah.

Saw such a funny interview on telly last night with Andy Hills - the Aussie comedian who has an amputated foot. He was talking about doing the Leeds show (UK) - where he let his prosthetic leg do some crowd-surfing. It is funny how people do react to seeing a prosthetic leg - even on the beach with Tara - people are less likely to stare at her, as to stare with huge grins on their faces at LouLou, propped in the sand. It's a novelty people seem to love. Tone and Phil's little twins have just loved stroking Tara's stump - very loving.

OK - must get ready for school tomorrow! Hope you all have a fab week!

Naughty Cassie

Hi Tara,

I hope you're having lots of fun on holidays with the Wits and all the other people.  I am doing a modeling cause in 12 days and wish you could come as well. I've been sick and I still am a little bit sick and I really hope you don't get sick now in the middle of the holidays. On  Wednesday the 24th of September the Patons came and we were doing lots of fun games to win prizes and I won a game and picked a prize from the lucky dip but a few minutes later it broke so I got another one which was a tamagotchi.  In the afternoon we all set off to swimming. I was in the pool when Cassie was playing with MY tamagotchi and Tara had just got out of the pool. Dad asked Cassie  if  she could give Tara her clothes in the shower which was down the steps and to the right. Cassie was holding her clothes and my tamagotchi and she dropped it somewhere and now it's lost. Hopefully Cassie's learnt not to use other people's things without asking.

Love Jade

Le Weekend

Weekend was lovely. St Hilda's fete - girls played up a storm on the rides. Cas did rock climbing, the twins went on the cobra (SCARY!), Granny spoilt them and Tone & I visited the Champagne & Oyster Bar!

Tara wore her brand new pink & silver runners/takkies (from Queensland Events). And WOW - they made her wanna fly - so "light and bouncy" she said (great ad for asics!). Like magic shoes. We went to Aus Fair and she SPRINTED up and down the aisles. And when we got home she dragged Tony out to run fast around the block. Her little lungs were aching - in that fab healthy way - another first for her! And it was such great timing to then watch the Paralympic girls on 60 Minutes - really inspiring for Tara - that dream of one day being able to represent Australia. Now she wants to be "an artist and a paralympian".

Also had a sporty morning yesterday (Sunday) with the Patons - playing mini-Olympics on the beach....including a hopping race. This all probably sounds so bland - but such a breakthrough for Tara who used to have to be a spectactor instead of a very excited participant! Very inspiring. It was cute tho' when we were walking to the beach - LouLou kept coming undone and she said "how do you think you would like it if your leg kept falling off and nobody would stop for you to put it back on" (said like it's the most normal thing).

So we can't wait for the 15th - to start the process of getting her next James Bond-ish leg that'll be a lot more secure and she can run without worrying it'll disappear from beneath her!

Biggest difference so far since Tara's amputation is the absolute FREEDOM the rest of us now have to enjoy ourselves around Tara. Before, her leg was so fragile that you were too scared to bump her and hurt her (or have her killer brace hurt you) - whereas now she can wrestle with Tone like a pitbull & LOVES it - and there's no worries that her leg's gonna get hurt! YAY!

Oh dear. I forgot to publish this post - so it's now a whole week later. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAM CAM! And SPEEDY SPEEDY RECOVERY beautiful Gela! And big thoughts to Paul and my dad this last week. The girls wrote Paul the loveliest notes on full moon night & we went out for the most divine ice-creams (coz there aren't any crepes in Tedder Ave).

The 15th went fab! Rehab all happy with Tara's progress and we can now move on to the next leg. We also don't have to bandage her stump every night anymore - but after over 6 months of whingeing about it, can you believe we're now a little heartsore to let go of the tradition?! Tara even let Tony do it this week for the first time ever.

Great news - Jadie's been elected Form Captain for next term! She's soooo excited. All 3 got Effort 1 ratings for all their subjects this term - they really, really worked hard so they felt so good & said it was their best term ever. Cas got a certificate for her Shakespeare speech and although the twins didn't make it into the finals, Tara says that "Shakespeare is my FAVOURITE language!"

Queensland Health and St Hilda's have continued being amazing - they arranged to walk around the school with Tara to check on the level of safety (and all 3 girls - who are blind to the fact that Tara's in any way disadvantaged - asked why Tara specifically had been chosen to do this and not one of them!).

A HUGE thank you to Ginette, Hugh, Lucy and Jessica - WOW guys! We were blown away. Like we've said before to every kind soul who has taken part in Tara's journey - it's not just what you've physically now given Tara, but how much your care and generosity of spirit has been such a support to the whole family and helped fill up that reservoir of love that Tara will draw on for the rest of her life.

HOLIDAYS now...so we can sleep in for the next couple of weeks! Yay! Happy Weekend Everyone!!!