Decision time

Side on of Paddy and her leg

Paddy with her little leg

Today I got a phone call from the hospital and tomorrow we have to go and see Paddy's surgeon about what we are going to do about her leg. I have been so stressed waiting for this appointment, now that it is finally here I am pleased, it is time to move forward and for Paddy to get on with the rest of her life.

We have had lots of talks to Paddy about what we should do, as I think it is important that she has some idea that something is going to happen. Can you imagine how she would feel if we just took her along for the surgery without telling her anything and she either wakes up with a missing foot or a huge leg lenghtening device on her leg? Anyway she has told us she wants a "magic leg" and she seems to understand the concept of it all. Over the holidays we met a few people with prosthetics and they do so well, however we will see what her surgeon has to say about it all.

I have put on a couple of photo's so everyone can see what her leg is like, at the moment there is a 5 cm discrepency and they predict by the time she is fully grown it will be at least 10 cms, to John and I that is just too much to lenghten.

Paddy and Georgies 4th Birthday

Happy Birthday

Cake Time!

Entertained by Trixie the Fairy!

I know it has been a month since P & G's birthday but I thought it would be nice to see a few photo's of the day!

I had to put one in of the cake I made as I was very pleased with the way it turned out!!

Needless to say the girls loved it. Emma has already put in a request for a blue mermaid one, I just hope I can do it!!

The Irish relatives are on their way!!

Have just had a phone call from Uncle Mick and Aunt Betty from County Mayo, in Ireland. They are coming to stay with us for 16 days on the 25th of Feb. Great news, John hasn't seen them for nearly 10 years and they haven't seen our kids before so it will be just fabulous to see them! Hope the weather holds out, we have had the most brilliant summer that I can remember since I was little, in fact in has been so good our grass looks rather brown, I am sure the winter will make up with copious amounts of rain, as Auckland is so famous for!!



Oh and we did lose the cricket, what more can I say!

John is at the 20/20 cricket, New Zealand vs England, and I think NZ is going to lose. Hopeless!! If England wins I will never here the end of it, fingers crossed NZ hits a few six's!

Welcome to our blog!!

Tuesday 5th Febuary

Finally I have got my act together and figured out how to do a blog, well I will give it a good go anyway. I thought this would be a good thing to do as John has so many friends and family in the UK it would be good for them to see what he is up to Down Under.

Firstly to fill you in on where we are at with Emma, Paddy and Georgie. Emma is 6 in March, a big girl now and she has just started year 2 at school. Paddy and Georgie were 4 in January and late last year they started kindergarten, they just love it, every day they actually say they don't want to go but once we are there they don't even look up when we say good bye. It must be nice to know that your best mate is there with you every step of the way.

Another reason I started this blog is because this year Paddy has to have surgery on her leg, John and I have to decide whether to amputate her foot and she wears a prosthetic, or to lenghten her leg, I thought this would be a good way to record our journey (which I think will be a difficult one), and how we get on. Late last year we saw Paddy's doctor at Starship hospital and he said decisions have to be made, it took John and I completley by surprise as we thought we had a bit more time up our sleeve. There has been a few tears mainly from me, but we have met some fantastic people over the holidays whose kids have the same condition, and have had their foot amputated, they have been a huge inspiration, and they have amazed me how well they do. John and I both feel the LL (leg lengthening) is too painful and they cannot tell us for sure that it will be a success. I have also met some amazing people on the internet who are going through the same thing and it is great to chat with other people about it.