There is nothing like a friend

I love the colours in this layout, blue is a real favourite of mine. This was Lauren aged 3 with her great friend Claire. The two little babies are Joshua (Lauren's brother) and David (Claire's brother). The tag at the top of the layout pulls up to reveal a large amount of hidden journalling.

All of the paper, round tags and flowers are from Scenic Route. The leaf sprays are stamps from Paper Trey Ink, as are the sentiments. Rub on letters from Doodlebug

You can't keep a good girl down

This is Lauren, after surgery, she is supposed to be resting but I can't keep her out of the kitchen, she loves to cook as my stamping buddies will tell you, her fudge and shortbread are very scrummy. She is not allowed to put any weight on the feet, therefore she is confined to a wheelchair until such time as the surgeon feels they are ready.

Poor old Lauren has been unable to walk very well for months and this last month she has more or less been confined to the house. Back in August after some training (she is a triathlete) she said her ankles were hurting and it has got steadily worse since then. When she was operated on, the surgeon found that the sheaths to both achilles tendons were actually stuck to the tendon itself, allowing little or no movement. He has delicately separated them and made incisions in the sheath to relieve the tightness and as the scar tissue grows across these incisions the sheath should increase in size.

3rd place, well done Lauren

Lauren did her first open water swim at Mornington last weekend, it was 1.2km and she came third!! I am so pleased for her, the triathlon training has had to take a back step with her Achilles tendon problems, she has been hobbling round since August and has seen doctors, physios, sports therapists,a sports podiatrist, you name it and she has seen them. At last we have a diagnosis, acute inflammation of the tendon sheaths and as treatment has not helped, she is going to need an operation. So swimming, without using her legs has been the only training she has been able to do, not one to be put off competing, she decided to do this, just for the fun of it, not expecting to come anywhere, so no one was more delighted with the result than Lauren.