16/01/2025
BEHIND THE SCENES👀
This little guy is a QUOKKA. He's native to Rottnest Island - a local gem. We spent the day there on Sunday watching Pete Murray and Eskimo Joe (*brilliant* show!!), and I now have a camera reel filled with pics of these smiley little faces, and I just *had* to share! 😍
This trip was the first that I'd been able to get on and off the ferry for a few years without struggling/needing a lot of help. We even rode our bikes from Fremantle to Point Walter (for the locals: yes, I even managed the ride at Blackwall Reach!🤪). Seeing the quokkas, listening to live music, and the simple joy of riding my bike outdoors brought me SO MUCH HAPPINESS!!
You see, the past few years have been filled with multiple surgeries to fix joints and ligaments that just have NOT being doing what they're supposed to. 15 months ago, I was in a wheelchair after a major knee surgery, and I couldn't drive for 3 months. It took me even more months to be able to navigate the stairs to our warehouse and help out with orders (Erin and Kelly in my team are absolute life savers, and truly appreciated!). I've literally spent the past year learning how to walk again, and building muscles to support day-to-day life. Prior to that, I had a matter of months to recover from ligament surgery to my wrist to be able to use the crutches and manage the knee recovery... and before that, the first double knee surgery which didn't quite do what we had hoped. It's been A LOT over the past few years!
Once I was "well enough", we found ourselves on the path to DYSLEXIA and DCD diagnosis for one of our girls. She is the most resilient, hard-working young person I have ever met. There was a gap between what I knew she could achieve verbally, and what was coming home on the written tests. Being in high school and having time pressures made EVERYTHING so obvious to us. It then meant that even more of my energy was diverted away from work (which I'd been wholeheartedly aching to get back to). It's been worth it though, and she's thriving.
Now it's 2025: I've managed a trip to Rotto, completed a great bike ride, and got a decent dose of Quokka love all in one weekend! We're ready for the new year at school, and are hopeful that this year will be a bit smoother now that we know the processes - and how to access learning accommodations (IYKYK).
I'm back at work, and back to normal life (what a relief!)😅 We're all looking forward to putting lots of energy into www.SchoolPonytails.com.au 🎀 and seeing where we can take it this year 🙌
{If there's something in this post that you want to reach out over, feel free to DM me to chat. Learning difficulties and wonky joints are a lot to juggle, and you're not alone x}
If you'd like to support me, my team, and my business, you can find us at www.SchoolPonytails.com.au. We still sell Australia's largest range of school uniform hair accessories, and have all the gear to suit your House colours on Sports Day! We're shipping daily, as we always do - even when I've gone AWOL! - N x
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