One

This weekend we celebrated my smallest daughters first birthday. Amongst the cake, candles and some fabulous 60's Australiana decor (more on that later) there was also some reflecting and reminiscing over the fact that Paige is now a year old.

(All photos by the lovely Barbara Coombe)

The day your baby turns one is such a mix of emotions: relief - the sleep deprivation didn't actually kill me! Pride - I didn't drop the baby, forget the baby, sell the baby on e-bay - insert all the random ways you worry you could injure your child. Fear - if you're now that old, then how old am I getting? Also sadness. The sadness comes from the realisation that my baby's first year is over. She is on the cusp of leaving her babyhood behind her forever. It feels like each day I can practically see her limbs lengthening, her face maturing and her eyes growing more aware of the intricacies of the world around her.

Paige has been such a sweet, content and loving little baby that I feel an ache at the thought of her moving on from this stage. It makes me laugh when I remember that just over a year ago I was nervous about the effect that adding a second child to our family would have. Nervous about my sweet Paige? It seems so silly now. Paige is pure sunshine and light. She has deep rich chuckle and an eye crinkling grin. She is warm milky breath and soft skin, she is fat dimpled hands curled around my finger and silky soft baby hair. 

When you get lucky enough to have a baby like her, you celebrate the big milestones and celebrate we did. Saturday dawned sunny and bright and saw a large group of my family and friends gathered in a local bowling club for a sausage sizzle and some barefoot bowling. So wonderfully Australian it hurts! As was the decor:

 (Large Aboriginal painting in the Namatjira Lounge) 

When it came time for my sweet girl to blow out her single candle, the reason this gathering felt so poignant really struck me. There were about 40 loved ones standing in a group smiling at Paige and singing the happy birthday song to her. It bought a lump to my throat because, you see, while they may have thought that they were bellowing happy birthday, what they were really saying was "we are glad your baby is here", "we love her too", "we support your family" and "we like eating cake". All good, tugging at the heartstrings stuff, no? We are so lucky to have such a large, loving family surrounding us and I am so glad that Paige will grow up with her extended family all around her - cousins to run and play with, Aunties to bake her birthday cakes and sing songs into her ear that they used to sing into mine when I was as small as her, Uncles to throw her in the air and tell her 'remember when' family stories that never grow old and Grandparents to simply adore and spoil her. She is truly blessed.

(Thank you Christine for Paige's gorgeous cake!)

So the cake was eaten, the fairy bread was trodden into the carpet, loud sugar-induced tantrums were had and on the drive home I looked at both of my girls sleeping faces in the backseat. Yes, I'm sad to say goodbye to Paige's babyhood but knowing how much fun watching my first born baby turn into a little person has been, I have much more reason to look forward than to reflect on the past. (Besides, all that looking back was starting to give me a crick in the neck...)

Happy birthday, baby.