Happy birthday!

This day last year, I was timing contractions and wondering if such mild pains could really be labour. An hour later it all ramped up and I was left in no doubt.

A first birthday is a funny thing. It’s as much a reliving of the same day last year as it is a birthday celebration.

I look at my baby girl now and I find it hard to imagine how we were ever without her. She has filled a gap in our lives that we didn’t even know existed. Still without a tooth in her head, her gummy smiles and giggles wake us in the morning. And as soon as Charlie and I are awake she starts shouting in to wake her brother.

She is full of fun. Climbing, exploring, constantly moving. She’s not walking yet but that doesn’t stop her cruising the furniture. If you try to lead her by the hands to walk you soon find her steering you where she wants to go. And she’s not trying to walk there – she’s trying to run.

Already we can see that she is determined once she sets her mind to something. She studies things and puzzles them out, and practices over and over until she has it all figured out. And then it’s on to the next thing. Most likely whatever she sees her big brother doing – that’s what she wants to do next.

I look at her today and find it hard to believe that it’s a whole 12 months ago when she emerged into our lives. I remember how alert she was in the hours after her birth, looking at me as I looked at her, drinking each other in. Taking her home a few hours later, where her big brother was waiting tentatively to meet her. The first three weeks went slowly while we found our rhythm and got feeding established. But once we got through that, the weeks began to fly by. As life does when you’re having fun!

Happy first birthday to my baby girl!