The First Birthday Party!

What a fantastic day!  Tabitha's first birthday party (held at my parents' house) was loads of fun - she had an absolute ball, playing with her little friends and happily being cuddled and carried around by lots of her 'big friends'.  She even managed to keep her dress and white tights clean, and her little pearl bracelet avoided breakage.  I was terribly proud of her!  Here she is playing with one of her current favourite toys - a Cozy Coupe car on loan from the Toy Library:

Tabby wore white woolen tights, little white patent leather shoes (with bows), a pale pink knit dress, with pleated skirt and a bow at the waist, and a little pink and taupe fluffy tulle hair clip, all from Seed.  She also wore a little pearl bracelet, a gift for her from The Daddy and I.

In the days leading up, I kept saying, "You are having a balloon party!".  "These are plates for your balloon party!"...  "You will have such fun at your balloon party!"  So I thought I ought to produce a decent number of balloons.  We got 300 - it is a surprisingly modest number in an average living room.  The balloons were a great hit with the babies - when held in someone's arms, a baby can easily pluck balloons down from the ceiling and cling to them.  Most of the babies took some balloons home.

After a hectic few days preparing, baking, cleaning and picking things up (glassware, loan toys, helium etc), once the party started, I enjoyed forgetting it all and enjoying some Champagne, catching up with friends, and showing off my beautiful baby.

The food went well - most got eaten, though we had enough leftovers to enjoy spending the evening picking at bagels and cake, with half a dozen of our friends who stuck around until Tabby's bedtime.

Some baby cupcakes - I like a pale green icing with coloured flowers, a little like grass or leaves:

We had egg sandwiches, and also chicken and chive sandwiches.  Rye bread, just for a change:

Mini bagels (from Aviv, natch) with smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives:

Chocolate crackles with little pink dragees - carrying on the dot theme from the wrappers:

Honey joys, which are always a favourite:

Little cupcake toppers which matched the invitations - we dipped the buttercream frosting in some shredded white coconut.  This is an easy 'cheat' if you'd rather not bother with piping neat buttercream swirls.

Fairy bread - because, apparently, one cannot have a first birthday party without it:

The birthday cake was a bit of a wild card - I'd vaguely planned on doing a three-layered chocolate cake with pale pink boiled fluffy frosting, however when I made the frosting (less than an hour before the guests arrived!), I discovered that the quantity I needed would not fit in the Kitchenaid (I discovered this by splattering bits of egg white and boiling sugar syrup all over the place).  Thankfully, I'd set aside the ingredients to make a delicious rich chocolate frosting, just in case, so I managed to pull that together within 30 minutes, including frosting the cake!  I decided to use all FOUR cake layers, which I had baked the day prior, resulting in quite a tall, glossy, chocolate-tastic tower of cake.  I sort of tossed little handfuls of ivory and pink dragees at the frosted cake, and hoped for the best.   I think it looked okay!

Actually, I will certainly be doing this cake again, next time I need a birthday cake for a crowd.  Because the cake holds together well, and is layered, it really easily cuts into at least 48 or more neat, triangular slices - you simply slice 12 (or even 16 would be fine) tall regular slices, then divide each slice into its four layers - each little triangle then has some frosting on the outside, some on the top or bottom (from the layers) and the top pieces have lots of frosting!

Tabitha stared at her candle most intently, but did not, of course, understand that she was expected to blow it out:

So I did it for her, and everyone clapped - including the guest of honour.  She certainly knew that something exciting was happening, as she squealed and grinned and clapped and kicked her legs about:

I had feared that Tabby might be overwhelmed by all the guests at her party, and spend the afternoon clinging, koala-style, to The Daddy or myself.  However we were pleasantly surprised - she happily flitted from person to person, lavishing all of the guests with Tabby Love.  I did, of course, still manage to sneak in plenty of Mum-Mum cuddles:

Having snuggles with Godmother Sophie:

And Godfather Noah:

With 'Auntie' Amy, my best friend:

A few of her favourite things:

Pointing at things she likes or wants...

Playing with phones - and talking into them 'YAYAYAYAYAYA!!!'...

Showing off her pretty pearl bracelet, a gift from myself and The Daddy...

Cuddles with her grandfather, a.k.a. 'Gra' (my father).  He is the only person, apart from The Daddy and myself, who she reaches for when she is feeling clingy:

If you click on this photo, you will see the most hilarious face.  She is telling her friend Millie a story, and is obviously right in the middle of the important part:

Tabitha has had quite a fancy for her little friend Joseph since they were wee babies - she used to hold his hand every time she had the chance.  Yesterday, she spent quite a bit of time pushing him around the living room in the little car.  He seemed happy enough!

More 'pointing'.  She kept pointing at a balloon she wanted, across the room, and we had to work out which exact balloon she was pointing at, out of a couple of hundred!

At the end of the party, she spent some time playing in the little plastic garden, eating a sausage roll.  This qualifies as an Excellent Time in baby land!

 

Her Godfather, Noah, played 'peekaboo' through the little letterbox in the plastic garden - Tabitha was absolutely delighted with this game:

After a while, the cheeky little girl reached through the letter box and grabbed his face!

Having some cuddles with my little sister, her Aunt Q.  Look at them, both with little flower clips:

After most of the guests had left, half a dozen or so of us stood around eating cake and sausage rolls and washing dishes - my gorgeous friends even helped with the vacuuming, putting away platters etc!  Of course, they were sent home with plenty of honey joys for their kindness...  

We also sat and let Tabitha open all of her beautiful gifts - she had a wonderful time, and reacted with joy and excitement to each new present.  I think that, by this point in the day (6:30pm) she was so completely wired, that she was about to boil over with excitement!

After the house was clean, the dishes were done and order was restored, we then gave her some dinner, and took her home to bed.  She was fast asleep in bed by 7:30pm, and I had time to sit in bed with some tea, writing thank you notes.  It was a tiring day, but a wonderful one!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday - 27.  I was 25 when Tabitha was born, but only just! Two days later I turned 26.  The Daddy bought me these beautiful roses.  They are Metalina, my favourite.  They smell incredible. 

Tabitha helped make me a card.  She calls me 'mum-mum'.  "Dear Mum Mum, Happy birthday to the greatest Mum Mum in the world.  You're the best.  Love Tabitha".  That is, apparently, what she said to write.  She did the drawing:

No flashy gifts, by request - after he bought me my beautiful Schlumberger ring at Tiffany's on our holiday, I said he was well and truly off the hook!  We will go out to dinner to celebrate in a week or so, since I am too busy with preparations for Tabby's party today.  Tonight, though, we ordered a wonderful spread of takeaway from Choi's, a brilliant Chinese restaurant near us, and I got to pick the DVD.  After a day flat-out cooking for Tabitha's party tomorrow, that was exactly what I felt like!

My parents also brought over some flowers - would you believe, the same sort of roses?!  These are from one of my favourite florists, in Maling Road Canterbury.  They always present their bouquets so beautifully - several layers of paper and cute details such as a wooden pegged name tag:

Mum also brought over some breakfast cupcakes:

Thursday was Tabitha's actual first birthday, of course.   The Daddy took the morning off work, and we had French toast and then went for a nice long walk.  For lunch, my mother and cousin and I took Tabitha to the Collingwood Children's Farm.  She had a great time!  While we were eating our lunch, a very large hen pecked around at our feet, eating the scraps we fed it.  After lunch, we walked around the farm, feeding the goats, sheep, horses, donkey and pigs.  There is also a brilliant 'guinea pig room' with lots of guinea pigs, all different ones, for you to cuddle.  I love guinea pigs - so does Tabby!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera, so no good photos - just a couple of snaps from the iPhone:

Eating her lunch - a chunky beef sausage roll:

Patting a beautiful ginger guinea pig called Marmalade:

Watching mumma feed the goats:

The Daddy and I gave Tabitha a beautiful hard-cover, colour illustrated book of Charlotte's Web.  It is a real favourite of both of us.  I can't wait to read it to her one day!

A package arrived for Tabitha from my aunt - her great aunt - in Tasmania.  My aunt owns a lovely little Steiner and educational toy store in Hobart, called Lyrebird (they post nationally, and their prices are better than the same products at stores in Melbourne, by the way).  It is a fabulous store, a tiny treasure box overflowing with beautiful wooden and colourful toys, books and craft supplies.  She sent two little hand-made felt sheep (sheep and a lamb), a book about farm animals, and a gorgeous lamb painted card.

Tabitha's great grandmother - my mother's mother - sent a very enormous porcelain doll, and a card which, when opened, features the sound of kitties meowing to the tune of 'happy birthday'.  She adores it - her whole face erupts into a grin as soon as the singing starts!

Preparations for the party are in full swing.  Lots of cooking and errands.  It's extra fun with a cheeky toddler underfoot - thankfully, Tabitha is mostly content to empty the tupperware drawer and kitchen cupboards while I cook.  It does get a little squishy in my tiny kitchen, though!

It seems that watching me cook so much has started to rub off on Tabitha - on her own accord, she went to the corner cupboard, got out a Pyrex bowl, filled it with 'ingredients' she found on the floor: a jar of pink sparkly dragees, a small purple plastic toy and a measuring cup.  The then found a spatula, and sat on the floor stirring her bowl!  I was completely astounded!  I may be biased, but it seems to be very close to 'cooking' for a one year old...

Reflections on the First Year

Tomorrow, Tabitha turns one.  This time last year, I was in labour - at this time, I'd been in labour for nearly 40 hours...  7 hours later, my little girl finally made her entrance!  It was long and pretty intense, but still a brilliant experience - it is incredibly empowering to make it through 45 hours of labour.  Even at its worst, I recall giving 'pain scale' readings of around 8, maybe one 9.  Never 10.  It was never truly *unbearable* - and as soon as it was over (within minutes!) I was talking about doing it all over again.  I truly look forward to the next birth, although I would be lying if I didn't admit I'm hoping for a labour of less than 24 hours next time.

I know I've said it before - but one day, I will get around to writing a post about the birth.  I've written up my birth story already, for my midwives, but it is literally pages long, and probably too detailed for a blog!

Anyway, here are just a few of the things which have surprised me about this first year:

• I'm not as tired as I feared I would be.  This is strange, because I am actually getting less sleep than I thought I would be, by one year old.  I had hoped that Tabitha would be sleeping through the night by one, but she still wakes 3-hourly (sometimes more, sometimes a little less) overnight to feed.  The thing is, however, is that now I have just accepted this, and stopped fretting about it, I feel pretty good!  I try and go to bed early, I sleep in a little some mornings (The Daddy gets Tabitha up, changes her and gives her breakfast while I nap or just lie in bed, until around 8 or so).  I rest during the day.  The vague tiredness is always there, but it is not debilitating.

• My days are fairly mundane, yet I am finding incredible fulfillment in the gentle rhythm of our days, and in the small excitements I share with Tabby.  Most days are the same:  wake up, go for a walk outside (to get a coffee or a smoothie).  Come home, play on the floor.  She naps from around 10:30 - 12pm.  We then have some lunch, and go out, spending a few hours doing errands, visiting friends, going shopping.  Home by 3:30pm for her next nap, which normally goes until 4:30 or 5pm.  More playing, then dinner, quiet play, then bedtime at 7 or 7:30pm.  It's not terribly thrilling, but I find an almost Zen-like joy in the quiet, unhurried repetition of the same routine each day.

• The housework is not overwhelming.  The washing is not piling up.  I am managing to cook nutritious meals.  I only have one child - I cannot imagine the differnce having two or more makes - but I was terrified, when I was pregnant, that I would not be able to cope.  I thought that the days would be an endless battle against disorder and chaos!  It is just not like that.  During the morning nap, I do washing, ironing, tidy the house, put away dishes, get myself showered and dressed.  Then I have time to sit and read for a bit.  During the afternoon nap, I start on dinner prep, tidy the house again, maybe do some more washing.  Again, I generally have a little time to sit back.  Overall, with my one little girl, I have a lot more 'me time' than I had predicted.

• Tabitha is such a joy, with far more personality and humour than I knew was possible in such a young person.  I always wondered how parents managed to read the same books, play the same games, laugh at the same tricks over and over again.  I now know that it is because your own child is so endlessly fascinating, so incredibly hilarious, so heart-achingly beautiful that you can watch them sleep for hours and never get bored.

I don't know why, but before we had a baby, and while I was pregnant, I worked myself up into a bit of a state - I knew that I wanted to be a mother (more than anything) and that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, but I feared my life would become an endless stretch of exhaustion, washing, dishes, repetitive games and maybe even some boredom.  Nothing could be further from the reality!  Granted, my baby doesn't have any special needs, but things are much, much easier than I thought they would be.  

I was warned so often, when pregnant, by articles, books, experts - "life will not be a Huggies commercial!  You will not spend the days tickling your happy giggling baby, with neat piles of clean washing, painted nails and a delicious cake in the oven!".  Well, that doesn't describe every day.  But there are days like that - lots of them!  There are a few crappy days, when I spend all day gritting my teeth, when Tabitha and / or me are ill, or when the house is a mess and I'm too tired to care.  But overall, the fantastic days by far outweigh the challenging days.

The birth?  Even at 45 hours, not as dreadful as I feared it might be.  The early days?  Not as exhausting as I predicted (thanks in part to a freezerful of nutritious meals and some great support from The Daddy, my parents and close friends).  General day-to-day mothering?  Far more joyful, hilarious and soul-enriching than I could have hoped.  The only major thing which was (much) harder than I thought it would be was breastfeeding, in the initial weeks and months (see my breastfeeding story HERE for more information).

And you know what?  Even though there is a lot more washing, it is such cute washing that it hardly seems like hard work.  Check out yesterday's ironing - it's like playing doll dress-ups!