the fruits of my labour

It was Isobel’s first birthday on Tuesday. Almost unbelievable (to me, anyway), but true. I so clearly the remember the moment I first saw her, and the joy, not to mention the relief, I felt at her arrival. I can still feel her skin against mine as we snuggled and slept under the covers in the hospital in an effort to raise her temperature. (Ironically, Melbourne was experiencing a heatwave at the time.)

But a year has definitely passed and we have all grown to know and love Isobel as a beautiful, strong, delightful and life-loving individual. At the same time I can distinctly remember life before Isobel, but cannot imagine our family without her. She brings joy to us all, and I dearly hope we bring joy to hers. Before I had children I never realised how much of a personality babies display and thought they were all pretty much the same. Both Elliott and Isobel have categorically proven me wrong and thrilled me in the process.

We celebrated Isobel’s birthday two weeks early on New Year’s Day when we were in Tasmania with my family. Here she is in all her early birthday party finery:

That’s not her wine, by the way. Here’s the cake I made:

It’s an adaptation of Nigella Lawson’s Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake, using blueberries instead of strawberries. I wanted something fairly light and summery and not too much for a baby (her first taste of cake!). Well, it didn’t seem to be too much. I think it got her approval:

Then last Sunday we celebrated again in Melbourne with Mum and a few of Chris’s family members. We had a lovely barbecue (using the barbecue Chris and I gave ourselves for Christmas), followed by cake and homemade ice cream.

Here’s Isobel reigning messily over her birthday lunch table:

And here is the cupcake “cake” I made:

Thanks to Anna for the photo. And thanks to Chris for all the shots of Isobel (I think). The above photo also shows a glimpse of the number one biscuits Elliott and I made together. Both the recipe for these and the cupcakes come from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, which I find invaluable, especially when it comes to children’s birthdays.

As usual, I had grand plans for Isobel’s gift from us. She really doesn’t need anything at the moment, but I decided to make her some things. We haven’t actually bought her anything. And I haven’t actually made anything for her yet, but I figured this is probably the only time we can get away with a late present. I’m pretty sure she’ll notice from here on in and she may not be all that understanding. Not that birthdays are just about the presents, but do kids really believe that? Anyway, she got lots of other lovely things from other people and I’ll be showing here what she eventually gets from us, as I make it. Don’t worry, though, I have started and I’m raring to go.