my baby - 1

How has this happened? Twinkle has only been in our lives for a 'blink' and she's already one! Last week our precious baby girl, our long awaited daughter, had her first birthday.

dodgy self timer family shot!

me and my dream baby

In Taiwan tradition we had a HUGE shebang, a zhua zhou, yesterday, hence my blogging absence over the last week and a half. I have been in serious preparation mode.

table centrepiece


I was quite pleased with the way it ended up looking. Luckily Flossy has a beautiful, if destructive, twisted willow tree in her garden and I gathered the branches last week and painted them white. She's threatening to have it removed and at this stage I seem to be it's only friend, if only for it's pretty branches.

Initially, I was unhappy with the way different areas of the bark literally drank the paint up, but I later realised that it actually looked just right with the cute polka dot lanterns. Too white and they would have looked stark.

I wanted the party to be very crisp and pretty with out being too, too frou-frou. I really couldn't get a good shot of the bunting but it lent the perfect amount of crisp and pretty.

I think I made about 15 meters, maybe more. And the pompoms (from good old Martha) added a little dreaminess to the room.

Robyn and Lizzie

I must learn how to photoshop that beer bottle out. They will want me to say that it was neither of theirs!

'Aunty Annie' with Flossy and Me.

The party was held at my parents house in 'the bush'. So the setting was wonderful, the day magnificent, in spite of earlier forecasts, and the guests all so important in our lives.

Chinese tea house lanterns were strung up along the driveway to welcome the guests. A little hilariously actually as half of them were hung upside down!!

Hmm-hmm, Sweetie, any idea how that happened?? I wonder what it says this way up?

I do hope it's not offensive.

My parent's place is filled to the brim with quirky and historical features. The front gates and fence was originally part of the Melbourne Cemetery.


I'm not sure of the history of this old fire alarm that sits outside the gates. I know it has some and I'll have to find out.


Looking up the driveway. It almost looks as if there are candles in the lanterns, with the lovely light of the early afternoon. The lantern says 'tea house', when it's the right way up, like this!

children's buffet, before it was laden with food and ravaged by hungry little boys

I created an enormous candy bar which was a huge hit with the children and the adults! So many of the grown-ups commented on it being the first time in years they'd had musk sticks or raspberries or sherbet bombs! They all left with bags filled to the brim with sweet treats to make the long drive home. I had such fun seeing them fill their bags and feeling like children again themselves. I make no apology to the parents who had seriously hyper children as a result of the sugar rushes in those little bodies. It was a party after all!!

candy bar closed

and open!!

jumping castle, the perfect place for boys to go mad

The Candy Bar coupled with the jumping castle and five acres to run around in and I think there were happily sleeping children all over Melbourne last night. Tiggy slept like a log as did Greg and I! He sobbed though, when the man came to take it away. Something tells me there was a little bit of sugar, over excitement and exhaustion in the equation!

Dziadzui with Twinkle

Babcia & Momo with the party girl.

Boo-Boo and Momo

Without Boo-Boo and Momo the party would not have been as special. They let their house become overrun with 60 odd people, provided food & drinks for all, gave the children a wonderful time and some good country air and gave their precious grand-daughter, mmm, photos of a party she won't remember!! Isn't that odd? Twinkle won't have a clue. But we know and appreciate the fact that her first birthday was marked with such splendour.

Thank you BooBoo and Momo from the bottom of our hearts.

Flossy & her favorite niece

Babcia

The catering was brilliant, we had my parents favourite bush cafe,Watsons Creek Cafe, do the food for the adults and I did the children's. Greg's mum, 'Babcia' was amazing and had said she would bring a huge vat of soup but arrived with her famous chocolate logs and spinach dip, pavlova rolls, meringue kisses, apple slice, Polish donuts - ponchki, and on and on and on. We were more than amply fed!

The traditional ceremony in Taiwan , the Zhau Zhou, is not dissimilar to the Korean Dol ceremony. With the 'First Grab' which is said to foretell the child's future. Twinkle grabbed the brush, symbolising a future of creativity and scholarly pursuits. Interestingly, she would not let go of the brush at all and cried when we took it from her to see what her second choice would be. She poked the brush at the rice - for prosperity, but was absolutely certain that the brush was most important!!

Twinkle wore her traditional costume, her cheongsam, and her little silk embroidered hat. Babies wear this hat on their first birthday in order to catch, between the tiger's ears, all the heavenly goodness falling from the sky. The tinkling of the little bells are said to ward off evil - but I don't think there's much evil around this baby. She's just so sweet and happy and easy to love and to live with. I'm so thankful that she is ours and we are hers.

Happy birthday Sweetheart, I thank God everyday for blessing us with you.