The birthday report: Eloise turns sixteen

Well it's been a while between birthday reports, but as I sit here in bed reminiscing not-so-fondly of the decent amount of pain I was in at this time sixteen years ago with no end in sight, I'm also reminding myself of all the twists and turns along the way to sixteen.

How you were such an easy baby.  You slept through at 9 weeks and I must have checked you at least a dozen times to see if you were still breathing and still OK... but you proved to me then and you still prove to me now that you don't need much pushing to get to where you need to be, you're very happy to move there at your own pace, which is usually in a hurry.

I'm thankful for your independent soul.  Your self-assured and wise way you navigate through tough situations.  Sure, you have mini-freak outs and you question yourself but overall you just know yourself.  You just don't understand what a gift that is.  There are adults I know that don't know themselves as much as you do at just sixteen.  It's pretty wondrous really.

You're also stubborn and will fight for the last word, talk over people to get your way and find it hard to say sorry sincerely - but at the same time you're incredibly generous, will put yourself out to help someone who needs it and reflect upon things with genuine regret and learn from your mistakes.  It's a mass of contradictions but it's you working life out.

I had a dream last week that you fell pregnant and I woke up in a genuine distressed panic and in the dream your Dad said 'but we love babies' and I was like 'Noooo.  No. No. No. No. NO.  She has PLANS.   She's going to travel, she wants to live a full life first, she's got things to DO.'

When I told you about this dream you giggled and then became concerned for my distress and came over and gave me a hug and a kiss and said 'Don't worry about it Marmite, I would never do that to you'.  To which I said 'Don't worry about me, don't do that to YOU'.

I guess that dream was a bit of my adjusting to you growing up and making your own choices and my dreams for you to have a full life like you want.

You have a good head on those shoulders, and I appreciate how open you are about your thoughts, feelings, what's going on in your life and your concerns.  To me this is a gift you give me.   I in return give you my implicit trust because I have no reason to not trust you until you breach that trust and so far so good :)

Anyhow, birthday parties still leave me exhausted and yours was tiring but I loved that we made some of your ol' favourites lolly bobble bliss bombs,  rocky road and a new favourite amongst your friends warm pizza dip.     Today for your actual birthday the repeated request of Victoria Sponge was adhered to and delivered :). I hope even when you're a grown up I can still make you some of your favourites...





But I'm not writing off the rest of your childhood and time at home just yet.  I'm savouring these last years with you with us and Covid-19 for all it's tragedy, has given us many gifts - more family time and I love that we're the 'fab-five' again rather than people who all live and eat together sometimes in between rushing off to this and that.   It's been wonderful.

Anyhow, I don't want to ramble on, but I wanted to mark this occasion with something that would at least mean something to me.  Happy birthday my 5ft 11 Amazonian baby.   I celebrate you today and always.

For posterity I also decided to add pics from your birthdays since 11... don't hate me..

11th - Dinner at Shangri-La Sydney

Last birthday in primary school - 12 - Victoria Sponge makes another appearance like it did at 8..

Happy birthday Teenager and first year of high school.  Yes, it's Victoria Sponge!

Fourteen, I couldn't get a pic of you with your cake without your phone in it, but it was a sponge cake with buttercream...!

15th birthday, Dark Chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache..

A decade of motherhood - Eloise is TEN!

There's something about that phrase 'a decade' that makes you sit and ponder.  Ten years a big amount of time.  It makes me sit and reflect, not just with nostalgia like I do every time my child has a birthday - but with a real focus on my motherhood.  It's ten years since I became a mother.  I hardly remember what it was like before motherhood - that whole 'just thinking of me' or 'thinking of us'.  To be honest, it doesn't even seem significant.

When I had Eloise it kind of pulled my life into a new focus and I don't think that's uncommon with most new mothers.  I had a new reason to live, and honestly found the.whole.reason.to.live.

We marked the ten year milestone with a sleep-over party for 10 of Eloise's friends.  Many called us brave (and maybe foolish behind our backs :) ) but it was a great celebration (albeit a bit sleepless) the girls were all well behaved and it dawned on me, a great representation of the hard work we do as parents.  We still have quite a journey ahead but the 10-year-health-check is looking good so far!

Look at my fresh-faced hubby - proud as can be with his very first baby his 'mini-me'.

And our own little chubba-bubba Eloise - all 8lb 13 oz of her at 39 weeks 2 days gestation.
THOSE.CHEEKS!

She really was an easy baby.  Slept through at 9 weeks (and still sleeps well) and didn't look back, ate everything I gave her (still does).  This is her first doll 'baby' which she still has.

This is her second birthday at playgroup.  All she wanted to do was dance and sing.  She's loved music since forever.

This is her third birthday covered in love by her great-grandmothers.  One knitted the hat and the other knitted the doll!

Here's my doe-eyed beauty at four.  Didn't want her photo taken.. this is when our battle of wills began, it's only just subsided - she's feisty like her Mum!

Here we are at five.  This photo just melts my heart.  This was her last year at home with me before she started school and loved that time with her.

Here's my big school girl, turned six.  Still with that crooked smile.  Bless I love that smile.

At seven she got glasses and jumped leaps and bounds that year, this is the year she became in a hurry to grow up and embraced her love of music.

This is when it started to get scary!  Eight years old going on eighteen!  She started to learn clarinet and went to her first concert (J-Lo).

And just last year, at 9 - with her BFF Stephanie, it's so lovely seeing this friendship grow as they do.

And now she's 10.

It does go just like *that* but looking at each one of these photos I'm grateful for every single moment.  Happy birthday my baby.  I love you.

Letting your kids be independent cooks and fluffy blueberry pancakes!

All my girls love cooking, but my Eloise is really blossoming into a good little cook.  She's almost 10 now and can carry out most basic cooking techniques.  The helicopter parent in me has to restrain myself especially when it comes to the stove and knives but these are skills for life and it's better that she do it under supervision and my hands are behind my back... :)

Pancakes are a great first type of recipe that a child of 10 or so can execute from beginning to end on their own (with supervision of course!) - and there's hardly any kids I know (let alone parents) who don't like pancakes for breakfast.  We'll say that we had some grateful sisters, Mum, Dad and Gran who all loved their pancakes - thanks Eloise!

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups plain flour

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarb soda

2 eggs

600ml (1 pint) buttermilk (if you don't have any, put a drop of vinegar or lemon juice in 600ml of milk and leave to sit for 5 minutes before using)

2 tsp vanilla extract

75g butter, melted

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Method:

In a large bowl sift flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb soda.. Eloise loves to sift!

In a separate bowl add your buttermilk, eggs (if it's their first time with breaking eggs, have them break it into a mug first in case you get eggshells!) vanilla extract and melted butter

Give each bowl a good stir, then pour your wet ingredients into your dry...

You can use a whisk for 1 minute or stir for about 2-3 minutes to remove any lumps and make it smooth.

Add your blueberries and fold in gently so you keep the blueberries as whole as possible..

heat a small frypan and add some butter, I always set it up for Eloise at this stage, but I think she's probably ready to do it herself - put it at a tad under medium .  When the butter is sizzling, add a ladle full of mixture and spread it out a bit with the back of the ladle.

The tip with when to turn it over..?  One.. make sure the sides are a bit crisped up. .. Two, make sure those little 'air holes' on top are popped, expecially in the middle.  Push your egg-flip underneath and flick it over.

Serve up to your ravenous family with maple syrup (no need for extra butter) or honey.

Doesn't that look delicious!?  Maybe this is something you want to try for Easter breakfast?

Malted choc-chip cookies!

I've just returned from 4 weeks away from home (yes, really - it was very l-o-n-g and tiring!) and I had my first bout of South-East-Asia-Tummy bug too... but on recovery at home I found myself craving some home cooking and obviously spending time with my frills was the major priority.. so we got on to baking..

I'm still getting used to my new kitchen but I have to say, I love the double oven!   I had dinner baking in the top oven and I made cookies in the bottom oven, you have to love that !  

Eloise was my helper, look how big she's got!  8 years old, her face if finally growing into her teeth (you know how they get their big teeth and they seem too big for their faces?) and she absolutely loves to cook.  She prepares her own breakfast and when I'm home I let her make my toast, and she's always keen to lend a hand if something needs to be cooked.

This recipe is from the lovely Ree, bless her cotton-socks-in-cowgirl-boots.  These cookies are foolproof and seriously chewy.  And I love me a chewy cookie.


Ingredients:
250g butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup  sugar
2 tbs vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup malt powder (you can find it near the milo at the supermarket)
2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 tsp bicarb soda
1 packet (yes a whole packet!) chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c

Cream your butter, meaning whip it until it turns pale yellow.  This is a great job for an 8 year old to monitor..  I even let her turn the kitchenAid on, and slowly turn it down..

Add the sugars and give it a good beating, ensuring the mixture is well combined and fluffy, 

Get your assistant if you have one to crack the eggs, if they can't crack eggs, crack them into a cup and get them to pour them in.   All my girls can crack eggs now, it's their favourite part!

And pour in the vanilla extract, mix on a low speed until combined.

It should be lovely and wet..

Then add your dry ingredients - malt powder, flour and baking powder.  I folded it a little with the spatula first so it didn't create a flour-storm in my kitchen.. there's a good tip for you!

Mix it on a medium speed, at this point it looks and smells like you need to eat it at that moment, but believe me, you should wait..

Add your bag of chocolate chips.. one or two may go missing.. just saying..

Phwoar!  It's ready!

They don't seem to grow out of this.. hell what am I saying, I still love to do this! Don't you!?

Put on greased trays (I've used silpat liners, love these!) spread apart because these babies spread!  I placed mine about 10cm apart and the size of small ping-pong balls.

Kids love watching them spread and bake, but according to them it makes them bake slower - but between you and me, it makes no difference - about 12 minutes..

Cool on the tray for 3-5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.  Made me 22 cookies about 10cm diameter.

They are great cooled but out of this WORLD warm.

Eloise is EIGHT

Every year seems to pass quicker than the last.  So much has happened with us as a family this past year with me working and travelling - even more so.  Eloise, I don't know whether it's Mummy not being around as much and Daddy giving you more independence or just the fact that you've gone from seven to eight but it's seems like a very big jump.

This year you've taken a huge interest in music.  Of course for me a huge music lover and growing up around so much music I'm very supportive of this.   You love your iPod, have started collecting your own CD's.  Big hits of this year have been Adele and So Fresh.  You've also shown great talent for playing music and the school's music teacher has encouraged you to move on to the clarinet because you're so good at recorder.  I'm so proud of you.

You've had a tumultuous year with friendships - you do have a wicked tongue and are learning (mostly by fire) to treat those the way you would like to be treated.  Your teacher this year is brilliant at encouraging you in this area - Daddy and I are very grateful for her steady hand.

Your love of writing has not waned and you still love to write stories and are firm in your desire to be a writer when you grow up.  Your favourite books to read are Roald Dahl ones and when we bought you a Kindle this birthday we made sure it was loaded up with them - saves you having to re-borrow them every week at the school library!

Your concern over personal appearance has stepped up a notch this year - though you're still conservative - no short shorts or skirts.. and also this year surprisingly half boys and half girls at the birthday party - first time you've wanted to invite boys... Daddy is not worried..yet.

This year you also had your first trip overseas and I was so proud of you - you travel well and enjoy learning about other cultures, people and food.  I can always count on you to try something new.

It's a pleasure to watch you grow up but also a little sad, you won't be my baby girl much longer xxx