Twenty Three is a Lot of Birthdays

Twenty three years and 14.5 hours later and I am sitting looking at this picture of an impossibly small Baby Angel and an impossibly young me.

She is a little peeved that I only managed this reproduction thing once.
"I'll never be an auntie,"she wailed recently.
Sorry kid. It's not the way I had planned it, believe me.

Nevertheless, we've had some pretty good 'Kodak' birthday moments along the way. Facebook excelled itself in the memories section today. Every single memory was of a birthday, going back to 2011! Well I can beat that facebook!

Look at this tiny baby...only one day old in her hospital 'goldfish bowl'!

And This! My oh so serious little elf girl with her blue blue eyes and the navy babygro I embroidered with roses....(6-8 weeks maybe?)

 Here's one from her FIRST birthday... the day she discovered grapes...

And wearing one of the many lovely items of clothing we received for that birthday (the cardigan above was a gift too, hand knitted by the BA's lovely Godmother....)

The ubiquitous studio portraits...this one at just over 12 months with her dress from another one of the grandparents...way too big for her still.....

And this one at 18 months, wearing my dress, bought for me by my aunt before we departed for Australia in 1961.

Here's me in the same dress. Not quite as pretty as the BA I'm afraid....

And looooook......

The first visit from her Dad when she was, again, about 18 months old. This was taken by a stranger on the Isle of Wight. Look at those little pink cheeks in the cold!!!!!


And oh oh oh!!!!! This little face! Aged about 2 and a half with her friend F at a fun park just out of Southampton. Oh the trips to that park. We had an annual pass and each visit required the obligatory ride on the train, visit to the dinosaur park, trips on the mini roller coasters and a wander around the maze. I sooooo loved that little hat she has on 💓





Oh and here she is, just turned 4, on our first trip back to Australia. This was a great age....

And before you can blink she is 5 and at school   :'-(

So many photos to choose from, but this one cracks me up! Taken aged around 7 (yes, her teeth took ages to fall out), we were at a theme park in Spain, scene of many spaghetti westerns. We all got to dress up and pose for the cameras.......

Alright. I couldn't resist. Here is BOTH of us!!!

 In our first year back in Australia at 7 and a half. Still speaking with an English accent......

And starting to look like a proper girl aged around 8 or 9.

But I have to stop somewhere...so I'll finish with this year. Here she is graduating from Uni in April....

...and here, celebrating her birthday in her usual dry style, with snapchat.

It's lovely that we have all this social media, but it is extra special to look back through those real life albums and take a trip down memory lane. So many birthdays BA. Here's to many, many more my feisty, funny, independent and entertaining Angel. Love you for ever.
Mum
xx