Thirteen years ago

Now...



Then ...











The day the universe expanded, exploded - in direct proportion with my heart. The day my life changed – a quantum leap, paradigm shift, transforming the very landscape of my path, the person I would be – changed so completely, so quickly, so utterly, so unrecognisably. From high-flying, ambitious corporate workhorse to stunningly contented SAHM, it was a reincarnation that surprised pretty much everyone, including myself.

The day Kate blazed into this world. I had no idea how hard I would fall for this divine, squalling creature we created. What a gift she is.

So let me introduce my darling big little girl Kate. Please understand that this post is going to be completely self-indulgent and dripping with sentiment. If this is likely to have a nauseating effect, please feel free to pass on by and return on a day when I’m feeling more acerbic or silly ;) I would just like to record all of this before it evaporates into the ether/falls out of the sieve that is my head….

Katie kitten is the quintessential big sister to the world. She even big sisters me on occasion, especially since she started towering over me. If Andrew and I are not around, Amy and Sophie will turn to her to make everything better – and she does. She has a gorgeous, generous soul with just the faintest streak of hormonal tween bitch LOL In fact, the occasional flashes of hormonal attitude in such an easygoing daughter put the fear of her sisters reaching adolescence into my heart! There is part of me that secretly respects the way she challenges me, that somehow she is metamorphosising from a compliant child into a woman with her own mind – that suddenly I have this wonderful, complicated, fiery, opinionated other woman in our house.

So yes she does have legs that go forever and come in handy on the netball court – I’m proud that she doesn’t stoop, she walks tall, owning her space in the world. Life is about people – friends, family are what make her world go round. She wants to try everything, is impossibly self-possessed and takes such enjoyment out of life. She has hit the ground running (actually she was so impatient she tried to head on out of the womb 8 weeks early, giving us all a scare, but I put up a fight to keep her a little longer and held on til 38 weeks when she insisted on greeting the world). Not much has changed, she has always taken every single step further into the world at full-tilt, at a run, eagerly embracing each new friend, each new experience. I am always so glad that she does everything first, scales every new mountain, starts every new chapter – she makes it so stressfree. She has effortlessly moved this year from a primary school that she could walk to in less than 5 minutes to a secondary school which she needs to take a train and then a tram to get to. She loves it – both the independence and of course, the inevitable mobile phone LOL I love her school uniform after 7 years of none at her primary school!

She came home from her very first day at high school talking animatedly about a term-long alpine residential camp which nearly made her mother’s head explode. It’s not til year nine, but she was ready to go on the first day. Next it was the school trip to France which she’d love to do this year but which has been vetoed til she a) speaks more than half a dozen words of French and b) gets a part-time job to contribute ;) Which really won’t be a problem as she’s lined up at least 3 jobs at the tender age of 12, the little A-type that she is. We are trying to stall friends with babies and toddlers and wanting her to babysit to “wait til she at least turns 14”! Lil ones just adore her, it’s no wonder she’s in demand already. Not to mention how oh-so-comfortable she is already behind the register or pricing gun at her beloved Kate Fewster’s shop, Little Smarties (see link on the left).

She told me she wanted a bank account at the age of 9 and started saving. What for, I asked and she airily explained she was saving for her apartment (a beloved babysitter was moving out of home into an apartment at the time). When I asked when she was moving out, she declared “12,” and when I explained that most 12 year olds didn’t have their own apartments, she decided she could wait til she was 15 LOL I will never have to worry about this child/woman. She is going to make magic happen in her own life, the sky is the limit and I’m pretty sure that’s where she’s aimed herself.

She loves a sleep-in, has only two speeds, full steam ahead or sloth. She can argue til she’s blue in the face and even in the face of complete wrongedness, can achieve an impressive level of articulate denial. She already ties up the bathroom for half an hour at a time. Bald for more than 18 months, I despaired as friends played with ribbons and pigtails – of course she grew an impressive mane of blond curls that were certainly worth waiting for, christened “Kate with the Bubble Hair” at kinder. She looks so very much like her Dad if you can get past that cloud of curls and even my mother said so the day she was born. She loves clothes (what a huge surprise!), wants to be a children’s fashion designer and stylist who coaches netball on the side when she grows up.

I truly don’t know what I’d do without her, I rely on her so much with Andrew away regularly and with a few physical challenges myself. I’d say we are so very alike, except it’s like she’s really a new, improved version with extra features, new technology, stronger, better, louder, faster, taller LOL She is a kindred spirit, I am already starting to enjoy books, music, cooking, girlie shopping trips and chick flicks with her.

So this is thirteen. Happiest of happy days my big little girl

Love love love
Mum
xxxxx