Nelly Turns Two

Holy crap where has the time gone. Our baby girl turned two years old this month which is just crazy when I think about it. Maybe if I posted on the blog more I wouldn't feel obligated to start each entry with a whinge about how time is flying by so quickly. Hrm...

Mum, Dad and Mak Long flew out on the Saturday before Nelly's birthday to spend the week with us. Most of the time we had together was spent talking about food, cooking food or eating food so it's no wonder that my pants are feeling a little tighter as a result. Our first task at hand was preparing for the little girl's first party on the 16th with all her friends (and accompanying mums).

We were quite pleased with the result of our cake last year so once again we selected a recipe to attempt from the Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book (vintage edition mind you). Eleanor helped pick out what she wanted and only changed her mind three times before settling on a rather cute teddy bear cake that didn't look too difficult. The trickiest part was managing the different coloured icing for the mouth and tummy compared to the rest of the cake, which we achieved with the help of plastic cups.

The rest of the icing process was a delicate operation that raised tension between Mummy and Daddy in the kitchen but in the end we pulled together to produce a reasonable facsimile of the bear showcased in the book. Except ours is arguably superior for the use of pink icing and a children's vitamin C tablet sliced in half for a tongue.

The cake went down a treat with the kids though we were left with the better part of a head and shoulder at the end of the day. Normally I'd be happy to have something sweet to snack on in the fridge but with three women shopping for food every day for the week our ice box was packed to capacity.

Being the first to blow the candles out was more challenging than we expected for Eleanor as all her friends wanted to help out. John seemed quite keen to lend a hand as he had lots of practice at his own birthday a couple of weeks before hand. Relighting the candle a few times a allowed our girl a chance to do it herself with minimal assistance from Callista.

John and Sheena drove Mary down as well to see the birthday girl on the day so we took an opportunity to photograph the four generations of girls. Nelly as always was very happy to see her great grandmother though I unfortunately failed to take a single photo with everyone looking at the camera properly. Here's the best of an odd bunch.

Eleanor received a lot of very exciting presents for her birthday but I think one that I found quite special (especially since I helped to assemble it the night before) was her first bicycle, bought by her Ah Kong. I didn't think she'd be keen to wear the safety helmet but she's surprisingly accommodating. We all took great joy in pushing her around the house while she applied the brakes and rang the bell with glee.

The day after her birthday was reserved for a family trip out to Alma Park Zoo. We had been talking about the zoo for months before hand but wanted to save the experience to share with Mum, Dad and Mak Long when they were out. The zoo was pretty well looked after but we were assaulted by swarms of mosquitoes that must have just hatched after the downpour the night before. Nelly was quite severely attacked but that didn't seem to bother her that much and she liked looking at the animals.

The following day was actually Mak Long's birthday so we decided to hit the road again and head down to the Gold Coast for some fish and chips. The weather was absolutely brilliant and we had a really nice day driving up and down the coast with a few stops to walk on the sand and gobble down an ice-cream.

The last event we had planned was another party on Saturday to celebrate the two birthday girls for the week. In a rather self serving gesture I suggested to Mum and Mak Long that we cook up a Malaysian inspired feast for the family to share, which they generously agreed to do. Alison helped cook (and will hopefully continue to cook) a smorgasbord of malay dishes including; beef rendang, pulut kuning, nasi lemak and large helpings of sambal. Absolutely divine so we all indulged and left very little for left overs.

It was a really short trip for Eleanor to see her Nenek but I think she had a great time seeing everyone out here. I'd hope that we can try and make it back to Malaysia soon as I really have a hankering for some more nasi lemak now. I think Nelly would happily brave the flight over to get a chance to eat as well as she did that week again.

We have had to re-structure her toy area and buy a new box to cater for the influx of presents for Eleanor. Some would say she's starting to get a little spoilt. I'd say she's worth it.