Sweet Sixteen

Gabrielle turned 16 on Monday. I can't believe that she is sixteen. I can still remember so clearly the night she was born after a labour that went all day and stretched into the night. The midwives were assuring me from about 4.00 p.m. that she was going to be born any minute....nearly 4 hours later she made an appearance at 7.50 p.m. I can remember them holding her up and telling me that I had another boy and me looking at her little face and thinking she didn't look like a boy.

They passed her to me and, like always, it was love at first sight. She was the cutest, shortest, fattest little baby that I had ever seen. She had a head full of black hair. She hardly cried and after I fed her she slept all night!! I thought that this was pretty good and that it was sure to change but she was the sleepiest baby ever. She basically woke up, got fed and changed and went back to sleep for the first four months of her life. I can remember taking her to the Child Health Clinic and the nurse asking me whether she could roll over and me telling her that she was never awake long enough to try!!

As time went on she was awake a little more but even when she was a toddler when night time would come she would ask to go to bed. She was a placid, happy baby and adored by her big brother who called her "Gabbiell" which was a big improvement on what he had chosen for her name before she was born - "Modigliana".

When she turned about 18 months the sleeping giant awoke and she became a nightmare. This previous gentle, placid child turned into a tantrum-throwing, breath-holding, scratching, kicking demon!! Luckily it only lasted till she was a little over 2 and a half but she had developed a more determined personality!

Now 16 years later she has developed into a beautiful young woman. Still determined, still sleepy but so much more as well. Happy Birthday sweet Gabrielle - 16 - what a wonderful age with all your life ahead of you!!