Rachel's 2nd Birthday

Life Before Blip

I chose to place this photograph in my journal during a weekend of having her visit with her husband and my grandson. This weekend we felt that Daniel, aged 16 months, was ready to play with Rachel's old toys: the Duplo, seen here, and the Brio train set.

Rachel is wearing a little dark green velvet dress with a white broderie anglaise yolk. She has just opened her birthday presents, one of which was the pack of Duplo (lego for young children). We also gave her a dolls' house (in Extras) which had been used by friends' children and now had some hand-made furniture and the promise of some fun ahead decorating it.

We had planned a party and invited her friends but, unfortunately her birthday fell just a few days after the death of her grandda and we were still awaiting the funeral. This year was the only time Rachel ever had a birthday party out on the lawn in the sun! We had postponed it until about June!

The woven cradle in the background was made by Rachel's dad, we gave it to her at Christmas with a life-sized doll as preparation for the idea of a new baby being in the house.

The over-fussy wallpaper was not my choice but had been done just before we moved in 2 years earlier and we weren't ready to decorate.