Babies: the joy, heartbreak and cuteness of a baby's first year

LAST year we introduced you to Generation Alpha, 100 beautiful babies born in 100 days. Now our cheeky little boys and girls are celebrating their first birthdays.

Kanish Patez Mother Chetana Patez: Kanish is a very clever boy and he picks up everything

LAST year we introduced you to Generation Alpha, 100 beautiful babies born in 100 days. Now our cheeky little boys and girls are celebrating their first birthdays, and we’re thrilled to bring you this collection of photographs and interviews with their exhausted parents about everything from teething to tantrums.

Kanish Patez

Kanish Patez

Mother Chetana Patez: Kanish is a very clever boy and he picks up everything fast. He already started walking and is advanced. When Kanish said ‘Mama’ he was only eight months and it made me so happy. Now he says a new word every day. I started working full-time when he was only one month old, so that was the worst part of the year, it broke my heart. My family look after him very well.

15 May 2013

Emmanuel Posala

Emmanuel Posala

Mother Vaitoeleu Posala: Emmanuel likes toys and he likes music and dancing. He is very naughty, funny and cheeky. I love the way he looks at me and the funny faces he makes at me — that makes me laugh. When we left hospital he had a fever and that was the worst bit, we were very concerned, but he is healthy and happy now.

13 May 2013

Lucy Mathews

Lucy Mathews

Mother Sarah Mathews: She is very intense in a cute way, and she is curious. She is probably quite serious but still playful. It’s been an awesome year, she’s amazing. The best part has been watching her grow and learn and explore, every day is different and fun. The worst bit has been the sleep deprivation and the fear of whether we doing the right thing as first time parents — and not knowing what to expect. My advice is sleep when you can and just enjoy every moment, it goes so fast.

10 May 2013

Pippa Yates

Pippa Yates

Mother Diana Yates: Pippa is a bundle of awesomeness. She is very content, very switched on and a real people person. The most amazing thing is the growth I have undergone as a person. You experience a lot of personal growth when you care for someone else and I have grown a lot in acceptance and learning to adapt and be flexible. She is my teacher. After she was born I developed pre-eclampsia and I was so sick for three weeks. My advice: Listen to your intuition, all the answers are within.

16 May 2013

Sienna Greentree

Sienna Greentree

Mother Nicole Greentree: Sienna loves dancing, she’s a groover and she loves playing with her big brother. Seeing her relationship build with her five-year-old brother has been the highlight. Sienna has reflux so that is quite nasty and she is still not sleeping through the night. Adjusting to me going back to work has been the hardest for the whole family. Sienna is in daycare three days a week and my husband works shift work so we juggle it on the other two days. It’s been tough but we’ve all had to learn to be more patient with each other and talk, we’ll say ‘I’m struggling here can you help me out?

20 May 2013

Edith Livingston

Edith Livingston

Mother Naomi Livingston: Edith is a pretty balanced blend between my husband and myself, she’s outgoing but she has moments of shyness. I’m an actor and I’m going to Melbourne to do Les Miserables. It’s tough on one income with a mortgage, but I’m ready to go back to work too, you can only leave your career for so long. Early on (my husband and I) said: ‘Look, we’ll be tired and at times cranky and it’s all give and take,’ but it hasn’t affected us. If anything it’s made us stronger and more appreciative. Be kind to yourself and give yourself time to adjust. Don’t try to be superwoman, that’s my best advice.

21 May 2013

Laith McDonald

Laith McDonald

Mother Katie McDonald: He is cheeky and very happy but everything has to be his way. Laith has always been a bad sleeper and I still get up two or three times a night. It’s been all good otherwise. Seeing him walk for the first time at 9 months was great. I was very proud and he thought he was pretty clever too. The other best part is getting back with Laith’s dad as we were separated before he was born. My advice to parents is just forget about sleep.

21 May 2013