Watch out! There's a teenager about!

Forget all this Jubilee stuff for a moment. For us, today is not about honouring the Queen's 60 years on the throne. We've been doing that all weekend. Instead, it's about Anna's 13th birthday.

I'm really not sure how the time has passed so quickly since this beautiful 9lb 3oz baby with a thick mop of dark hair arrived in our lives.Now, I'm in denial about her possibly being taller than me - seriously, she's not, not yet.

What I have always found, though, is that there are many times when I've felt that she simply could not get any cuter and more fun to be around. And I've been unfailingly wrong. This being a mum business just gets better and better. And though I can't hold her in my arms and spend the day chuckling with her and reading her books and pushing her on swings, I can take her to Cardiff for Doctor Who conventions and have endless conversations over who was the best Doctor and I can have her critique my blog posts. If I can smell out a misplaced apostrophe at 50 paces, she can do it at 25. I can watch her sing in choir concerts, perform on stage, listen as she learns to play her guitar. I can be the butt of her jokes or her co-conspirator. The best thing on the planet is seeing her face light up.

She's a bright, funny, quirky, caring, kind girl and we just love her to bits. Happy Birthday, Anna.