Nose or nipple?

Thumper

When you were kicking away in your mummy's tummy (or rather, her womb, for she had not eaten you), we used to call you Thumper.

We realised you would be born as a Metal Rabbit on the Chinese Zodiac, so the name stuck. It took us weeks after you were born to stop calling you Thumper.

(Technically, your full name as designated by your uncle Andrew, was Thumper Babyfish Wigglebottom Fish.)

Tigger Suit

Before you existed, whenever your mum thought of having a baby, she thought of having a baby in a Tigger suit.

One day, we received a Pooh bear in the mail. The postmark was from Austin, Texas where uncle David lives, so naturally we though it was from him. It wasn't.

We know someone else who lives in Austin, a lovely friend of ours called Keller. She must have sent it!

Nope.

The origin of the Pooh bear remained a mystery for a while. And then we got a message from cousin Ray-J (he's the one that's soooo tall his head brushes the clouds - or more often smacks against the lintel). He's the one that gave you the Pooh bear! What a sweet gift!

And guess what? A few days later you got another package from Austin. Keller couldn't bear for Pooh to be alone...

Thank you Ray-J, and thank you Keller!

Your Daddy loves you

You at three days old

When you were just born, we told your uncle Andrew that you would double in size every three weeks.

Now you're eleven weeks old and you still haven't doubled in size. Andrew is beginning to suspect.

Learning to laugh

The most common type of comedy relies on the subversion of expectations. I reckon that's why you don't laugh yet, because you don't have any expectations. Soon your life will be a vast web of expectations and you'll have plenty to laugh at. You'll have plenty to be depressed about as well, but hopefully you can laugh at that stuff too.

Meanwhile, you have learned to smile. Singing the alphabet song to you, or making a pop sound, or choo-chooing, is rendered infinitely rewarding by your wide-eyed grin.

Apart from crying, your smile is your first attempt to communicate with us. Evidence that you're developing into a real whole human being.

And that's, like, awesome.

You have small hands

Penny's first days

Penny Fish was born in April at 7:37pm in St. Thomas' Hospital.