Minerva

When I was pregnant with Penny, we were thinking about names.  One day we walked past this statue on the Southbank ...

'Minerva' I said, wondering whether we would ever be brave enough to call our child that name.  We decided it was a bit too 'out there' and moved on.  But the thought stayed in our minds.

And when we needed a name, at a time when we all needed to be braver than brave, it seemed to embody all the fight, strength  and 'dammit to everything' spirit that little Minnie needed at the time.

And she has certainly held onto those feelings with all her might!

Minerva (/mɪˈnɜːr.və/; Latin: [mɪˈnɛr.wa]; Etruscan: Menrva) was the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She was born with weapons from the head of Jupiter... She was the virgin goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, and magic. She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the "owl of Minerva", which symbolised her association with wisdom and knowledge.

Fairy Godmother

Norris is the best of all people!

Her real name is Megan Dowsett, and she's your Fairy Godmother.

That means she has promised to inspire you with creative wonderment and love for the world, encouraging you to find interest in art in all its many forms, and to leave the world more beautiful than you found it.

She's a great friend of ours from University. She taught me to nurture my creative side, and she's always been there for us over the years. We love her very deeply, and we know you will too.

Today is your "Welcome to the World" ceremony. I'll tell you more about it, and more about Norris, later!

My Yaya

You know who your Yaya is, but I had a Yaya too. Even your Yaya had a Yaya!

Here's a picture from 2001 of me and your mum with your Yaya's mum Erika, and your Yaya's Yaya Hella.

I loved my Yaya very much; she was a very kind, brave and inspirational person. She taught me many things, but there are three things that stand out:

1. Accept generosity gratefully. It can feel awkward when someone gives you a generous gift, but be careful - the standard overly polite British response of "you shouldn't have" risks devaluing the the gesture. Instead, accept gifts with a big smile and plenty of warmth.

2. Be wary of making your friends jealous. Good friends will support you through life's ups and downs, but when your life is on a high be careful not to boast too much - you might unintentionally touch a nerve and make your friend feel bad about their own life.

3. Respect everything (except authority). Respect is the single most important virtue in life - respect for every single person that you meet, speak to, read about or hear about. Most human problems in history have been caused by lack of respect for others. But always question authority - respect the person not the uniform. My Yaya survived the Nazi extermination camps, and sadly experienced occasional anti-Semitism even in her old age. She once told me a story about a washing machine salesman who heard her German-sounding accent and saw that she was buying a Braun product, and ignorantly assumed it would be safe to make a horrible comment about it being a shame that the Jews weren't finished off during World War II. Instead of marching off in a shaking rage (which is how I felt at hearing this story), or slapping him, she stayed for half an hour trying to understand why he had made the comment and educate him about what had happened in the war (about which he knew almost nothing). It takes a brave person indeed to respect even those who persecute you.

Family Resemblance - Daddy

Everybody (friends, family, strangers in the street) tells me how much you look like me.  And they are right, but when I look at you I see glimmers of your daddy too... and above is the evidence!

Family Resemblance - Smiths

A little while ago I thought I would investigate who you look like, so above is a collection of baby pics... parental Smiths at the top; their children on the row below; and your daddy, you and me at the bottom.

What do you think?

Inception

We did the maths and worked out when you were most likely conceived. Interesting to see what we were doing that day...

I love that your mum's blog post talks of "interesting discussions about the future"... I wonder what we were discussing? :)

Telling our parents

When we first found out that your mum was pregnant with you, we kept it a secret. After three months we got a scan; we saw that you were healthy and happy, so we decided it was time to share our secret.

We arranged to see all your grandparents on the same weekend. Gramps and Marion were first.

We were at a chocolate-making workshop to celebrate Gramps' birthday with Gramps, Marion, Aunt Erika, uncle Dan and Elle. At the opportune moment, without a word, we showed them the strip of images from the scan - and they jumped for joy.

Then we took a train to Brighton to see Yaya and Demetris. Hugs and tears all round.

What a joy to have such wonderful news to share! As if we had learned a magic word that instilled jubilation in all who hear it.

The next day we met for dinner at Azzurro in Waterloo with Grandad, Granny, uncle Matthew and uncle Andrew. We wolfed down our starters, gave each other a meaningful nod, and revealed our magic news.

In stark contrast to the voluble reactions from the Sundt side of the family, the Smiths seemed rather shellshocked.

Once they'd gathered their wits, they were elated, but how funny that it was such a surprise!

Then again, think of it this way: you're the first new baby in the Smith family for 30 years. The last time they'd heard this news was about your mum. No wonder it took a while to sink in... :)

Your first ever photo

Treasure Hunt

It took a few months before your mum fell pregnant with you. During that time we were keeping our intentions top secret, using the codename Project Windmill whenever we were talking about trying to have a baby.

So we were very excited when the good news finally came (in the form of a stripe on a pee stick).

I wanted to celebrate the news, so I made your mum a secret treasure hunt. When she got back from work, I called her from the pub and asked her to look in the fireplace.

She found a ribbon there, and followed it all around the room, and out the window, across the front of the house and back in through the front door. At the end of the ribbon was a web address: http://bit.ly/emmaplusone.

At that address was a presentation of lots of joyous quotes about pregnancy - one of which contained a microdot. The microdot directed your mum to look inside a particular book on our shelves.

The book had been hollowed out, and contained a memory stick. On the memory stick were these seven photos:

Salvator's trail revealed a musical sequence, which converted to letters, which converted to numbers, which converted to coordinates, which pinpointed a tree outside our flat. (I'm very proud of your mum for finding it - it wasn't easy!)

On the tree was another memory stick, which contained a poem:

*

Emma is Egnant and Preggers with Plus One

Embly is Carrying Daughter or Plus Son

Gravid, parturient, fecund, expecting

Eating for Two and Tummy Projecting

Fertile, With Child, happy and fat

Emma is carrying Substitute Cat

Exciting! Exciting! Nerves and joy fill our minds

And distract our attention at improper times

SerenPenelopeCamScarletDipity

ByronChristanielDeanCalvinJiminy

What shall we name him, who shall she be?

Will you be pregnant again when she’s three?

Where will we live? Vermont? Guildford? Brixton?

Will you work for Fair Trade? Will I sell all my scripts on?

Will she grow to be pretty? Will we care for him well?

Will the pregnancy work? Will the labour be hell?

One thing at a time, nine months to go yet

Before you give birth to Human Pet

(Who’ll grow up on Simpsons and comedy shows

And crocheting, board games, calligraphy, Go)

First you must solve this treasure hunt clue

That your boyfriend slash husband created for you

As a ^symbol his lovinj will never run short

And a ^sign that he offers bOUNDLESS sUPPORT

You’ve done well so far to have followed the trail

Of ribbons and websites and Salvator’s tale

{A square like a capital E, and inside

A circle – the womb where our child will reside}

The next clue location’s despicably clever

Lucky that Mummy’s as brainy as ever

On t’Interweb, find that most modern of media

Something dot org, an online-opedia

Look up the word that’s been causing you glee

Starts with a P, means the words on line three

Now here’s the cunning part; to solve the mystery

Click on the tab at the top called View History

There’s a list of revisions way back through time

Check out August 3^rd  at eleven oh-nine

Blastocyst bedded, on with the show

Bun in the oven, Proj Windmill is go!

*

You can follow the next clue yourself! That led to a puzzle, which in turn led to a final clue.

The treasure at the end was a star, engraved. And, of course, you.

What your parents did before they did what they do now

Jobs your dad has had in the past:
Lifeguard
Barman
Care assistant in old people's homes
Vice President (Student Activities)
Seller of fabric conditioner

Jobs your mum has had in the past:
Flower packer
Castrator of cats and dogs
Waitress
Security guard
Seller of laundry powder to old people's homes

You were on the Boat Trip!

The Bike Trip across Austria was the fourth of a series of annual trips we've taken with our friends. There was the Road Trip in 2008, the Rail Trip in 2009, and the Boat Trip in 2010.

Technically, you were on the Boat Trip with us, although it was a secret at the time. You were still a foetus - probably only about 3cm long.

Next year's trip might have to be the Pram Trip.

Stag do

My old schoolfriend Nick got married this year, and he invited me to his stag party on the weekend of 2 April. We went down to Brighton on the Friday, drank lots, dressed Nick up in silly costumes and made him eat chili peppers, and the plan was to go paintballing the next day and do it all over again.

You were due to be born on 11 April - and first babies are usually late anyway. So I thought I was pretty safe going to the stag do.

I woke up on the Saturday morning feeling somewhat worse for wear. Dragged myself down for a hotel breakfast, swapped stories about the previous night, and tried to avoid loud noises.

That's when your mum called to say her waters had broken. I was only too pleased to leave the others to finish the stag celebrations without me!

Soundtrack to your birth

While your mum was in labour, we had our classical music collection playing on our Macbook in the maternity ward. It's about six hours' worth, so we heard the whole thing twice over while we were there.

You were born to the dulcet strains of Puccini's Madama Butterfly - Act 2: Un Bel Di Vedremo, performed by Renata Scotto and the Rome Opera Theater Orchestra with John Barbirolli conducting.

But you'll never guess what was playing just before that, when your mum was bearing down and your head finally crowned. It added to the drama somewhat.



Click the play button to find out. I hope it works... (If not try clicking here.)

Cornthwaite

Your Yaya gave your mum an unusual gift at her hen party before we got married. Two Build-a-Bears.

Thus, a couple of months later, Salvator and Cornthwaite were born, named after our great-grandparents (your great-great grandparents!).

We made the bears for our children-to-be, and we gave them a heart of gold. Literally. Each one contains an Edward VII sovereign.

They have very different characters. Salvator is adventurous, takes risks, and loves to travel. Cornthwaite is sleepy and smiley and likes to stay at home.

Cornthwaite is your bear. Salvator is still his own bear, but he's looking forward to meeting his soulmate one day soon.

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.)