– 11:44 pm

Gifts and cards have arrived from far and wide since your birth, from every corner of the earth where we your mother has an acquaintance in. There are two nylon bags of baby clothing upstairs she hasn’t gone through yet. By the time we got to some things, they were too small for you. There are enough stuffed animals under your snuzzpod to open a small fluffy shop.

Another parcel arrived this morning, from Anna. I don’t know her but I’d like to meet her. She’s Liza’s .org colleague. I really liked her elephant. It even had your name on it.

Her second gift was equally modest with subtle undertones and hidden metaphors open to meaning and interpretation. It emphasised the strength in unity and togetherness within a family. The foundation we lay should empower and grow the household. You need harmony to build a unifying bond. At least that’s what I took from the wooden statue. These are solid values to uphold regardless.

But her card is really why I want to meet her. She had one addressed to you. It says everything I could ever want to teach you, everything I would ever want you to be. She gets it.

Your mother was in bed on her iPad when I walked in with you dozing in my arms. I asked if she was reading or writing. “Writing”, she said, “my pregnancy memoirs”.

That took me aback. Not the writing itself, because she does that all the time, but the content of the writing. Now I’m intrigued. I’ve got questions. When did this start? Is it continuous? Does she know about this site? Have we been writing behind each other’s backs?

I’d love to read it in a few years to get her perspective on the same events I documented. I am curiously fascinated about that.