Announcing The Birth Of A Grandbaby - From Glama

FIRST OFF THE BAT: You look like me!  We’re two peas in a pod and don’t let anyone tell you differently!  That sweet button nose, those clear, big eyes and those pianists fingers, exactly.  I know someone will try to mention liver spots, crow's feet, laughter lines, fallen arches and grey hair in one sentence but they’re just jealous.

Welcome to the world Neil Timothy, we’ve been waiting for you with bated breaths; you certainly had us on our knees from a very early age.  We held our collective breaths from the first sonar until now just to make sure we weren’t imagining things, but, there you were, a dot with a strong heart beat, one that wasn’t going to quit no matter what.

Your Mum carried you like a pro, she was beautiful, and with each month she just blossomed and grew into a confident woman who was eagerly awaiting your arrival.  We watched as your parents transformed their new home from a single couple house into a home for a family.   All his skills were put to the test as your dad sawed, chopped and changed, hammered, painted and re-decorated your room into a hunter’s cabin fit for a prince.

These things take time and they used the nine month waiting period to get everything just right.  While you were growing from a two cell pipsqueak they got themselves mentally, physically and emotionally ready for you.   And as you grew stronger they got more confident and into the swing of things.

It was while your uncles were putting willow to leather that you decided you were ready to make your entrance  and your Mom’s waters broke.  Everyone’s very happy as it’s a sure sign you’ll be following family traditions.  Your Great-Great-Grandmother Joey Ross Frames Knight was a fast bowler for Kimberly in the early 1900’s, your Great Grandfather Tim Knight would’ve played I’m  sure as I can’t imagine any South African school worth their salt not having cricket as a compulsory sport.  My brothers and I played cricket on the lawn on our farm and I was a score-keeper in Primary school, your dad and uncles love the game and were regular visitors to the World famous cricket grounds in Newlands Cape Town, where they regularly got the players’ autographs.  Your uncle Joe did a splendid job as wicket keeper until he decided to take up hockey as his main sport.

And so the waiting began, we were convinced you’d be impatient and would kick and push yourself out into the world as fast as possible, but, then I remembered your Dad loved the womb, and Dr’s did all they could to bring on his birth, but he was adamant he was going nowhere and for two weeks after his due date he just lolled about in those gorgeous warm waters kicking my ribs and bladder.  When he did decide to grace us with his presence he didn’t dally, once my waters broke it was a matter of minutes and there he was, weighing in at 4.8kg, he was a beautiful specimen with muscled legs, large hands and if I remember correctly a six pack too.

We all loved him immediately and I simply adored him.  A friend once said “from the minute Timmy was born he tried getting back into the womb!”  He was a super sleeper and when he wasn’t sleeping he was drinking, which suited us perfectly as I’d just read and he would sleep.  On one occasion I put him to bed at 14h00 in the afternoon and he only awoke at 6 o’clock the next morning.  That’s when I had to resort to using the mirror to see whether he was still breathing.  You’ll see, it will probably happen to you too, they’ll be bending down low over your crib, they’ll place the mirror right up into your face, and then they’ll wait for you to puff like the magic dragon. 

A large part of the world stopped yesterday to wait for you to arrive, messages were flying about asking about each contraction, the length of the contraction and how far your Mom had dilated. I had to recharge my fabulous iPhone twice!  Your Aunt Lise took the day off work to be of assistance to you all and she did a marvellous job, I think she just had to see you first.  Even Joe, who has a very busy schedule and is not often available, left both his dogs and his job to dash down to the hospital to be with your Dad, and to see you as you hit the deck.

There were smiles and tears all round when you were born very early this morning (Africa time) I could hardly sleep and even heard the first motor cars go off to work this morning.

You’ve got good genes, reliable, capable, strong, loving, kind, hardworking and determined.  Your looks should be film star quality as I mentioned before, and I’m waiting to see whether you are a blonde like your dad or darker like your gorgeous mom.  I believe all babies have blue eyes I wonder whether they’ll remain that way like your dads’.  All our hopes are on you when it comes to sport, your shoulders will have to  be broad as you have the weight of the sporting world on them.  We love the following sports and your Dad excelled at many: cross-country running, athletics, rugby, cricket, swimming, skiing, diving and silly buggers.

We enjoy laughing a lot and your father is right up there with the best of them, so I hope you have a good sense of humour,  you must be very careful and very quick witted when it comes to your uncle Jaco, he’s as sharp as a dart and loves taking the Mickey out of everyone.  He may look serious considering you’ll only see his knees for the first five years. But he’s very funny; just lend him your ears.   Uncle Joe is a magician, he might be a little rusty but he always has a trick up his sleeve!

You have more cousins, second cousins, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces and grandparents than you can imagine  and even Great-Grand parents and they all want their pound of flesh, they’ll tease you, flirt with you, play with you, love you and adore you.  Some live as far away as Australia, South Africa, the United States of America, Saudi Arabia and of course Canada, theres  one you might see surfing in some third world South American country and another on the high seas nursing, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Myself,  I'd go with the aunts they're a cool bunch, Big Ern can teach you everything you want to know about music, iPads and chilling out.  Your aunt Lise will teach you about being brave and strong and taking anyone on, she's like a Honey Badger, once she's got your back she'll not let go.

So at last you were born at 19.19 pm  on the 11^th May 2015 to an exhausted mother and nervous but elated father, weighing in at 7lbs 2oz (3.22 kg) and you're 52.75cm tall.

Your name is NEIL TIMOTHY and your Great-great-grandfather Tim is very pleased, your uncle Mark AKA Timothy is thrilled and your Dad, Timmy will probably call himself Tim now that he’s completely grown up.  So you see you have a noble name following a long succession of amazing men who have borne their names with pride.

Here’s a definition:

TIMOTHY:

1. a person with a high degree of confidence. 

2. a.k.a. Mr. congeniality

whenever you are with him, you never have to worry about getting lost in a far-away place! He can actually pop a conversation with almost all kinds of people. I guess everybody knows him!

3. means FAST, swift, agile, exhilarating

maybe because he's too skinny. ahaha: you will be surprised with how fast he moves. his swift motions are crazy!

4. undoubtedly kind and sweet.

he makes everyone feel good and he treats everyone nicely.

5. eats absolutely more than an average teenager could ever digest. surprisingly, he never gains a pound!

6. he is simply funny and fun to be with. you will never be bored whenever you are with’Timothy’.

just beware because at times, he can be a very very weird geek. Haha.

7. smart and charismatic.

he has the traits of a great entrepreneur in the future. "timothy" will be surely rich!

girl1: hey, do you know timothy?

girl2: yeah! who on earth doesn't know him?

NEIL:

A 'Neil' is a person of awesome intellect who shows good character, charm, wit and good manners in everything he does.

Sean is definitely not a Neil. He is an anti-neil.  To ruin a perfectly good stream of funny jokes by telling a really bad one.  "Thanks a lot, you just neiled it.

Neil (Neal) is a masculine given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", or "champion".

I’m happy to report that I’ve been wearing the beautiful Glama T shirt your Mommy bought me, it hugs my curves perfectly, I’ve received many raised eyebrows from people who must be surprised to see Gla'ma on the front!  I’ll treasure the charm bracelet, it will tinkle while I work, type, exercise and even sleep as do my bracelets which were perfect when your dad grew up, like a cow bell he could find me anywhere.

Tip from your Glama, don’t do anything anyone expects from you at this stage, just go with the flow, they’re all going to run after you for the next couple of years, swanning you and trying to win your favour.    Grandpa and I will always be here for you, so all you have to do is press our buttons.  We’ll show them!

You may not know it but nowadays there’s no such thing as hand written letters unless it’s an account, everything gets put on the Web, so before you can have your first burp you’ll be on FaceBook, people will Twitter about you, they’ll Google you, and Blog about you (like me) there’ll be photos of you on Instagram and some smarty pants has probably got you on YouTube, we'll be able to FaceTime you and I.  Who knows, you might even have your own website by now.  I think before long you’ll have more followers than Justin Bieber, he’s a precocious 20 year old singer with a beeg attitude.  But rest assured if we (be technosmart) can do it Buddy, anyone can.

Our prayer is for your safety, your health, that you’ll be loved unconditionally, and that your feet will be swift but always on the ground.  Oh and last but not least, your Great Grandmother and I will pray for you every day come rain or shine.   Always good to know.  So now I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you today and everyday!

With all my love,

Your greatest and very first fan and “follower”,

Gla'ma

P.S  I "LIKE" you a lot.