To our darling daughter on your 5th birthday, spent in our new home of North Lodge in Duffield, close to where we got married with you in tow and of course, close to the mountains (well, as close as England comes to mountains!).
We had hoped to commemorate your 5th birthday by summiting Mont Blanc in Chamonix to scatter your ashes in your spiritual home.  We got as far as starting to organise training for last summer when Covid hit, which meant we had to postpone.  We have only just made it out to Chamonix for the first time in nearly 2 years due to various lockdowns and travel restrictions.  We will make it back to hike Mont Blanc when the time it right.  
Instead we spent the day hiking Mam Tor, which means 'Mothers Hill', which seemed very fitting.  Its the fourth highest peak in the peak district, close to our new home and it was the first peak we have hiked, I'm sure the first of many.  Of course you organised for the sun to shine on us all, and Freddy managed his first solo peak ascent, walking nearly 1km from the carpark!  Arran of course is not long walking but even he managed the last 50m of the return ascent, after letting us know from the backpack he was keen to walk.  The boys are growing up and Freddy in particular is interested to hear memories about you.  
We followed it with lunch at ye Old Nags Head in Castleton where we went with you in mummy's tummy, shortly before our marriage in Sheffield, which also seemed fitting!  After, we returned from Mam Tor to celebrate the rest of your birthday at the house with the boys and Bow, who is also enjoying exploring her new surrounds!  Freddy baked you a birthday cake with mummy and we sang happy birthday and looked at some pictures together as we celebrated what would have been your fifth birthday.
We are curious to think how life would be with you here with us.  We see your friends from the unit such as Neo continuing to progress, though not without difficulty, and we also met Eleanor when we were in Wales this time last year.  We also see the healthy five year olds going off to school for the first time and wonder what might have been for you on this milestone birthday.
As ever, people have done some incredible things in your memory this year.  Laura Head, Kate Lott and Leona Gleig raised an incredible £15k (gift aid on top to come) completing the 'three peaks' challenge in your memory, albeit the english peak was disrupted by crazy weather so they had to battle up an alternative option!  Mummy was so proud she made them an awesome commemorative poster as a thank you.  Daddy is preparing to run the Great North Run for Bliss this weekend, ably flanked by best friend Andy Prout for his second GNR in your memory!  Daddy wasn't expecting much fundraising after everything everyone has already contributed but its fast approaching £2k!
Bliss have had an incredible year, partly due to a £1m donation from a legacy fund from Malaysia and partly due to some incredible new management team members who have joined.  They have used the investment to start to fundraise in new ways as well as to explore reach and impact, a subject close to our hearts.  Some really interesting findings have come in from studies into reach for ethnic minorities and under privileged families who spend time in the unit.  They have also commissioned research into areas such as how prem babies experience pain, which was great to see progress on to raise awareness of what you might have endured.  Daddy continues to find whatever time he has to support as a trustee and is about to enter into his second and final term, when he hopes to dial up further his own impact to another level and support the new chair of trustees!
We are starting to think about more permanent ways to honour your memory, scattering your ashes in some precious places and finding ways to remember you as we renovate and settle into our new home.  You of course remain forever in our hearts, our most precious darling daughter and firstborn baby.  I'm so proud about what you taught us about life, what is really important, and about being parents... something the boys and Bow benefit from on a daily basis.
Happy birthday to our precious little girl, we all love you from the bottom of our hearts.
Daddy, Mummy, Freddy, Arran & Bow xxxxxx