Focus: Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford celebrates her first birthday.
She's the busiest 1-year-old in the country. Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford celebrates her first birthday next Friday and has already mixed with Hollywood movie stars, visited the United Nations headquarters in New York and taken up countless column inches.
The Herald looks at a year in the life of the First Baby.
June, 2018:
She was "welcomed to the village" by her mother and father at Auckland City Hospital and days later faced her first media scrum at a press conference in the foyer. The click of the cameras wasn't enough to disturb her and she slept right through it.
The first photo of baby Neve, taken at Auckland City Hospital. Photo / Instagram
Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford face the media at Auckland City Hospital after Neve's birth. Photo / Greg Bowker
Neve slept right through. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Among her birthday presents sent from around the world was a No 10 onesie from Theresa May. The Prime Minister of St Lucia sent a Bob Marley-style hat, complete with knitted dreadlocks. The Irish Taoiseach gave her a silver rattle and an excerpt from his favourite poem in a card.
Neve's received a steady trickle of sweet gifts from a huge variety of world leaders, which I would mostly describe as safe & traditional. That was until this just turned up from the PM of St Lucia! Seems to work perfect with her Gissy outfit @Amanda_Gillies Yes Mon!! pic.twitter.com/8d8AVrFOC9
The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, gave Neve's mum, Jacinda Ardern, this cute No 10 Downing St onesie when the Prime Minister visited the United Kingdom before giving birth. Photo / Supplied
The high-profile little lady also nabbed herself three pairs of classic mini Red Band gummies, one albeit hand-knitted, before she even arrived. Unfortunately we never got to see if wee Neve ever rocked the stunning dreadlocks-No10 onesie-Red Band combo.
In lieu of Fieldays tomorrow I'd like to register my first ever 'In my day', because in 'IN MY DAY' we couldn't afford fancy redbands, and always had warehouse knock offs. Yet jnr-to-be has already been given 3 pairs. (ok one pair is handknitted and bloody cute, but still) pic.twitter.com/KK3ZuRWJhy
As a member of Generation Alpha, technology was always going to come before talking or walking. She made her first Facebook Live appearance with her mother at 10 days old when the Prime Minister announced her Families Package, Best Start.
It meant an increase in maternity leave for other mothers - the Prime Minister herself was to resume running the country within six weeks of giving birth - and $60 a week in the bank for parents with newborns.
Ardern announces Labour's Families Package from the couch via Facebook with Neve in her arms. Photo / Facebook
Neve with her parents at home in August. Photo / Supplied
Gayford and Ardern arrive at Wellington Airport on the PM's first day back at Parliament after Neve's birth. Photo / Mark Mitchell
September
Month three of her short life was an eventful one for the First Baby of New Zealand.
Neve became the star of a new book. Shhh! Don't Wake the Baby shows all is well and quiet until crowds of sports fans, paparazzi, politicians, farmyard animals and native birds pay a visit.
Shhh! Don't Wake the Baby, a book published by Hachette NZ to celebrate the birth of Neve. Photo / Supplied
From bedtime stories to bedtime songs, wee Neve and her parents went backstage before pop star Pink's Auckland concert.
The exclusive encounter also included the singer's husband and her own 1 and 7-year-old children, with Pink's daughter shown attempting to entice Neve's attention with a bright pink (of course) ball.
Pop star Pink, left, and her daughter Willow, 7, meet Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and baby Neve backstage before the hit singer's Auckland concert last year. Photo / Supplied
On September 19, Neve was centre in a photo of 40 female politicians as they re-enacted a 1905 photograph, which featured only male lawmakers, as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations of New Zealand becoming the first country to give women the right to vote.
Neve is held by her mum among Kiwi female politicians. Photo / AP
Clarke and Neve during the United Nations General Assembly. Photo / AFP
Neve with dad as her mother speaks at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York. Photo / AP
UN staff even made Neve up her own ID, and she had a UN onesie. Quirky moments at HQ included a Japanese delegation walking in while Gayford was changing her nappy.
Because everyone on twitter's been asking to see Neve's UN id, staff here whipped one up. I wish I could have captured the startled look on a Japanese delegation inside UN yesterday who walked into a meeting room in the middle of a nappy change. Great yarn for her 21st. pic.twitter.com/838BI96VYX
But she was determined to stay on New Zealand time, staying up late with her father watching TV. The pair were "busted" by the Prime Minister when she came out at 2am and discovered them "watching cage fighting in our underpants".
Thank you for the concerned messages about how tired i look (fair call). Seems 'someone' is determined to maintain nzt. We've watched so much bad late night tv together that her mum came out at 2am and busted us watching cage fighting in our underpants. pic.twitter.com/sbzAmeyFbf
Thank you, New Zealand PM @jacindaardern, for bringing your baby girl along to the @UN General Assembly this week. Having little Neve in the room is a humbling reminder that the world's leaders must act not for ourselves, but for the future of our children and our planet. #UNGApic.twitter.com/z0n8N7N27g
Neve switched from breast feeding to bottle feeding around this time, and she also became the first Kiwi baby to receive a new game - Koha - designed to normalise te reo Māori.
Her mum had already told media her firstborn would be raised speaking both Māori and English.
The then 4-month-old was also on the minds of the Heretaunga Women's Centre in Hastings, where a series of mosaics - made to celebrate 125 years of women's suffrage, and including one of the baby in Ardern's arms - were struck to the entrance pillars.
November
Ardern took a trip to Singapore and Papua New Guinea for six days - her longest absence from Neve.
She told an interviewer on a Channel News Asia's breakfast show that Gayford had been sending her videos of Neve.
Back in New Zealand, later that month, Neve accompanied her mother at her first Labour Party conference, in Dunedin. She even donned the party colours - the Prime Minister was caught putting a red beanie on her.
Jacinda Ardern puts a red cap on baby Neve after a brief address to the Labour Party conference in Dunedin. Photo / Audrey Young
For her 9 month birthday today we received the gift of crawling. While her mum got her the gift of having a safer country to grow up in. pic.twitter.com/FiCSTn0PM8
The 6-month-old spent her first Christmas with Ardern's family in Morrinsville and Gayford's in Gisborne.
Before the big day Ardern said there were a few traditions she hoped Neve would grow up remembering, such as being "brutalised through repeat runs of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas", but it was unclear if Neve's first Christmas was polluted by the up-tempo love song.
Perhaps more likely is that tiny fingers got stuck into gooey marshmallow as Ardern continued her Christmas marshmallow balls make-off against sister Louise.
Ardern's mother Laurell Ardern holding Neve. Photo / Supplied
January
Politics can be fascinating, but it can also be boring, so thank goodness for the pretty flowers at Labour's caucus retreat in Martinborough.
Neve joined the Prime Minister and her MPs for breakfast, where the Prime Minister was spotted cooing over her baby girl as she sat in the arms of one of her grandmothers, before the 7-month-old was whisked away to wonder at the climbing roses covering garden wall, as business got under way.
February
Neve Gayford, pictured with her father Clarke Gayford, was described as the "best-behaved baby" on the marae during Waitangi Day commemorations in February. Photo / Phil Walter / Getty Images
Following her Wairārapa frolics, wee Neve travelled to the other end of the North Island the following week for the annual Waitangi Day commemorations, and she impressed her mum's biggest political rival as she sat quietly on her dad's lap.
Opposition leader Simon Bridges, whose youngest child, Jemima, is 7 months older than Neve, joked in his speech on the upper marae that Neve was the best-behaved baby there.
"Give it time, Prime Minister," he joked.
Gayford pushes Neve in a pram at the Waitangi Treaty grounds. Photo / Michael Craig.
Napier's Art Deco festivities the same month were also cause for a family outing - and something of a glimpse into the future. The engagement ring Neve's dad would later put on her mum's finger, and which came from his grandmother, is of an art deco style.
The gifts also continued to rock on in - a Labour Party red trolley sent from "Murray" at a retirement village in Orewa gave readers a clue that the First Baby was just about up on her feet.
"We are not far off putting it to good use as the little rug wriggler's co-ordination is fast catching up to her travelling ambitions," Gayford tweeted in a thank you post.
This arrived with a nice note from a workshop in a retirement village in Orewa. Thanks Murray!! We are not far off putting it to good use as the little rug wriggler's coordination is fast catching up to her travelling ambitions. pic.twitter.com/y0j8boJE8Y
March was a dark month for the country, with a terrorist attack taking Kiwis' lives and innocence on March 15, but the month also marked another milestone for Neve.
Neve's father melted hearts on the internet when he revealed that she had begun crawling at 9 months and her mother's gift was a "safer country to grow up in", referring to her changing of New Zealand's gun laws following the Christchurch mosque shootings.
For her 9 month birthday today we received the gift of crawling. While her mum got her the gift of having a safer country to grow up in. pic.twitter.com/FiCSTn0PM8
Gayford continued to share insight into the perils of having a newborn, revealing Neve had been pooed on by a kereru. The following day he joked they would not get their Premier House bond back after a little accident inside.
I know a bit of bird poo is good luck, but what do they say about a massive Kereru doing a massive Kereru poo on your 8mnth old? pic.twitter.com/lV8oDaw89v
Ok so after sleeping on this I've decided this is A: Too funny and B: Too real, not to share. After laughing about our little 'outside incident' yesterday I came inside and karma delivered me an 'inside incident' and now we are probs not going to get our Premier House bond back. pic.twitter.com/uaBTY9wZOI
Most parents remember the first time they went out without their baby - Neve's remember the first time they went on a state visit without their baby.
The couple travelled to Beijing in their first trip overseas together without Neve, but it wasn't too long before they saw their bundle of joy again. The trip - shortened following the terror attacks - was just 24 hours.
May
The country found out Neve's parents were engaged. Much excitement, but few details.
An embarrassed Prime Minister, outed after she was spotted wearing an engagement ring at a Pike River event, was reluctant to reveal too many details.
However, it was confirmed the engagement occurred over Easter while the whole family were on holiday in Mahia.
Gayford popped the question at the top of Mokotahi Hill, fending off the interest of a greedy dog eyeing up chocolates accompanying the proposal, but no word yet on when the wedding will take place, or what role wee Neve might play.
June
Her life is split between her parents' home in Auckland and Premier House in Wellington, and she's often seen at her mother's side at events around the country.
At one of the most recent, the country got their first full glimpse in months of a growing Neve as she joined her parents at the commissioning of Her Majesty's New Zealand Ship Manawanui into the fleet at Devonport Naval Base.
And while it might have been a glum winter's day, little Neve - whose arrival we were all eagerly awaiting almost a year ago - added a ray of sunshine to proceedings, snugly clad in a home-knitted purple hat and a bright yellow raincoat.
