We started trying to conceive in August 2001 but the date of ovulation was when we were on holiday in Croatia with Mira and Eva, so opportunities were limited. At the appropriate time in September, we decided on a rubric of everyday after work. It was worth getting behind with my marking because it worked. The lines were the correct blueness on the white thing and Petra was pregnant. The pregnancy was fairly standard as they go. Petra grew and we did the usual things that you do like listen for the baby's heartbeat or put headphones to the belly to play it Mozart or Beethoven so that it would already be born with a degree of sophistication. When the embryo was the size of a bean we christened it 'Sean' and the name stuck even when it outgrew bean size. We had already settled on Michael John, if it proved to be a boy and we were slightly worried that we would not be able to get out of the habit of calling it Sean. We need not have worried. By the ninth month Petra was massive but the baby was not willing to come out. We tried all the tricks but it did not seem to be working. Petra finally went into labour almost two weeks late which worked out very well in the end as Misa was born on my birthday. As he had a cleft lip, caring for him proved to be demanding. Unable to suck, we had to feed him with a squeezable plastic bottle which fired milk down his throat. Petra expressed milk using a pump and we supplemented this with formula milk. As he was bottle fed, I was able to take my turn with nighttime feeds. Lucky me. Misa was very slow at going to sleep. It was Petra's wish that we stayed with him until he finally nodded off. This meant taking it in turns, sometimes over a period of two hours. We each had our routines. Petra's consisted of a story called Micek Flicek and a variety of Czech songs. I did the 'Cat in the Hat' and sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. Once Misa could talk, he soon learned the Czech word for more, 'jeste' and all I got was 'more Mallujah!' When Misa was about 20 months old, he went for his first weekend with his grandparents. Petra and I had a very productive weekend. We went out in the car so she could practice reversing round corners. She would eventually pass her driving test at the fifth attempt. That Saturday evening was the first we had spent without Misa since he had been born. Nine months later, we got Toni. Petra was always keen that the kids made visits to Klatovy as much as possible to spend time with their Czech family. The first visit we made was Christmas 2003. On the first day, both Petra and I started with flu. It did not turn out to be the most enjoyable Christmas of our lives. Misa needed to be entertained and neither of us had much of an inclination to remain upright let alone amuse a toddler. Grandma was also not particularly disposed to provide a non-stop infant cabaret. There were visits from some friends and the odd session of sledging. We were pleased to return home to Leeds on the road to recovery from our virus to a home which was far more toddler friendly. When Toni was small, Petra would often take the kids on her own for a couple of weeks in the winter and for three in the summer. I would often join them for part of the time. Petra loved her time in the Czech Republic and was very proud when the children spoke Czech. With the kids came a change in Petra's working patterns. She went to part time, working half day Monday and full days Tuesday and Wednesday. She also started to teach Czech in the Slavonic Department on Monday afternoons. She also started to teach Czech at Leeds Met on Monday evenings. She loved teaching and her students spoke very highly of her. It is a pity that Czech is such a minority subject. Petra had the academic ability to pursue a career in tertiary education and the people skills to make a great teacher. In 2010, the university cut its Czech programme, which by now was part of the German department. Petra was outraged when she was dismissed by a German via a curt e-mail. She did not take it lying down and soon had the HR department running round checking employment law. In the end, the German in question was hauled over the coals and Petra got an apology and the redundancy that was due to her. A small victory over the traditional enemy but Czech was still dropped from the curriculum. Teaching though was really a small part of her life. Mostly, she lived for her children. She kept nearly everything that they produced and we have thousands of photographs which chronicled every step of their development.