Wedding And Babies

My first grandniece was born in 2016. My brother's first grandchild. She is such a joy.

I had a quilt sitting in a drawer that was unfinished because I ran out of sashing material. It was square and so I wasn't quite sure what to do with it all these years, until my grandniece's birth. My PCAs helped me back it, tie it, and bind it, and I gave it to her the first time I met her. When she arrived she was wearing a sweater that I crocheted for her, and it meant so very much to me.

This precious one lives about 8 hrs awaty, so I don't get to see her very much, but thanks to social media I get to see pictures and videos and talk to her online. She's growing so fast. I know she loves birds from what I hear, and she already speaks German as well as English (or is beginning to anyway :-))

The niece I mentioned in a previous blog, Elizabeth (my brother Mark's oldest daughter) has, in the last year or so, gotten engaged, moved twice, married, bought a house, started a new job, and had a baby. That's a lot of rites of passage in one year!

On April 16, 2017, Easter Sunday, Reagan Alma Neseth was born.

Alma is my middle name, was my maternal grandmother's name, and was also the name of one of Reagan's dad's grandmother's, or great-grandmothers (I can never remember), so obviously I'm thrilled with her name.

I drove down to see her the day after she was born, and got to hold her. She was all of one day old. (I'm crying right now just thinking about it.) I gave her one of her great grandma's pins, and showed her the unfinished quilt I was making for her (actually one of my PCAs did the sewing, I did the designing).

During all the festivities for Elizabeth's wedding, I came to know a dear lady named Nona. She was a big part of Elizabeth's life growing up, and one of Mark and Julie's (Elizabeth's parents) dearest friends. She'd been diagnosed with a neurological disorder and was in a wheelchair. Because of that, she had an aluminum ramp, which allowed me to go to Elizabeth's bridal shower and her baby shower. I otherwise would not have been able to attend. To say, being able to do that meant the world to me, is the biggest understatement I have ever made. I will forever be grateful to her for making that possible and for allowing me to become closer to my nieces and my brother's family. The neurological disorder has since taken Nona. But I know I for one, will always be grateful to her, and will never ever forget her.

I have plans to go down and have lunch with Elizabeth and Reagan next Monday and am so looking forward to it. Now I just need to find someone to sew the binding on Reagan's quilt before then.

UPDATE 12/8/2017: I thought I'd published this but I didn't. We did go to Mankato to have lunch with my niece and grandniece. She loved her quilt.