Sad news

On January 29, our family had a major loss: My grandmother Patsy -- Nean, my mom's mom, passed away. She was 80 years old, and had been in failing health for some time, but it was still unexpected and we are all missing her very much. 

Nean was so thrilled to learn we were going to have a baby -- she was one of the first people I called, and she was just so excited for us. We tried to get her and Annika together as much as possible; Nean could no longer travel by the time the baby was born, so we took several trips to Texas: for Annika's first Christmas, for Nean's 80th birthday in July, and this past Thanksgiving week. I'm so glad we had those times together; I only wish it could have been more. 

I went to Texas by myself for the funeral; we just felt that at this particular age, the baby wouldn't get what was going on, and would be confused and thrown off her routine for something she couldn't understand and it would be harder on her than we could justify. I missed her (and R.) terribly (that was the first time I'd ever been away from her overnight), but I do think we made the right call. The most important times for her to be there were when she could hang out with her great-grandmother, after all.