Baby Blanket For My Niece

Project Name: Kalia's Star Blanket
Status: Complete
Pattern Source: Crochet Super Star
Project Type: Crochet, Blanket

   

I finally finished the baby blanket for my adorable niece, Kalia.

 

Here is the finished star.

  

This is my adorable Kaylee inspecting my work.

 Here are some close up shots of the blanket.  I had so much fun making it.  I can't wait to give it to her.

  

I'm very happy with how my first star shaped blanket turned out.

Monkeys and Mikey

Today marked ten years since my little brother, Mikey, passed away. He would have been 23 going on 24 this year. It made me wonder what career path he would have chosen to pursue - he loved sports and playing his violin. He liked to make people smile and had dimples when he smiled that always cheered you up when you were feeling blue. My youngest brother, Steven, reminds me of Mikey in a lot of ways. I miss Mikey. Monkeys were his favorite animal. I dug some monkey charms out of my jewelry box today and wore them as earrings as a small tribute to my little brother today. I also gave my Mikey Monkey some extra hugs. At church Mom handed me a Mikey button that the Scouts had made in his memory, which I pinned to my purse. Even after ten years this day is still hard, but I know that Mikey is up in heaven and doing just fine.

After church, I went up to the hospital to see Kalia, Joey, and Linda. They were all doing well and think that they will be able to leave the hospital tomorrow. I got to hold my niece, Kalia, for quite a while and even changed her diaper when my brother went to grab lunch. Joey then informed me, that I am the first person, other than himself, who has changed Kalia's diaper. I chatted with Joey and Linda for a while and then we played Phase 10 (Linda beat me by 7 points when we ended it after completing phase 7). Bevan came in to see his niece today, too.

It was kind of hard being at the hospital today. Too many emotionally powered memories - I wonder how Mom handled it. Over all, it was a good day with a lot of tears and my wonderful husband, who let me cry on his shoulder... actually, that was kind of funny.

Bevan: "Are you crying?"
Me: *nods head*
Bevan: "Why? Why are you crying?"
Me: "It's been ten years."
Bevan: "Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize! Wait... that's in May. It hasn't been ten years yet, silly."
Me: *puzzled* "Yes, July 3rd, 2001."
Bevan: "But we didn't meet until 2003."
Me: *slightly less puzzled* "Not us. My brother."
Bevan: "Oh!" *commence snuggling*
Sometime later...
Me: "Wait? You thought you missed an anniversary?"

I love my wonderful husband.

I'M AN AUNT!!!

My beautiful niece, Kalia, was born at 8:02 p.m. today via C-section. She already has my little brother (her father) wrapped around her pinky. She is 7 lbs. 11 oz. and is 21 1/4 inches long. She's beautiful and has very pretty eyes. Long toes too! Completely adorable. Mom, Dad, and Baby are all doing well. We left them to rest up and I look forward to seeing them all soon and getting to hold baby (hopefully tomorrow). Oh, she has a set of lungs! We could hear her through the sound proof glass. She also tried to suck the nurses pinky off. Now I need to finish up her star blanket! Oh, my youngest sister still doesn't want to be an Aunt (she thinks it means that she will turn into a bug and throws fits anytime someone tells her she will be an Aunt).

It was game night (SW Saga RPG) - I returned to my house to find out that the guys had somehow managed to get boarded and the ship sabotaged all in the same mission. They had also disposed of our hostage. I arrived in time to roll a natural 20 to repair the ship and then managed to get the ship off Tatooine and out of the Imperials weapon range before they could blow us out of the sky (without being trained in the Pilot skill). I was very happy they didn't kill off my character while I was gone.

I'm working on the timing still, but I almost have "Augie's Great Municipal Band" down on my violin. The fast notes are still throwing me for a loop - so I can't play it up to speed with the accompaniment CD yet, but I'm getting there. I'm very pleased with the progress I've made in only 5 days of playing. I just need to get an actual violin player to critic my form now (I'd rather not teach myself bad form).