A loss of a Grandma

Dear Baby Skurdal Sovereign,

Five days ago your Grandma Danielle passed away in an electrical fire at her home in Sedro-Woolley. I want you to know how much she was looking forward to being a grandma. She had been asking for a grandchild for all of my adult life. When I married your father, Grandma Danielle started telling her friends she would finally get a grandbaby soon. Little did we know, she was right.

The day we called Grandma Danielle to tell her the news, was the day we found out about you. You were only 4 weeks in the making in my tummy. Your dad and I called her together- I only got a few words out to my mom before your dad blurted it out "Jacquee's PREGNANT!". Grandma Danielle was so so excited.

From that point forward every time Grandma would call me she would ask about you. "How's my baby (she was talking about me). And how's your baby?". She liked to call you her whoops baby's whoops baby. See, Grandma and Grandpa Swindle got pregnant with me on accident- so my whole life I was called my dad's whoops baby. And because you were also unplanned (but a wonderful surprise!), my mom thought it was funny to say you were my whoops baby too. It's always been a slightly annoying but endearing nickname.

Grandma Danielle was able to go to my second ultra sound, when your were 11 weeks. I am so thankful that she got to go. As your second cousin Christina pointed out, it was like she got to meet you. She was so in awe during the ultra sound. She just starred at the screen and watched you bounce and move. She said "He's just like his dad, a surfer!". She was convinced you were a boy (as I type this, I still don't know your sex). It gives me some peace to know that she got to see you in some way before she passed...

The last time I saw your Grandma Danielle was two days before her passing. We went to her house and had dinner with her and Grandpa Chet. Grandma also gave me a stuffed teddy bear to give you- It is wearing a little shirt that says "Someone in sedro-woolley loves you". Hopefully you will treasure that. Grandma and I also looked at baby clothes that some friends had given to me already. And we looked at the baby registry. Your grandma also gave me a book to give to you - a book of words. She talked about the things she wanted to buy for you to help out me and your dad. Basically, we talked about you a lot. Because, as she said in an voicemail she left me exactly one month before she passed, "I love that baby".

It breaks my heart that you will never meet your grandma. But I know that you will be loved even more (if its possible to love someone THAT much) by everyone who knew who how much Grandma Danielle loved you. We will all do our best to share our memories about her with you and make sure she lives in your heart as you did hers.

With love,
Mom