I'm not sure I could ever en capture my little kiddo in words. If you knew her, she was a fiery ball of attitude, sass, spirit, love, care, consideration, creativeness, silliness, and beyond. I will start from the present and travel backwards.
She was becoming a woman and she was proud of it. She developed an underarm hair and noticed it during a bath. She exclaimed to me, "Mommy! I'm becoming a woman! Just like you!" I was secretly perturbed but tried not to show it. It's scary to think of your little girl becoming a woman. Her happiness and excitement rubbed off on me eventually and I decided that womanhood was a thing to celebrate with my little girl and took her out to ice cream after school the next day. Homework was always a point of contention between us - a test of wills. We decided to make a deal to be nice, no shouting, no yelling, no crying during homework and shook on it.
Jaina loved the iPad/iPhone. But Mike and I didn't like how she was becoming obsessed with it. If we didn't let her have it she would cry and say she hated us. So we took it completely away from her and out of her life. It took a bit, but by closing that door we opened another one that she was beginning to love: books. She eventually forgot about the iPad and iPhone. I picked her up last week and she said she got her books that she ordered. She was so happy. By this point we had convinced her to stop spending her allowance money on toys and only books or art stuff. She was showing me each book and was so excited to start reading each one.
Jaina loved to draw. Mainly markers and she wished for paint but I didn't allow it because she mixed colors together constantly until each color became brown. We encouraged her to draw and I even told her they had art colleges. She wanted to go there and I told her she could only go if she worked hard in school and did homework. She loved drawing characters from shows and games she liked.
My Jaina is a homebody. She is perfectly content indoors and playing with her toys or drawing. But Mike and I had active childhoods so we put her in T-ball, soccer, and farm softball. She enjoyed soccer immensely and liked her friends in softball and T-ball.
Jaina loved school in that she got to see her friends everyday and she loved her teachers. Wednesdays were her favorite because it was a minimum day and they served her favorite: pizza. Every single day I picked her up from school I would ask her how school was and she would tell me. She never held back, she was never ashamed, and she always owned her actions. The Friday before Valentine's weekend, her dad picked her up. Apparently she and her classmate Andrew had decided to be one another's valentine. She told her dad Andrew kissed her on the cheek that day which she responded with a, "Ooooh my dad's going to punch you." Later on she told me separately that Andrew had kissed her on the lips and not the cheek and she told him her dad was gonna punch him. So to Andrew, if your parent reads this, thank you. Thank you for giving my little girl her first kiss. I love you just for that. She would tell us if she had talked too much during class or didn't follow the rules and lost out in a Fun Friday. She would tell us if she was the leader that day and that her teacher praised her. I just want to say thank you to Russell for these past few years, creating a safe, warm, fun environment for my daughter. I always saw staff and kids saying hi or good-bye to Jaina. So I know she was loved as much as she loved you all back. She always spoke highly of her teachers: Ms. Cadieux, Mrs. Larson, and Ms. Burton but there were much more staff she appreciated.
Jaina in the dynamic of her extended family: she loved her cousins. You see, she is the oldest and her only sibling is 1 year old. She could easily assimilate into any kid crowd. Making friends for her came easy:
Casey, Emma, Isabella, Ethan, Braedan, Jonathan and his siblings, Anna, Maxie and their siblings, and so many other Hmong cousins: She loved playing with all of you. She was most happy at family events because of that. She had several years with her cousins in Merced, Easter Egg Hunts, Halloweens, our celebrations - she always wanted to go just so she could play with her cousins. She FaceTimed Ethan and they would run away with the phones to go “play” with each other. Casey taught her how to fish and helped her catch her first. He was such a good big brother even if they were cousins. Emma completely became a older sister to her because they liked the same toys and could gang up against Casey and Ethan. Braedan and Jaina were matched in energy levels and would go at it with Nerf guns and hideaways. Isabella, she said, was her favorite because she was pretty, “smelled nice,” and sings. Thank you all for being in Jaina’s life.
Jaina got to meet my uncles and aunts as well as Mike’s. When the California relatives heard the loss, they were in shock and many have reached out either to us, my parents, siblings, and/or other cousins to express their sadness, incredulity, offer assistance, etc. They loved her.
Great-Uncle/Aunt Brian & Carrie, Phil & Lori, Sandy: Jaina received gifts from all of you. She knew you all and you all made her life that much more full of love. She loved the holidays, birthdays, and fun events because she knew you all had something for her, haha. Cousins like Josh, Sarah, LaChelle, Matt, Las, Les, Chris, Shantae, Nancy, Zoey, Kindall, Blia, Kaitlyn, James, Chue, Lue, Tou, Eli, and so many more were extra uncles and aunts to Jaina and she appreciated the gifts you all gave her as well as playing with your children.
Friends of family automatically become family in the McGloghlon clan. Ace, Jared, Katy, Andrea & Panfilo, Josie & Jane, Nate & Lori, Jamie’s family, Josh and his family, Myka, Ari, Anna, Ben, Chad, Kevin, Brandon, Eric and his crew, among others. She’s been to your home, she’s been silly with you all, she’s shared her interests with you or forced you to play with her: you guys made an impact in her life no matter what you think.
This girl was so infectious, she even made an impact on her health providers. Her dental technician Malveena, her dentist Dr. Tam, her optometry clinic Hawthorne and her optometrist Dr. Love, and her pediatrician who is also a friend of the family. Weirdly she looked forward to all these visits and she would warn her little brother to watch out for Katy and shots.
Jaina’s uncles and aunts:
1.Uncle Donny: second dad, the Incredible Hulk, keeper of Otter Pops. She loved coming to your house and always begged to go there. Even though she would wait till you were sleeping and sneak your dogs into bed with her, you never ever ever said no to her, nor were you ever upset with her. With you, it was a constant flow of love and she knew it.
2.Uncle Koua & Auntie Pang: “I’m so shy, he’s so handsome.” She was always so shy with you and you were always trying to buy your way in to get her to open up to you. She loved that doll house you and Auntie Pang got her. Played with it constantly. She even got her little brother to play with it. Now I guess it has to stay. You accidentally got her a Ted-rated R- teddy bear because she kept asking for a large teddy bear and I kept saying no. She loved your presents the most.
3.Auntie Diana & Uncle Mike: Oh man, you guys spoiled her and she loved talking with you both. She still has her baby blanket that you gave to her. Unfortunately she didn’t have as much time with Uncle Mike, but she thought you were “super-handsome.”
4.Auntie Ka: You were always there for her. She had the most time with you among all the other aunties. You always let her get into your things, trinkets, and goods. You always let her have things from your room that she wanted.
5.Auntie Cathi: Always smiling, Jaina had soo much fun playing with you and Maggie when she was around. Knowing you were a part of the Disney family just brought her in, but your constant smile and friendliness had her hooked. She would wait eagerly staring out the window when she knew you were coming by.
6.Auntie Maiko: Only your Jaina-bear could do homework with you. No one else. She knew you were patient, didn’t have a temper, and always had the greatest books.
7.Uncle Tom: Jaina’s buddy, partner-in-crime, standing movie date, etc. She could depend on you for the best fun in her life. With you, it was always an adventure. She loved you and knew you were “sick” so she made you an emergency kit.
8.Auntie Birdie (or Auntie Butt): Jaina always showed you the most attitude. But she looked forward to give you that attitude. She always wanted to tease you by sticking out her tongue and being obnoxious. Only you, did she show that kind of love.
9.Auntie Yer: Jaina got to meet your beloved Ugo and you guys gave her that one book with no pictures. She read that book so many times. She enjoyed seeing you and your hugs.
10.Auntie Annie & Uncle John: Jaina loved, loved the clothes you guys got her. And you constantly got her clothes. Thank you.
11.Auntie Patag & Joua: Oh my goodness, you both have lived with her and were with her for the worse night of your lives. Jaina ALWAYS knew she could hang out with you both. She would bother you both to no end, sassed Joua constantly, and gave Patag boyfriend advice. Whenever you both asked her to do chores, she would throw her tantrums and then do them anyway.
12.Auntie Jamie & Lulu: Playmates and youngest aunties - Jaina lived with you both as well. She knew she could count on Jamie to play with her and Lulu always said ridiculous things. But Luana always made her food and watched non-scary movies with Jaina.
Grandparents, the people in Jaina’s life that thought she was the most magical, crazy, audacious, and caring kid.
1.Grandpa Donn: “Grandpa!” Big screams and huge hugs every time she saw him. She would wear her Harley Davidson shirts and tell everyone her grandpa got them for her.
2.Grandma Pat: “Granma, you’re crazy.” Jaina loved, loved spending time with her grandma. Jaina always carried the gems, beads, small shiny rocks with her and accommodated her every wish.
3.Yawm Txiv (Grandpa Vang): Jaina liked to follow her grandparents out to their garden when she was younger and help them garden. He would pick her cherry tomatoes off the stem for her to eat.
4.Niam Thiab (Grandma Vue): Jaina was the light of niam thiab’s life and day when we lived with them. She took Jaina to preschool, made her breakfast, got her dressed everyday. Jaina could depend on her to protect her, to get her the food she preferred (as she was picky), and get her way by using her to exert her motherly authority over me. Jaina loved her so much.
Jaina passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 24th. Her dad’s birthday was February 9th and she said this year she was going to plan his birthday party. She wanted Star Wars balloons and lots of balloons for her daddy. Two super large helium balloons were left in Jaina’s bedroom as per her request because she and her brother loved the balloons. We sent her to bed that night and her dad found her 30 minutes later with one of the balloons completely over her head. He immediately performed CPR for 9 minutes before the paramedics took over. They did all they could for another hour. We were allowed time with her before they had to take her.
The official report from the medical examiner’s office was that she was trying to make her little brother laugh by putting the balloon over her head. The combination of a tired child and inhaling helium with no oxygen caused her to fall asleep and eventually passed away. There was no struggle or pain and the detective assured us he was not lying to make us feel better, but that was the official report. She will always be remembered by those that knew her to be a fun, loving, happy child. We love you, love you, love you, love you.
A viewing will be held for friends and family from 12:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes, 1515 NE 106th Avenue, Portland, OR 97220. Funeral services will begin at 11:00am on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at the same location. Jaina will be laid to rest privately at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Oregon.
* * * * * * * * * *
I'm not sure I could ever en capture my little kiddo in words. If you knew her, she was a fiery ball of attitude, sass, spirit, love, care, consideration, creativeness, silliness, and beyond. I will start from the present and travel backwards.
She was becoming a woman and she was proud of it. She developed an underarm hair and noticed it during a bath. She exclaimed to me, "Mommy! I'm becoming a woman! Just like you!" I was secretly perturbed but tried not to show it. It's scary to think of your little girl becoming a woman. Her happiness and excitement rubbed off on me eventually and I decided that womanhood was a thing to celebrate with my little girl and took her out to ice cream after school the next day. Homework was always a point of contention between us - a test of wills. We decided to make a deal to be nice, no shouting, no yelling, no crying during homework and shook on it.
Jaina loved the iPad/iPhone. But Mike and I didn't like how she was becoming obsessed with it. If we didn't let her have it she would cry and say she hated us. So we took it completely away from her and out of her life. It took a bit, but by closing that door we opened another one that she was beginning to love: books. She eventually forgot about the iPad and iPhone. I picked her up last week and she said she got her books that she ordered. She was so happy. By this point we had convinced her to stop spending her allowance money on toys and only books or art stuff. She was showing me each book and was so excited to start reading each one.
Jaina loved to draw. Mainly markers and she wished for paint but I didn't allow it because she mixed colors together constantly until each color became brown. We encouraged her to draw and I even told her they had art colleges. She wanted to go there and I told her she could only go if she worked hard in school and did homework. She loved drawing characters from shows and games she liked.
My Jaina is a homebody. She is perfectly content indoors and playing with her toys or drawing. But Mike and I had active childhoods so we put her in T-ball, soccer, and farm softball. She enjoyed soccer immensely and liked her friends in softball and T-ball.
Jaina loved school in that she got to see her friends everyday and she loved her teachers. Wednesdays were her favorite because it was a minimum day and they served her favorite: pizza. Every single day I picked her up from school I would ask her how school was and she would tell me. She never held back, she was never ashamed, and she always owned her actions. The Friday before Valentine's weekend, her dad picked her up. Apparently she and her classmate Andrew had decided to be one another's valentine. She told her dad Andrew kissed her on the cheek that day which she responded with a, "Ooooh my dad's going to punch you." Later on she told me separately that Andrew had kissed her on the lips and not the cheek and she told him her dad was gonna punch him. So to Andrew, if your parent reads this, thank you. Thank you for giving my little girl her first kiss. I love you just for that. She would tell us if she had talked too much during class or didn't follow the rules and lost out in a Fun Friday. She would tell us if she was the leader that day and that her teacher praised her. I just want to say thank you to Russell for these past few years, creating a safe, warm, fun environment for my daughter. I always saw staff and kids saying hi or good-bye to Jaina. So I know she was loved as much as she loved you all back. She always spoke highly of her teachers: Ms. Cadieux, Mrs. Larson, and Ms. Burton but there were much more staff she appreciated.
Jaina in the dynamic of her extended family: she loved her cousins. You see, she is the oldest and her only sibling is 1 year old. She could easily assimilate into any kid crowd. Making friends for her came easy:
Casey, Emma, Isabella, Ethan, Braedan, Jonathan and his siblings, Anna, Maxie and their siblings, and so many other Hmong cousins: She loved playing with all of you. She was most happy at family events because of that. She had several years with her cousins in Merced, Easter Egg Hunts, Halloweens, our celebrations - she always wanted to go just so she could play with her cousins. She FaceTimed Ethan and they would run away with the phones to go “play” with each other. Casey taught her how to fish and helped her catch her first. He was such a good big brother even if they were cousins. Emma completely became a older sister to her because they liked the same toys and could gang up against Casey and Ethan. Braedan and Jaina were matched in energy levels and would go at it with Nerf guns and hideaways. Isabella, she said, was her favorite because she was pretty, “smelled nice,” and sings. Thank you all for being in Jaina’s life.
Jaina got to meet my uncles and aunts as well as Mike’s. When the California relatives heard the loss, they were in shock and many have reached out either to us, my parents, siblings, and/or other cousins to express their sadness, incredulity, offer assistance, etc. They loved her.
Great-Uncle/Aunt Brian & Carrie, Phil & Lori, Sandy: Jaina received gifts from all of you. She knew you all and you all made her life that much more full of love. She loved the holidays, birthdays, and fun events because she knew you all had something for her, haha. Cousins like Josh, Sarah, LaChelle, Matt, Las, Les, Chris, Shantae, Nancy, Zoey, Kindall, Blia, Kaitlyn, James, Chue, Lue, Tou, Eli, and so many more were extra uncles and aunts to Jaina and she appreciated the gifts you all gave her as well as playing with your children.
Friends of family automatically become family in the McGloghlon clan. Ace, Jared, Katy, Andrea & Panfilo, Josie & Jane, Nate & Lori, Jamie’s family, Josh and his family, Myka, Ari, Anna, Ben, Chad, Kevin, Brandon, Eric and his crew, among others. She’s been to your home, she’s been silly with you all, she’s shared her interests with you or forced you to play with her: you guys made an impact in her life no matter what you think.
This girl was so infectious, she even made an impact on her health providers. Her dental technician Malveena, her dentist Dr. Tam, her optometry clinic Hawthorne and her optometrist Dr. Love, and her pediatrician who is also a friend of the family. Weirdly she looked forward to all these visits and she would warn her little brother to watch out for Katy and shots.
Jaina’s uncles and aunts:
1.Uncle Donny: second dad, the Incredible Hulk, keeper of Otter Pops. She loved coming to your house and always begged to go there. Even though she would wait till you were sleeping and sneak your dogs into bed with her, you never ever ever said no to her, nor were you ever upset with her. With you, it was a constant flow of love and she knew it.
2.Uncle Koua & Auntie Pang: “I’m so shy, he’s so handsome.” She was always so shy with you and you were always trying to buy your way in to get her to open up to you. She loved that doll house you and Auntie Pang got her. Played with it constantly. She even got her little brother to play with it. Now I guess it has to stay. You accidentally got her a Ted-rated R- teddy bear because she kept asking for a large teddy bear and I kept saying no. She loved your presents the most.
3.Auntie Diana & Uncle Mike: Oh man, you guys spoiled her and she loved talking with you both. She still has her baby blanket that you gave to her. Unfortunately she didn’t have as much time with Uncle Mike, but she thought you were “super-handsome.”
4.Auntie Ka: You were always there for her. She had the most time with you among all the other aunties. You always let her get into your things, trinkets, and goods. You always let her have things from your room that she wanted.
5.Auntie Cathi: Always smiling, Jaina had soo much fun playing with you and Maggie when she was around. Knowing you were a part of the Disney family just brought her in, but your constant smile and friendliness had her hooked. She would wait eagerly staring out the window when she knew you were coming by.
6.Auntie Maiko: Only your Jaina-bear could do homework with you. No one else. She knew you were patient, didn’t have a temper, and always had the greatest books.
7.Uncle Tom: Jaina’s buddy, partner-in-crime, standing movie date, etc. She could depend on you for the best fun in her life. With you, it was always an adventure. She loved you and knew you were “sick” so she made you an emergency kit.
8.Auntie Birdie (or Auntie Butt): Jaina always showed you the most attitude. But she looked forward to give you that attitude. She always wanted to tease you by sticking out her tongue and being obnoxious. Only you, did she show that kind of love.
9.Auntie Yer: Jaina got to meet your beloved Ugo and you guys gave her that one book with no pictures. She read that book so many times. She enjoyed seeing you and your hugs.
10.Auntie Annie & Uncle John: Jaina loved, loved the clothes you guys got her. And you constantly got her clothes. Thank you.
11.Auntie Patag & Joua: Oh my goodness, you both have lived with her and were with her for the worse night of your lives. Jaina ALWAYS knew she could hang out with you both. She would bother you both to no end, sassed Joua constantly, and gave Patag boyfriend advice. Whenever you both asked her to do chores, she would throw her tantrums and then do them anyway.
12.Auntie Jamie & Lulu: Playmates and youngest aunties - Jaina lived with you both as well. She knew she could count on Jamie to play with her and Lulu always said ridiculous things. But Luana always made her food and watched non-scary movies with Jaina.
Grandparents, the people in Jaina’s life that thought she was the most magical, crazy, audacious, and caring kid.
1.Grandpa Donn: “Grandpa!” Big screams and huge hugs every time she saw him. She would wear her Harley Davidson shirts and tell everyone her grandpa got them for her.
2.Grandma Pat: “Granma, you’re crazy.” Jaina loved, loved spending time with her grandma. Jaina always carried the gems, beads, small shiny rocks with her and accommodated her every wish.
3.Yawm Txiv (Grandpa Vang): Jaina liked to follow her grandparents out to their garden when she was younger and help them garden. He would pick her cherry tomatoes off the stem for her to eat.
4.Niam Thiab (Grandma Vue): Jaina was the light of niam thiab’s life and day when we lived with them. She took Jaina to preschool, made her breakfast, got her dressed everyday. Jaina could depend on her to protect her, to get her the food she preferred (as she was picky), and get her way by using her to exert her motherly authority over me. Jaina loved her so much.
Jaina passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 24th. Her dad’s birthday was February 9th and she said this year she was going to plan his birthday party. She wanted Star Wars balloons and lots of balloons for her daddy. Two super large helium balloons were left in Jaina’s bedroom as per her request because she and her brother loved the balloons. We sent her to bed that night and her dad found her 30 minutes later with one of the balloons completely over her head. He immediately performed CPR for 9 minutes before the paramedics took over. They did all they could for another hour. We were allowed time with her before they had to take her.
The official report from the medical examiner’s office was that she was trying to make her little brother laugh by putting the balloon over her head. The combination of a tired child and inhaling helium with no oxygen caused her to fall asleep and eventually passed away. There was no struggle or pain and the detective assured us he was not lying to make us feel better, but that was the official report. She will always be remembered by those that knew her to be a fun, loving, happy child. We love you, love you, love you, love you.
A viewing will be held for friends and family from 12:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes, 1515 NE 106th Avenue, Portland, OR 97220. Funeral services will begin at 11:00am on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at the same location. Jaina will be laid to rest privately at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Oregon.
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