Shaniqua

We met "Shaniqua" in the flesh last night. Well, not exactly her flesh...

When I was pregnant with Jeri, we knew that she would be a "gerry" whether boy or girl. She was to be named either for her godmother or for an Irish guy, Jerry O'Keefe, both of whom had a role in Walt and I getting married. But we didn't want anybody to know the real name of the baby, so we chose the name of an obscure saint, "Eleutherius" and we called her Eleutherius until she was born and we revealed her real name.

Tom and Laurel haven't chosen a name yet, so they are calling the baby Shaniqua for now, and so we were able to "meet" her in utero.

Laurel definitely looks pregnant and Tom likes to kid her about how much weight she has gained.

I have to admit it's very cool sitting there knowing that is our granddaughter inside that little belly.

It was a full day. I took Luna over to the puppy-sitter's house before we left. That was pretty exciting because the street where I turn had a flock of wild turkeys walking across it. Wild turkeys have become a real problem at the nearby cemetery and you do occasionally see them walking down the street.

Luna went crazy trying to get at the bird. I tried to take a photo of it with my cell phone, because I didn't have a camera with me, but the photo turned out terrible...

(I will be so glad when the contract on my cell phone expires and I can upgrade to a better one!!!)

We drove to my mother's and I decided to drive out through the country as far as I could go. It was a glorious day, sunny, crisp, pollution-free. We drive out to the town of Winters and then cut over to I-80 to meet the traffic. Fortunately most of the heavy traffic seemed to be going in the opposite direction.

This was a huge day for my mother because it was the day the doctor had told her she could finally take the elastic stocking off her leg. Her accident occurred January 3 and on November 22 she was finally back to normal again.

Ned and Marta were the next to arrive, with their dog, Bouncer, who immediately became my mother's best friend.

Tom and Laurel were the last to arrive and we sat around eating Marta's 7-layer dip and chatting. One of my very favorite things to do is to listen to my adult children talking with each other. Over dinner both Tom and Ned talked about their respective jobs and it was funny listening to Marta and Laurel comparing notes on how much alike the two brothers are.

Walt finally found a good thing about having a broken wrist: he could turn the carving duties over to Tom. Tom got the turkey carved while Ned was mixing up dinner for Bouncer.

Dinner was, of course, delicious.

After dinner we sat around chatting some more and then Tom and Laurel ran the videotape of "Shaniqua's" latest ultrasound. So cool. I absolutely love watching ultrasounds. It's like magic for me, seeing what is going on inside. Of course having worked in an obstetrician's office for 10 years, I was around ob ultrasounds a lot, but it was fun seeing one of our granddaughter.

We were home by about 11 and picked up Luna for her last night here. Her foster family has offered to let her stay here until she is adopted, but we have graciously said no. Luna is a very sweet, very special little puppy who is driving me nuts because she is just so hyperactive. The foster family has kids who can play with her, and I am more than willing to let her go back to them. (I suspect the foster mother, having lived with Luna's hyperactivity, was hoping I'd agree to keep her!)

I was so exhausted when we got home that I went right to sleep and didn't even turn on the television or think about writing this journal entry.

It was a lovely Thanksgiving. The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been if Jeri and Phil could have been with us...but they'll be here for Christmas.