The sad, sad tale of Turtle

When Lucy stayed with my student teacher over the July 4th weekend, Rachel was sweet enough to buy Lucy a new toy, a turtle with a tennis ball for the body. When Lucy came home with it, I thought for sure she'd ignore it as she hasn't had toys like these since puppyhood. I'd finally stopped buying them when it became clear she had but a single-minded purpose: tearing it mercilessly to shreds. That, sadly, was to be the fate of Turtle, but thanks to his durability, it took longer. For while, she did actually play with him. She'd carry him around, play a little fetch in the apartment, that sort of thing. But then began his slow decent. First, the eyes went. Then, the arms and legs were chewed up. Finally, Lucy started holding him down and tearing off the fuzz on tennis balls (also why we only have rubber tennis balls). It took some days, but she finally tore open the tennis ball and removed whatever is inside. I began to find little pieces of rubber around the apartment that she would occasionally mistake for food and try to eat. After a few days in intensive care, Turtle was buried in the trash can.

We'll miss you, Turtle. You were a fine friend and relatively durable.

Ostrich

Another popular sleeping position. It's no wonder there's so much dog hair under and on the bed skirt. At least she's staying off the bed, though!

Back Off

It's good to see that someone in our house can still sleep on her back. Lucy laid like this for at least 30 minutes, sound asleep, with her mouth slightly agape so that her bottom teeth showed. How is this comfortable?

Strike a pose

At the very fashionable Palmer House hotel.

Girls. Girls. Girls.

The men may have the numbers in the Neiheisel family (7 33/40 to 4), but the women make up for it with their energy. Such was the case this weekend when my mother, sister, and sister-in-law (look at the pictures and sing the Sesame Street song "Which of these things is not like the other...") came to Chicago for my baby shower. The ladies arrived en masse on Thursday afternoon, and we spent the evening walking through Millenium Park and the Loop and eating pizza at Giordano's. Friday was filled with shopping on the north side, a 3D/4D ultrasound, and fun and rides at Navy Pier, followed by no less than 4 hours of baking in preparation for Saturday's shower. By the time the shower was over, after many more hours of cooking and arranging, everyone was completely worn out, no one more so than my younger sister, who is known to go-go-go, then CRASH. Fortunately, a good night's sleep on Saturday afforded us the chance to tour Grant Park after breakfast and before the women set off for Midway and what turned out to be longer than anticipated trips home to Atlanta, Savannah, and Fort Lauderdale, respectively. It's hard to say, what with 3 women of procreative age, when the next time is that it will be just the girls again, but whenever it happens, it's sure to be a good time.