"But what about a middle name?"
"We're not sure yet," both Dave and Joneelle agreed.
"We're thinking we want to call her, informally, Gracie [loo]--short for Gracie [loo-ellen]. But we're not sure." [I spelled the middle name in the manner I have, here, because we only discussed sounds, not spellings. And I realize there are all kinds of ways to spell a name that sounds that particular way. The loo portion could be spelled Lew, Lou or Lu; the ellen portion could be ellen or ellyn, at least. . . .]
Anyway. This morning I received a phone call from Daddy Dave: "How do you spell [loo-eez]?"
"Well, normally, that would be L-o-u-i-s-e. . . . Why? Is that what you're thinking for her middle name?"
He handed the phone to Jonelle.
Story from Jonelle:
This morning, while I was in that halfway state between wakefulness and sleep, I got thinking: What about Louise for her middle name? . . . Dave hadn't been too excited about [loo-ellen]. But we both liked Gracie [loo]. So I asked him what he thought. He wasn't all that excited.
Then Dr. Anderson [the ob/gyn who delivered Gracie] stopped by and asked what we were thinking for her full name. And we told her how we have been thinking along the lines of Gracie [loo], and she said, "That's the name of my oldest daughter!"
"What's your daughter's real name?"
"'Grace Louise.'"
Well, that settled it! In honor of Dr. Anderson, Grace's middle name is Louise.
I asked Jonelle what spelling she wanted for [loo].
No hesitation: Lou.
So Gracie Lou it is.
--Pretty cool.
I looked up Louise in a name list. It's of Teutonic extraction and is the name of a famous warrior maiden. Kind of fits with a feisty fighter! :-)
*****
Some people have asked about older sister Natalia. With all the talk about Gracie Lou, it could seem as if she has been neglected.
She has not.
With two grandmas and, actually, since Saturday afternoon, two grandpas, too, to take care of her when we're not at the hospital, she is doing very well.
She has also had the privilege of visiting Mommy and Daddy a couple of times--once on Saturday morning and once yesterday morning.
We stayed till 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon--three-hour visits--and then left.
Just a week or two ago, Jonelle had been telling us how poorly Natalia was sleeping at night.
Due to recognized wheat sensitivities in our family, we questioned whether perhaps Natalia's sleep problems may have been related. So Jonelle took her off of all wheat . . . and Natalia seemed to settle down.
Grandma Lilly, who has been staying with her at night, said she has been sleeping just fine.
And yesterday, as we sat in the yard (beautiful weather here in Colorado!), it struck me how affectionate Natalia was to her Grandma Lilly, with whom she has spent only relatively few days and hours during her 20 months. . . .
So Natalia is doing wonderfully.
*****
Finally, Jonelle. She is scheduled to be released this afternoon.
Her blood pressure yesterday was high (again). It had gone down dramatically, as soon as Gracie Lou was born, but then, yesterday it was something like 128/92. "And I haven't been on any blood pressure medicine," said Jonelle.
"When Natalia was born, I had high blood pressure for something like six weeks. And I was on medication that whole time. So I'm not too concerned," she said.
*****
Okay. That's the latest.
