April showers...

April ended on a rainy note this week.

Wednesday, April 29

It was raining when Mara and I got home today, and she insisted on standing out in the rain to catch it on her tongue. She's definitely my daughter. :)

Thursday, April 30

After 7 years with DirecTV, we finally switched our TV over to Verizon FiOS today. It will take us a little bit to be completely comfortable with the new setup, but have "on demand" TV now is kind of nice. Mara also went back to the doctor for a follow-up ear check. They couldn't get a good reading on her ears last time because she had negative pressure and fluid in her ears. This time, however, she passed with flying colors.

More pictures

I'm running out of ideas for post titles, but here are the pictures for the last week plus. :)

Monday, April 20

Mara has received a goody bag from every party she's gone to this year. She found a parrot tattoo in one of them tonight, and insisted she put it on her arm. Like every other time she puts a tattoo on, she wanted it off only 30 minutes later.

Tuesday, April 21

For some reason, Pixie loves to chew on Puck's eyebrow whiskers, so he doesn't have very long ones.

Wednesday, April 22

Periodically, we buy little pies from Wal-Mart as a treat. They only cost 50 to 60 cents and come in various flavors, such as apple, pumpkin, pecan, and eclair. They are really good, and we see them as a treat.

Thursday, April 23

We made one of our favorite meals tonight – cheesy chicken and rice wraps. They are pretty easy to make and taste so good.

Friday, April 24

Lori and Mikey's school had a hoedown tonight, and we joined them for it. Mara had a lot of fun in the bounce houses, which is amazing since we were still having to push her to get into bounce houses just a couple of months ago.

Saturday, April 25

We celebrated Lani's birthday party today at Peter Piper Pizza. Later, we went to Mike & Myra's where the girls had some fun with markers. We didn't know what they were up to until they came running downstairs.Luckily, it was washable markers and just rinsed right off of them for the most part.

Sunday, April 26

My niece Gracie was confirmed as a member of the United Methodist Church today, so we went to church in Fort Worth. Afterward, we went back to Rob and Mindy's for lunch. It's amazing how much Gracie and Mara look alike. There are times when I see a picture of Gracie from seven years ago or so and have to do a double take to see who is really in the picture. We also got to play with their birds for a little bit too.

Monday, April 27

Tonight, Mara curled up on the chaise to watch one of her shows on her DVD player while we watched one of our shows.

Tuesday, April 28

We usually have issues trying to keep our cats from getting out when we go out to check the mail, but today I had another cat trying to get into our house. John thinks its the same cat that got trapped in our garage last week. I think she might be confused and thinks that our house is hers. I just wonder where her home is. She has a collar with tags (rabies and an ID but no personal address or phone number) and seems well fed.

Frustated

I am so frustrated at work right now. It seems like I can't please people outside my department no matter how hard I try, and instead, they complain to my boss that my department is inadequate when the truth is that we've been severely understaffed for the past five years or so. Really, I think it's only a few key people complaining, and you know what they say about how one bad comment is heard much more loudly than many positive ones.

I can't help but wonder if my boss thinks I'm incompetent. I know I haven't had the managerial training that other managers at my work have had, but it doesn't mean I can't learn. In a meeting I had with my manager today, I have gotten comments about how I'm half his age (no way is he in his mid-60s), that I was most likely blinded by the prestige and honor of being a manager when I took the job as manager and didn't realize what I was getting in to, and that he was disappointed that he had to ask me for a strategic plan for my department and explain to me what he expected. Previously, he also made a comment when talking about how Mara's in daycare about how he's lucky because his wife didn't need to work and could stay home with the kids. All of this makes me question his confidence in me as a manager.

It doesn't help that they've brought in consultants and are evaluating my department anyway and looking to see if reorganizing it would help us get things done in a more timely manner since we're so far behind in our workload. I'm not really concerned about my job because we already have more work than we can handle, but things will be changing over the next few months. I'm not sure what the consultants will be suggesting, but I do wonder if I'm going to go back to just being a technical writer. In some ways, I wouldn't mind it since then I wouldn't have to deal with issues like this. At least I have my staff on my side.

With all of this going on, it makes me a little thankful that I'm not due in June like I was supposed to be with my last pregnancy. God really does work in mysterious ways. I just ask that you all keep my work in your prayers right now. We're not really too concerned about our jobs, but everything is in limbo and it's hard to get things done while wondering what's going to happen.

Our week in pictures

Monday, April 13

Mara wasn't feeling 100% today and just wanted to stay home, so we let her. She probably could have gone to school, but she's supposed to have pictures taken there this week and I didn't want her to be sent home and miss the pictures. So, she got to spend the day playing with us (I stayed home in the morning, and John was home in the afternoon). She also curled up on the couch and watched TV for a while.

Tuesday, April 14

The bluebonnets are in full bloom, so we went for a walk while Mara rode her bike to the bluebonnets near our house. It was close to dusk, so it was a little harder to take pictures, but Mara had a lot of fun running around.

Wednesday, April 15

*picture coming soon*

Mara had portraits taken at school today. We don't get to see them until they come back, but I'm sure they turned out great since this company always does a good job. But forgetting that I would have this picture, I also took a picture of the sunset we saw while driving around.

Thursday, April 16

Tonight, John went on a ride-along with one of our friends who is an Arlington police officer, and I made him take the camera to get today's picture for me. This is what I got – a picture of John in the back of the police car. :)

Friday, April 17

Doxy is definitely Mara's kitty. She likes to go lay down with Mara when she's asleep in her bed. Of course, sometimes that means that Doxy either keeps Mara awake or tends to wake her up.

Saturday, April 18

We celebrated Robert's 19th birthday today by going to Red Lobster. This is probably the last birthday we'll celebrate with him for a while since he's joining the Navy in August. I accidentally freaked Mara out when I joked about throwing her in with the lobsters. It was so bad, that she kept yelling anytime someone was over the tank. However, she wasn't so bad when she was eye-level with the lobsters since she had the glass separating her.

Sunday, April 19

I spent most of this weekend doing laundry and putting away our clothes (finally!). I also went through Mara's closet and pulled out everything that was too small for her and needed to be packed away. I started going through my closet as well, but I'll have to get back to it later.

Why?

Here I am once again wondering when I'll get pregnant because it didn't happen yet again. I know the whole reason I'm not pregnant is because the timing's not right, but I can't help but wonder why. Why is it that the timing is not right? What do we need to do to be ready to have another child? I know there are some things that we can change, but is that it? Are we waiting for John to find a different job? Do I/we need to start working out more? Do we need to clean out the cats' room (will be nursery) as well as the rest of the house before it will happen?

I know that God does what's best for us, but I can't help but feel disappointed when I hear people announcing their pregnancies every time I turn a corner. But I just keep up with my mantra – one of these days we will have another child, and it will be when the timing is just right.

Easter Week

Wednesday, April 8

In addition to the tooth fairy visiting today, Mara's class also had an Easter party, including an Easter egg hunt. John was able to make it to the egg hunt portion of the party.

Thursday, April 9

We grilled chicken for dinner tonight, so we spent some time outside while Mara enjoyed eating her cheese balls.

Friday, April 10

All of us were off today, so we got to spend the day together. We saw the movie Monster vs. Aliens and then went to Mike & Myra's to dye eggs. Mara had a lot of fun dying her dozen eggs. Afterward, she showed Lani and a friend her new WonderPets game for the DS.

Saturday, April 11

Mara went to a birthday party or her friend Anna at The Little Gym. She really liked running around and playing on the bars and balance beams. Mara's been asking to start getting involved in activities, so I think we might take her to one of the trial classes they have to see how much she likes it in a more structured environment. We're definitely going to see about getting her in soccer this fall.

Easter Sunday (Sunday, April 12)

The Easter bunny filled Mara's basket with a big Littlest Pet Shop animal, a Bunnyz DS game, a barrel of monkeys game, and candy and left lots of eggs around our family room. We also gave her a Bible storybook. After playing with the toys she got in her basket, Mara and I put on our Easter clothes went to church with my family while John went to work. We had to buy her a different dress from the one she wore for her portraits because the blue one was way too big (and actually had a binder clip tightening it in back). Maybe she'll be able to wear the blue one next year.

Visit from the Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy came to visit Mara a day late because we forgot to put her tooth beside her pillow the night she had it pulled. The tooth fairy came through Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, though, and brought Mara eight quarters for her tooth.

The box her dentist gave us to put her tooth in (notice the picture of the tooth fairy on top)

Her tooth

The quarters she received from the tooth fairy

Portraits!

I got the email with the small versions of Mara's four-year-old portraits in them, and I added them to the post from Sunday. They make me miss her front tooth, but I know I'll be used to it before too long.

She's have portraits taken at school next week, so we'll end up with before and after ones. :)

Toothless Grin

Mara is now minus one tooth. Her tooth was loosening, but we didn't see it coming out soon. So, we took her to the dentist yesterday and had the tooth pulled. She did great and didn't even cry. They didn't let us stay in the room while the dentist pulled it, but we could hear her jabbering away the whole time all the way in the waiting room. Afterward, the dentist said they had a hard time getting her quiet enough to pull the tooth.

It will take a while for her gums to heal, but she seems to be managing pretty well. She on a pseudo-soft food diet (no chips, nuts, popcorn, anything that can get in the hole in her gums) until her gums heal in a week or so.

Her last picture with all of her baby teeth.

Wearing her "airplane nose" with the laughing gas.

After the tooth was removed.

Her x-ray from her last visit. (Notice how the tooth on the left in the x-ray is missing part of the root – basically it broke off when she hit it on the coffee table.)

We treated her to a trip to Toys R Us to get a new DS game and a DVD for doing so well. Then, we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. In the first picture, she's showing off the hole in her gums. That should heal in about a week or so, and her gums will eventually grow back and even out too.

One day after getting her tooth pulled.

Spring is here?

Thursday, April 2

Since Mara's getting her tooth pulled Monday, we took her to have her birthday/Easter portraits done. She cooperated, and they turned out fantastic. I have to wait until we get the email saying they're online before I can post the picture. :)
ETA 4/8: I added a few of our favorites pictures from the session.

Friday, April 3

We celebrated my dad's birthday tonight by going to Texas Roadhouse. For birthdays, they have the birthday person sit upon a saddle while they sing a birthday song. My dad actually got up on the saddle while they sang. As we were leaving, Mara and Lani posed on the saddle as well.

Saturday, April 4

Mikey was selected to an all-star hockey team, so we went to Wichita Falls today to watch the game. Mikey's team won the game 6-1.

Sunday, April 5

Today is Palm Sunday, and Mara and I went to church with Mike, Myra, Lori, Mikey, and Lani. Mara said she was OK to walk into the sanctuary waving the palm fronds without me (and with Lori, Mikey, and Lani), but then she wasn't with them when they entered. Instead, she came into the sanctuary a few seconds later with tears streaming down her cheeks because I left her. When she saw me, she came running up the aisle to me. I guess I should have stuck with her and walked her into the sanctuary.