Dear Arianna, January 26, 2013

Dear Arianna,
    We all slept in this morning, until Turlough & Ian had had enough of their night in the office and meowed and scratched the door so loudly that it woke us up.  After letting them out, it was all over.  They jumped up on the bed purring, kneading, leaping, jumping, and generally acting like kittens.  It was a good thing, too.  Mommy had to go for two sets of blood work at two different places this morning   That meant that you and I got to pend a lot of time in waiting rooms.
    The first blood draw was in a medical building and it had a fiberglass cow in the hallway back form the Chicago Cows on Parade Days in the late 1990s.  You thought it was cool to have a plastic cow and asked if you could have one for your own backyard.  I told you that I would rather have a goat to eat the grass so that we would never have to mow it again.  The second blood draw was at our normal doctor's office.  You were sad that they removed the children's play area and replaced it with more seats.  Thankfully, the wait there wasn't as long and this time you went back with Mommy as they took her blood.  The nurse liked your long hair.  Hopefully, we'll know the results soon.  These tests will help to see how well the radioactive therapy has worked on Mommy's thyroid.

    When we got home, we made late breakfast / lunch.  As you can imagine, both Mommy and Daddy were tired after the work week, and since you are now a big girl, you let us both to take a nap for a few hours while you played with your My Little Pony trains.  It was a nice break for us.  

Three way group hug!

 Ian and Turlough also approved of nap time.

 Here are you pony trains.  I like how they match up with the rainbows on the TV (more Ponies, of course)     

    When we woke up, we decided that since you were such a good girl letting Mommy & Daddy get a rest that we would to go to dinner to your favorite place -- Baker's Square.  It was very busy, but we waited and got our table and had a nice dinner.  You were playing games on my Kindle Fire HD and coloring and playing games.  As always, you ordered a grilled cheese with fruit and an apple pie for dessert..

    Headed home, we had to stop off at Target to buy wet cat food for our feline family and buy a set of bunny ears for our TV since we are now cutting out cable TV completely.  Then, my phone rang.  Mommy saw my face and told me not to answer it, but I did and the work week that will never end continued to not end today!  There was a problem with a server in the Lisle data center and, of course, no one else answered their phone.  The on-call engineer for this week lives down in Austin like your Uncle Ron, so he found the one person on the team willing to answer the phone and help on a Saturday night.  So, we paid for the food and antennas, and Mommy, in what surely helped my sanity, said you two would come with.

Rainbow, Arianna, & Tree Swing

    I think you were asleep as soon as we left Target's parking lot.  You are so happy that I pulled the toddler seat out of Mommy's car today and replaced it with a booster seat.  You said that you are happy to be a big girl using a big girl seat-belt and that was the last we heard from you.  We drove out to Lisle, and though you've been wanting to see whee I work, I couldn't let you and Mommy in since you would need a special pass to access the facility.  I stayed inside for about a 45 minutes while you and Mommy stayed int he car.  (Don't worry, the engine and heat were left running and Mommy had her phone to have Facebook to keep her amused.)
    You slept all the time in the parking lot, and all the way home, and are now sleeping on the couch while Mommy is learning a new crochet stitch from a teacher on YouTube and Daddy is writing your letter.  Tomorrow you get you show off some of your special talents at the open house they are having at your school after 10:30 Mass.  And speaking of your talents, here is a picture you drew for Mommy and Daddy today:
    Whether you sing, play your violin, or not tomorrow, I am going to be there right with you and always let you know how much I love you and how proud I am of you.

Love,
Daddy