Our Little Movie Star

One of our close friends, Ryan, does echo cardiograms for a living. At his office, they also have sonogram machines, and so he offered to do one for us after hours. We headed over to his office last night and got to see little Bentley! (That's his stage name until we can tell you all his real name.)

Ryan took several photos and even recorded parts of the sonogram so we can see him moving around. I'm pretty sure he was sleeping most of the time because he didn't move nearly as much as he did at the 18-week sono. We caught him sucking his thumb, curling up and stretching out, and flexing his little bicep for us. That was hilarious. The weirdest part was seeing him kick me on the screen, and feeling it in my belly at the same time.

We saw the umbilical cord which I think Bentley was playing with, and it looked like intestines all curled up...kinda gross. Adam even got to sonogram me for awhile, but he just kept trying to poke the little guy with the wand to wake him up. :) The photos aren't super clear, but here are a few anyway. Thanks so much Ryan! And thanks for coming along Melinda!

His amazingly handsome profile. And I think that thing in front of his face is the umbilical cord, not an arm.

Here's another cute little profile shot with his top lip sticking out. I love that!

And here's a shot of him flexing for us. His arm is on the left and his leg is on the right - his back is to us.

Saturday Excitement

Nikia and Sam's little boy Isaiah had his first birthday party!

And Ryan and Kelsi got engaged and we attended their engagement party right after he proposed!

23 Weeks

I can't tell you how much I wanted to Liquify (make skinnier - for all you Photoshop illiterates) my fat arm. But for the sake of keepin it real, I didn't. Hmph.


How far along? 23 weeks
Weight gain: 15 pounds. Ish. I had a giant weight gain this month and it's freaking me out. Salads for lunch from here on out...
Baby is the size of a(n): Papaya, still. One website said he's the length of a Harry Potter book...yessss!
Food cravings/aversions: Eating a lot of cereal, and drinking a lot of grape juice. Pizza always sounds good. And I've been giving in to my craving for Dr Pepper from Sonic - the styrofoam cup, the awesome ice...mmmmm. Don't judge.
Sleeping: Tossing and turning a lot. This belly needs support when I'm laying down. Had a crazy dream last night about photographing a wedding and my camera battery dying during the middle of the processional. Ugh! There was another dream that his nursery was being decorated in purple checkerboard and frogs.
Milestones: I don't think there were any. Movement is becoming more definite. Sometimes instead of just poking me, it's like he'll kick his foot out and hold it there. It's weird. My belly was measuring ahead at my appointment this week, and according to our sonogram from last month, baby would be due June 29 instead of July 3 (my official due date). I'm hoping for a June baby!
Weird things I read online: He can suck his thumb (and not just put it in his mouth like he had been). His skin is developing faster than his fat, so he has old man saggy skin. :)
Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: I got nothin. This was an anti-climatic week. Which is probably good. :) Stay in there, happy and healthy, little boy! Well, here's something, though it's not baby related. We went to see Wolfman this past weekend with some friends and it was HORRIBLE. Don't go see it. On my top 10 worst movies ever list.

Sick Puppy

Last night, Axl was sick. When I got home from work, both dogs were in the backyard, so they didn't come greet me at the door like usual. Adam said Axl was throwing up, so I could let them inside at my own peril.

I did.

There was peril.

So back outside he went. I brought him in awhile later to see if he could stomach some supper, and he kept taking individual pieces out of the bowl and putting them on the floor, not eating them. This is extremely strange for the big one...he usually snarfs down his supper before I'm even able to set down his dish. He drank some water, and then went to the back door and started crying. I let him out, and again, there was peril. It was loud too. Poor puppy's tummy probably hurt pretty bad.

After awhile longer outside, I let him back in. He finished his supper, and then went to lay in our bed. I put a pillow on his head (as you may remember, that's what he likes), covered him up, and cuddled with him for an hour or so, and he slept and was fine. We moved to the couch to watch some awesome Thursday night TV, where he slept under a blanket the rest of the evening.

We made it through the night with no more puking, er...I mean, peril!

This morning after Daddy left, he got in bed with me and slept hard. He didn't even wake me up for breakfast like normal. Here are a few of the positions I found him in.

Baby Axl

Adam stumbled across our old old video camera that used cassette tapes, and guess what he found? Baby Axl!

This is from 2006. Click here to view the video. But it's super long (I think it's worth it to watch, but maybe just because I'm their mom), so here are some stills. Sorry for the bad quality, but they're taken from the video, so ya know. :)

Here's the two of them together, so you can see Axl's tinyness...he was smaller than Diesel! This was during the first time they ever played together. Diesel hated Axl when we first got him and wanted nothing to do with him. They were finally becoming BFFs.

The GIANT paws. Clop clop clop.

Playing with Daddy. Rawr!

And he found himself in a mirror.

Love Story: Part 7

The next months passed in a big huge hurry.

Adam and I attended my senior prom. This time, we wore normal outfits. I went for a little bit of a goth theme (though, how goth can you really be with blonde hair?). I wore a black dress, black jewelry and had a black mani/pedi. I did NOT wear black lipstick. I actually think I looked like the singer at the prom on the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. Kinda Gwen Stefani-ish. Adam wore a normal black-and-white tux. My dad made us take photos by his '65 Impala and his Harley. We were pretty cool.



Next was my high school graduation. Adam gave me the best gift ever...a ring.

It wasn't a "promise" ring. We didn't want to do the promise ring thing. It was an I-love-you ring. Three little diamonds set in white gold. He was so sweet.

I still wear it on my right hand every day.

The evening of my graduation, we had a senior all-night party for my class. Adam couldn't come, which I was bummed about, but I still had a great time staying up with all my friends.

The next morning however, I was slated to meet all of Adam's extended family in Hays for a Dreher Family Reunion. Adam's dad had even made us t-shirts. It was a big day.

I was a little less than at my best from the crazy night of partying (school sponsored of course, so how bad could it have been), so Adam insisted on driving separate from his family, just the two of us, so I could sleep on the 3 hour drive. Thanks, buddy.

I met three of Adam's siblings who I hadn't met before, (he has three half-siblings who are a little older and live in different states), and several of his nieces and nephews. It's strange to look back at these photos because so much has changed. Adam's sister Jessica had just had her first baby, who is going to be 7 this year. My nieces Bailey and Madeline were like 5 and 8, respectively, and they're now teenagers (or almost...)! Weird. This photo is just his immediate family, like parents, brothers and sisters and their kids. HUGE. I come from a small family, so this was just crazy to me.

For my birthday that year in May, we took the 4-wheeler down to Waynoka, Oklahoma, which was a place Adam went a lot with his friends to ride the dunes and hang out. I got an exhaust burn on my leg. But it was still fun. :)


See how cool we are?

Adam got a cat. He named him Reuben. Thinking back on this now...it's just hilarious. Adam lived on this farm with all these farm cats, and then one day when the promiscuous female got knocked up yet again, Adam decided to try and domesticate one of the babies. We're such dog people now, that it's weird to think of having a cat. Our favorite game with Reuben was to put him on Adam's desk chair, spin it around til he was thoroughly dizzy, and then put him on the ground and watch him try to walk. Poor Reuben. Adam ended up having to give him away when his family moved into town, and last we heard he was the leader of a gang in Valley Center.

After that summer, filled with me teaching tennis lessons and hostessing at Applebee's, and Adam mowing for the City of Wichita, came one of the hardest nights in my life.

You see, I'd decided that I wanted to get away from home for awhile, live on my own. So I'd made the tough decision to leave Adam and move to Manhattan (2 hours away) to attend K-State. Adam was staying here at WSU.

The night before I left, we had a date. We went out to Timberline and had been given a giftcard, so we went all out: appetizers, steaks, dessert. Then we saw a movie. Afterwards, we drove around and talked. And talked some more.

We were driving around the WSU campus (for no particular reason), and we decided to take a walk. We were on some sort of field where the track team practices shotput, I think. We sat down on the grass.

I broke down.

I couldn't believe that I was leaving. That he wouldn't just be a short drive away anymore. That I was going to be living away from him for four years. He was my best friend...in that moment, I couldn't understand how or why I'd made the decision to go to K-State.

Adam was supportive in his own way. :) While he never resented my decision to move away, he definitely made it clear that he thought I could've decided differently. But he wasn't mad about it. He just knew it would be hard.

And it was.

I'm one stubborn lady, and even though the thought of being away from Adam hurt so badly, I just knew this was something I needed to do. So in the August of 2003, Adam and my parents packed me up and moved me off to my Manhattan dorm room.

We went out for dinner before everyone headed back home. My big brother lived in Manhattan, which helped, and he came along to dinner too.

I was nervous for everyone to leave.

I'd never lived away from home for more than a week before this. I had a few friends who'd come to K-State, but no one I was really close to. I was terrified of getting through that first night after they all left. My parents left first. Adam and I finished setting up my dorm room, making the bed, putting things away. We talked. I cried.

And then he left.

And I cried.

I even checked the hallway a couple times after he left, but he was really gone.

And then I found a note. In my underwear drawer.

"I love you."

It was the first of many notes I'd find in my underwear drawer after a visit from Adam.

To be continued...

It's Decided

The walls will be gray.

On the dark-ish side with maybe a hint of blue in the gray.

The accents will be teal, goldenrod yellow, and maybe a couple splashes of bright orange.

I'm thinking of doing away with the wall decal to leave more room for photos.

Here's an inspiration photo I found on Jose Villa's blog (an amazing film photographer):


And another photo randomly found in a Google search: