Big Truck Night

These people who run Sutton's preschool know what they're doing. Last night was their annual Big Truck Night in the parking lot at his school, and holy cow was this boy in heaven. When we walked up, they gave us a little book for him to get a stamp in at each truck, though he ended up getting the stamps in his book AND on his hands (think 10 stamps up his arm). There were also fake tattoos, popcorn, and rides on the school buses!

The first stop was Mater. Sutton loves Mater.

There were about 20 different trucks/vehicles there. This was some sort of loader or something with a scoop on the front.

He picked out the blue Harley to sit on.

A limo!

He sees the school buses every time we go to school, and every time he asks me when he'll get to ride one. FINALLY last night, his dream of riding a school bus was fulfilled. I even indulged him and let him ride on both of them that were there.

 

Daddy left early to go for a run, so we took a selfie.

We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to sit in this combine, it was definitely a favorite among the kiddos. By the time we were climbing out, Big Truck Night was over and we waved at the fire trucks driving away with their sirens on.

16 Weeks {Baby #2}

I apologize for that last post. He did warn me that it was coming at some point, but as he knows all my passwords and can access this blog at any time...it was a surprise. :)

How far along? 16 weeks

Weight gain: Not sure.

Baby is the size of a(n): Avocado

Food cravings/aversions: Cereal, egg sandwiches. Still not wanting meat or veggies.

Sleeping: Same with the turning over, peeing, and dreaming. 

Milestones: Baby is developing body fat, his/her heart is regulated by his/her brain (instead of beating randomly), and he/she is about to go through a big growth spurt! Breathing and bending over are becoming more and more challenging for me by the day. If I already feel this way, who knows what it's going to be like at 20, 30, 40 weeks! Maternity clothes make up more than half of my wardrobe now.

How I'm Feeling: Feeling better more often than not, but still relatively sick. I threw up again on Sunday. I've been trying Jolly Ranchers and Tootsie Pops when I'm feeling gross and that seems to be helping a bit. I'll take a Zofran if it's really bad and I have to work. I haven't been napping as much since I'm busier with work now and I've been pretty tired. Also having some congestion which they say is common. Poor Adam...between my loud breathing and constant flipping over at night...he probably wants to kick me out of bed. Lastly...I'm feeling like I'm gaining weight all around this pregnancy instead of just in my belly. Hopefully once I'm feeling good I can step up the workouts and eat only chicken and veggies!

Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: Sutton started swimming lessons last Thursday and I luckily still fit into my regular swimsuit, though I felt like a whale. We'll see if I can make it til the end of the month (when lessons are over) with this suit! Sutton likes to list all of his best buddies, and they usually change though I'm generally in there somewhere. This week, he listed Mommy, Daddy, and the baby as ALL his best buddies. It was really sweet.

Man time

Well, since this blog is called 'The Dreher adventure', and I am the one of which the name Dreher came from, I have felt the need to make sure this blog covers both sides of the Dreher adventure.  My beautiful wife does a fine job over covering our basis of all the frilly, girly, emotional things that happen in our lives.  But friends, I am here to manify this blog a bit.

Beware though, as I am about to post such manly things that, no matter your gender, you might grow a beard and chest hair after reading.  You have been warned.

Let us begin, MANIFY!

Sutton has learned to pee standing up.  Bad aim so far, but he likes it.  Here is a picture of a urinal, with ice in it.  I don't know why it has ice in it.  Weird, but manly.

Beef.  Manly.

I deal with this a lot when I am in public.   It really has started getting to me.  I mean there is more to me than my amazing and manly beard.  Why can't women look at me for who I am, a manly guy with a beard?  There is so much more to me than just the beard, like sideburns, and a mustache.  Do they ever wonder what I'm thinking?  If they did it would be something like "oh, you know, I'm thinking about how I need to comb my beard, it's getting a bit out of control".  Seriously women, you need to start looking us bearded men in the eyes. 

Manly.

Sutton had his first date with a super cute blonde a few weeks ago.  I don't know if her parents considered it a date, but as far as I'm concerned it is in the books!  Next on his list, grow a beard!

When men buy flowers, we buy massive flowers.  Sometimes flowers with beards.  

 My current man project is this beautiful 1990 Mustang GT.  I know, I know, you are telling yourself "but bearded manly Adam, it looks perfect the way it is, what could you ever do to make it better?"  To that I would say "fantastic question sir (or lady, because I don't think any men read this blog, yet)".  I have many plans for this fine lady, but you my friends, will have to wait and see.

We were out and about a few Fridays ago and found a pretty nice 1989 Mustang gt, I think mine looks a little cleaner, but you know, maybe I'm just biased.  

Muscle car, airplane, manly.

 

 HEADPHONES BECAUSE WE ARE SHOOTING GUNS, DORITOS, MANLY!

Woody shirt, chili pepper hat, manly.

 My first step in Mustang rejuvenation.  Got the spoiler off the back, sanded, and awaiting primer / paint.  This will be my test bed for the color I decide upon.  Hardest decision of my life. 

This is the normal location of the spoiler.  It helps keep my tires on the ground when I cross the 100mph mark.  That's such a great feeling, motor roaring, beard flowing in the wind, nothing like it.  Manly.

To end our first manification of this blog, here is a picture of a .223 bullet I have.

That turns into a knife.  Yep, manly to the extreme.

Until next time my slightly manlier friends, keep your beards combed and you engines oiled!

Man Dreher

State Fair 2013

Saturday morning, we headed to the Kansas State Fair to try to get there before the temps reached the promised 100 degrees. Our friend Tara and her sweet boy Kohen came along with us because Tara's hubby Chad had to work all weekend. We met Scott there too. We first walked through the animal buildings, before making our way to buy a cinnamon roll.

Then it was on to the important things: looking at tractors, 4-wheelers, RVs, and boats.

We took a photo of us like this inside of a tractor last year, and I couldn't help but think how next year, there will be a fourth person in this photo!

We got Kohen and Sutton to pose in a tractor wheel for us. Lots of cuteness.

But this was my favorite:

And luckily Tara reminded me to do my yearly comparison photo of Sutton. Here's this years:

                 

And here are all the years together:

                  

Wow, he got tall! There was this giant stuffed bear with a sign that had Scott's last name on it, so I had to get a photo.

It got hot fast. So I stripped Sutton down to his shorts and he ran through the fountain. It was lots of fun until he slipped and fell. Poor guy.

We didn't go crazy with the food this year. With my nausea and the heat, we just weren't feeling it as much. I had a cinnamon roll, a free sample of ice cream, and half a bierock. Adam had roasted corn and part of Sutton's quesadilla. Boring. We saved some of the cash we'd normally spend on food so Sutton could do some rides. He was very serious about driving this car.

Daddy and Sutton in a hot air balloon ride.

Meanwhile, Kohen got sleepy. :)

Tara and I trying to look cute despite the sweatiness.

This girl came up and asked if she could have a photo with Scott because he looked like he was from Duck Dynasty. He says this isn't the first time that's happened. Ha!

We headed home around 12:30p and we very grateful for the air conditioning.

15 Weeks {Baby #2}

How far along? 15 weeks

Weight gain: Not sure...probably won't have an update here until my next doctor's appointment.

Baby is the size of a(n): Navel Orange (I think I was off a week last week.)

Food cravings/aversions: Chips and salsa. Grape juice. Coffee drinks (with little to no caffeine, of course). Gunnie gumpers (vinegar cucumbers). Cereal. Haven't been wanting meat, veggies (especially cooked veggies), or salads.

Sleeping: Lots of turning over, lots of peeing. Lots of crazy dreaming.

Milestones: I believe I read that Baby can begin to hear my voice around this time. Sweet! I've still feeling that same movement or fluttering, and it's generally when I'm laying on my left side in bed at night. And also sometimes when I'm bent over and squishing him/her. So I really do think it is the baby! But still pretty inconsistent. And the maternity clothes are slowly but surely making an appearance.

How I'm Feeling: Still sick, but there are good days and bad. Yesterday I almost threw up in Dillons, but concentrated really hard on keeping it down since Sutton was with me and since I wasn't near the bathroom. I took a Zofran out of my purse and after a few minutes, the feeling subsided. Today has been good so far. I'm hoping since there are good days and bad that that means we're nearly done. Also, it's getting harder to bend over.


Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: I can't believe I didn't post this last week. We scheduled our anatomy/gender sonogram for September 25th! Can't wait...I'm so nervous since this is our last baby. We haven't decided how we're going to tell people yet. I have a few ideas. I don't want to have a reveal party like last time, but I also don't want to treat it like it's not a big deal, so we'll see.

Devotional

My mom works in a church office and has to periodically put together a devotional to share with the staff. A couple of weeks ago, she shared the devotional she wrote with me since it was inspired by time spent with Sutton. I loved it and wanted to share it here as well. So here it is...

1 John 3:1:  NIV: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

A couple of weekends ago, our grandson, Sutton, age 3, spent 24 hours with us.  We had invited him to come over for a weekend, and we talked for weeks ahead of time about all the fun stuff we were going to do.  He was very excited about it.  This was to be the first time he would be away from home overnight without his parents.  As they prepared him for this day, he confidently told them that he wanted to stay at Grandma’s house forever!  So when the day finally came, Gina brought him, with all kinds of instructions for us on his habits and what he liked to eat and when he should nap and how to mix his apple juice and how to take him to the bathroom and when he should go to bed and bedtime routines and when he would get up in the morning, and on and on.  I think she was having a harder time with this than Sutton – he was ready for her to leave, so he could start doing all the fun stuff with Grandpa and Grandma!  She barely got a hug and kiss from him before she left! 

We started our time together at the park with a picnic lunch.  We fed cheetos to the ducks and squirrels.  We played on the playground equipment.  (We found out that Sutton LOVES to swing!)  Back at home, Bruce took him on a tractor ride.  We played on the fire engine that Bruce built in the back yard.  We played games.  We read books.  We took a nap.  We played with cars.  (Sutton LOVES cars!)  We watched a movie.  We had a great, great time!  The next morning, I told him that pretty soon we would take him home.  He assured us that that he wasn’t ready to go and that he would tell us when it was time!  It finally took a phone call to his mommy and a little coaxing before he agreed to go home.

As I spent time with Sutton that weekend, I thought about how he is such a precious child to us.  It made me think that that’s the way I am to God.  I am His precious child. God loves me and watches me and wants to spend time with me, just as we did with Sutton. 

Matthew 18:3:  And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

When Jesus says we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven, what does that mean?  Again, I think about Sutton and the characteristics of children.  They have a pure heart.  They are dependent upon others.  They are trusting.  They believe what you tell them.  They are spontaneous.  They are teachable.  They ask questions. They want to be loved.  They are honest.  They have no worldly ambition or lust for power.  These must be the things that God desires from His children - a pure, trusting heart, a dependency on Him, a willingness to seek and learn, and a simple childlike belief.

Reading again I John 3:1, this time from The Message:  What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.

And here's a photo my mom took of the tractor ride with Papa Bruce: