Someone Has His Daddy's Nose...

That's right. Samuel Ryan appears to be taking after his dad in the nose department, but I'll get to that in a minute...

Today consisted of several good things, but most importantly, we had a great appointment with my OB! Since we had the exam with my OB before the ultrasound this time, she used the Doppler after measuring the fundal height, etc. Immediately after she turned it on, Samuel proved to me that he was indeed Liv's little brother...just like Liv used to do, he kicked/hit the Doppler exactly where it was on my stomach -- making a loud pounding noise on the speaker. These kids apparently don't like being checked on. He moved around so much that it was hard to get a good reading, but he maintained a heart rate in the 140s, so that was good to hear. After we checked on him, we talked about the upcoming appointments and it appears as though I will have my last cervical length check at 26 weeks. Plus, I will most likely start NST's at 28 weeks! Wow. She's WAY more proactive than the docs in WA! Thank you, God, for that!

As always, Dr. Stitt helped calm my nerves after our appointment. Too bad I couldn't see her daily, ha. Either way, the best part was yet to come...the ultrasound. For whatever reason, the tech decided to do a more in-depth ultrasound than we were expecting -- we thought I was just going to get a cervical length check (which is measuring great, by the way, at 4cm!). Either way, I wasn't going to say no, as this was another chance to see our little guy! It's already very obvious that he's stubborn, yet shy. He was not cooperating one bit for the ultrasound. Sam would cross his arms and cover his face or cross his legs any time the tech wanted to get a closer look. I told my friend this -- after letting her know where he got his nose from -- and she immediately said, "So he looks like James, but acts like Priss." Haha. Yeah, it appears that way...

Here's Sambo giving us another thumbs-up...

Upon seeing this one, I knew who he was taking after in the looks department...

See any resemblance?

After such a good appointment, I was pleasantly surprised when we got home. The new lens that I had ordered for my camera had arrived! That thing had been on back order for awhile and I was getting rather impatient, so I was happy to see it sitting there on our porch. I couldn't help but want to try and play with it immediately, so the pup, hubs, and I headed to the backyard...

I think I'm in love...this new lens has a much wider aperture than the kit lens that I've been using -- allowing for a much blurrier background which I prefer...

After testing the lens out on Oba, James took a couple shots. Today marks 21w4d...

Soon after we took these, it was time for the photog group. I convinced James to go along with me this week -- perhaps he'll learn a few things, too! So we headed on out and left a sad basset in the cage...again. That poor pup. Today was not friendly to him with the super long OB appointment along with the weekly meeting. Oh well. I'm sure he sang the blues while we learned more about this camera and hung out with new friends from our church.

The photog group meeting was great. For the most part, James sat quietly, but I think he picked up a thing or two, as I noticed there were a few pictures on the memory card that I clearly didn't take. I love that while this is more of an interest for me than it is for him, he still takes the time to do it with me. Not to mention, when I discovered something VERY cool about this camera that I had not yet known, he shared in my nerdy excitement, haha. I think he was just as amazed, ha.

For those photography junkies out there, I had always wondered, but never knew until tonight how to set up the custom white balance setting on my camera. The professional photographer that came tonight taught us exactly how to set that up while using a white card and MAN does it make a difference in the pictures! That was definitely a highlight from the meeting. Now I just have to remember how to do it and remember TO do it when taking pictures...

What a day. Learned something new about the camera, but better yet...saw Sam's face and a little more of his personality. I pray that he remains healthy and that the coming weeks are uneventful! We keep edging closer and closer to the bright light at the end of this awful tunnel, but I know we're not there yet. Grow, Sambo, Grow!