Dear Bryson

Dear Bryson,

We got to see you again yesterday. I never thought I'd look forward to visiting the doctor, but I count down the days each month, especially when we get an ultrasound. Your heartbeat is BY FAR the most amazing sound in the world. Seriously, it turns me into a puddle of Mommy goo every time I hear it. It's an amazing feat of willpower if the tears that well up in my eyes stay there instead of streaming down my face.

Obviously, I think about you every day. I wonder what you're doing in my belly- if you're sleeping and sometimes even if you're comfortable. I can usually tell when you're awake because you like that bladder shaped trampoline installed near you. :) I wonder what color hair you'll be born with and if you'll have your Daddy's eyes. I wonder if you can hear us talking to you and if you can tell the difference between me and Daddy. Sometimes Jenna lays her head or paw on my belly. I always wonder if you know that's your puppy saying hi to you.

Every Tuesday, I send an update on your development to your Daddy, grandparents, Aunt Trisha and Aunt Leigh. It's amazing to see how quickly you've developed. Being that I'm a Biology nerd and am adamantly pro-life, I know the stages of development, but until you came along, they were just facts. Now those facts are mixed with emotion, amazement and complete awe.

Just 18 weeks ago, you were conceived. I know, I know, you want to know nothing about your conception. That's as far as I'm going. I just can't stop thinking that in a mere 18 weeks, you've developed into a perfect, tiny human. You have working organs, fingerprints, eyelashes, taste buds. You're basically your Daddy, but in miniature form!

Your Daddy and I talk a lot about how amazing you are. You're bound to hear that from us your entire life, but right now, we're completely mesmerized by you. Yesterday, we watched as you extended your legs and flexed your foot. We watched your hand near your face as you searched for your mouth with your thumb. You were just being your baby self, but you had us laughing and me crying. We've bragged to everyone we know about your growth, your sweet little yawn and that you've got good muscle tone when you flex. Yes, you flexed, as evidenced here. I told you you're a mini Daddy!



I thought I knew love before you. After all, I love God and have had a lifelong relationship with Him. Your Daddy is the love of my life and I fall deeper in love with him on a daily basis. I love our family with my whole heart and my friends fill a very special place in my heart. Until you came along, I never understood that love between a Mom and her baby that I've heard so much about. Now I do. I understand a love so deep that means sacrificing whatever necessary, even chocolate and Diet Mountain Dew!! I understand a love that, on the fourth nightly bathroom trip at 3:00 AM, isn't annoying, but precious that the life inside me is growing.

Little man, your daddy and I are anxiously awaiting the day we get to meet you. We both agree it will be the best day of our lives, even better than our wedding day. Not only will we be together as husband and wife, but we'll meet the newest, smallest love of our lives and become Stoker Part of Three... err... Five. We can't leave the pups out. :)

We love you!