Cravings

Those of you who have been pregnant...and those of you who are married to women who have been pregnant...truly understand the word CRAVE!

It seems like all I can think about lately is PIZZA!!!!!! Do you realize how many commercials are about pizza? Pizza, pizza bites, bread sticks, and now there's even a wings commercial that's delivered by...you guessed it...a pizza place!

So far I've been doing well with resisting the urge to eat pizza 3 meals a day. Of course, that may be why I'm thinking about it so much. Maybe it's because I've been refusing to give into my craving! Ok...you convinced me. I'm gonna do it. Stop twisting my arm! I'm making pizza for dinner tonight!!!!

It's a good thing that I got a bunch of frozen pizzas the other day at Dillons when they were on sale. :)

15 Weeks

Today I'm 15 weeks pregnant! This is a 3d sonogram picture of what our baby might look like today. I can't believe how fast they grow and develop! It seems like just yesterday he/she was the size of a sunflower seed!

In 3 weeks we'll be driving down to TX for the weekend. Our friends, Dwayne & Rene, are going to Dallas for a basketball tournament, so we're gonna catch a ride with them. While we're down there I'm going to let Paula "practice" her sonography skills and see if she can tell us the sex of our baby. I can hardly wait! I really hope our little one will cooperate and "show it all".

I measured my waist this morning and it has grown yet again. I'm now up a total of 6.75" (from 27" to 33.75")! My weight is up 4.8 pounds...which is within the normal range. Any guesses at what I'll end up at? :)

Faith of a Child

My cousin, Julie, emailed me today to tell me about how cold it is in Texas. She said that her 5 year old, Lauren, is praying for snow. Julie said the forecast doesn't look like it will snow for her. I love what she said next, "It is so cute when she prays for something because she is absolutely confident that God will do it for her. Nevermind that the last 8000 requests went unanswered as far as she could tell. No wonder God wants us to have the faith of a child – they just don’t question his power or his grace. Awesome!"

(This is a picture of Lauren and Mike throwing leaves on each other at Christmas)

Today at Bible study I was humbled and challenged by another child. Jacob is the 4 year old son of our leader, Sarah. We have all been working on memorizing I Peter. I am thru verse 16...still a ways to go. Well, Sarah was telling us how she was practicing saying her verses out loud in the car. Suddenly Jacob spoke up and said, "Mommy, you missed 4 words in the last 2 verses." She replied (kinda sarcastically), "really? You think you can do better?" Well...he proceeded to recite I Peter 1:1-17!!! A 4 year old! Talk about inspiration. If he is this excited about the Word of God at the age of 4...I can only imagine what he'll do for God in his lifetime. 

Pic of the Week

Daddy Ken & Grandmommy have been unable to access my photo albums, so this picture is for them! This is the picture Mike took of me on Sunday at 14 wks 3 days.

Caleb & Audria gave me the shirt for my birthday. I think it is so cute! Thanks guys :) 

My Love

Tuesday was Valentine's Day. Many people think V-day is a conspiracy to make people express their feelings to one another. Mike and I tell each other daily how much the other means, but I still think it's fun to have a day to do something special.

We usually try not to spend tons of money on each other on V-day since we've needed money to build the house and especially now that we have a baby on the way. So I got a card for Mike and a cool shaped bar of chocolate. I also planned out a wonderful homemade dinner. I made lasagna, garlic/cheese bicuits, salad, and cheesecake (store bought).

I was in the middle of making the biscuits when Mike walked in the door. He had a beautiful arrangement of yellow roses! What a sweetie! While some women would rather their husband buy something practical...I'm a sucker for flowers. Then he handed me an envelope. As I pulled out the 8x10 picture inside the tears began rolling down my face.

Mike had made a photo collage of some wonderful memories we shared together this past year. Then on the back he wrote one of the most beautiful letters I've ever read! He is so creative and is really blessed with the ability to express his feelings thru words.

So after I wiped away my tears and gave him a big hug...I went back to making the dinner. I love the fact that Mike and I can have so much fun just hanging out at home together.

The evening ended with me falling asleep on the couch at 8:00 pm :)

 

Before & Now

Sunday I was 13 wks 3 days pregnant. Each Sunday Mike has been taking a picture of me so we can see how "fat" I'm really getting. Along with this week's picture, I thought I should show you a true "before" picture. Dad found this picture and emailed it to me the other day. I thought it was perfect :)


Staci - Pre pregnancy

Staci - 13 wks 3 days pregnant

Wheat Prices

Daddy Ken and Grandmommy emailed me this morning to tell me they are getting rain in Temple today! I know that it is some much needed rain. Anyone living in Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas would love to get a big downpour right about now and get rid of all the fire danger. So I told Junior, my boss, that they were getting rain and he said, "There goes wheat prices!" If you're a city girl like me you're thinking "what?"

So Junior explained to me that wheat is up over $4 a bushell right now and is staying high because of the drought. The market is predicting a bad crop this summer because of the fact that no one is getting rain. So his theory is that if it rains in KS, OK, or TX wheat prices will begin to drop because the wheat outlook will be more optimistic.

And I thought I was the one taking economics ;)

Can you handle the excitement?

So this morning I got to work and opened up my email. There was an email from Angela (Mike's sister). The subject line said, "something you may have seen before". I opened it up expecting some kind of forward. Instead I found this picture!!!

"ok...the blogger isn't uploading my pic right now, so I'll add it later"

Anyways, it was a picture of 2 POSITIVE PREGNANCY TESTS!!!!!! I'm so excited about this! Mark and Angela started trying the same month we did, so we've already gone through a lot of this journey together.

I got the email at 5:30 am and was jumping up and down. What do you do? Who can you call at 5:30 am? Oh...my dad is up every morning at 5:30 to go workout! So I called and Tyler answered the phone (I forgot that since he has a job now he's up before 10 am!) I excitedly told him and then told Dad. I guess the phone ringing woke up Mom, so they took the phone to her. Dad told her it was me and that I had good news (I guess it can be scary when a loved one calls so early). After talking with them we decided I shouldn't wait any longer to call Angela.

Well...I later find out that when I called at 5:45 Angela thought the ringing was her phone alarm and she just hit snooze. I tried calling Mike when I knew he'd be up and his phone was dead so it didn't ring. I finally got ahold of Angela around 7 am. It was fun to hear about her taking the test and telling parents. I found out that she's due October 11, 2006...about 2 months after me!

My cousin, Julie, is due in June. Then I'm due in August and Angela in October. Let's just say we're gonna have lots of cute pictures next Christmas!

First Test

Yesterday I took my first Accounting test. I had no idea what to expect. It's been so long since I've taken a test, I was a little nervous. I took all the practice quizes and tests and reviewed everything I knew to review. I went and took the test (it has to be proctored) at the Rice County Learning Center. Now they have to mail it to my instructor and then she'll grade it...then she'll post the grade online. I think I did ok. Now it's just the waiting game.

I started looking at my Microeconomics class last night and just became overwhelmed. The class is going to be very demanding. In my Acct. class you read the book, turn in the assignments, and take the tests. In the Econ. class you have to participate in daily discussions, do a group project, and take tons of quizes in addition to the reading, assignments, and tests. I know that it's only 15 weeks and I have to trust in God to give me the strength I need.

Last night Mike could tell I was stressed. He gave me a long foot massage. It felt soooo good and really helped to relax me. I was in bed my 8:15 last night and got over 7.5 hours of sleep! Today I'm re-energized and ready to take on Microeconomics!

Spoils of War

Yesterday morning Mike and I woke up to the cats screaming in the shop right by our bedroom wall. Then we heard a big crash! Mike got up and went out there to make sure one of them wasn't trapped under something. Everything looked normal so we went back to sleep. We got out of bed around 7 am and started making breakfast. We have 1 cat (Biner...short for carabiner) and 2 kittens (Bivy...like Bivysack and Tex...short for Gore Tex, although Mike calls him Tex Mex). They are usually meowing at the garage door for food in the morning. Yesterday only Biner and Bivy were at the garage door. We looked everywhere for Tex. When we let the dogs out into the shop, they were really smelling around like something had been in there. We finally came to the conclusion that the noise we heard in the early morning was something coming into the shop and getting Tex.

I was so sad! I know it's a farm cat...but when you're a city girl, all your animals are like pets. Of course, Tex was my favorite. Mike said I always pick the weakest ones to be my favorite. So I cried for our poor lost kitten and held on to the thinnest string of hope that he'd show back up.

We left for church around 9:20 and he was still no where to be seen. I felt like I lost a little friend :( As we drove back up the drive after church I was hoping to see Tex sitting my the garage door waiting to be let into the shop. No such luck. He wasn't in the shop either. So I went inside and began fixing lunch.

After lunch I looked back out into the shop. To my suprise...there was Tex!!! We ran out to see him and he had the fattest little belly! I guess the fight in the early morning was over something he'd caught. I guess he won and went off to enjoy the spoils of war. See...I don't pick the weakest ones! I pick the smart ones ;)

Fat Fridays

This morning I unlocked the door to the gym and the woman who's always first to the door came on in. Before she even said "good morning" she said, "Are you getting fat or do you have some news for me?" Wow! I'm guessing she'd heard I was pregnant from someone else and wanted to hear it from me. I can't imagine EVER asking a woman that if I didn't know FOR SURE that she was pregnant. I told her that I'm pregnant, but in retrospect....I wonder how the conversation would have gone if I said that I was just getting fat?

Fridays always seem to go so quickly! I have lots of little things to do at work on Fridays along with teaching 2 aerobics classes. One class is at the gym. This is our aerobics room.

On Fridays we do a circuit class (mixture of cardio and toning). The 2nd class is at the Senior Center. This one is really more of a social hour than exercise. We spend half of the time doing exercises sitting in a chair! I think some of the ladies come just to hear me talk about my life. One day one of the ladies was running late and she was practically running into the room. I was already telling them about something that had gone on in my life that week and she said, "Wait! Don't start telling us stories yet! I want to hear!" I think that Dad must have passed down his good storytelling genes to me :)

Back to School

Tomorrow I'll be 12 wks pregnant and I'm anxiously awaiting the energy burst that many say the receive after 12-13 wks. I really need it!

Along with being pregnant, working full-time, numerous church committment, and lots of work to do at home...I've decided to take 6 hours of college classes online including Accounting I and Microeconomics. Sounds fun, huh? I've tried to convince myself that I do my best school work when I'm maxed out timewise. My sophomore year at ACU I was pledging KJK, training for the White Rock Marathon, and taking 21 hours! I actually did really well in my classes that semester, so I'm hoping the same will be true now.

It's been 5 1/2 years since I was a student and it's taking me a little while to get used to studying again. I can't imagine how hard it is for adults who go back to college in their 40's and 50's! I find that it's still easy to put off my homework until the day before it's due. My first Accounting test is next week, so we'll see how good I am at retaining what I've been learning!