Halfway!

Today I'm 20 weeks pregnant...meaning we're halfway! There's so much going on between now and August that I have a feeling the next 20 weeks are gonna fly by! Along with it being the busy season at work, we'll have two trips to Texas. May 6th is our baby shower in Arlington and then Tyler and Ann's wedding is July 29th! Somewhere in there we'll have to find time to work on the house (I guess I shouldn't say "we" since Mike will probably have to do the majority of the work. We may be calling on you to help!)

Here are 2 pictures I found online of what a baby looks like at 20 weeks:

Don't you think this baby kinda looks like an old man? Maybe it's the fuzzy eyebrows?!? I wonder how they get pictures like this!

This is a sonogram of a baby at 20 weeks.

Photo Funnies

Pregnant P

This is what I saw when I got to work this morning (of course I had to wait until the sun came up to take a picture outside!) I don't know if the City of Lyons workers realized this when they cut the water line at the recreation commission...but there are TWO pregnant women working here! On average I got to the bathroom 6-8 times during the work day. I held it as long as I could this morning...but I already had to make a trip to the gas station to go to the bathroom! I told the gas station attendant that she might see me a few more times today :)

(oh...this isn't the post with the fun pics. I'll stop by Mike's office when I get off work and post them.)

Links

YAY!!! Last night Mike helped me figure out how to post a list of links! I know what you're thinking...it's about time! So now to the left you'll see a list of the blogs that I check every day along with a link to Mike's hunting website!

I have a really good post for later today. I would have had it posted last night, but our internet was too slow at home. The pictures are saved on Mike's new Mac notebook (I don't remember what kind it is) so I'll have to wait until he wakes up and gets to work! Here's a clue...be ready for some really interesting pictures ;)

Meltdown

Yesterday after work Mike and I hooked up the trailer to the truck and headed to our 2nd home...Lowes. We arrived at 3:30 pm and spent hours loading up 1 basket and 3 carts with supplies to finish the laundry room and frame in the upstairs bathroom. Luckily one of the Lowes guys offered to help us out by pulling most of the lumber for us...the task I dread the most. (It takes me forever to find straight boards! Luckily I haven't been assigned that task in several months. It's nice being pregnant!) We got everything loaded up and paid for and finally headed to Applebees to get something to eat. While eating we looked over the LONG receipt and noticed several things that were wrong (one $396 charge that we couldn't even figure out what it was!) So after dinner we headed back to Lowes. Customer service fixed all the mistakes on the receipt and took off the $396 deck the cashier charged us for by mistake. We ended up getting $98 back! Yay!

So, after a few more stops, we're finally headed home. It's now 8:30 pm. Most of you know that I get up at 3:45 am, so I'm usually falling asleep by 8:30 pm. Well, we get home and now it's just me and Mike unloading the trailer and truck full of supplies. The task looked overwhelming! Mike is making the loads light enough so it's safe for me to lift and it didn't look like the stack was diminishing! I don't remember the comment that I made, but Mike said, "It's ONLY 9:00!" Well...I lost it. I started sobbing! "Do you realize how little sleep I'm gonna get?" First I see a look of shock pass over Mike's face...then comes the amusement as he realizes pregnancy hormones and sleep deprivation have taken over his dear wife.

Mike sends me to bed and tells me he can unload the rest by himself. I head inside, however, I can't stop crying until my head finally hits the pillow. Seems pretty funny today...but yesterday it was a very serious situation! I'm so blessed to have an understanding and loving husband!

Mike AND Staci

Mike just asked me what I was doing and I told him I was posting to my blog. He said "who's blog?" He asked me what the name of the web address is for my blog (mikeandstaci.blogspot.com). So he wanted me to make a post on his behalf. lol

Here's what he has to say:

"GO UCLA!"

Sleep

Some days I feel like I'm in college again. In college I could sleep until noon, wake up to eat lunch, hang out with friends for awhile, then be ready for a nap. Of course...I did stay up way later than 9 pm in those days! lol

Well, Friday night I fell asleep on the couch around 8:00 pm while Mike was watching basketball. He was busy working on a server for the college. He woke me up at 1 am to go to bed. I slept until 7 am when I had to get up and get ready to go to work.

Saturday was the first game of the rec soccer season. Soccer is one of my responsibilities at the rec commission. So by 8:00 I was in Lyons putting up the nets for the soccer games. It was pretty chilly...alright, it was downright COLD. It was 33 degrees at 9:00 (time for game #1). Everything ran smoothly and by 12:15 I was heading home.

I got home and felt really tired but resisted taking a nap. I lasted until about 7:30 pm. Basketball was on, the heater was on, and I was curled up under a blanket. Again, I was woken up by Mike telling me it was time to go to bed. We slept until 7:30 this morning (time to get up and get ready for church).

I'm now back to resisting the urge to curl up under a blanket. In 5 more minutes I can take the 2nd economics test...then I might just have to give in to the couch that's calling my name :)

Hair Answers

I guess I didn't leave ya'll with enough info about my hair cut! The questions have been rolling in.

1. No, I did not die my hair. The ends were a lot lighter, so when she cut them off it made my hair look darker.

2. Lindsay cut off a little over 8 inches of hair.

3. I am ok with that much being gone. Really! My hair grows fast, so if I decide I want it long again...I'll just grow it out. It's fun having something different. However, I will admit that a ponytail feels really funny right now. It hits my neck rather than the middle of my back! Strange feeling.

I hope these answers set your mind at ease ;)

Time for Change

So I decided it was time for a change in my hairstyle. It was getting so long and I was just getting really tired of it. Audria and Ann convinced me to go ahead with the plan and we called Lindsay (Stork) Driggers and asked her to cut it for me. Lindsay is my college roomie (Sarah's) little sister. She was busy packing to move and said her house was a mess...so she came over to Dad & Mom's house to cut it! What service :) Here are 2 pics of the new do. (Now don't freak out if you're one that loves long hair...mine does grow fast!)

Lindsay with her baby after she cut my hair.

18 wk Sonogram

I know everyone is waiting in suspense for me to post about our sonogram. It was awesome! We got to Paula's clinic around 5 pm with a whole crew. It was me, Mike, Dad, Mom, Caleb, Audria, Tyler, Ann, and Mike's sister Angela and her husband Mark. The office was still open when we got there so we felt kinda funny having 10 people follow Paula back to her sonogram room. She thought it was fun! Here are some of the pictures of Baby Knowlton.

Here's a picture of his little feet. She counted 5 toes on each foot :)

This is a picture of our baby showing that he's a BOY! The red is the blood flowing in the umbilical cord.

This is him face down (towards my back).

"Hi Everyone!" He was waving at us :)

Here's another picture of his "undercarriage". The arrow is pointing out that he's a boy!

Paula spent a long time letting us just watch our little one move around inside me. I hadn't had any caffine in months and I drank a Dr. Pepper on the way to the clinic. Let's just say he wasn't gonna sleep while we were there! He was very active! It was so fun to watch his little hands reach for his face and his feet kick me. It was also special to have everyone there to share the experience with us! After she finished with our sonogram...we put Angela on the table. She's 10 weeks pregnant and Paula was able to show Angela the little baby and it's heart beating strong inside of her. Life is such a miracle. God is so good!

Value of a Picture

I love this picture of Mike. Last summer we spent a week out in Colorado. We climbed four 14ers, spent time rock climbing and exploring mines with Ben & Julie, and just relaxed in the great outdoors. We have done this almost every summer since we were married in '99. This year will be a little different. We still hope to make it out to Colorado...only I won't be able to climb mountains and rock climb. Instead I'll get to spend time with my dear friend, Julie, while Ben and Mike "play" outside :)

Tyler called me the other day asking how old our baby has to be before we can take it mountain climbing. I told him that you're supposed to wait until he/she is a year old before you climb up to high altitudes with him/her. So Tyler told us to mark August 2007 on our calendar to take a backpacking trip with him and Ann and maybe Caleb & Audria and Dad & Mom. Tyler & Ann will be spending their honeymoon on a beach, so I think he's excited to get back to the mountains!

I don't blame him. I'm so thankful for pictures! There are some days where I long to see the majestic beauty of the mountains. Pictures aren't quite the same...but I can pull up some pictures and close my eyes and visualize myself in a beautiful, peaceful setting.

This may seem like a really random post, but today was one of those days where I pulled up pictures from our last Colorado trip and took a trip back down memory lane...

T Minus 3 Days!

We're heading to TX on Thursday evening with our friends Dwayne and Rene. (This is a picture of us with them when we went to a Bronco's game last year.)

Friday is the day that we hope to get a sonogram performed by the great and wonderful...Paula Rhodes! She's on call Friday night, so hopefully we can get a sonogram worked in before she's called in to the hospital. I really hope that our baby is not shy and "spreads its legs" for her so she can tell us what the sex is! We're both dying to find out. Only 3 more days!!!

Should I post what the sex is when we find out or do you want me to keep you in suspense for a couple of days?

Movement!

Here are some belly shots of me at 16 weeks 3 days (this past Sunday).

This morning a VERY special thing happened.......I felt the baby move! For the past week or so I've really been wanting to feel it move, but I wanted to know it was the baby moving and not just gas bubbles or something. Well this morning it was DEFINITELY the baby moving! It's the weirdest feeling! I've felt it several times this morning and I'm sure it'll only be getting stronger over the rest of the pregnancy. I had a hard time waiting until Mike woke up to call and tell him...but I did. I called him at 6 am as he was getting ready to leave for the gym. It's just cool to actually feel the little life growing inside me!

The World Wide Web

So I've been trying to post from home for the past few days and our internet is just too messed up! I get a post typed up and the picture uploaded and then when I go to publish the post...the internet just dies on me. I could do the entry from work...but all my pictures are on my home computer! It's not that I haven't been trying to post...it's just the stinkin' "world wide web" isn't always world wide! Sometimes is skips our house :)

Daddy Ken

Today is Daddy Ken's birthday! I have so many fond memories of times I've spent with him. I love so many things about Daddy Ken. I love how he jokes around with the grandkids, how he teases Grandmommy by taking out his teeth to talk, his great big smile, the hugs he gives, and the love he has for his family. We never leave without him telling us how much he loves us and how he is the luckiest man in the world to have such a wonderful family.

WE are the blessed ones! We have Daddy Ken in our lives! I love you Daddy Ken! Happy Birthday :) 

Afternoon Nap

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Sterling! We were actually in the upper 70's! Record highs for February 28th. When I got home from work, I decided to go sit on the front porch and read accounting.

I drug the bean bag chair, lap top, accounting book, a just-for-fun book, a glass of water, and the dogs outside with me. I set up on the front porch and was basking in the sun reading my book. It was so relaxing. Then my eyelids started getting droopy and I could hardly see the words on the page. I finally gave in and took a nice hour nap. The weather was perfect for an afternoon nap in the sun.

I woke up feeling refreshed and headed to Hutch with Mike.