One week from today

We will be hearing our sweet little's heart beating for the very first time. I am excited about this appointment. For some reason, I think this appointment makes it all seem surreal... besides the nausea, of course. ;) We went when I was 10 weeks to hear Tuff's heartbeat and they couldn't find it so we got to get an ultrasound and not only hear his heartbeat but see him too. They say it's pretty common to not be able to find the heartbeat with the doppler that early so I'm kind of hoping the same thing happens with this baby so we get to see him/her. I remember seeing Tuff for the first time. He looked like a little teddy bear in there. He was so sweet. Me and Jordan got out all of his ultrasound pictures the other day looking at them. Tuff was pretty interested in what we were looking at too. I can't believe he's gone from itty bitty teddy bear growing in my belly to a whopping 18 month old in such a short period of time. My heart is so full for him. I can't wait to have it full for 2. :) I'm starting to get more and more anxious about finding out the gender. I know this is normal for everyone but I'm practically on my toes.

I want to say we are on the road to recovery (over sickness) in our house but every time I say that, something else springs on us. So, I'm just going to say I'm starting to feel a little better. I'm still not 100% which is odd for me. Usually a day or 2 after being on the antibiotics I'm pretty much back to myself. I'm relieved the sinus pressure is gone because that's what made me so miserable but I'm still dealing with being stopped up. Also, I haven't been able to taste or smell ANYTHING for going on 3 days now. The first day this started I though "Ok, I can handle this because it will probably only last a day." Well boy was I wrong. Has anyone else experienced this for this amount of time? It is ANNOYING. Especially when you're really hungry and you finally get something to eat and then can't taste a single bite of it. Urrrggghhh. I'm praying it goes away soon. I'm going on 6 meals with no taste buds.

I'm just glad it's Friday. I know I say this every Friday but who isn't glad it's Friday when it's Friday, right? I've been struggling with headaches too and I'm hoping to get some relax time this weekend to completely get over the sickness and headaches and stopped up head. We do have a few things going on this weekend since my mom and dad are going out of town for the weekend and my sister has a retreat to attend on Saturday. Saturday night we will be keeping my little sister over night and we will be keeping this sweet face...

all weekend. Saturday morning until about 3 Saturday afternoon we will be keeping this sweet face....

I'm sure Tuff will be excited to have his cous over his house for the day. He really enjoys company at his house, especially when it's someone his own age. :) I'm sure Jordan and I will have our hands full for the day. I'm hoping it might warm up and be pretty so we can take them to lunch and maybe even the park. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Well I'm hoping to actually take some pictures this weekend since we actually kind of have plans... I should have some to post for ya'll come Monday. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

The Alford's

We dislike SICK but SICK very much likes us

We have seriusly HAD it since the beginning of the year. So far 2011 isn't looking so good for us. :( As I mentioned in a previous post, Tuff was sick when we went in for his 18 month check up. By Friday of last week, I was sick. I was miserable all weekend. I'm not sure if it's worse since I'm pregnant and have a toddler or if it's just worse period, this time around. I finally got in to see the doctor yesterday and got a shot and an antibiotic. Since I'm pregnant they couldn't give me the shot with the steroid and the antibiotic. I could only have the antibiotic. I think that's why I'm still not feeling too great today. Usually after a steriod shot, I'm good to go 2 hours later. Oh the joys of being pregnant. Like I said, I'm definitely not feeling back to myself yet but I'm hoping I'm on the road to recovery. It's hard being sick when you're pregnant. I can remember never getting sick when I was pregnant with Tuff (besides the usually pregnancy sickness). I think that's because I didn't have any germ infested children yet. I know that sounds terrible but it's really true. At Tuff's age, they just carry and pick up germs all the time. The night before last, boogs started feeling bad too. Sooo... it's only a few days in for him but he's already sounding pretty miserable. Soon enough, I'm sure he'll be on his way to the doctor as well.

I have been terrible about taking pictures the last few weeks. I keep thinking I'm going to post with some new pictures and then I remember I haven't taken any. We've just had so much going on with the snow and sickness. Speaking of snow... we got MORE last night. I don't know about ya'll but I am SICK of snow. I just can't stand the thought of having to drive in the mess. Anyways, our weekend wasn't too exciting. I think we stayed in for the most part, besides our weekly grocery store visit. We DID get a brand NEW stove for FREE. We like FREE. Especially brand new appliances. So from what I'm seeing online this stove....

(note: this is not a picture from my actual kitchen, I found picture on google)

runs somewhere between $1500-$1700. Jordan's mom got it for $650. She is remodeling her kitchen and she bought this stove for her kitchen but soon realized it wasn't going to work out. She just called us up on Saturday night and asked if we wanted it? Well OF COURSE. I know I've drove Jordan crazy about the stove we did have when we moved in. I'm not gonna lie, it was a working stove and I was grateful to have one at all but... it didn't heat the way it should and then it would burn the bottom or sides of certain things no matter what I tried. It drove me NUTS. I'm so relived to have this new one. And free makes it even better. :) We're definitely still trying to learn how to use it. Some of the things I love most about it... 1. There is 2 ovens. The top one being smaller which makes it so much easier to use when cooking for just the 3 of us. I told Jordan I'm not even sure we're hardly ever needs the bottom one. Probably only when cooking for large amounts of people or for holidays. 2. I like how hard it is to get the oven doors open. Tuff has figured out how to open oven doors and he's very curious. He's already burnt his self once at my moms by opening hers when it was hot. I'm happy to say I've watched him try to open this one and he just isn't strong enough. :) 3. Flat top. I love the flat top and I was really wanting one. The stove we had that was in the house when we moved in was definitely old school. It had the regular burners and it always seemed like it needed to be cleaned. The flat top is so much easier to deal with when cleaning. Now all we have to do is get a black refridgerator to match the rest of our appliances. The stove is the exact color as in the picture above and really it doesn't look bad beside our white refridgerator but it'd be nice to get all matching, one day! We're definitely not in any hurry right now.

Other than the sickies, snow and our new stove we don't have to much else going on. I've still been feeling pretty ok with this pregnancy. I'm definitely a little more gaggy and nauseous but I'm not too far from the 2nd trimester. You know what they say, no more sickness in the 2nd trimester. For some that may be true but with my pregnancy with Tuff... not so much. I was somewhere between 18 and 20 weeks before the sickness went away. It was MUCH different. It amazes me how different it can be. I would think everyone would be the same in all pregnancies. I guess not. We're STILL thinking on names. As of right now we're still set with Nella Caroline and Ty Blake. No changes have been made. I'm sure these will stick no matter what. I just like keeping my options open. Especially since we have 30 weeks left until we officially call him/her by their name. :)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I'll try to do better about taking and posting pictures. I do have one I took with my phone of Tuff getting ready for the snow in his daddys boots. Check it out...

(Sweet Boy)

The Alford's

Glad its FRIDAY

I'm so glad it's Friday. I'm tired and ready for a relaxed weekend. We had some more snow last night so I'm leaving work at 3:30 today in order to get down my mom's road before all the melted turns to ice. I am SO sick of snow and ice. I probably wouldn't mind as much if I didn't have to drive in it. I feel like a 2 year old when I wake up on a work day and see snow! I wanna kick and scream and throw a 2 year old tantrum. :)

We did take Tuff for his 18 month check up on Tuesday afternoon. Dr. Collins was very pleased with his progression. He actually ended up having to post pone the shots because he had a fever of 100.4 when we got there. Dr. Collins said it was just a virus and that it'd run its course. I was shocked because he had shown no signs of feeling bad before we got there. Well Wednesday morning he indeed woke up coughing and sneezing. It is now Friday and only gotten worse. I thought we might possibly get by without a runny nose this time and boy was I wrong. We were up and down all night last night because of the coughing, sneezing and runny nose. :( Poor buddy. He just can't catch a break. We are scheduled back in the doctor's office for his shots next Tuesday.

Other than that, things on the home front are well. I'm pregnant and tired... as you all know, Jordan is working and tired too and Tuff is our normal fiesty little man. :) I've still been nausiated alot. Especially in the afternoons. I haven't been cooking near as much. I thought I'd google pregnancy symptoms to predict the gender just for fun... The way it's looking, girl. My chinese horoscope also says girl. I think I may be reading into it way too much. Haha. I'm just overly excited and anxious to find out what's brewing in there. :) I have a major craving for pretty bows and dresses. :) Jordan's mom has already went out and bought several girl items hoping for a girl too. I think she is wanting a girl just as badly, if not worse. I definitely haven't bought anything yet. We are still working on names... And we seem to still be stuck. Today I'm kind of liking Audrey Caroline for a girl. I like Peyton too but I just don't think it sounds good with Caroline so I'm sure that will be voted out. :) I still need more opinions so PLEASE... overload me with your suggestions. :)

I'm feeling pretty pregnant this week though. Almost every pair of work pants I have does not want to button. That is so annoying since I could wear my normal size with Tuff up until 5 months. :( You know what they say though, you always get bigger, faster, with the 2nd one. Oh me. I have a feeling we'll be maternity clothes shopping soon and I'm really dreading that. Maternity clothes are the absolute worst!!! Does anyone agree?

I'm so glad it's Friday and on another good note, I'm off work in 20 MINUTES!!! Woooo to the Hoooo!!! I have been craving some heath bar cake this week so I plan on getting the stuff to make one this weekend. If ya'll have never had this, you HAVE to try it. It's a-m-a-z-i-n-g.... and then some!!! :) Here is the recipe, if you're interested. If you are on a diet or trying to lose weight, I DON'T suggest it. Haha.

HAPPY WEEKEND my friends!!!!!


The Alford's

I have a feeling...

It's going to be a LONG week....

It's only Tuesday and I'm exhausted. I blame it on the pregnancy for sure. Oh, and having a toddler at home. I told Jordan yesterday "I'm only 9 weeks and I'm exhausted!" He replied with "It's going to be a long road." I have a feeling he's going to be right. I wasn't sleeping too good so I went out and bought some Unisom this weekend. I took this with Tuff too and it never really seemed to do much of anything. But with this pregnancy, it's knocking me out. I was complaining about not sleeping and now I'm complaining about being too sleepy. I'm 9 weeks today and still keeping everything down, which is good. Especially since I'd been sick as a dog at this point with Tuff. I'm praying the minimal nausia I've been having is all I have to go through. That'd be nice. Real nice. Anyways, when we were expecting Tuff, we found out the gender early. Jordan's sister is an RN at a hospital and let's just say she's good friends with the ultrasound tech there. So we found out we were indeed having a BOY about 3 or 4 weeks before we actually found out at my doctor's office. We have big plans brewing for an early gender reveal again, this pregnancy. Except we have plans to find out 3 weeks earlier than last time. I'm anxious and excited. We are scheduled to go in February the 12th. I really will love it, either way. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my baby boy but deep, deep down inside, I'm hoping for a girly. I think it's normal though. For everyone to want one of each gender. I guess we'll be finding out soon enough. I will definitely keep you all posted.

We've got a few things going on. Tuff turned 18 months old last Friday. That's a big milestone for baby boy. He's half way to 2. I can't believe it. He's looking and acting more like a big boy every day and it makes me happy and sad all at the same time. He is in desperate need of a playmate so I think our timing on a little brother/sister was perfect. I hear some kids play really good alone and some kids don't. Well... Our child, doesn't. He wants mine and Jordan's attention 24/7. Or pretty much the whole time he's not sleeping. It's really sweet most of the time but alot of times, it makes it hard for us to get anything else done. He's really getting smarter by the day. He's saying several words (when he wants too).... Mama, Dada, PaPa, baby, juice, shoes, car-coons (cartoons), cracker, bye bye, dog, ball, cat, ding-ding (for his little boy parts), poo poo, pee pee, BaBa (this is what the grandkids on Jordan's side call his mom) and I'm sure more that I just can't think of right this minute. He's not saying as much as I thought he would be at this age, but I think it's normal. We have his 18 month check up with the doctor this afternoon so I'm sure I'll be finding out then. He's so full of energy. He's always on the go and is always looking for something to do or something to get into. He definitely keeps mama and daddy on their toes. I know he's probably not even close to being old enough to potty train but I'm thinking about introducing him to the potty soon. He definitely lets us know when he goes poo poo and sometimes when he pee pee's which makes me think it wouldn't hurt to start trying. It'd be sooooo nice (and probably non-realistic) if he was completely potty trained by the time baby number 2 gets here. I need to get out and get him a potty chair though. I've been talking about it for the past few weeks and still haven't got one yet. I know I've told ya'll in a previous post that he LOVES balls and anything that has to do with them. He has so many balls and all different kinds. The child flat out LOVES them. We got him this little basketball goal a month or so ago and he loves that thing. For one and half, he's actualy pretty good. He's got me convinced he'll be going to the NBA one day. :) We are so proud of our big boy. He brings so much joy to mine and his daddys hearts. I can't wait to see him interact with his little brother or sister. He already makes sure to take good care of him/her while growing in mommys belly by giving him/her plenty of kisses and pats... daily! Oh, and always making sure he/she is covered up! :)

HAPPY 18 MONTHS BABY BOY!!! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know!!!!!!!

We are still working on baby names. We have a few names picked out but we keep changing our minds. I really like the ones we have picked out, but I guess I just want to keep my options open incase I think of/ hear something better. We have our middle names picked out and they are permanent. For a boy the middle name will be Blake. Blake is Jordan's middle name and I really like the idea of one of our boys to have a part of Jordan's name. The middle name we picked for a girl is Caroline. We actually have had our minds set on Mae since we have started dating BUT, we just decided to change it last week. Carolyn is Jordan's mom's name, except spelled and pronounced Carolyn. She currently has 6 grandchildren. One girl and the rest are boys. She is REALLY wanting a girl and I thought since this would be her last grandchild, it would mean so much to her if we named her after her in some way. Needless to say, she is beside herself! Haha. Jordan says we have to find out it's a girl first, though. He just KNOWS it's a boy. :) So.... that's our middle names and their stories. I'm sure all of you know that I like different (hints: TUFF). So please help me out.... Leave me a comment with some cute but un common boy/girl names that go well with Blake and Caroline as middle names. I'd love to hear your ideas. Who knows... it might even help us make a decision. As of right now, our top first names are Ty for a boy and Nella for a girl. But like I said, we're still open for suggestions.

Well, I guess I've babbled enough for the day. Hope everyone is having a great start to their week.

The Alford's

We ARE alive

Sorry about the delay in posting. The last week and a half has been crazy. We have had so much sickness in our family and on top of it, SNOW and ICE. Way too much! Especially if you have to get out and drive to work in it. Let me try to fill you all in on the last week or so....

I thought me and Jordan were in the clear of the nasty stomach bug Tuff had last Tuesday but last Thursday at work I wasn't feeling good all day. It carried on into the night and I just knew something wasn't right. Sure enough, I started throwing up about 11:30 that night. About 5 minutes after my first episode I had just layed down and gotten comfortable when I heard Tuff crying on the monitor. When I went in to check on him, he had thrown up again!!! I thought to myself, oh wonderful! Needless to say, I was out of work Friday. Friday night we stayed in and rested. Saturday morning I felt a little better but since I didn't eat much all day on Friday I was ready for something to eat. I got up, got a shower, woke Jordan up, got Tuff ready and we headed out the door for some cracker barrell breakfast. YUM. I thought I was ready for a nice big meal but while we were in the grocery store after breakfast, I was gagging the whole time. I kept telling Jordan we had to hurry up and get done because if I needed to throw up, there was no where for me to do it. We got home and took much needed naps. We decided to stay in the rest of the weekend. Sunday night they were calling for a HUGE snow so Jordan switched our car out for his mom's before he left for work since she has a 4 wheel drive. Thank God he did because the HUGE snow they were calling for, came! And it took him almost 2 hours to get home from work Monday morning. Tuff and I stayed home, again. I think most people stayed home on Monday. We got a range from 3-6 inches in our area. When Jordan got home Monday morning he said he wasn't feeling well. I thought "Oh Great!" About 30 minutes later, he was in the bathroom having his first episode. The good thing for him, he only had that one. He just felt achy and weak the rest of the day. He decided to stay home Monday night since he wasn't feeling well. Which was ok with me since the roads were still horrible.

Everyone headed back to work on Tuesday and the rest of this week has just been kind of laid back. I've started getting nauseous in the afternoons from the baby. The good thing is I'm not actually getting sick. By this point with Tuff, I was sick all day every day until I was about 4 and a half months pregnant. Being nauseous is better than actually throwing up I guess. But since it's in the afternoons it makes me feel less hungry and it's really put a stop to me wanting to cook dinner. I think last night was the first time I cooked dinner this week. The whole time I was cooking the smell was making me sick. Then when we actually sat down to eat, I couldn't eat it. Oh me. Hopefully the sickness part won't last as long as it did when I was pregnant with Tuff. I guess we'll see. Things are definitely different this time around. I barely feel pregnant but I definitely look pregnant. Where as with Tuff at this point, I definitely felt pregnant but didn't look pregnant. I'm only 8 weeks and already have a little baby bump. I did hear this was normal for anything other than a 1st pregnancy though. While we're talking about it, I forgot to tell ya'll about our crazy waiter at Cracker Barrell last week. Now, keep in mind I am ONLY 8 weeks pregnant and ever though I say I have a little bump, it's not so noticeable that people would look at me and say "She's pregnant!" Anyways..... She was trying to conversate by talking about Tuff and asking questions like "What's his name?" etc, etc.... And then she says "Oh and when is the other one due?" Then she immediately follows with "You are expecting, right?" I was thinking "WHHHHHAAAAAAT? She did NOT just ask me that!!!" I did tell her yes and she asked what it was and we told her we didn't know yet. But when she walked away I looked at Jordan and said "Seriously????? Did you hear what she just asked me!!!" Then we laughed it off but I mean come on? I don't ever assume anyone I see is pregnant unless it's just COMPLETELY obvious. I wouldn't just look at me right now and think I was pregnant. If she does that to every woman that looks like me, I feel sorry for the next one who isn't really pregnant. She just got lucky with me. Hahahaha.

Well I am so glad to say it's Friday. I know we don't have much planned for the weekend but I'll be glad to just have the weekend. Sorry for the delay of posts. Oh, and no pictures. I haven't taken much but I did take some of the snow and a few of Tuff while we were dealing with Cabin Fever one day this week. I'll try to get them posted during my next post.

Oh and thanks for all the prayers for sweet Harrison. He got to come home from Vandy last Friday and 2 days later he got the stomach virus. The next day April had it and the next day, Brandon! Harrison started to run another fever yesterday so April took him back to the doctor and now he has the flu!!! Oh my. I couldn't even imagine. Please say another prayer for him, April and Brandon. I really hope this is all the sickness they have to deal with for a LONG while.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!!!

The Alford's

Getting up-to-date

First of all, thanks for all the prayers for Harrison. He IS still in the hospital but after being almost 100% unresponsive and uncooperative for the past 3 days, he is finally having a better day today!!! PRAISE GOD. We have all been really worried about him and even though he's not completely out of the clear yet, it is nice to know he's starting to get back to himself. Which let's us know, he's starting to feel better too. :)

I took off yesterday so mom could go spend the day with April and Harrison. I was supposed to keep Ada while Breeann worked but she ended up not having to go in. They decided to come over and spend the day with us anyways. The day got cut short when Tuff started throwing up about 12:30. Urrghhh.. The stomach bug has been in full swing lately but I thought we were for sure in the clear of it this time. I should have KNOWN better. We never get in the clear of any sickness at our household. Poor buddy threw up consistently from 12:30 until 8 last night. When he first started throwing up, I was thinking to myself "I know I'm a good mom but when it comes to this whole throwing up and cleaning up part, I'm not too sure about it." But by 8:00 last night, I had officially considered myself a PRO. Haha. He threw up SO much. I mopped the floor twice, washed 3 loads of clothes, went through 6-8 different shirts and blankets, and changed his "bed" on the couch probably 6-8 times. It was awful. The hardest part is not knowing when he's going to do it because he couldn't tell me. I got lucky the first few times because he'd come to me holding his belly and I could get him on the kitchen floor or in the trash can but after those few times, it was down hill. Hints the 3 loads of laundry and changing of the clothes/bed. Anyways, Jordan and I are really praying we don't get this bug. We did a lot of cleaning, sanitizing and hand washing all day yesterday. As of right now (24 hours later), we are both feeling ok. But they say you have up to 24 hours after being exposed before you could get the symptoms. Please say a little prayer for us. Neither of us want/need the virus. We all had it last year and it was HORRIBLE!!! Here are some pictures of what our day was like...

His "bed"

Takin a snoozer

Mommy's pallet when it was time for bed.

I guess I need to catch ya'll up on our weekend. Friday was nice because I had it off. :) Since I just found out I'm expecting, we didn't have any major plans for bringing in the New Year. I made a big pot of soup and we had my sister in law, her kids, and my mother and father in-law over. I know ya'll know I'm a HUGE FSU fan and their bowl game was that night so I spent my time infront of the tv stuffing my face and watching football. FSU did pull off a WIN. It was a nice way to start off my New Year. The saddest part is, I was in bed before 2011 ever came. Jordan told me around 10 p.m. that he was already tired and I then proceeded to tell him "I think this is what happens when you get old!" Haha.

Saturday was my mom's birthday and we were supposed to go to lunch and then to Opryland to see the lights but she was sick with the stomach virus, Harrison had pneumonia and Breeann's mom had came into town last minute. We decided it would be best to cancel and do it another weekend. Since Sunday was the last day before they took down the Christmas lights at Opryland, we decided to load up and go anyways, just the 3 of us. We had a really good time. We had lunch at Red Lobster and headed to Opryland. Since Tuff is older, he really seemed to enjoy it this year. I was a little tired from the weather and was debating on whether or not I wanted to go but after we just decided to go ahead and go, I was glad we did. It's something I'd like to do every year with our family. Hopefully we can make it another tradition. Here are a few pictures from our night... We didn't get one of all 3 of us because it was just the 3 of us.

Posing with daddy infront of the HUGE tree

The HUGE tree

waterfall

running through the waterfall

posing with mama

again with daddy

playing in the car on the way home

Sunday we worked on getting the rest of the Christmas decor down. It took us about 2 hours and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing and preparing ourselves for the new work stressful week.

I did go to the doctor Monday morning for my confirmation appointment. They did confirm I am indeed pregnant. I was 7 weeks yesterday and my estimated due date is August 23rd. We go back on February the 4th to hear the heart beat. I will keep you all up-to-date as I have each appointment.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week. We're already half way through!!! Hallelujah!!!

This is what's helping me get through the week ;) Maybe it'll help ya'll too.

The Alford's

Prayers needed

Our sweet, fun-loving Harrison has been admitted to Vanderbilt Hospital with pneumonia and infection in his lungs. Please keep him, my sister and her husband Brandon in your prayers. April is trying to keep everyone up to date on her blog. Click here to read more.

Thanks!

The Alford's