Tomorrows the BIG day!

Our appointment is at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I will *hopefully* be posting some ultrasound pictures for ya'll to see. That is unless they find little's heartbeat with the stinkin doppler. Guess we'll have to see.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thursday!!!

The Alford's

Early Spring... here we come!!!

I'm sure everyone knows it's groundhog day and I know we were all hoping for the same news... for Mr. Punxsutawney Phil (funny name, huh?) to crawl out of his hole and NOT see his shadow. Well, he indeed crawled out of his hole this morning and DID NOT see his shadow. WOOOO HOOOOO. I dread the thought of him seeing his shadow every year. I am always ready for warmer weather. Now, by no means am I ready for a summer like we had last summer, especially since I'll be HUGE and pregnant by that point but my arms are always wide open, welcoming Spring time. :) Last Saturday's beautiful weather was like a little piece of Heaven. I can't wait to have days like that for a few months before summer. Anyways, since I'm at work and haven't been able to watch the news today, I googled the groundhog news and I found my info here.

I did cook country fried steak for the first time last night and it was a SUCCESS!!! I will say the kitchen was a complete mess when I finished. But it was well worth the mess. Jordan must have thought so too since he ate up a whole plate and took left overs to work with him. :) I was proud of myself... mostly proud for the homemade gravy that was also a success! I think Tuff enjoyed the mashed potatos and gravy too, mainly because after every bite he would say "Mmmmm." Little cutie pie. Can't help but LOVE him to pieces.

We are scheduled to hear the heartbeat Friday morning at 8:30. I'm anxious and excited. Maybe that's why this week has drrrruuuugggg so much. I feel like I've been watching the clock all day, evey day at work. And we've actually been pretty busy since it's officially TAX SEASON. Blah. I love being busy but one thing I don't love is the phone during tax season. I swear it rings every 60 seconds. Some days I want to rip it out of the wall and throw it out the window. Hahaha. Someone has to do it though, right? :) Anyways, I guess I'm about 11 weeks along now. Things have been looking up in the nausea department. Getting closer to the 2nd trimester. Maybe that's why. On the up side, I don't have much of an appetite. Baby obviously lets me know when it's time to eat (I start gagging like crazy when my stomach gets empty) but I have absolutely NO cravings and nothing sounds good to me. Isn't that wierd? I don't get sick when I do eat, but up until I make myself eat something, nothing sounds good. I hope that continues the whole pregnancy so I don't gain 50 pounds. Ha. I doubt it works like that though. I was SO sick the first 4 months with Tuff but after those 4 months, everything sounded good. All I wanted to do is eat. I can't be like that this time though. Mainly because I was still 15 pounds heavier than pre-Tuff when I got pregnant with this little one. I hope to exercise more with this baby too. I think it will work out since Spring is right around the corner and I'll be pregnant in mostly all warm weather. Which obviously means I'll have NO excuse not to exercise. :) I plan on taking either weekly or bi-weekly belly pictures starting soon. That way ya'll can see how baby #2 is progressing. I haven't yet decided at what week I want to start though. I tried this with Tuff but could never keep up. I will try to do better this time around. Plus I have a blog now where I can record it. Anyways, maybe I'll start next week since I will be 12 weeks and beginning the 2nd trimester.

I'm glad it's Wednesday. And almost the end of Wednesday already. Wednesday means we're half way through the work week. I cherish my weekends. I'm sure everyone does. Hope you all are having a wonderful day!!!

The Alford's

Future Charmer

Meme and Papa bought baby boy some Valentine PJ's. Tuff was pretty proud of his new jammies after his bath last night. He kept pointing to his shirt where it says "Future Charmer." Future charmer one day for the girlies and present charmer for this mama. :) He sure does charm me... all the time.

We've also got a new found love for chocolate pudding. I bought some of the snack packs at the grocery store this week to carry in my lunch every day but Tuff has already ate half of them. Which is A-OK with me since he doesn't like to eat much. You can see by his chocolate-y mouth that he was really enjoying his snack pack...

Silly Boy

My favorite meal growing up was my mom's country fried steak and gravy. YUM. We have lived in our house for almost a year now and I've never attempted to cook country fried steak. I guess I'm living in fear that I might mess it up somehow. Of course I'm sure it'll never be as good as my own mother's but tonight is the night!!! I bought some from the grocery store this weekend and it's thawing out from being in the freezer as we speak. I figured I better try cooking it on an off night from Tuff's baths because I'm not sure how long it's going to take me. Since he had his bath last night, I figured I'd try tonight. I'll let ya'll know how it turns out. Wish me luck!!! :)

Jordan's mom has taken care of an elderly lady as long as I've known Jordan (10 years). Jordan's mom even used to pay me to work the night shift at her home when I first started college. It was an easy job and I had time to study and do homework while Miss Annie watched tv, ate dinner, etc. Within the past 5 years she's taken her into her own home and taken care of her every need. Miss Annie has been pretty sick and in the hospital for the past week and a half and I was sad to hear she passed around 3 a.m. this morning. Jordan's mom has taken care of Miss Annie for a LONG time and cared for her deeply. She is also very exhausted from being at the hospital and not leaving her side for the past week and a half. If ya'll don't mind, say a little prayer for Jordan's mom. I'm sure she could use them as she prepares for a funeral/arrangements the rest of this week and also while she tries to adjust to not having the responsibility all day every day of taking care of Miss Annie.

I don't have too much more to share. It's just a rainy, dreary day here. I'm just GLAD it's not snow. I could do without it the rest of this year. I'll leave ya'll with another picture of our ball loving baby boy...

Have a good Tuesday!

The Alford's

The Lord knew just what we needed

All I have to say about this winter is UGH. It has been long, cold and sickly and it's not even February yet. I think the Lord knew just what we everyone needed on Saturday when we woke up to 60+ degrees and SUNSHINE. It was so nice that I decided to take the boys and Bentley to the park. Breeann stopped by with Ada, Tori and a friend of Tori's and we invited them to tag along as well. It was so nice to have a breath of fresh warm air. I know the babies had to feel the same way. Especially since they have all been so sick and stuck inside this winter. I took a few pictures with my phone to share...

Baby boy getting ready to go down the slide

and again with Aunt Tori

Sweet Ada soaking up the sun rays

The busy boys

It was such a nice day. And like I said... we NEEDED it to prepare us for what February has in store for us. Even though I wished it would stay this pretty and warm, I know it must come to an end. Haha.

The boys had a good time playing together on Saturday. I'm glad Harrison got to come out and spend some time with Tuff. They were both so excited to see each other when Harrison walked in. They immediately went running and giggling towards Tuff's bedroom as soon as Harrison got there. Both took good naps, ate good lunch and had fun playing outside. Bentley was also a joy to have for the weekend. I'm sure most of you know but Bentley is technically "my" dog... I'm sure my mom and dad wouldn't call him that anymore since they give him a home but I will always be "mama" to him. Bentley was my pride and joy for 2 years before I had Tuff. I pretty much treated him like my baby... LITERALLY. When Tuff came along, it was so hard to give him the attention he needed with a new baby. I felt guilty most of the time for not being able to give him the attention he used to get (before Tuff). So I thought about trying to find him a home with someone who could give him the attention he "needed" and mom and dad couldn't stand the thought of it so they decided to take him in. It really worked out well because I still get to see him as much as I want and he gets to have a vacation at our house every now and then when mom and dad need to go out of town, etc. It's funny because he just comes over and acts like he's right at home.. like he never left at all. I'm glad we got to spend some quality time together with BB's.

Tuff enjoyed spending time with him too.

Is this not the cutest, sweetest face EVER? :)

We had a nice relaxed weekend with some good company. It was nice and much needed of course. :) Only 3 days until we get to hear out little's heartbeat. We can't wait!!!! Hope you all had a wonderful warm weekend!!!!

The Alford's



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