BABY BOY

[To MeMe's house we go]

[watching cartoons in his car]

Baby boy is just growing and learning so much, right in the blink of our eyes. He's been talking so much more lately and really letting us know what he wants and when he wants it. It's amazing, really... To sit back and watch them take everything in. It's like he absorbs everything he see's, hears, touches, etc. Last night after dinner I went in his room to help him get his puzzles down. After I sat him down and the puzzles down he looked up at me and patted the floor beside him. It was SO sweet I couldn't resist. We spent a good 30 minutes taking apart and putting together the same 3 puzzles. With NO help from mommy, of course. He just wanted me there for morale support and for some company, I guess. I LOVE my time with him. I cherish every minute that he's asking me to hold him while he reads, puts puzzles together or to just watch a tv show. When I think about his sweet smile, I feel like I could burst from the happiness he brings me. I am SO blessed to have such a special little boy and lately I have been finding myself stopping and thanking GOD for him more and more on a daily basis! It won't be long before I'll be sharing these same feelings for 2 instead of 1 and I can't wait!!!

Anyways, Tuff turned 19 months old last week. It's really been weighing on me to try and get him enrolled in some kind of pre-school/day school sometime after he turns 2. He loves MeMe's house, no doubt, but I feel like he needs some other kid enteraction and maybe a little teaching skills at the same time. He's so eager to learn. I know it would be so good for him. After talking with Daddy about it a little bit, I started thinking I'd start looking for something here in town were I work since our hometown didn't offer anything like this. I was starting to stress about it since most pre-schools are from 8-2 and I work from 8-5. How was that ever going to work with my parents living 25 minutes away? When I hit this bump in the road I kind of pushed it off to the side and prayed a little here and there about it. WELL, mom called Sunday night and said she saw an ad in our hometown paper about a day-school at a local church. The next day I got on their website, read all their info and called to ask a few more questions. After talking with the supervisor this morning, I am feeling REALLY good about this. It's 2 days a week from 830-2. It's during the school year(Aug-May) and they follow the same schedule as all the county schools. I talked with my sister in law about taking Jace (Tuffs cousin, they are only 8 months apart) up there with Tuff and she's interested in it too. Which makes me even happier to know Tuff will have atleast one familiar face to be with on his first day. :) They start taking applications March 1st so I'm not sure how long it will take to here whether he is approved or not but I will keep ya'll posted. Also, if you live in my area and you are interested in more info on this day school, check out their website here.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday!!!

The Alford's

14 weeks

Since it's been 2 weeks since the last belly shot, I am keeping my promise and putting up a current belly shot for week 14....

I am....

14 Weeks

PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

How Far Along: 14 weeks and 1 day

Size of baby: The website I googled said baby is currently the size of a lemon.

 Total Weight Gain/Loss: The last I weighed was this weekend and according to my scale, I'd lost another 2 lbs. which puts me at (-6)
Maternity Clothes: I finally went and bought a few things this weekend and I have worn a couple things. I am still fitting into most of my regular clothing as well. 

Gender: As of our first sneak peak, girl! We go back Friday afternoon to look again.
Movement: Still not feeling any movement

What I miss: I miss NOT feeling sick, I miss NOT gagging, I miss energy, I miss my clear face(it's so broke out) and most of all, I miss sleep!

Cravings: No cravings this week.
Symptoms: Exhaustion, nausea, gagging and acne.
Best Moment this week: Waiting for Friday to get here so we can know FOR SURE what's growing in there! Oh and finding out my cousin from Florida (who is the same age as me) just found out she's pregnant too!!!! Our babies will be the same age! That is exciting. Hoping for a girl for her too. Congrats Christy!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!!!

The Alford's 

A little sickness and weekend

Yes, You heard right. SICKNESS again. My sister's little boy Harrison had a virus last Monday and Tuesday and returned to mom's on Wednesday. Thursday morning, baby boy woke up with a low grade fever. I went ahead and took him to moms with some Tylonel hoping he'd get to feeling better. So much for hoping... Mom called about lunch time and said he had been pretty lethargic all morning, not getting off the couch, not eating, and woke up from his morning nap with a pretty warm fever. So home is where I headed. He seemed to act fine as long as I had tylonel in him but he did continue to run a fever until late Friday night. Poor buddy. He just can't catch a break. I did stay home with him on Friday since he was still running a fever. Friday night Jordan and I dropped Tuff off at his moms and headed to Murfreesboro for some dinner and grocery shopping after. Later that night when we got home is when Tuff started feeling much better.

Saturday morning we woke up with a few things on the agenda. Jordan had some projects for the house brewing all week so he spent most of his time Saturday finishing those ups. We got a new screen door for our back door last weekend and he got that put up. Ahhh... I love a screen door. Especially during the spring and fall when its cool outside. Since it was a pretty nice weekend we got to spend a little time trying out the new screen door. :) My father in law and hubby also worked hard getting the new treadmill in the house and set up for me. I have been telling Jordan that I really need to exercise more with this baby than I did when I was pregnant with Tuff. I don't have very much time in the afternoons to get out and walk before it gets dark so I thought it would be best to get something I could work with inside and after Tuff lays down for bed. What's better for that than a treadmill? Tonight will be my first night... walking. :) Hopefully it will help me stay healthier throughout this pregnancy. I'm also hoping it will help with prevention of that terrible preeclampsia I had with Tuff. I have been experiencing ALOT of headaches the past few weeks and I'm so afraid it has something to do with my blood pressure. I go back to the doctor next Friday so we will be addressing this issue with my doctor then. It's just too early in the pregnancy to have blood pressure issues. Praying for other explanations... So while Hubby was finishing his projects me, Tuff and my sister Tori headed to get Tuff's hair cut. Poor boy is going to have some really fast growing hair just like his daddy. And poor mama and daddys pocket books are going to go empty because of hair cuts! :) Actually, we are pretty lucky since Jordan's sister cuts hair for a living. Most of the time when we can get ahold of her, she cuts it. For free. Which is nice for our pocket books. We kept my sister Saturday and overnight since my mom and dad were going to be gone most of the day and late into the night. She always helps out alot with Tuff when she's over. And it's nice to have a little break. I made homemade pizzas for dinner and we all headed to bed early. I had a headache and Tuff didn't get an afternoon nap so we were all ready for bed, early! :)

I got up Sunday and cooked breakfast for everyone then we all had showers and got ready to go to the Boro while Tuff napped. I finally went shopping for maternity clothes. I got several things so I'm hoping most everything I got will last me through the whole pregnancy. After shopping, we headed home to relax for the rest of the afternoon. Jordan had the screen door open when we got home from shopping. It was so nice outside yesterday afternoon. The breeze was refreshing. Perfect ending to a perfect weekend! :)

While we were out Friday night, we FINALLY picked up a booster seat for Tuff. I was hoping he would eat better if he could sit at the table with us. We tested it out Saturday morning and he LOVED it. Now we can throw away that dreadful high chair. I hated his high chair. We couldn't have gotten rid of it sooner!!!! Anyways, here are a few shots of our BIG BOY in his new big boy chair!!!

The quality is better in the first one because I took it with my camera. The 2nd one I got with my cell. He wouldn't smile for the regular camera like he did with my cell. He looks so big sitting up there! :)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

The Alford's

13 weeks

I want to start by telling ya'll I will post my weekly pregnancy highlights every week but I only plan to do belly shots every other week. I just think it's funner to see the changes every 2 weeks rather than 1 week. Maybe once I start to show a little more, I will start doing weekly pics. I am...

13 WEEKS

PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

How Far Along: 13 weeks and 1 day

Size of baby: The website I googled said baby is currently the size of a

a peach. But since "strawberry" kind of stuck with us last week, we will continue to call him/her "little strawberry" until we find out for sure what the gender is.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: The last time I weighed I was still (-4)

Maternity Clothes: None yet. But I have ordered some online and plan to get some more this weekend. 

Gender: As of our sneak peak last Saturday, he/she is looking like a girl. (no sign of anything between the legs) But I don't want to confirm that until after our next sneak peak. Which will be next Friday night. Can't WAIT!!!

 Movement: Still not feeling any movement

What I miss: I miss NOT feeling sick, I miss NOT gagging, I miss energy, I miss my clear face(it's so broke out) and most of all, I miss sleep!

Cravings: Not really having any cravings yet. I have been preferring salty food over sweets. When I was pregnant with Tuff, I couldn't get enough sweets!

Symptoms: Exhaustion, nausea, gagging (is this even considered a "symtom") and acne. Yes acne. Its EVERYWHERE. I told Jordan last weekend my face hasn't looked like this since I was 15/16 years old. I did read online though, if you're pregnant with a girl, she takes all your beauty away. Haha. I sound so gullable looking for all signs of it being a girlie in there :)

Best Moment this week: Seeing his/her sweet face/profile on the big screen Saturday. He/She was SO active in there. Kicking those legs like crazy and even waving at us. It was so sweet! :)

Hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!!!! Half way to Friday!

The Alford's

Weekend Re-Cap, Birthday & Gagging

Nice title huh? I bet you all like how it ended. It has alot to do with what I've been up to these days. G-A-G-G-I-N-G. Ugh. I did it alot with my pregnancy with Tuff and I'm starting to do it more and more as this pregnancy progresses. Please SOMEONE tell me I'm not crazy? My mom said she'd never heard of anyone doing this before but obviously it's pretty common for me. :( Has anyone else out there experienced this with their pregnancies? It mostly only does it when my stomach is empty. Baby is telling me "FEED ME, and FAST!" The wierdest part is I never actually get sick. Just continuously gag until I eat. Oh me. I won't miss this part of pregnancy. I guess I have a long way to go to be complaining though.

Anyways, today is my wonderful Aunt Melissa's birthday!!!!

She has always been so good to me and my sisters. I'm very blessed to have such a special Aunt. We usually always get together for lunch when it's any of our birthdays. Today me, mom, April and A. Melissa met up at TGI Friday's (her choice of course) to celebrate! We had a nice lunch together catching up on life since we all don't get to see her that often. I hope you have a wonderful birthday Aunt Melissa. We love you SO much!!!!

Our weekend was nice. Friday night we stayed in. I know I've told you all in a previous post that I don't usually like to get back out once I get home from work on Friday nights. Especially when I'm pregnant. SO tired. :) Our date on Saturday turned into a "Day Date" because we didn't want to miss the oppurtunity to see little strawberry on the big screen Saturday night. Since Jordan works nights, we considered this date our V-Day date. We had a nice lunch at Longhorn and then headed to the movies to see...

It was a pretty good movie. It definitely wasn't the BEST I'd ever seen but it was good. Definitely wouldve rather paid a $1 through the redbox rather than $20 at the movies to see it. But it was still nice to be able to actually go to a movie with the hubster and have a nice quiet day. We were long over due for one. After the movie we stopped in for groceries (also nice to do without a toddler) and then headed to pick up baby boy so he could be with us when we had our first sneak peak of his brother/sister. Tuff wasn't too sure what to think about it. He cried/whined the whole time we were looking at his brother/sister. We think he thinks she was hurting me. Poor buddy. Anyways, I definitely think this was the best part of the whole weekend. :) Little "strawberry" was just a kicking his/her legs in there. At one point it even looked like he/she was waving at us. He/She was looking straight at us with his/her hand up. I'm a little TOO excited about not seeing anything between his/her legs. Haha. I'm trying not to be and I'm trying not to call him/her a "she" which happens a lot. I just don't want to get my hopes up and then go back next Friday and see something has sprouted inbetween those sweet little legs. NOT that I wouldn't still be excited. Just saying... :)

Anyways, Sunday we took Tuff over to his BaBa's so he could spend a little bit of time with her. She hasn't gotten to see him much the past few weeks with all the stuff she's had going on. After, we headed home for lunch and a nice long nap! It was the perfect weekend!!!

We had a pretty low key V-Day since we both agreed not to get each other anything this year. We bought Tuff a few things this weekend and dressed it up in a red goodie bag for him to open. He got 2 trucks, a new movie and some snacks. We also bought him a balloon Friday night that he LOVED so much but ended up popping it Sunday. I knew it was going to happen. He was soooo rough with it. Poor thing, he looked devastated when it popped. (Although me and daddy were pretty relieved. He was driving us nuts with that thing.) I had to take the car to get the tires rotated and balanced yesterday on my lunch break and when I got there, found out we needed all 4 new tires. So I guess our V-Day gift to each other is new tires for $500. Wooo Hooo! :) Hope you all had a wonderful V-Day with your significant other and sweet babies.

The Alford's

As of Saturday night....

Around 6:00 pm... Little "strawberry" has nothing between his/her legs. I am still saying "his/her" just incase something decides to appear within the next 2 weeks. We are going back on Friday the 25th to sneak another peak just to be sure! :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Alford's

Sneak Peak

Sometime tomorrow we will be sneaking a peak at our little "strawberry" to see if we can tell what the gender is. I will be 12w and 4d so we will just have to keep our fingers crossed. My sister in law says we can go back in 2 weeks and do it again if we can't see anything tomorrow. Although... she has 3 children and found out at exactly 12 weeks with her last 2. Of course they were boys, which made it pretty clear. What I'm most afraid of is it looking like a girl. If it looks this way, we will definitely be going back in a few weeks just to confirm. Only because if it's a boy, he might not be developed enough yet. Anyways, I'm excited... a little bit nervous... and very anxious. LOL. I will keep you all posted for sure! :)

I am so glad it's Friday. I actually missed work yesterday due to the snow and the icy roads so I'm trying to get back in the groove this morning but really glad knowing it's only one day until 2 more days off. :) I think that's what will get me through the day. We have several things planned for the weekend. Obviously I've already told you all about one of our plans. The most exciting one anyways. We also have these things on the agenda... Chopper (pup) to the Vet, DATE NIGHT :), grocery shopping of course and some maternity clothes shopping somewhere in the mix. Did I mention DATE NIGHT? Woo hoo! I told Jordan last night I wanted to drop Tuff off at one of the grandparents for the night and go out together. Neither of us can remember the last time we just went to a simple dinner and a movie. Actually I take that back. The last movie we saw together was last March. I know, sad right? I told him we definitely deserve a night out. He seemed to be just a tad bit excited. He asked me "So you're taking me on a date?" Haha. Whatever you wanna call it Boogies!!! I forgot about V-Day being on Monday so I'm dreading the crowds but really looking foward to a night out and ALONE. I think I can deal with the crowds for one night. Speaking of V-Day, I told hubs I didn't want to exchange any gifts for V-Day this year. I mean really? Whats the point? When we want something, we usually get it whether it's a holiday or not. I'd just rather save the money. Our V-Day can be our date out. We are supposed to be having some NICE weather this weekend that I'm pretty thrilled about!!!! They are talking 60's all through the next week. WOOO HOOO. I'm guessing we'll be fitting a park trip into our busy weekend for baby boy too! :) He deserves some fun too.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonder-mous weekend. That's our plan! :)

The Alford's