Mini Vacation Re-Cap (Part 1)

Sorry I'm just now getting around to posting about our vacation... It's been a long week trying to recooperate and work at the same time. Anyways, a re-cap from the sunshine state.

It's not always as dreamy as everyone in TN thinks of it, for us anyways. It is indeed a vacation because anything away from home and work for a few days is a vacation in my book. But, it's not the vacation most people would plan. We don't go down and live in a hotel on the beach and eat out at every meal and stay in the pool and beach all day... Nope! We go to visit our fine family. So we're lucky enough to get free room and board, mostly free meals and not so much beach/pool time. But thats ok because the time we get to spend with our sweet family, whom we hardly ever get to see, is priceless!

The trip down was a little stressful. We decided to leave late Wednesday night around midnight and if you all remember correctly, Wednesday was the day we had all of those terrible storms. So we checked the weather channel to make sure the states south of us would be clear from this storm system by the time we left and laid down for mini naps before heading out. The first 2 hours were terrible. Harrison did NOT want to be in that carseat so he pretty much screamed the first 2 hours on the road. Not long after, both babies were looking pretty sweet and peaceful... and QUIET! :)

We also went through a few back ups in traffic due to some terrible storm damage. One town we drove through had been completely flattened. It was terrible. I couldn't help but feel extrememly blessed for all that I still have after those storms on Wednesday. I know so many families lost loved ones and personal possessions that can never be replaced. I've been praying hard for any/everyone who lost anything or anyone close to them.

After 12 and a 1/2 hours (that should have been 8 and a 1/2) we finally made it!!!! We, along with the babies we SO ready to be out of that car. We headed straight to my Aunt's house to meet sweet little baby Beau for the first time. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this little guy.

After a little loving and cuddling, we headed over to my Grannys to have pizza. Since I still hadn't had any sleep at this point, we didn't stay long before Tuff and I headed back to my aunts to go down for the night. We were both in bed and asleep by 8:30. I got a nice long 11 hours of sleep and Tuff had himself a nice long 12 hours. We were both ready to go come Friday morning. :) We did a little shopping Friday followed by lunch. The boys had the BEST time playing in the mall and riding the train.

Friday night was Taco Night at my Aunt Stacey's. The whole family joined with a few family friends as well. The kids had a great time playing out side and hunting bugs. And of course, we enjoyed our time eating tacos. Yum!

 And of course we couldn't end the day without a little cuddle time from sweet Beau and my sweet baby too. :)

And later, Tuff decided he wanted to do a little cuddling with Baby Beau too.

And then share him with mama...

To be continued..........



HELP!

We reeeeallly need opinions on a name for this baby boy. We are so stuck... I thought I'd list a few of my favs and then list some of Jordan's favs and get everyones opinions...

So my favs are as follows...

• Garrett Brooks
• Weston Brooks
• Clayton Brooks
• Sawyer Brooks

I'm also kind of liking Gunner Brooks.... but not positive I like it enough to add it to my official "list" yet. Haha.

And Jordan's favorites are as follows....

• Weston Brooks
• Walker Brooks (his top fav of the 3)
• Clayton Brooks

Soooo........ What do you all think? And PLEASE, feel free to leave any other suggestions!!! We could use any and all we can get. Keep in mind though, we are looking for something coutry/southern. We can obviously only go that route because of Tuff's name. :)

Also, I'd really like to have Brooks as the first name but really can't seem to think of anything that sounds good with it being the first. It seems all the second syllable names sounds better being first. SO, if you can think of something that sounds good being the middle name behind Brooks, let me know that too!!!

REALLY hoping to hear what you all think. Have a wonderful Thursday!!!!!

24 weeks (1 day late) and NEW BLOG DESIGN!!!!

I am a day late on my 24 week post because we just got back from vacation early Monday morning and I've been T-I-R-E-D! It's hard doing long trips like that when you're pregnant. It was a nice mini vacay but I was glad to be home and definitely needed a few days to catch up on my rest.

Anyways..........

I AM

24 weeks



PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

How Far Along: 24 weeks (and 1 day)

Size of baby: The website I googled said baby boy currently weighs about 1 and a 1/2 pounds and is the length of an ear of corn.

 

 Total Weight Gain/Loss: My scale at home is showing +8. I will find out the accurate weight gain at my doctor's appointment in the morning.

Maternity Clothes: Almost everything is maternity except a few things.

Gender: It's a BOY!!! And we couldn't be happier!
Movement: Oh yes! Little booger is moving SO much lately. He LOVES to lay on my bladder and kick it. Daddy and big brother just got to feel baby boy for the FIRST time last night. I know that's always fun for Jordan since he doesn't get to experience the feeling of him growing inside his belly. (Thank goodness. Teeheehee)

What I miss: I miss my regular wardrobe, energy and sleep. I'm not sleeping much, even with the Unisom.

Cravings: Still craving bbq all the time. YUM. For some reason, I can't get enough.
Symptoms: Physical exhaustion. I am still having to push myself to go, go, go.

Best Moment this week: Looking foward to my doctor's appointment tomorrow, even if I have to drink the nasty stuff. (I will be tested for gestational diabetes tomorrow.)

 

Well, I'm sure you can all tell I got a NEW look! I can't tell ya'll how SUPER DUPER excited I am about this. My cousin Patrice has been working HARD on this new creation for a few weeks now. I was beyond thrilled when she called yesterday to say that it was done. I was even MORE thrilled when I saw it. I absolutely LOVE it. Wooooo Hooooo!!!

 

 Anyways, my wonderful cousin is a stay at home mommy and does blog designs as a side job during her down time. Please feel free to check her out on her personal blog or her design blog anytime!!!! Also, if you're looking for a new look, you're in luck because she's running a special right now. For $75 you can get a design simular to mine. If you are interested, she can be reached by email at jpdbj@drccom.net.

 

THANKS AGAIN Patrice!!! You did a wonderful job and I'm loving my new look!!!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday. If I have time later, I will try to do a post on our vacation. If not, I will be back tomorrow!!!

 

Rain, Rain GO AWAY!!!!!

Come again another day!!!!!!!! Like a day that we're not supposed to be leaving for our mini vacation. :( Middle TN is getting pretty slammed today with storms. We started early this morning when we had to get in the closet for a tornado warning. Tuff thought this was just halarious. He seemed to have more fun in the closet then he does playing outside. Hehe. I just love his sweet little imagination. Here is some pictures I took in the closet with my phone.

We did a little coloring...

but mostley played with the flashlight.

Sweet boy must of really enjoyed his closet time because when it was time to come out, he kept wanting me to get back in with him. :)

As I said earlier, they are expecting it to be this way allllll day. So MeMe called last night to let me know she had cleaned out the closet. Unfortunitely, sweet babies have already had to visit it once... Check em out.

Haha :)

They all look pretty content in there. We are ALL so blessed to have such a wonderful MeMe taking care of our sweet babies. I worry when I'm away from him but I don't worry as much as I would if he was in a daycare somewhere... Thanks MOM for taking care of my baby boy! You'll never know how much I really do appreciate you.

ANY-Hoo.......... These storms might put a little damper on our traveling plans tonight. We're praying its gone through by the time we get ready to head out but if not, we will have to post pone it for a couple hours. Currently, it's not looking so good...

So... if ya'll don't mind, say a little prayer for us here in TN. We could definitely use them today. In the meantime, I will be praying for Mississippi and Alabama because they can not seem to quit talking about LARGE tornados expected there. Also praying we don't get ANY of those here.

Hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday!!!!

The Alford's

23 weeks and the rest of our weekend.

I

AM

23 weeks



PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

How Far Along: 23 weeks

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

 Total Weight Gain/Loss: My scale at home is showing +7. Oh me.

Maternity Clothes: Almost everything is maternity except a few things.

Gender: It's a BOY!!! And we couldn't be happier!
Movement: I am starting to feel him more and more. He is SO much lower than Tuff was so it feels a little different this time around. He's definitely kicking my bladder alot more. He's also alot more active than Tuff was. Tuff usually moved around the most at night when I laid down. This little guy is moving all day long. :)

What I miss: I miss my wardrobe (haha), energy and sleep. I'm not sleeping much, even with the Unisom.

Cravings: Lately, I've started craving bbq. YUM. For some reason, I can't get enough.
Symptoms: Physical exhaustion. I am still having to push myself to go, go, go.

Best Moment this week: Leaving for the sunshine state... TOMORROW!!! :)

The weekend:

Usually the first Friday after tax season, our office is like a ghost town! I can hardly blame them for having to work so many hours from February through April. Anyways, if we are lucky, the few that ARE working sometimes get to close up and go home early! Well, I was one of those lucky ones Friday afternoon. We got to leave at 2:30. Boy was I excited. Especially since it was such a pretty day! When I got home, Jordan and I decided to take Tuff to the park to play before dinner. I got lots of cute pictures of our sweet baby boy. I have to say.... we have a little poser on our hands... I've been getting LOTS of good pictures of him lately. Here are some of our adventure to the park...

Sliding with Daddy

Going down by hisself, for the first time.

He really thought the hole in this tree was interesting.

MY FAV picture from the whole weekend!!!!

Our little poser

and again...

and AGAIN! :)

I think sweet boy had fun.

Saturday we got up and headed to town to run some last minute errands for Easter Sunday. We tried to relax as much as we could Saturday evening for our busy Easter Sunday. Since I already did our Easter post I will follow up with our adventures outside after our nap Sunday afternoon. Tuff wanted to go BACK outside, after being out all day so we played in the back yard for a little while before dinner. Well me and Jordan got caught up talking when we realized baby boy was being pretty quiet... We found him here...

He kept saying "Car, vroom vroom!" :)

Tuff has also had a new obsession with his rain boots lately. He always wants to wear them around the house. It is pretty cute though. Here is baby boy getting a snack with his rain boots on.

Mama should have put them on him today since it's such a nasty rainy day here. We are SO sick of the rain. I'll be glad when it decides to take a break. I'm sure everyone else around here will be too.

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!!!

The Alford's

And a little more comparing....

Lately, I've had ALOT of people tell me I'm SO much bigger then my pregnancy with Tuff. I've also had people just tell me that I'm SO big for only 23 weeks. When I was pregnant with Tuff I tried to do the weekly belly pics and they sort of stopped/slowed down/got random after week 22. But, the good news is, I have some weeks to compare to this pregnancy (so far). And this post is for the one's who seem to think I'm SO much bigger.


Enjoy.......

[Note: Pregnancy with Tuff is on right side, this pregnancy on left]

Week 16 is the only one I can see where I look bigger. And in week 19 I actually think I look bigger with Tuff. Haha. It was fun to compare.

What do ya'll think???

The Alford's

Comparing

Easter 2009 (26 weeks pregnant with Tuff)

and Easter 2011 (23 weeks)

I know Tuff's eyes are closed in this one but you can see my "profile" better in this one than you can in the one I posted in my Easter 2011 post. I thought it would be fun to compare the 2 Easter pregnancies. I am obviously a little bigger in the 2009 picture but I was also 3 weeks up from this Easter.

Hope ya'll enjoy the comparison! I think it's neat to stop and compare every now and then. :)

The Alford's