The beginning of a new Era. (in the Alford house)

I finally put Gunner bear in his bed last night. For the first time in 164 days! :) The results ='d wonderful! He slept like an angel and he even laid back down an hour before we left the house (this morning) and took a little cat nap. Sweet baby. I think he liked his own space. Mommy sure did enjoy hers too! I think everyone is feeling pretty rested today! I still had my morning wake up call at 4:45 am but this time it was over the monitor. :) When I went in to get him I had to take a few pictures, of course!

Sweet boy!

:)

"Where are your shoes?"

Tuff has a new favorite that makes me....ahm...crazy... maybe even with a capital "C."

Just sayin...

Up until recently he has been taking his shoes off every time we get in the car. Even if we're just going a mile up the road. Well recently he has started taking his shoes AND his socks off. Ugh. Last night on the way home from picking the boys up from my mom's I was talking on the phone with my MIL. When we pulled in the drive way and I opened his door, sure enough, both his shoes and socks were gone. I proceeded by telling my MIL that this drove me nutty when I noticed his shoes and socks were not on the floor or in the middle of the car seats (where they usually are if they aren't on the floor). I then asked "where are your shoes!" He said "Der!" while pointing at Gunner. I looked over and this is what I saw.

HA! HA!

I literally laughed out loud for a few minutes over this and over Gunner's facial expression.

Not only is every shoe and sock in Gunner's carseat with him but both shoes are under both of his hands. One laying perfectly in the cup of each one of his little hands.

Funny boys!

:)

Tuff's ENT appointment

Tuff had his appointment with the ENT Dr (Ear, Nose, Throat) yesterday afternoon. He did wonderful. I think he's just gotten so used to going to the DR. Every DR he see's always comments on how good he is. When we first got there I had to fill out a TON of paperwork. I think it literally took me 20 minutes to fill out. Geeeez. They have to know 10 sheets of paper of your life history these days to go to the DR. After I finally finished my "homework" we were called back. The DR we saw was amazing. He explained everything perfectly and answered all my questions and on top of all that, he was wonderful with Tuff. When he started to look in his ears he said "Let me see if you have any dogs in this ear, now let me see if you have any kitty cats in the other one!" After he left the room to get us some information Tuff was playing on the chair and he turned to me and said "Mama! I have kitty cats in here (pointing to one ear) and I have doggies in here (pointing to the other)." Such a smart boy we have on our hands. Anyways, we didn't get any type of diagnosis for all kinds of reasons. One, he's on this 3 week antibiotic and he doesn't want to do anything until he's off and hopefully (not for our sake) sick again. He said once he gets the infection again, he can test his mucus for further results. He also said the his adnoids could be the cause of the problem. If they are staying swollen all the time, that could be the cause of his constant sinus infections. If that is the case, they could have to do surgery to remove them. He said they like to rule out everyTHING first since he's so little. They hate to have to do that kind of surgery on such a young child. He also said it could be an allergy. (Which is what I think...) So he referred us to an allergist and said he'd like us to see them before coming back to see him. He gave us some info on an allergist in the same building who we go see on March the 26th. Hopefully we can get some more answers there. Especially if it is an allergy. When I called to set up his appointment the lady on the phone told me that we would leave their office knowing what he's allergic to if he does have an allergy. Thank goodness. So for now we'll continue to finish up our antibiotic and try to get as well as we can for his allergy appointment. I will keep you all posted. Here is our big boy in the big chair waiting on the DR.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

:)

Our BIG boy!

I had some good news to share about Tuff yesterday but I didn't want to jinx it since it was his first day of school in a semi-new environment. Yesterday was day # 6 of no diapers for him. It was day #1 at school with no diapers. Up until day #5 (Monday night) we had absolutely NO accidents. I'm talking number 1 and number 2 in the potty. AND we even went out on Monday to the Dr and to Wal-Mart (for his prescriptions) in big boy underwear with NO accidents. We have been extremely proud of him. It completely came out of nowhere. He just decided last Wednesday night that he wanted to use the potty when we got home. It followed into Thursday and then Friday and so on. I decided to completely do away with diapers Friday night while we were at the store getting a "prize" for doing so well. His prize consisted of gummies, a new truck, Toy Story underwear, and CARS pull ups. He's even been doing well during nap time and bed time. He's only wet his pull up just a few times in the past 7 days! People kept telling me that he'd start using it when HE was ready. I would always think to myself, "yeah, right!" But all the people who said that were right. Now I knew school was going to be a different picture. I knew he might have a little more trouble there than at home for several different reasons. ONE, his teacher's schedule is more than likely different than ours. Ours being every hour. Until he gets really used to it anyways. TWO, she probably doesn't ask him as much as she expects him to tell her. Now at home, yes, he'll tell me every now and then but he's at home. He's not at school playing with other kids (which I think can be a distraction). and THREE, it's just a different environment than home. That's normal to everyone. Even adults. No one likes to HAVE to use the bathroom outside of their own home. He did have 2 little accidents at school because of all those reasons. I did get a very nice note from his teacher stating that she was very proud of him for being such a big boy and that he did wonderfully for his first day at school with big boy underwear on. :) :) :) She also might have added that mommy might want to send more underwear and pants until he is completely used to the school schedule. LOL. All in all, he's done wonderful! I never knew it would be this easy. Now let's just hope it's that easy for Gunner bear one day. So now I can say we're officially a BIG boy. No more pootie (paci), no more diapers and sleeping in his own bed!!!

We got him a cushioned CARS seat to go over the big potty seat.

He loves it.

Oh and as you can see, he's keeping his clothes on now :)

As I said above (and yesterday) both boys have been sickly. We had to take Tuff back to the DR on Monday for the same sinus infection he had a few weeks ago that we never got rid of. I spoke to the DR about possibly seeing an ENT about his issues. Tuff is 2 and a 1/2 and he's kept a sinus infection most of his life it seems like. But now they've gotten so bad that they make his nose bleed and I just can't stand it any longer. I'm thinking he could have an allergy or he could have some kind of issues with his sinuses. The DR decided to put him on a 3 week (3 WEEK!!!) antibiotic to try and get rid of this infection he's had for the past 3-4 weeks and we are scheduled to see an ENT tomorrow afternoon. Praying we can get some answers and he can get some relief soon! Please keep both our boys in your prayers. On a positive note, Gunner Bear seems to be starting to feel better. Hopefully we stay in the clear for a while.

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Gunner Blake- 6 months

Our Gunner Bear turned 6 months old last Wednesday. Yes, I'm just now posting his 6 months stats. The past week has been pretty sickly for both boys. Or should I say the last 2 months have been pretty sickly. Ugh. Wondering when we'll ever see the light at the end of the tunnel...? PRAYING soon!

Sweet boy, you are 6 months old!

Mommy can't believe you are 1/2 way to ONE!

You have been a sickly baby but your constant happiness and smiles definitely make up for it.

Almost sitting up on your own and putting everything in your mouth makes it nearly impossible to get these monthly photo sessions with a "sign" in it. You seemed to be most interested in falling over trying to get to it or eating it. The reasoning for a wet sign in the pictures below ;)

I finally gave in and let you have it after I got a few "decent" pictures.

You were pretty happy about it...

The past 2 months have been a whirlwind of sickness for you.

You've had pink eye, ear infections, the croup, a sinus infection and now we're battling Bronchitis. I say battling because we went to the ER last Thursday morning and you're still not feeling good. Mommy is very frustrated with all the sickness. It's hard seeing my babies not feeling good. Both you and big brother have had it rough! Praying hard for both of you to recover from all this sickness and get back to your normal selves SOON.

You are still LOVING big brother. Absolutely no one can make you laugh the way he does.

Everywhere he goes, your eyes follow. And if he shows you any bit of attention, you are smitten!

I love to see the love in your eyes for big brother!

A few other things your up too...

• You are wearing size 12-18 m clothes. Everything we have that's 6-9, is TIGHT. You are a BIG boy.
• We have converted you to a big boy car seat already because of your size. You seem to like that car seat a little better than the carrier. Thankfully. You hated the carrier.
• You are eating it seems like ALL the time. You really only eat as much as the DR tells us to feed you but it still seems like we're always feeding you. You drink 4 bottles a day. 6 ounces each. And you eat cereal w/ fruit in the morning and a vegetable/fruit for lunch and dinner. You LOVE your homemade baby food. If I try to give you anything from the jar, you are NOT happy about it. And you let me know. HA! Mommy doesn't mind making your homemade food  but it's been hard finding the time lately due to everyone being so needy sick.
• You are just about sitting up. Still working hard at it. You do pretty good for short periods of time.
• You are, or should I say were (since getting sick), sleeping SO wonderfully. You are going anywhere from 8-12 hours without a bottle. Mommy is SO proud. And somewhat rested... when you aren't sick. You have had a LOT of trouble sleeping since getting this nasty bronchitis.
• You are really starting to grab at things, hold on to them and play with them. You can't hold onto them long so you throw them in the floor alot. :)
• You are still loving bath time. I think you are going to be our little water baby. I can accidently get water in your eyes and you don't even flinch. You love, love, love the water. I can't wait until you can sit up in the bath tub. You will probably really love it then.
• You have the best personality. I know I say this alot but you are one happy baby. Even when you're sick. Always smiling, cooing, playing, talking, etc.

I can't believe I'm already posting about you being 6 months old. It has flown by. We are so proud to call you ours and our lives (and family) were completed when you entered this world. We love you SO, SO much sweet baby boy! Happy 6 months!!!

And just for fun here your are at 1 day, 2 months, 4 months and 6 months.

 

B is for Bronchitis.

I know I haven't been posting as much lately but sick babies and tax season makes for one tired mama! Things have been crazy with a capital "C" I was hoping we'd be on the up and up after both boys got on an antibiotic the week before last. Both had their last dose last Thursday afternoon. I'm not kidding when I say Tuff had a runny nose the VERY next day. I almost just want to "throw my hands up" or "throw in the towel." I know I can't really do that. I hate to see my babies sick though and it gets frustrating. It seems like the past month or 2 we've stayed sick... This morning Gunner started routing around about 4:00 am. About 4:15 he was really routing so I got up to make him a bottle. When I got him up he immediately started gasping for breath. This really loud-scary-noisy gasping. This lasted for about 5 minutes or so before I finally got him calmed down a little. But his breathing still didn't sound good. I called my mom, MIL and SIL. All 3 confirmed an ER visit was necessary. So after my dad came over (remind you it was 4:30 am and Tuff was sleeping soundly in his bed) to sit with big brother, off we went to the ER. They gave him a breathing treatment and took chest x-rays. The x-rays confirmed Bronchitis. REALLY? That makes the Croup, a sinus infections and Bronchitis all in one month and that's just for Gunner. Since his white blood count was up (which means infection) they also called him in another antibiotic. So round 415,643(or so it seems)... here we go!!!

Gunner Bear was a big HIT in the ER. All the nurses and doctors really seemed to enjoy him. He's such a happy boy, sick or not sick. I told them it was a good thing it was him and not his big brother because we would have had to strap him down to get anything done. They're seriously like DAY and NIGHT. Gunner's new pajamas that his Ba-ba (my MIL) got him were also a big hit. See for yourself.

Red flannel pj's on a baby...

I mean really? What's not to love?

:)

Baby boy is happy and full of smiles all the time. That's definitely one of my favorite traits about him.

As for big boy, he hasn't been feeling his best either. Poor thing. I went to his V-Day party at school on Tuesday. He was really excited to see me when I got there. Daddy and I even got this super sweet Valentine.

Definitely the best Valentine either one of us have ever received.

 :)

I also got a quick picture of him and his classmates with their goodie bags full of valentine's.

Other than being sick and celebrating LOVE day, we've still been using the potty here and there.

Sorry it's so blurry.Took this with my phone.

This is last night.

He insisted on taking all his clothes except for his rain boots off to go potty.

I told him mommy doesn't care what he does as long as he uses the potty!

:)

Hope you're all having a good week.

SOOO close to the weekend. I think I can smell it.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I <3 my boys.

More than life!

:)

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours from the Alford clan!