Today was a big day at our house. It was Elmo Live Day. Todd and I have been looking forward to this all week (amazing how things change, huh?). If you are around Jonah for more than five minutes, you will learn he is a HUGE Elmo Fan. He just loves anything Elmo or Sesame Street. He says "See Elmo" when he wants to watch Elmos World... which is all. the. time. He looks a books and points out all the characters... Elmo, Zoe-ah (zoe), "E" (ernie), Cookie, Ah-Ah-Ah (The Count), Big (big bird), Baby (baby bear).... it's so much fun to watch! So we didn't quite know how he would take Elmo Live. We thought maybe he would need oxygen when they all came out! He was so cute- he sat on Todd's lap the whole time and just SMILED and said all the characters names... he yelled out for Cookie and Elmo a few times. This was something special we did just the three of us (my mom watched jordan). It was a super fun morning!

Jonah is yelling for Elmo!

Check it out!

We just got a sneak preview of the pictures Carpenter Photography did for us right after Jordan was born (she was a week and a half old in the pictures.) WOW, we are so impressed. We can't wait to see all of them. I highly recommend them if you are looking for family pictures, a wedding photographer... Melody was so sweet and easy to work with! Check out the pics for your self on their blog by clicking here



(in the meantime, here is one of our faves:)

Lil' Bunny

Jordan getting ready for her very first Easter.

Pre- Bath

I love comparison pictures. Jonah at 4wks (top picture) and Jordan almost 3 wks (bottom picture). Both before a sink bath!

Sweet Little Girl, Silly Little Boy...

These pictures of Jonah and Jordan were taken last week... Jordan continues to be a sweet, precious little girl. We love her! Jonah cracks us up with all the "new" things he is doing. All of a sudden his vocabulary has increased (since Jordan arrived... hmmmmm:) and he is doing all sorts of new things... like taking off his clothes and running around the house. Or how about stuffing ALL of the food on his tray into his mouth at once, and then crying because it scares him. Sometimes i get annoyed, but then i remember my sweet little boy is looking for attention. he is handling all these changes SO well. He is so affectionate with Jordan (and then he forgets she is there, which is kinda nice). So to help with the need for attention we have done some Jonah/Mommy dates. The last two sundays i took him to the starbucks by my house and we had a date- he gets chocolate milk, and i get a peppermint hot chocolate. We sit down at a table and talk and have some time just me and him. I love it and now look forward to it each weekend. His little eyes light up when we walk into starbucks and sit down together. He gets really quite and just smiles at me while he drinks his milk... it's so cute! I will try to get a picture of him next time we go. I am so proud of jonah for being a great big brother.

One Week

I took this picture of Jordan on Tuesday, her one week birthday!

We are doing pretty well here at the Hufford house. Things change dramatically when you add a new life to a family, but we are getting the hang of it and offering each other alot of grace in the process :) I sometimes struggle with the lack of sleep thing, but I have realized that this time is so precious and she will grow so fast. The newborn phase flies by, and i want to savor every moment. Jordan is such a sweet little girl and we are so blessed to have her as our daughter! Jonah is still very sweet with her, and hasn't shown any signs (yet at least) that he is upset with the change. He heard her crying today... he went over to her bouncy seat and when he saw she wasn't in her seat (i was holding her) he got all upset and was yelling "Jor! Jor!" and had her paci to give her. My heart melts when I see little things like that! I want to say thank you again to all of our friends who have been encouraging us, praying for us, bringing meals... it means so much! We love you!

We're a family of four!

I have been meaning to got on here and update the blog on Jordan, her birth story, and everything. But time has been getting away from me! But we are doing well, and enjoying our new daughter! It's all coming back to me-- caring for a newborn--- but caring for Jordan AND Jonah has been a little bit of a challenge. I know it will just take some time to adjust. He is very sweet to Jordan and will run and give me her paci if she is crying. Sometimes he tries to shove it in her mouth (we are working on "gentle"). If she doesn't take it (which is most of the time) he just pops it in his own mouth and walks away!

Last Tuesday the 26th was an uneventful day in the morning. I felt fine and not to uncomfortable (i was feeling horrible the day before). Jonah and I had McDonalds together for lunch came home, and i put him down for his nap. Todd actually came home for a half day on Tuesday because we had a guy coming to install our gas line. I decided to take a nap before heading to the grocery since i knew todd would be home, i could leave jonah with him in case he woke up. SO...... i took my nap, got up, went to the bathroom and that's where my water broke. It took some time for me to figure out that was what was happening and my bladder wasn't exploding. So i told todd and the gas install guy (nice) and we called my mom to come stay here until jonah woke up, and headed to the hospital!

We got to the hospital around 4pm, and was sent to triage... for an hour and a half. I was dying. I thought someone else might die if they didn't hurry up. My contractions started and they were really painful. Finally they came in and told me my room was ready but it would be about another 45min until i could get an epidural b/c i had to have iv fluids. Someone was definitely going to die.

So i got my fluids, then my epidural around 7pm. Since I was induced with jonah, the first sign of pain i got my epidural! I didn't remember how horrible the contractions could be! Things moved quick after the epidural and i began to push a little after 9 pm.... for 1 hour and 45 min. Better than 2 hr 45 min with jonah, but still longer than i prefer ;) Jordan was born at 10:44pm, healthy little girl. It was so amazing to have a POSITIVE experience this time without complications. I am so thankful. Jordan's second cousin Charlotte (my cousin allison's little girl) turned 5 on Tuesday, so now Jordan and Charlotte share the same birthday. Very special.

Here is a picture of Jonah meeting Jordan for the first time. I'll post more pics soon.