Meeting Baby Hope

Baby Hope is here! (back in January - I'm a few months late I know!)

We took a trip to Virginia to meet sweet little Baby Hope Lynn Sanders. I'm living vicariously through the Sanders since I probably will only have sweet, stinky little boys :-) (God if that is what you send us I promise I will be thrilled and love them all to bits- no hard feelings) but still I can't help but love on every one else's baby girl!

She is precious and we had a blast getting to meet her, and getting to play with Gabriel (he and Tabor LOVED playing together!) and we had a blast having adult time when the boys & babies napped or slept! 

The boys loved getting to read together and we all loved taking turns being the reader!

These boys picked up right where they left off last November. They laughed and played from the moment they woke up (literally yelling each other's names to wake each other up) until bedtime when they were too tired to peep.

They spent tons of time searching for their belly buttons, playing earmuffs, playing trains and running around outside.

We went to the zoo, shopped, ate great food and played with our sweet little kiddos! Tabor loves being in pictures so much I had to pick him him up and face him towards the camera. ha

The boys loved doing everything together.

Here's our attempt at a group shot! We are all in it even if you can't see everyone (Baby Hope & Baby Titus were sleeping)

We all worked on our tummy time and strengthened our neck muscles together. ;)

We tried to stage pics of the boys but well... Tabor always has a different plan.

Sweet Baby Hope was so much fun to cuddle with. She was just too precious. I can't wait to see her again. Look at this cute little girl!

Hope and Titus loved getting to coo together. It was love at first site. :)

The men were able to escape and go see Third Day in concert which was only fair since us girls escaped everyday during nap time to go shopping!

We even got to ride the train at the mall after shopping and eating lunch!

Oh Tabor will you ever cooperate for a picture?! ha!

I spoke too soon - I guess he did smile at the camera afterall. Look at these two cute boys. I love them.

Thank you Sanders family for such a fun time. We love you all so much and had such a blast getting to meet your precious new Baby Hope. She is such a joy and we cannot wait to be a part of her life as she grows up (just like we can't wait to be a part of Gabriel's).

Baby Titus - 1 Month

As of today you:
-Are wearing size 1 diapers (as of 2 weeks)
-Eat every 3 hours
-Are sleeping 4.5hrs at night (since Day 1- thank you!)
-Have already outgrown your newborn clothes and are wearing 0-3 month or 3 month outfits (you are LONG)
-Smile more and more everyday (it's a super cute half grin)

-You fall asleep every time you eat
-Stretch for about 5min before you can wake up
-Like your carseat if we are in the car
-Fall asleep instantly in the car
-Get the hiccups multiple times a day
-Make funny faces. You move every feature at the same time & grab your cheeks)
-Have been sleeping in your own crib. You slept in the hospital with us the first 4 days and in a Pack n Play Bassinet for the 2nd week, but now you're in your own crib and you LOVE staring at your sleep sheep.
-Are already out of your swaddle. You fought your way out until we let you win. Now you sleep wrapped in an Aden Anais blanket and with your arms high above your head!  although you hardly cry
-You make the funniest little breathing noise before you start to cry
-Your bedtime is 7:30 and wake time is 7:30 (currently with a 10:30 dreamfeed, MOTN 3:30 feed & 7:30)
-You're not a huge fan of your paci but we still try and use it sometimes.
-You sleep through church so far
-Your nickname is Hiccupotomus

Titus you are such a joy to this family already. Your big brother has to know where you are at all times and will call your name until he finds you. He can't give you enough kisses when he sees you. Same with us. We all love to cuddle with you and since you love sleeping on our shoulders it is hard not to let you. You love to curl up into a ball and let us love on you. God has truly blessed us by placing you in this family. We hope you feel incredibly loved because we love you so very much. You are such a sweet little baby boy.

*Giant Sock Monkey compliments of Christianne Wheatley - we are so excited to take his monthly pic with him to watch him grow alongside "Sock it to me" (That's what we named him) We got him right when I couldn't figure out how to take his pics- thanks Christianne (and elf Monica) you had good timing! Mini "socky" is also featured in the photo and he's from Jessica Stone & Karen Lewis- thanks girls! You are all so great! Titus you are so loved! 

Sanders visit

We were recently blessed by a visit from the Sanders family. They came to meet Titus and Tabor & Gabriel were finally reunited. We really can't separate those two again! The first day or two was spent reintroducing them to each other. They were buddies again after that.

I stuck this picture of Ty & Tabor because I thought it was cute. Of course I had my camera on some random setting but thanks to Lightroom I was able to bring it back to life. I could probably try removing more noise from it but I liked the neat effect it gave it. I love my boys. Titus sorry buddy - you were sleeping!

Again, I had my camera on the wrong setting but look how cute these turned out! It helps that our models are pretty stinking cute themselves!

I love how they're holding hands here. :-)

Yes Tabor is covering Gabriel in leaves and Gabriel is thinking "seriously dude..."

Sarah got them cute little "future quarterback" shirts. They are so sweet! I love these little boys!

No day was complete without a guitar jam sesh. They put on a daily show for us. Tabor may have been the lead "yeller".

I love this! The boys in matching pajamas getting read a book before bedtime by Richard. So sweet!

Tabor watched Gabriel open their gifts. He isn't very good at opening presents ha. He gets distracted easily.

See...

Oh Tabor...

They jumped on the trampoline at Nona's house and then Sarah read them some books.

More story time. These boys love to read! Gabriel's smile in this picture is priceless. I love it!

Titus is worn out from all the excitement. Aunt Sarah got lots of cuddling time.

We always celebrate a birthday when they visit. This time it was Boo's birthday. The boys helped blow out the candles on the cookies.

Storytime with Aunt Sarah. Even Titus joined in. I love his little toes in this picture. Aw I love all these people! Even Baby Hope is in the picture ;-)

Gabriel makes the cutest "cheese" face. He got to hold Titus and he even posed for the camera. The Sanders fam with Titus. Thanks for coming to meet our little man. We love you guys so very very much!

Gabriel and Titus. So cute!

Our 3 boys before a girl gets added to the mix. She is going to be so loved. Look how much they already love Titus!

We had such a blast with you guys! Thanks again for coming. We can't wait to come and visit you guys next! We love and miss you all already!

What will "it" BEE

Well the day FINALLY arrived. The day we found out if Baby Uh Oh was a BOY or a GIRL!

It was an amazing day from start to finish. Nona kept Tabor so we woke up early and drove to Amarillo. It was like a mini road trip/date. Once there we met Kenley at Stork Vision and she made sure everything was special and perfect. 

For anyone wanting to see their baby and/or find out the gender in the most fun and amazing way possible we HIGHLY recommend Stork Vision. It's nothing like being at the doctor's office and they will take the time to actually show you your new baby! It really is an experience we will forever treasure and remember!

Kenley came in with us and made us cover our eyes while the technician checked what Baby T was going to be. She wrote it down for Kenley and after she snapped this pic of us she ran out of the room and made a phone call.

Earlier in the week we had decided we wanted to have our parents and closest friends in Lubbock come by and open the mystery envelope with us. Well we are really blessed because our parents all decided to make it even more special. They kept Tabor, bought food, cooked dinner and even brought over a huge box for Monica's great idea. We were simply planning to come home, see whoever stopped by and open an envelope, but it turned out so much better. Like I said we are so blessed by our friends and family.

Monica had taken a box into a balloon store earlier that morning and asked them to wait on Kenley's call to then fill it up with either pink or blue balloons. 

Yes I made a cake. How could I NOT have made a cake? My husband INSISTED. Literally...I was having a rough week and it was supposed to be easy. Mix batter, pour in giant cupcake pan, ice with buttercream. BUT instead it came out raw because I was tired and I actually said I was going to serve it like that. Ty threw it away and made me start over. He helped me and I'm so glad that he did. Look how cute it turned out!

Seriously this was put together so quickly that everything was really simple. We bought honeycomb cereal and sixletts for the kiddos. There weren't many kids so that made it even easier. :-)

Peace o' cake actually had a groupon out that day and we took advantage and got cupcakes. This was last minute when we thought there would be no cake to serve but hey again it was cute and who doesn't love dessert!!

My mom put together a cute centerpiece with the leftover sixletts and a bee she found. That bee has been around for years. Ha! I can't believe we finally used it for something!

I put together a simple cute sign which last minute got moved inside because the weather decided not to cooperate.

The entire dessert setup. Hey it's been awhile since I had an excuse to bake (ahem or order stuff - I had a bad baking week ok! It happens!)

Finally the big moment came. Well more like thunder and water dropletts that made us hurry and start the revealing process! We didn't want to release the balloons in pouring rain! Here's the box that held the big surprise!

AND... they came out BLUE!

We're having another little Touchstone BOY!

Dad is obviously thrilled! We actually both are. We can't wait to meet our little Titus Slade Touchstone!

Here's a video of us finding out. Thanks Mon for the amazing idea! This was much more special than opening up an envelope! Thanks to our parents & friends for taking care of all the details too and thanks to Kenley for even making this day possible to begin with! This would not have been as special without you.

Meet Baby Titus at his 19 week sonogram...