Weekend Recap

We had a fun weekend! On Friday night, the kids stayed with my parents, so Matt and I ate out at one of our favorite restaurants and then headed over to spend the evening at Jon and Courtney's. Matt and Erica joined us too. It was a little crazy with three babies, but I love the craziness of this season of life. I can't imagine how much craziness our two would have added to the fun! After the babies were asleep we played games and visited. With all the new babies and busyness of life we hadn't gotten together for a game night in way too long. It was fun to be together again.

Saturday morning, my parents brought our kiddos back and we headed to the mall. We had been needing to shop for a few things, and the boys always want to play. We let them play for a long time at the play area. They are both getting too big too fast!

Samuel played on this slide practically the whole time we were there. We lost count how many times he slid down. He could do it without any help from us at all.

We came home from the mall had lunch, and put the boys down for much needed naps. During their naps, Matt cleaned out our cars, and I cleaned out our closet.

When the boys woke up, we played for a little bit before dinner. We had an early dinner and then went for a long walk around our neighborhood. The weather was really nice, and we all enjoyed being outside enjoying the warm temperatures.

We had a low key evening: baths, playtime, bedtime routines, and then Matt and I relaxed and read and watched some tv before bed.

We went to church Sunday morning. I was so excited that we all got to wear short sleeves to church! It's the little things :). Samuel was outgrowing his infant car seat, so we ordered Nathan a new convertible car set/booster seat and moved Samuel to Nathan's old car seat. Matt surprised me and went ahead and turned him to forward facing too. It felt like a monumental drive to church! He loved being able to see us. He would just smile and giggle and clap. It was a whole new world for him.

As we were walking out the door for church, Nathan said, "I"m going to ride in my new car seat to church, and Samuel is going to ride in my old car seat. And Elisabeth... is going to ride in your tummy to church :).

After church and lunch, my mom called and asked if I wanted to go shopping while the boys napped. There are few things I will sacrifice my Sunday afternoon nap for, but baby girl clothes shopping is one of them :)

We are trying to restrain ourselves and not go crazy, because several sweet friends have offered to share baby clothes with Elisabeth, but we couldn't resist picking up a few special things for her. It was so fun, and something I've looked forward to for a long time! I loved being able to shop in the boy and girl section. It was the best of both worlds.

I decided the boys needed some pink added to their wardrobes with Baby Sister on the way

 
After I got home, we got the boys ups, and went for a walk.

All four of us (and Rhapsody) love walks.

Our new neighborhood has a couple of fun playgrounds, so we stopped for some playtime.

We came home and ate mac and cheese for dinner and played upstairs until bedtime. Sundays wear my boys out, so it was early bedtimes for both of them. I'm thankful for fun weekends with my sweet family!

Ruffles and Bows or Jeans and Polos???

We had a big ultrasound appointment this week, and in keeping with tradition, shared the news with a blue or pink cake. I rushed home after our appointment, put Samuel down for a nap, quarantined Nathan upstairs with the kindle (he didn't go to the appointment with us, so he didn't know the gender), and spent the afternoon baking.

I felt a lot of peace going into the appointment on Tuesday. I think that since this baby came completely in God's timing, I just knew that he had a purpose and a plan for this special child and he or she was the perfect addition to our family regardless of the gender. I would be lying though if I didn't admit that there was a part of me hoping for pink. When we were pregnant with Samuel, I always told people that if I knew our third baby would be a girl then I wanted our second to be a boy. At the time I thought Nathan and Samuel would be closer in age than Samuel and Baby #3 (That was Matt and my plan anyway), and I thought two brothers close in age would be so sweet and fun for them. And it is! Their relationship is the sweetest thing, and the mother/son bond is something else. I'm blessed to experience it with two sons, but I've always longed for a daughter. It goes deeper than pink dresses and headbands. I treasure the mother/daughter relationship I have with my mom and desired to have that same relationship with my own daughter, to be best friends, girls trips, pedicures, wedding dress shopping, all those memories to create. But I'm used to being a boy mom, and another boy would fit right into our crazy family. Either way, I trusted the Lord that His plan was better than any plan I had in my head.

It was surreal going into the appointment knowing that all the waiting and hoping and wondering would soon be over and we would know whether we needed to start shopping for matching outfits for THREE boys or become overwhelmed with pink and purple.

The cake says it all...

Nathan was absolutely adorable during the cake cutting. This is one of my favorite videos of him ever. He is the best big brother around!

Thank you Lord for blessing our family with a daughter. I spent all afternoon praising Him for giving us such an undeserved gift. I was completely humbled by His goodness. His provision, love, and faithfulness to our family continually blow me away. Our children (all three of them) are such precious, precious gifts to us and a reminder of His perfect love for us.

I know Samuel will be a wonderful big brother to a baby sister, once he's big enough to understand what that means :)

It's time Baby Girl Baugher gets some attention on this blog!!

Introducing...

Elisabeth Kae

During this pregnancy, Matt and I never discussed baby names. We've had the same girl name chosen since I was pregnant with Nathan. We had a close runner up (Samantha), but when we finalized Samuel's name, we took Samantha out of the running for any future Baugher girls, so it was an easy decision. I had a few panic moments that we had absolutely no boy names at all if we would have had a blue cake, but thankfully, that's not an issue (for now anyway) :)

We have both always loved the name Elisabeth. I love that it is classic and traditional and yet so versatile if she ever wants to go by a nickname. I also love that all three of our children have Biblical names. It's never been something we've planned or a rule we've stuck by when talking about names, it just worked out that way.

Elisabeth means "Oath of my God" or "God's promise." It's fitting that she is a constant reminder of God's promises in our family. She is a gift from Him, and the Biblical Elizabeth is the mother of the man who would prepare the way for God's ultimate promise of Jesus Christ. It's so rich and meaningful for us.

Kae is my middle name and my mom's middle name. I've known forever that our first born daughter would share our middle name. It's a sweet family tradition.

I love this picture of her pointing her finger. I think she is putting her brothers in their place telling them that they aren't going to boss her around :)

 At our appointment, the ultrasound tech had this picture of her legs open and said, "Are you ready to find out?" When she said that I knew, because there weren't any little boy parts to be seen (and I've seen them twice before, so I was looking for them :)). I asked if it was a girl, and when she confirmed, there were immediate tears. It's been a dream and a desire for so many years to have a daughter, and those words were a confirmation of that dream coming true.

And I've analyzed this picture over and over searching for any possible hidden boy parts :). It still is sinking in that we are having a girl!

I am still just overjoyed thinking about my precious family. Matt and I have always desired to have a son and a daughter and I'm in awe that our prayers have been answered. God is SO very good to us!

Let's Have a Ball, Part 2

Samuel's party was such a fun morning! We had a lot of family come into town to celebrate with us. Granny, Grandaddy, Momoo and Matt's parents all drove up to be here for the big day. Samuel loved all the extra attention.

My mom had this adorable shirt made for the Birthday Boy. I love it so much!

These boys were ready to party.

Our family ready to party.

We had lots of Little Ones join us for the party. We all commented on how different Nathan's first birthday party was. He was the only baby at his party, but we've had a baby boom since then, and our house and arms were full of sweet baby friends to celebrate with!

We snacked and cuddled and visited for awhile before it was time to open presents.

I think Nathan was more excited about present time than Samuel. He got a couple of gifts too to help celebrate and helped Samuel open all of his gifts.

Samuel got so many sweet books and toys and clothes. Matt and I got him a bunch of play food for his kitchen.

Nathan told me several weeks ago that he wanted to get Samuel a super cape for his birthday. We looked around for a bit before we were able to find one, and Nathan was excited to give it to him on his birthday.

After presents, it was time for cake.

I really thought Samuel would go nuts over his cake as much as he likes to eat, but he sort of just played with it and snacked off and on. I think he might have been full from all the donut holes and fruit and cheese puffs and m&m's he'd eaten all morning.

After cake, we spent more time playing with babies and visiting.

I call Barry the Baby Whisperer

We are thankful for so many sweet friends and family that came to celebrate with us and help make Samuel's birthday a very special day!


He was pooped and was asleep within ten minutes of the last guests leaving :)

Let's Have a Ball, Part 1

I had a lot of fun planning Samuel's first birthday party. There's just something about first birthdays that are extra special.

Samuel has always loved balls, and ball was one of his first words, so I thought it would be fun and special to him to have a ball party. It was so much fun to plan!

Here's the invitation:

I made a banner with all of his monthly photos, and we hung it behind the cake table in the kitchen.

And I made this Happy Birthday Banner that we hung in the Living Room

Matt hung Chinese lanterns all over the house. They look like balls, and according to Samuel, they are, so that's what counts :). We still have a few hung up, and he points to them all the time and says, "ball"

I bought a big box of gumballs and filled vases and glassware I had on hand with them to complete the ball theme.

I ordered a dozen beach balls and blew them up and had them scattered around the house for the party. It was fun for the little ones to play with during the party and we sent them home as favors.

I tried to think of food that was round to serve at the party to stay consistent with the theme.

We served sausage balls, donut holes, cheddar and bacon pinwheels, cheese puff balls, and fruit along with cherry punch.

We also had cupcakes and of course a smash cake for the birthday boy!

I made popcorn balls as party favors. They turned out cute.

I gave Nathan the job of handing out the favors as people left. He took his job so seriously. It was cute how serious he was in making sure everyone who looked like they were possibly ready to leave had one :)

I enjoyed working to make a special birthday party for an extra special birthday boy!