Sibling Love

One of the questions I'm often asked is how are Eden and Josiah getting along with the baby. This is probably the greatest aspect of the pregnancy and Titus's life so far. Eden and Josiah love him so much and so deeply already that Titus's fit into our family has been easy.

Throughout the pregnancy, Eden would pray for the baby in Mommy's tummy each night. We spent a lot of time preparing her for her role as a big sister and Mommy's helper. Her baby dolls got lots of practice being mommied as she would act out what her role would be. We talked about Titus often over the pregnancy So she was thrilled that he finally arrived. Her "real" baby was finally here. She loves to hold Titus and has done a great job being a helper. I love watching her take the role of big sister and protector so seriously.

Josiah.... well how do you prepare a two year old for an upcoming brother? We talked about Titus as my lap continued to shrink during our nightly cuddle time. I think he finally understood when we put Titus's crib up in Josiah's room. He might have had some idea of his new brother coming. The thing I didn't expect was the humor that would come along with it. Anytime Josiah sees Titus he says, "hi ya fella!" We're not sure where he picked this saying up from but it's cute. And each morning Josiah plays a game of hide and seek looking for baby Titus. He still needs to work on the "soft touches" aspect of having a new brother. Josiah is ready for a playmate/ wrestling buddy already. But I'm excited that he has shown lots of love towards Titus.

Here are a few of our first glimpse pictures from the hospital when Eden and Josiah got to meet Titus for the first time. You can see Eden's joy at being a big sister and a little of the fun Josiah anticipates with being a big brother.

Oh the joy of sibling love!

First Glimpse

There are moments in life when time stops and you capture a glimpse of beauty, your future, a deep moment of love and it one of those perfect moments in time. The first time I saw Titus was one of those moments.

 I spent most of my time during Eden's and Josiah's pregnancies thinking about how they would look, who they would favor. Would they have Larry's eyes or my freckles? I spent most of Titus's pregnancy praying for his health. I was so worried that my sickness would negatively effect him. I really didn't spend a lot of time thinking of his eye color or freckles. I continually prayed for a healthy baby.

The first time I laid my eyes on him I couldn't stop crying. He was perfect! He cried with strong lungs and was so pink and healthy looking all my fears began to subside. The doctor and nurses all agreed he was healthy, his apgar was 9.5. I had been mentally preparing myself for something to be wrong, yet as I saw him, I praised God that he was healthy, not only that, he was so beautiful! He was a perfect mixture of Eden and Josiah, which meant he was a perfect mixture of Larry and I. He was God's gift to our family.

Then I thought about the names we had picked for him. Titus is our Biblical name. It means defender and strength. We knew we wanted our son to be a defender of our faith. The biblical aspect of it was meant to be strong in the faith, I was praying for physical strength as well.

Simon is our Family name. My Grandfather and Father are both named Simon. Both men are heroes in the Faith and wonderful examples of the godly characteristics that we desire for our children to develop. Having our son carry their names is an honor.

The first time I got to see Titus.

                                                            Larry's first look at his new son.

                                                     Yaya and Grandma looking over Titus

Pawpaw, Simon Abe, Holding his namesake.

Welcome Titus Simon

It's with great joy that we introduce Titus Simon Gilbreath. He was born a day earlier than expected and things went a lot faster than I remembered them going with Josiah. I went to bed Monday night thinking that I was in labor. I woke Larry up Tuesday morning and sent him for the test and X-rays he needed. I thought we would go to the OB office  and that we would probably be sent home.Thankfully they admitted me, my contractions were between 3-7 minutes apart.

Many of our nurses were the same nurses that we had when we had Josiah. I had been praying that Pat would be one of our nurses again. She took AWESOME pictures of Josiah's birth. You can imagine my joy when she popped into check on me as they began to prep me for surgery. She also took pictures of Titus's birth as well. It is such a blessing to have pictures of the birth. I'll share some more in the next few days :)

 Titus Simon Gilbreath

8 lbs 4.5 oz 20 inches long

Good Friday Blessing

Our family was blessed with a precious addition on Good Friday. My amazing cousin Kelly gave birth to Lydia Joy. She is 7 lbs 13oz of red headed blessing! She is also the first of four great grand children that are due this year. Momma and Lydia are doing great.

I'm looking forward to Kelly and Jeremy paving the way for parenting three. They are awesome parents and will be a great source of wisdom and encouragement in the months to come. I hope we can be for them as well!

Welcome to the world Lydia Joy!

Family Visit

This is where Josiah gets his red hair.

Grandma and Yaya with the Grands

Sitting pretty

Happy Momma

Josiah is Here!!!!

Check out that hair and those lips :)
Daddy holding his son

Big Foot

Mommy's first close up look of his hair

Dr. Bane holding up Josiah.

Josiah Larry Gilbreath made his entrance into the world on Feb. 2nd at 12:04 pm. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 12.5 oz. and is 21 inches long. The biggest surprise though was not his size but his coloring. He has Bright Red hair. He got that from the Kinsey side. Paw Paw is so tickled! Josiah is so handsome. Lots of people have come to check him out because of his unique coloring.

We had a great team of doctors and nurses attending us. Pat was the nurse anesthetist who took these pictures. It is so awesome to have pictures of Josiah birth. That wasn't possible at Eden's birth. We never even thought to ask, but she told Larry as he was getting ready to bring our camera into the operating room and she would be happy to take a few pictures. She did an awesome job and now we have these memories that we can share with you.