Our first little girl

So you may be thinking, isn't Anniston your first little girl? Well, there's another little one that you must know about...the first little girl that captured our hearts. Before we got engaged, when we talked about having kids, we always said we would have 0 kids or 2 kids. The day after we got engaged, Jake says "I want 4- I want to have two, and adopt two from Africa"...yes, he waits until the day after I agree to marry him to tell me this. I, needless to say, was not on the same page. I couldn't imagine loving a child that wasn't my own with the same love that I had for my own little ones. So we did what we usually do when Jake throws out big dreams that I'm not ready to embrace, we stopped talking about it and waited to see what the Lord would do in one of our hearts. So fast forward three years...Jake and I board a plane with 9 other friends to Mozambique, Africa for two weeks. What happened? I fell in love with her....

Meet Quiteria. This little girl, two years old at the time, completely stole my heart. She is indescribably beautiful. When we went to Mozambique, we knew we would be staying in a baby house, a place where Pieter and Rika Boersma and their 3 boys took in orphaned children as their own. They became a family. I hadn't had much experience with babies, but I had a few expectations- I didn't think I would become attached...I thought if I did become attached, it would be to a little boy...I thought if I got attached to a little boy, it would be the sweetest of the bunch...so what happens? I fall head over heels in love with Quiteria- a beautiful little girl that's as sassy as they come. So much attitude. I had not expected this. I loved everything about her. Her shirt in this picture says "Can't do it Won't do it"...yep. This girl was independent, stubborn, sassy....and I loved it. I remember coming home and a month going by, and one night I was sitting in the parking lot after watching a movie sobbing. When Jake asked why I was crying, I confessed that I just missed Quiteria so very much and I didn't understand why she couldn't come live with us. In my mind, she belonged with us. She was one of us now. So do I still wonder if I could love an adopted child in the same way I loved my own? Nope. Quiteria proved me wrong. Oh how I love her.

Quiteria the year we met her:

Quiteria growing up:

Quiteria really grown up:

Quiteria, we love you more than you will ever know. You have forever changed us. We pray that you will grow up knowing how beautiful, valued, and extravagantly loved you are.

With abundant love, your family in Oklahoma, Jake, Kristin, and Anniston

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend! We got to spend the weekend with my family at the lake, which is one of my favorite things to do- getting our family, my parents, and my brother's family all together at the lake is so fun to me. I am so thankful for such an amazing family. We wish that we lived closer to them, but I'm pretty sure there is no convincing the McCollough's to move to Norman or the Bauer's to move to Fayetteville...so the parents living halfway in between and doing our best to make it there every few months will have to do for now!

My first boat trip of the season was so much fun. My brother drove us around and we all enjoyed the beautiful scenery and great conversation. Well, I guess I should say my niece drove us around. :)

She had fun driving the boat. She also enjoyed getting bundled up in Daddy's jacket and watching the scenery.

The boat ride finished and we headed off to the park. Easton and Pops led the way, hand in hand.

Anniston didn't get to experience the boat this time. Maybe this summer, the verdict's still out. Something about a baby in a life jacket in her car seat in the heat of the summer doesn't sound like it would be fun, but we may have to do it just for the experience. We'll see...in the meantime, she can have fun with Nana, playing at the house! She gets some pretty great treatment at Nana and Pops house. Playing with Nana, getting rocked to sleep by Pops, not too shabby for Anniston.

Nana Great came over from Fort Smith which was super fun! Her great-granddaughters sure do love her!

Easton had fun playing Pops guitar.

It was so fun seeing the cousins together. I can just imagine them as little girls running around playing together...or getting on the tube together, laughing hysterically while Pops takes them on a wild ride...many fun days ahead with these two (and maybe a couple more little ones as well!!!)

Sunday night we headed off to church for Easter, to celebrate that HE IS RISEN! Happy Easter Everyone!

Another week with the Bauer's

Spring is here. Our rose bush is in full bloom.

Last week Anniston went to the doctor for her 4 month well check. Her stats:

Weight- 14 pounds 10 ounces, 75%

Height- 24 1/2 inches, 50%

Head Circumference- 15 1/2 inches, 10%

Most moms get real sad when their babies get their shots. What do I do?

Take a picture. That's what I do...I know I know, it seems cruel, but I just think it's so cute when she sticks out that bottom lip and starts to cry. Don't worry, I did plenty of holding and hugging and loving on her as well.

So I completed my first "mom project" the other day. I have zero artistic ability. Zero. I don't like thinking about the day my kid needs some costume for school and I have to attempt to make it. Anyway, the only way I'm going to learn is to try some things...so I decided that I should try to make her a bow for her hair. Baby steps. I believe I decided this around the time that I had her in a white onesie and blue pants and someone asked if she was a boy or a girl and Jake said to me "she needs a bow!"....so I sent Jake to the store to get me materials. He comes back with maroon, navy blue, hunter green (are we in the 90's?) and gray....I'm a little confused. What outfits does he think I'm going to match those up with? Anyway, trying to be grateful, I grabbed the gray material and started at it...this is what I came up with.

It's not great, but hey, it's not terrible so I count it as a success! I'm now ready to move on to the pinks and whites...

One thing that is so fun about kids is that they love babies...this is especially true for Ella Rose. She loves Anniston and always wants to hold her and love on her, which is so fun. The pic is a bit blurry but I still love it! Love you Ella Rose! Thanks for loving on my little one!

Last week was a milestone for Anniston- she rolled over from her back to her stomach. I was at work. I knew she was going to roll over that day and before I left I told her "Now don't you go rolling over today Anniston"...sure enough, Jake calls in the afternoon to declare she has rolled over. He says "if it makes you feel any better, I was in the other room getting her bottle ready, so I missed it too"...yep, it does make me feel better. Thanks. So it's the first step towards having a mobile child. My days of laying her on her playmat and going in the other room to fix lunch are numbered...not much longer. But that's ok! I know I will love each new stage.

We had a fun filled weekend. Friday night was dinner with just the three of us. Anniston has definitely "found her voice" and loves to squeal very loudly....so everyone at Pepe's got the privilege of listening to our little one "talk"...the next morning I headed to a shower to celebrate my friend Liz and her daughter Naifeh, coming in May! I am so so excited to meet this beautiful girl that we have prayed for and waited expectantly for. I just know her and Anniston are going to be great friends! Then I got to hang out with little Finley for an hour or so, which was so fun! Finley is so sweet. I just love having friends living down the street. I hope this summer we get lots of time to play!

Then I got to spend some time with my dear friend Cathleen and her son Elijah. I love watching my friends be moms and learning from them. I feel like I ask them a million questions- the question I feel like I have asked a lot is "what has been the most challenging stage in parenting?" I have found that the answer is different depending on if you are raising boys or girls...interesting. Anyway, squeezed in a little quality time with the husband before I headed off to celebrate Katelin at her bachelorette party. Anniston stayed and hung out with Dad and the dudes. The next morning, Anniston and I headed to Tulsa to have lunch with my family. Delicious meal, great company, all around good time.

Nana and Anniston

Nana Great and Anniston

My cousin Madison and Anniston. She is coming to OU this year and I'm so excited!!!

The day and the car ride wore her out. We got home and she went off to bed. Then Jake and I had our usual Sunday night tradition- Domino's pizza in bed, watch a little Friends. Great way to relax before the week starts. Great weekend!!

Some more pictures:

The other day Anniston and I just laid on the ground and talked and laughed. Love her.

I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of her in her sleep sack...it's just that when she wakes up and I walk in there and she looks up at me and gets that huge smile on her face...there is nothing better...no picture could do that face justice or possibly capture how it makes me feel.

Setting off for an adventure!

Asleep in her swing...doesn't look too comfortable!

When I hold her, she has started wrapping her hands up in my shirt...I think it's really sweet.

Sweet girl.

The last couple of weeks

So a week and a half ago I needed someone to watch Anniston while I went to work. Sara was headed to Kansas City for a children's conference. So I called my mom, knowing she would have to sacrifice several things in her schedule to make the drive to Norman and watch our little one, but I at least thought I'd ask...to my delight, she said YES! She packed up and brought another surprise, my grandmother! Four generations under my roof for 24 hours. It was so fun to get to spend time with my mom and my Nana...and for Anniston to get time with her Nana and her Nana Great.

Nana Great and Anniston

I think they had a great time- they played, they went to the mall, they took naps, an all around good day. I'm sure Nana and Nana Great were pretty worn out as they drove back to Tulsa that night, but I was left at home with Anniston, feeling pretty blessed to have such a wonderful family. What is Anniston up to these days? What is my 4 MONTH OLD up to these days? Well, she's taking 3 naps a day, she's sleeping 10 hours at night (8:30-6:30), she's reaching for her "lammy" and "geoffrey" and her ball, and she'll hold them and put them in her mouth for awhile...she's turning 180's in bed where her head will be on the other side of her crib in the morning, but not rolling over yet, she's laughing and smiling all the time (not much better than this), she is wearing 3-6 months clothes, she sucks on her hands when she is tired (I keep trying to get her to choose a paci instead, but she likes those hands better), she has her nighttime routine with dad- change and get put in her sleep sack, read a book or two, sing two songs- usually Jesus Loves Me and always Amazing Grace, say prayers, and off to bed...I love love love my days with her. So much better than I could have ever imagined. I now understand why people have so many kids. Who wouldn't want a baby around at all times? I told Jake the other day that if we had unlimited resources, I would want a TON of kids...I'm sure when she becomes mobile and I can't just stick her in the middle of my bed when I need to take a shower, that this will feel more tiring, more challenging, and less doable to have a ton of kids...but for now, bring them on. (Don't worry, I have a husband who brings me back to reality, so we won't be bringing another Bauer into the world quite yet).

Picture time

Just a naked baby playing in my bed

This was awesome. She was playing on her playmat and I had to run into the other room for something. When I came back, she was halfway under the couch. It scared me for a minute when I couldn't see her face...but no worries, I lifted up the part of the couch that was covering her face and what did I find? A baby smiling from ear to ear...it's like she was hiding. Love her.

Just a sweet little picture.

Smiling at her mom.

The two loves of my life taking a nap.

Playing with her ball like a big girl.

That concludes this round of updates from the Bauer's.

4 months

Anniston is 4 months old.

I can't believe we are already a third of the way through her first year. That feels crazy. Jake and I have a lot of conversations about what our family will look like- what will our values be? What are the most important things that we want to instill in our kids? And it feels so much more real now that we have Anniston and she is the one we will be investing in. She will grow into this girl and then this beautiful woman, and we have the opportunity to be a part of who she becomes. Wow. What a responsibility. I know what two of the things were for my parents- they wanted me to have a relationship with Jesus and they wanted me to be independent. They probably got more than they asked for on that second one. :) But they sat down when I was born, decided what was most important, and raised me in a way to instill the things they wanted to see in me...and we want to do the same for our kids. So we have family values, things we want to be true about our family...and then we have specific things for Anniston. So these are some of the things we are praying over Anniston. I say all this because who knows, maybe someone is reading this who wants to pray these things over Anniston too, and we'll take it!

FAITH- this is Anniston's verse- Hebrews 11:1- "now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" - so many reasons that this feels significant to us- when we were waiting for Anniston, we believed that she would come, and we fought for hope, fought for faith, fought for confidence in our Father who we knew would bring us this gift, who would fulfill his promise - and He did! We wanted this part of her story to carry on in her life. We want her to be a woman of faith, to not fear when the storms come, to trust her Father in heaven, to be filled with hope, to never be consumed with fear, worry, anxiety, to know the power of God and believe that He will always come through for her. I remember being pregnant and thinking about how it is so easy when you are a mom to be filled with worry, and how easy it would be for me to fall into that, as I've struggled with fear, worry, anxiety for most of my life...and I so wanted to cast that aside and fully trust the Father and not let a hint of worry in our house from that point on...because I wanted to pass that faith and hope and peace on to our kids...I felt like if I wanted to see something in our kids, then it starts with us...so I'm continually fighting for more peace, more faith, and less fear, worry, and anxiety....and believing that our ceiling will be her floor (that all the ground I have gained in this area will only be her starting point- that her faith will far surpass anything I've seen). So yes, we are asking for much FAITH.

JOY- Joy is her middle name. Joy is my middle name. I remember being in high school when the Lord first started talking to me about the joy of the Lord and how it was going to be significant in my life. He started teaching me what it meant to carry the joy of the Lord, regardless of circumstances, and how much people can be changed by encountering the joy of the Lord. I feel like I have been blessed with an abundance of joy...and I wanted to pass that on to her...so that is now part of her name...and I'm asking for JOY for her, that she would be overflowing with the joy of the Lord and that others would experience that joy when they encounter her. So yes, we are asking for much JOY.

PURITY- this one came along after the first two. It started when my friend, the youngest of 5 children, told me that her mom, when she was pregnant with her, started praying that she would have an obedient heart...and then as she grew up, out of all of her siblings, she was the most obedient. She said there was a significant difference between her and the rest of her siblings...so in full disclosure, I thought "well that would be pretty great if I had kids with obedient hearts, discipline would be so much easier, raising kids would be so much easier"...so it really started with a somewhat selfish motive, an easy way out in raising kids...so I started asking that Anniston would have an obedient heart. Then that desire began to grow. I have thought a lot about the issue of purity, how it's more than obedience that I want for her. I want it to be the desire of her heart to please the Lord, that she wouldn't be consumed with pleasing her parents, or pleasing her friends, or pleasing the world...but that her one desire would be to pursue Him and His will for her life...that she would find much JOY in following Him and pursuing a pure heart, for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God".

So there you have it. That's my heart for Anniston- Faith, Joy, Purity. "Ask and you will receive"

Here's to the greatest 4 months ever and much more joy to come!

Busy Blessed Days

My new favorite picture.

I must say, I'm a little disappointed in myself for going this long without writing. I had planned to make sure I wrote at least once a week...but as we all know, we can make plans and then life happens. This last week was a bit of a whirlwind. I would say for the most part, I have gotten back into the rhythm of work life...work two days, home for one, back to work one day, home for three...it works. The system breaks down though when I work on my days off...puts a little bit of a wrench in my rhythm...thus the problem with last week. I knew it was going to be a stressful week, but I was walking into the building confidently, ready to face the busy week and the Oklahoma wind comes and somehow blows me over (ok maybe I just tripped over my own two feet) and there I go, tumbling to the ground right at the entryway of the building...halfway in the grass, halfway on the concrete, my multiple bags I was carrying falling to the ground, things falling out of them...don't you worry, the security guard saw the whole scene and came outside to make sure I was ok...yes, I was fine, only my pride was hurt...thus the beginning of my long week...so I spent my precious days off furiously writing employee reviews and preparing for a meeting...but that's ok...because I'm thankful to have a great job with flexible bosses that let me work three days a week...

In the midst of my crazy week, I had a last minute visit from my parents, which was so fun! They came down for a quick trip to celebrate my birthday and Jake's graduation. Delicious dinner at Ben Venuti's and quality time with the family...so that was fun! Another blessing of the week was when I was driving to work one morning and the sky was unbelievably beautiful. It was like the Lord was saying "Hey...I see you...I'm with you...I'm taking care of you...it's gonna be a great week" I was floored by the beauty of His creation. I took a picture with my phone (don't worry, I was careful)...the picture doesn't come close to doing it justice, but here it is.

The end of the week came with a celebration...we had a couples shower for Katelin and Kevin Boyd at our house. They are getting married in May and I couldn't be more thrilled. I have known Katelin for many many years and love her dearly. I can't wait to celebrate them at their wedding. That will be a great day. So here's the deal with hosting...here's a confession. I don't like to fail. I don't like to look stupid. I don't like to do things I'm not good at. I'm sure this is human nature, but I feel like I may have a little bit more of this trait than the average person. Maybe it's the people pleasing side of me. Anyway, so hosting is not something I view as a strength of mine. I mean, some people have a gift, a true gift, of hosting. My friend Sarah for instance. Man can she throw a party. It looks effortless. I remember before I was pregnant looking forward to the day that Sarah would host my baby shower. So anyway, the thought of me even making something for a shower is intimidating...let alone hosting it. But I did it. I volunteered. I also volunteered to make the cheesecakes. Yep. Make them. When someone asked me why I didn't just buy them, I thought...very good question...didn't know that was an option. But I did it. And it was fun. I actually enjoyed it. I loved getting to have people to my house, getting to make things for Katelin and her friends. I must say, the cheesecakes were actually pretty tasty! Nobody at the party would know though...it started at 8 pm so nobody was in the mood to eat...so yep, I have 60 bite size cheesecakes in my fridge. Breakfast for the next month. But I learned a great lesson. It's the whole thing about never being able to succeed if you are afraid to fail...something like that...so anyway, look out world- new mom facing her fears! Yes, I realize I'm being dramatic...I'm talking about a party here...but humor me.

Breakfast for the next month...bite size cheesecake and fruit.

So after the shower ended at 1 am, Jake and I stayed up talking for another hour, which was so fun...I just love my husband. He's the best. The next day was another busy day...first of all, it was Daylight Savings Day...I felt like such a grown up when I was more excited about the extra hour of daylight than I was bummed about the loss of an hour of sleep...anyway, we headed up to Edmond to celebrate our friends Kristin and Tyson's engagement (hooray!) and then back to Norman for church. Anniston looked a little crazy with her gray tights, cream sweater, peach shirt and pink hat- nothing matched...but I think she looked pretty darn cute.

Then we have today. What a glorious day. I got up early and I grabbed some Starbucks for me and my husband and headed home to talk to Jake and play with Anniston before Jake headed off to work. Then I sat in bed and wrote my dear friend Whitney who lives in Africa while my little buddy slept beside me...

Then we headed out for a walk on a BEAUTIFUL day...

Then bath time...

Then got dressed...

Now I'm finally sitting down to blog. Some pictures from last week-

This picture made Jake sad...he thought she looked too grown up. I love it because it is a shirt from Sarah, our friend in Lebanon. I like to think Anniston loves wearing it and hearing stories of Lebanon....so I tell her of stories of a far off land...stories of our friends in Lebanon and our friends in Africa...that maybe one day she'll get to go see.

Playing with Geoffrey...her little giraffe friend.

Smiling...

Smiling again.

I am truly blessed.