Pumpkin Patch

Our first trip to the pumpkin patch was admittedly a little lame.  It was windy and cold and I was days from having a baby...but we went.  We ran around and looked at all the pumpkins.  We didn't even get one.  But Anniston didn't mind that I didn't get great pictures and that we didn't get a pumpkin- she had a blast just looking at them- picking them up and moving them around.  This girl is pretty easy to please.  Anniston reminds me when I am trying to create the perfect memory that Joy can be found in the simplest of things...like a 5 minute trip to look at a bunch of pumpkins in piles.  

Big Girl Room

We really went back and forth on what to do with Anniston once Benton arrived.  Should we keep her in her crib or move her to a big girl bed?  Well, we finally decided to go ahead and take the plunge and move her to a big girl room.  We had a great time.  Mom and Anniston went for ice cream while Dad put the finishing touches on the room.

So we came home and introduced her to her new big girl room.  What fun!

 She loved it!  She played in her bed, played in her tent, and read books with Dad.  What a fun first night!

She did better than I ever could have imagined.  We said good night and watched her from her monitor- she played for about 15 minutes then climbed into bed and went to sleep all night long!  Success!  Way to go Anniston!

Summer Days after the move

This has been a great summer.  The weather has been unusually cool, which has been awesome for lots of outdoor fun.  We play in the backyard, we take walks almost every night to the park, and we soak up every day as a family of three while anxiously awaiting the arrival of our son.

Anniston loves painting.  We paint outside, in her high chair, in the bath tub...wherever!  The only thing we are working on is not eating the paint...let's hope the paint isn't toxic!

Lots of the summer days are spent outside.  She loves bubbles, riding her car, and playing in the mud.  Again, we are working on not eating the mud.  Yes, that's mud around her mouth.

One of the many walks home from the park on a gorgeous evening.

Anniston loves to help Dad wash the cars.

Anniston also likes to help mom get work done.  I took a quick break from work and came back to find Anniston was picking up the slack while I was away.

 While we had lots of outdoor fun, we also found some fun indoors.  Anniston loves the book store...

and checking out the lizards at the Sam Noble Museum.

And playing at the mall...but most importantly getting a treat at the mall...

Her favorite indoor activities include curling up in her Cinderella blanket to watch Cinderella and reading Cinderella.

She has also started to help mom cook.  This has increased the time it takes to make food, but is also lots of fun.

One fun evening we took a trip to Dave and Buster's with friends.  Anniston was the big winner of the night, earning 2,000 tickets and two stuffed animals.  She was thrilled!

One of my favorite nights was when our dear friend Whitney came home and we got to celebrate her with a dinner at Hideaway.  It was so good to see her and catch up on her adventures in Africa.  She is really seeing amazing movements of God and is reaping a great harvest right now.  It was fun to celebrate with her!

 Another fun dinner was a family trip up to Pops.  Anniston tried her first soda and hated it- too spicy.  But she did enjoy her ice cream treat!

Anniston and Dad walking hand in hand.  She looks a little sassy here.

But she doesn't look sassy here...so sweet and beautiful.

She got all dressed up because Nana and Pops were coming to visit in their new RV.  Anniston was ready to drive!

Last but not least as we close the summer chapter, here's a shot of our freezer.  Yep, it's true.  That's what happens when mom is pregnant in the summer.

 We are so thankful for all the blessings of a wonderful summer.  Now on to the adventures of Fall!

Weekend in Tulsa

We decided to take a trip to Tulsa with Anniston before the baby came.  The first thing on the agenda was going to her first movie, Turbo.  She did awesome.  Just give this girl some candy and some popcorn and she's happy!    

The next day we went to the aquarium.  This was really fun- Anniston LOVES fish.  She gets really excited about seeing the fish at the pet store so the aquarium was definitely a treat.

Anniston and Dad checking out some jellyfish.

My husband is a gifts guy.  He loves gifts, so he had to get Anniston a gift to commemorate the first trip to the aquarium.  It was no surprise that Anniston picked Nemo.

Didn't take long for her to crash once we got in the car.  Tulsa wore this girl out...but there was no tearing her away from her new pal Nemo.

Big News!!

This post is long overdue, but that makes it no less exciting.

Let's back up a bit....when I was pregnant with Anniston, Jake and I would talk about our plans for our next little one.  He would say that he wanted them to be really close in age, probably around 18 months apart...I on the other hand, had a time frame of about 2 1/2 years apart in my mind.  I had no idea what I  would think about being a mom and no idea what to expect and the earliest I even wanted to talk about another one was after Anniston was a year old...then Anniston came along.

When Anniston came along, both of our stories changed.  Jake wanted to wait longer.  He wanted to take time to enjoy Anniston and not rush into another kiddo.  I was so in love with motherhood that I wanted to have more kids as soon as possible- I wanted to throw every practical thought I had out of my mind and continually churn these amazing creations out as quickly as possible.  Well, as we talked and planned, we also had in the back of our minds Anniston's story.  The story that reminds us that we are not in control and the story that reminds us that His plans are always better than ours.  So we landed on starting to talk about another one when we returned from my 30th birthday trip in Mexico- knowing also that we were trusting in His perfect timing.  Mexico was our starting point because I wanted to feel 100% on my trip and able to eat great food and sit on the beach and drink my Pina Coladas...and then come home and think about more babies....well- the week before we departed for Mexico, I held in my hand a test confirming that once again, God's plans are better than ours.  We were having another one!  I was so excited but wasn't sure what Jake would think, as this wasn't our plan.  So he came home from work and Anniston and I were there to greet him and let him know that it was time to CELEBRATE!  And celebrate we did- he was ecstatic as well, just as I hoped he would be.  We laughed and rejoiced and praised God for His perfect timing once again.  How fun that after such a long season of waiting for Anniston, this little one comes as a surprise!  He is so so good isn't He?  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  So we found out that by the end of October, our family would be a family of four!  The next week we packed our bags and headed off to sunny Mexico, full of yes, great food and a few virgin Pina Coladas!  No complaints here!

We went with a pretty standard way of spreading the news when you have a second one coming- you use your first one to do it!  Anniston proudly wore her shirt around to tell our family about the new arrival.

I think the longest part of pregnancy is between the time you find out you are pregnant and when you find out what you are having.  I'm always SO excited to find out and it feels like forever until that day comes.  Well, the day finally came and we are so incredibly thrilled that IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!  We are so excited about the arrival of our son in October.  We already had a name picked out because well, Jake picked out the names for three of our kids, assuming we would have two girls and a boy, years ago...for a boy, we really like alliterations, so something that started with a B to go with Bauer.  We really love the name Ben but didn't feel like Benjamin was the right name...so we landed on Benton Bauer!  Benton's middle name will be Clay, after my dad.

We can't wait for October to get here so we can meet Benton Clay!  We love him so much already!

Moving Out

This Spring we began talking about the possibility of moving.  A lot of change is coming our way and we thought that if we were going to move, now might be the time to do it.  About the same time we began thinking about this possibility, my parents decided to look at houses in Norman.  With my dad retiring this year, they started toying with the idea of moving to Norman to live more day to day with us and with their grandkids.  What a dream!  Jake and I love the idea of having family close by as our kids grow up- the more people investing in their lives the better.

Well, they did a better job house hunting than we did because they quickly found a house they loved and planned to close in early July.  As they began to plan for their move to Norman, they realized their schedules didn't really allow them to be here a lot this first year.  So they made us a very generous offer:  we could live in their house while we put ours on the market so we didn't have to show it while we lived there.  We could look for a house and sell ours while we lived in their house.  We accepted their offer and put a For Sale sign in our yard quickly after.  Well, four days later, we had a contract and two days after that inspections were done and we were headed towards closing at the end of July.  It all happened so fast.  Before we knew it, we were moving out and moving one mile west to my parents house.

People ask me if I'm sad to leave my house.  Honestly, with the busyness of life, I haven't stopped to think about it much.  My focus has been on getting moved out and getting settled in our temporary home at my parents...but when I do take a minute to think about this house- this house we lived in for four years, the house that we brought our daughter home from the hospital to, the house that we watched her grow for almost two years, the house where we became parents- this house will always hold a special place in our hearts...and I'm sure one day we'll drive by and tell Anniston "This was the house we lived in when you were born" and that will be fun.  But I also know that God has something awesome for us in this next season and there will be another house out there just ready to be filled with more memories of a growing family....so no, I'm not sad.  I'm anticipating a great new adventure ahead of us!  So long 520 Piney Oak- you were a great house!