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.