one year ago...

WARNING: the following post maybe hazardous to your tear ducts. it may cause an excessive amount of damage to your mascara and\or make-up application in general, and a little tug on your ovaries in a "i-gotta-get-me-one-of-those" kind of way. proceed with the utmost of caution! ;)

so our little\big man turns one today. it is almost impossible to believe that this tiny baby, who spent five days in the nicu, is a big, babbling, WALKING (yes he is taking about six-ten steps now) boy. look at this football comparison...

so hard to believe! so here's a little stroll down memory lane.

clif and i decided we should probably have one last "date" before the baby came. this is two days before bauer was born.

and here is the morning of...it never ceases to amaze me just how BIG one's nose can get! (or belly for that matter!)

the debut moment (folks, this is never before seen footage).....awwwww!!!

that is one happy momma...

and a pretty happy, proud daddy, too!

sweet little man in the nicu.

big sister loving little brother, and mommy loving those kiddos. what a blessing you are in our lives, mr. bauer. i cannot imagine a day without your beautiful, smiling face. we love you so much, and thank god for choosing us as your parents! happy 1st birthday!! :)

birthday boy bauer!

ok, so i promised myself i wouldn't get all mushy with THIS post...but look at that gorgeous baby!!

how is it possible that an entire year has gone by?! sniff..sniff...ok, enough. so today was bauer's party and (if i do say so myself) it was GREAT!
here is the family in front of the gift from mommy and daddy (yes, one gift...they are only ten days apart they can share.) it's a new playhouse. it is super cool...i promise to post more picture of it soon.

popa and dot dot came, so bauer (of course) had to get a little lovin' from his grandpa.

i don't do "themes" very well, or party favors, so here was my attempt at both. the idea is "our little sweet is turning one". so here were the sweet treats, and each kid got to take them home.

i LOVE this picture of setler. i don't know what in the world he is excited about, but i sure am glad he is enjoying himself.

and so are aunt shannon and cousin jackson!

looks like thomas is too...can you believe that playhouse is so big that harriett, thomas, vivian, harrison, jackson, and bauer were all in there at once?

finally, after all that play it was time for a little cake. i must say, i was super proud of my cake idea. it came out quite nicely.

i guess we look a little bit proud.....but wouldn't you?! :)

mmmm....cake is good.

"hey cousin jackson. did you see my cake?"

"yeah man, it looks good. do you like it?"

"you better believe I LOVE IT!"

my friend jill took this picture, at first i didn't get why, but most babies on their first birthday leave a HUGE mess. are you asking where the mess is? well, that's the point. bauer ate it ALL!!

next it was time for presents, luckily, gege gave us a much needed hand.

it was a beautiful day, with great friends and family! thanks to everyone for making our big birthday boy's day so very special!!

she's here!!!!

FINALLY, at 3:44 am jon embry lee arrived...weighing 6 lbs. and 11 oz. and 19 1/2 inches, she has a full beautiful head of dark curly hair...and the sweetest little long, lady-like, fingers EVER!

i was privileged enough to get to see the lee's in person this afternoon (heck, you know i busted up in there!), and they were doing great!

jon embry and i even had a little moment of our own. welcome sweet girl...we love you and are SO happy to be a part of your blessed life! oh, btw congrats to big brothers harrison and thomas as well!!

the school "days"

what a face to wake up to on the first day of the school year!! even filled with boogers, that is one happy (and super cute) kiddo.

i'm afraid mr.bauer's sister, on the other hand, was a little more resistant to the end of her lazy summer days.

but alas, everyone was dressed and ready to go...(is this the "mom take the picture already" smile?)

wait...there is the real thing. sniff, sniff...how is this my tiny BABY?! he looks too big!!

miss vivian was so happy to see her buddy drew. don't they look big, too?

even little\big ben was in good spirits. look at him getting his groove on before class...
but, this is my favorite miss vivian shot of the day. when i asked her how her school day went, she said, "don't worry, mommy...it was good." :)

and so do you know what every big school girl does after a full day of learning? comes home to play outside and ride her bike, of course. ;)

we hope each of your school years are off to a great start!

a cocktail baby shower

we are so excited to announce that our dear friends, jon and celeste, are adopting a little girl! she is due august 21st, and will be named jon embry. last night (yes, 24 hours post op) we celebrated their soon to arrive addition by co-hosting a baby shower with the baker's and the burkett's.

kelly hogan baker, mom-to-be celeste, me, and charla foster burkett. technically the boys were hosts too, but i didn't get their pictures. we are so happy for you, and can't wait to meet our new niece!!

a bit belated birthday wish.

to sweet aunt su, who turned 28 on the 15th! hope you had a great day! love ya, girl!! (btw, yes this is my new fav pic of you two, and i totally stole it from miss james!)

so long, farewell, auf weidersehen, adieu...

...to mommy's appendix, a hemorrhagic cyst, and a bit o'ovary! yep, that's right folks. oh where, oh where, has little blogger somer been? in the hos-pi-tal! so here's the story: thursday night i felt a bit poorly. i didn't sleep well, and finally got up at 4am with severe abdominal cramping (this might be tmi, so beware as you read ahead), i figured i had some sort of stomach bug and headed for the main bathroom (as to not wake anyone up). at 7:30 that is where clif found me. the pain had gone from severe to intense and i was a bit nervous. i began throwing up (not from nausea, but literally the pain was overtaking me), i found that the bradley method used in child labor was all that helped. clif came to check on me at some point, bring a new barf bucket, and (this is the hardest part to believe) i was utterly speechless. he told me he was taking bauer to dad's and vivian was asleep, i was just barely able to nod. it wasn't ten minutes later i knew something was very, very, VERY wrong, and i was afraid. the cold sweats had drenched ALL of me and my pj's, and i was shaking uncontrollably. i managed to find my cell phone and dial 911, then dial celeste. thank god we are so connected as friends that all i had to utter was "sissy, come get vivian." and might i just add, she made it BEFORE the ambulance!! jon was waiting for me at the hospital, and clif was on his way, so they began a fury of tests and scans. the appendix looked "oddly placed and suspicious", and my white count was 20,000, so it was a pretty good estimate the appendix was the culprit. after a brief discussion i was off to the or. NOW, if you have made it this far HERE is the kicker. after the initial location of the appendix dr. d noticed excessive blood. I WAS HEMORRHAGING from somewhere! he quickly located a ovarian cyst that had burst. so as i like to say, "i got a 2 for 1 deal!" after removing the cyst (and small piece of ovary) AND that pesky appendix (which just happened to be a life saver THIS time...i mean it is what made us head to the or to start with) i was back in my room before 8:30 pm. the next day i got up at 5am, took a shower, washed my hair, put on a little bit of "boostick" and went for a walk around the hospital. it is amazing how great you feel when you aren't hemorrhaging internally!

and just as proof of how happy and great i feel, i made clif take a picture.

oh, this is what poor cliffy had to do most of the day...keep up with the insane number of quiznos emails...he has a love/hate relationship with that blackberry, i swear it!

and here is happy me going home...twenty four hours after being admitted, and only a little more than twelve after surgery. see i told you i was ok! thanks to everyone for their love and prayers. thanks to jon, my hero anesthesiologist, sissy for taking vivian, daddy and dotdot for spending the night with the kiddos, steph for the visit, and jill for the flowers. and a very special thank you to my cliffy, who helped me pee no less than twenty times last night (that is something only true love can provide). i am so blessed to have all of you as a part of my life! :)

miss cindy

so today yet ANOTHER smith cousin enters their thirties...welcome to the gang miss cindy!! (only one of us is left now...i wonder who that could be?) hope you have a great day!
btw, notice how the only male cousin in this generation is sitting in the corner wondering "why he has to hang out with all these girls?!" i guess somethings never change, eh chuck?

best-est bedtime buddies

due to daylight savings time, summer time, and i am sure many other various "time" issues, vivian's sleeping regime this summer has been less than stellar. now let me just say WHEN she does go to bed she sleeps all night, BUT getting her to go to sleep is....let's just say challenging.

lately she has needed a light, several books, "wubbies", a drink of water, and momo. tonight they looked so cute cuddled together i couldn't help but take a picture. i asked vivian why monday wasn't sleeping at the foot of the bed and she said, "mommy, she needs a pillow." oooohhhh, of course. after about ten minutes i went to turn off the light, guessing monday had moved to the foot and vivian was asleep, and this is what i found...

both of my big girls out like lights.

can you see how vivian is trying to hold her hand...

and how she used the extra blanket to cover her up. all together now.....aaaaahhhhh! :)

happy hump day

wednesdays are supposed to be yucky (or so i hear), but if that is true today proved to be the exception. we had a great playdate with the always sweet dillman boys. topped off with a so-so lunch and yummy homemade cupcakes. or at least miss vivian...

and big man drew thought so! then a nice quite visit with miss kat and the brand new nate. (his momma calls him nater-tater, which i think is super cute.) this amazing woman gave birth six weeks ago (in her bathroom at home*) and is wearing her pre-pregnancy jeans! i would say i hate her, but you gotta love a woman who can do all that, AND remodel a kitchen! :)

and during our fun visit, nate even gave us one of his signature old man faces...aaaaaaahhhh! yep, i definitely have baby fever....sigh.

*seriously, check out the link...the story is UN-BE-LIEVABLE!

mini monkey miss vivian

today was vivian's first gymnastics class. i don't know who was more excited me or her.

she looked so sweet in her "nastics" outift, but for some unknown reason did not want to smile for the camera. take one.

take two.

take three? ok, let's just go. we were a bit early, so even bauer got to play a little. (and even bauer apparently didn't want his picture taken.)

finally it was time. there were four girls in the mini monkey class (and yes, vivian was the smallest.)

but she was also the cutest and most enthusiastic!

weeeee! sliding down the wedge...

and a front roll with help from miss mandy.

look at that excited little face! we were even treated to dinner afterwards at the mcd's tree house where we met the lee boys. i'm so proud of you, miss vivian...you are such a fun, smart, and beautiful big girl! mommy loves you!!