Christmas Time With Edie

Once again Santa came to town before Christmas to make sure I was being a good girl. It took some convincing but I think I straightened him out.

Here I am enjoying a beautiful morning in my new Snow White gown. It made opening presents a little more formal and really set the mood for the rest of the day.

Here we all are at Mimi and Poppi's having Christmas "Macy Style" as Daddy calls it. This usually includes leisure sports such as boccie ball and disc golf in the front yard sprinkled with a generous portion of beer and/ or coffee.

Mommy and Lily after a long day of present opening and family togetherness.

Here I am fulfilling my role as "BIG SISTER". I'm really good at it.

THE ARRIVAL OF LILY JEANNE BAUER

After calling Mi-Mi to watch Edie, Mommy and Daddy rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. The contractions started strong and quickly built up but Mommy kept a smile on her face. Everyone at the hospital was impressed with Mommy's determination to go without an epidural. In the blink of an eye to the rest of us and an eternity for Mommy, I just popped out with no problems.

Hey Everybody!
Wow! That was quite a ride! Well here I am. Could someone please turn the heat up and maybe give me a bath. It's a little chilly in here and if you have not noticed, I am naked.

Oh Yeah, this is more like it. This is my Mommy. She's been feeding me for a long time now and it's really nice to meet her. This is really much more comfortable being in her arms than that dark belly.
This picture here is the definition of LOVE.

This is my Daddy. He's kind of goofy looking here but I can tell you that there is nobody more proud than this man.

Excuse me while I take a quick nap.

TIME TO MEET THE FAMILY

Hold on, still napping.

Ok... Now a quick bath and a back rub. Hey! Watch that thermometer lady! Al right, get some new duds on and...

Hey there!
This is my Aunt Rach. Seeing how she and Mommy are twins, it was very special to have her in the delivery room for my grand entrance. Mommy and Daddy were so glad for her to be there to share the moment. My big sister Edie tells me all about how fun Aunt Rach is and as soon as I have use of my own limbs and digits, I'll give her a big hug.I love her already.

This is my Uncle Gordon. After trying to convince one of the nurses that her past voting record and environmental practices are slowly turning our political system and our planet into a rubber stamping Wal-Mart style orgy of convictions and consumerism, they asked him to leave the room during the delivery. But when he came back I finally got to meet him and felt very secure and loved in his arms. Mommy and Daddy were very grateful for all the help from Gordon in the days leading up to my arrival and especially the many visits to the hospital room where he and Rach smuggled in some yummy sandwiches and beers and I'm proud to say the nurse has just donated $5000 and 10 hours a week to MOVEON.ORG

The next day my new Big Sister Edie came to visit me and we all became a family. In the days to come, Edie would keep touching my face and mouth when nobody was looking and with the lack of motor skills mentioned earlier, it has been very frustrating with no way to defend myself from the secretive jabs and pokes. (NOTE TO SELF: When I can finally speak, I'll need to bring this up to her)

MORE VISITS AND GETTING READY FOR HOME

Mi-Mi, who did an awsome job of watching Edie, stopped by to meet me! I am extremely proud to be another Graddaughter to Mi-Mi and I can tell by her gentle touch that after having 4 of her own kids, she still has lots of love to give. The joy and sweetness I see looking into Mi-Mi's eyes makes me excited to join the world and I look forward to her showing me the wonders of where we live.

Mommy and Daddy's friend Heather stopped by with Edie's friend Makayla. Heather is expecting too and her sweet daughter was kind enough not to poke me like Edie does.

Yeah, Yeah. I look like a little monkey. Ha-HA.

A quick little nap before we all go home.

With a Mommy like this, I can sleep easy knowing that everything will be alright and I am certainly loved by many.

Wintertime Fun

Today I decided it was time to give my bike another try. Daddy and I went across the street to the school parking lot and I actually rode it all by myself for about 20 laps. Mommy and Daddy were very proud of me and I was so excited, I rode all the way to Mi-Mi and Poppy's house and back all by myself.

The other day Aunt Rach took me for a walk to see the Donkeys and I got to bring some carrots to feed them. They looked cold but they loved the carrots. To keep from me getting cold, I dressed up in my favorite hat and my favorite dress and my favorite sweater and my favorite shoes and my favorite pants.

Here I am in my year old, but still quite fashionable, pumpkin sweater getting ready to give Daddy a check-up. You can see all my veterinarian examination tools on the seat.

Halloween Princess

Hey You! Your just in time to help me get ready for Halloween.

Just putting the finishing touches on my Fairy Queen costume. Some earrings and...Hey, where is my crown?

TA-DA! All rise for the entrance of the FAIRY QUEEN! We're at Killian and Fiona's house for a Halloween party.

C'mon! Let's Party!

Getting Ready For # 2

We are all very excited for the arrival of the newest Bauer baby. Mommy has done a great job fixing up the baby's new room and Daddy is working hard trying to finish up the bathroom remodel. Some days I go through my toys and pick out some for the baby, then I put them in her room where I think she'll like them.


Mommy is moving a lot slower and Daddy is rushing around more. They can't go to Daddy's work party so he invited all 100 of his co-workers to the delivery room for a party. He calls it the Bauer Family Christmas / Umbilical Chord Cutting Festival.
Hope you all can make it. There will be pink cigars and rubber gloves for all!

LEAF SEASON

This is the prettiest time of the year here in Western North Carolina

You can have Daddy rake up a big pile of leaves and jump in them

Or go for a hike and look at the mountains changing color before your eyes

Or even have 3 generations of love in 1 crispy, crunchy pile

Can you find me?

Nature is a beautiful thing

Happy Autumn and Happy Halloween!

Fall Fashion Week

I thought I would try out some of Mommy's mascara to thicken up my eyebrows a little.When the light is just so, it really brings out the color of my cheeks, don't you think?

When I raise my eyebrows up and down real fast, you can see it better. Huh? Huh?

WNC Mountain State Fair

The fair is back!
I get so excited when the fair comes to town. Games, rides, tractor races, nothing beats a good-old hillbilly ho-down.
Daddy and I rode on the flying Dumbo!

I went on my very first roller coaster! It went really fast and was soooo fun. I even put my hands in the air when we went down the hill.




These are what the animals looked like at the fair. We forgot to take pictures of them so here are some standards.



The camel rides are always fun. This year daddy went with me while mommy took pictures and cheered us on.

I thought my first ride on a ferris wheel would be scary. But mommy and daddy did a great job distracting me by pointing out all the things at the fair from way up high. It was great!

Carnies are an interesting bunch. Though carny lore speaks of the smell of cabbage and a disdain for the rules, I found their odor to resemble marlboros and fortified wine and was amazed at their insistance of mommy not going on any rides due to her pregnancy. After some clever 1 dollar bill folding to make it look like a handful of cash, daddy slipped one of them a bogus tip and they let mommy on her first ride of the day. It was a long loud and active day but in the end, there is no better place to be than at the fair next to mommy on the merry-go-round waving to daddy as we go round and round.

Pre-School Orientation

On Monday Mommy and Daddy took me to my pre-school orientation.
They are putting the finishing touches on the brand new school and Thurday I start my first day, all by myself.


Here is our new playdground at school. The Asheville Montessori School lets us go out and play for 25 minutes every morning to get the sleepies out.

Inside, they help teach us using tactile learning tools where we touch everything we learn about.

Miss Carrie, Miss Jessica, Miss Anna and Miss Brenda go from student to student and help us learn to use our new equipment and encourage us to teach ourselves independance.

They even have Driver's-Ed.

LAAFF

We just went to the Lexington Ave. Arts & Fun Festival in Asheville. We think it's the most interesting and fun of the festivals in town and we had a great time.


There are lots of giant puppets and costumes.

Bicycle Jousting was one of the highlights of the day.

Mi-Mi and I trading fashion tips with a weird lady.