Let's go White Sox!

Last night we were able to take Hayden to her very first White Sox game. She had so much fun watching all of 37,000+ people. She seemed to be wondering why all of them were not paying attention to HER.
Within the first 10 min. of the game Hayden also made a 10 sec. appearance on the jumbo screen via Fischer's Fan Cam. She was too cute!
The White Sox won 4-3 against the Tigers. Go Sox!

Copy-cat.

Hayden loves to imitate Ryan. They were doing this for about 15 min. before I started filming. Guess we better watch what we do and say around this little copy-cat.

Squash Baby!

Hayden LOVES squash! This time we just let her have fun and get as messy as she wanted.

Happy Birthday Daddy/Ryan!

Which one?

Ford Escape 2006


Jeep Liberty Sport 2006

We have been looking to get one of these SUV's. Let us know if you have any comments!

New Baby News!

Smith Baby #2

Wow! I just realized that I have not posted anything about the "New Baby". I am currently 18 weeks along (due Oct. 28th) and feeling great! I must be honest, I am so busy with Hayden that I sometimes forget that I am pregnant. The time is going much faster with this pregnancy. We will find out the sex of the baby in a few weeks. I will keep you all posted!

More Vacation Fun....

This was Hayden's second time swimming. As you can see she seems to like it. She will be starting swimming lessons at the YMCA next month, but we thought we would give her a head start.




Ryan is giving a little recap of what we did on our last day of vacation. Hayden at this point had been awake for about 16 hours. She did eventually fall asleep 1 hour later.
We briefly refer to a mouse being in our room earlier. This did happen. Ryan went to the bathroom around 5:30am and all I heard was "Oh God, oh God" followed by some very loud stomping sounds on the tile....He killed it and we moved rooms.

First Vacation!

Sleep does not come easy on vacation...



On the suspension bridge!


We took Hayden on her first vacation! We all enjoyed the lovely surroundings and time away at Turkey Run State Park.
Hayden had a blast! She totally knew that this was a special time with mom and dad.
She also was able to go swimming for the first time.
Here are some pictures from our little trip.

Dancing Daddy!

Hayden loves watching Ryan dance and shake his head. I know this video is long and sideways, but hope you can enjoy it anyway.

Carrots Suck!

This is Hayden about 2 weeks ago trying to eat carrots for the first time....

Her favorite foods are:
Applesauce
Pears
Pineapples
Oranges
White Grapes
Squash

Foods she DOES NOT like:
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots

I think God intended us to sing so that lungs fill to capacity at least weekly

I find it unnerving to think about breathing. Jeff Gibson was my wife's lung doctor in Memphis. No real fear of downsizing in that field. I recently remembered to take a deep breath after some 100 days of intensely shallow breathing. I breathe shallow to control my environment. Perhaps I believe that personal stillness will calm the people around me. A succulent gulp of air portends outer madness for me. What a self-centered notion! To deeply believe that by modeling austerity I can prevent others from acting on impulses toward freedom and sincerity of expression. Well, this is what I do. Incidentally, I haven't excercised or sung at church in a long time. The exercise trickled down to mere nothingness during the beginning of this school year. My apathy in personal worship began several years ago. But I was thinking yesterday (Sunday) that my spiritual sluggishness could actually cause my physical undoing. While other jolly souls are filling their sacs and hearts with air, I might be robbing myself of life-giving and airborne sustenance. I also drank green tea yesterday and this seemed to undo approximately 1/3 of the damage caused by spritual apathy/non-exercising.

Revolution!!!

The fight won't last long boys. The citizens of Verona and the frustrated Prince will come and spoil all your fun. But bite that thumb and frown. It's your scene! Swift pleasure is good medicine. For the youth of Verona, a quarrel eases the ennui of a Sunday morning. For us modern souls, just residing within the confines of the weekend heals our broken workaday spirits. As Garrison Keilor said this evening, "Fall has come to Minnesota." Fall has come to Indiana as well. My autumnal load of freshman essays has fallen heavily. But the wife, the prenatal kitten, and I escaped and trekked out for some towning today. We explored Lowell, Indiana and spotted old treasures varnished new (a hobby my father has reveled in lately). We saw a library table, twin to the one I type on now. And we drove through Cedar Lake and wondered what new mutations of white trash will grace this planet in the coming years. We've always anticipated a holiday like this Saturday and we pay tribute to it with deep inhalations of smouldering maple leaves!

Empty nest leads family to invite fine furniture burglars

Our daughter has made herself cozy in my wife's belly. Why did we buy this oak hewn crib? It's no enticement to our little queen. And after all, wouldn't the money invested at prime have yielded sweet dividends in the time that the crib has sat vacant? Real estate. You set up a devastatingly posh pad, sow your seed, and expect a little remuneration in the form of earth attendance. But our shy lass is drinking in the elixir of the purgatorial womb. She enjoys our sounds and our nutrients. She betrayed papa by clapping to a Jimmy Buffet song. Come on out little angel and lend me your ears. Daddy wants to teach you all about Obscure ALT> Rock.

Bad shoes tire thighs (Thanks alot Johnston and Murphy)

I've been having a peculiar radiating heat in my left heel. It's not unpleasant; it feels rather alike to someone pouring hot coacoa down the back of my shoe. If the warmness was in any other area of my body it might even feel refreshing and therapeutic. But I know better than to ignore a hither to latent heel pain. What's worse is that my thighs are always tired. You may smile, thinking I'm being bawdy or suggestive, but if you've ever been exhausted in the region of this major muscle group, you know that it can take the zest right out of things. For instance, walking has been the pits. I've been sliding instead of the typically executed way of walking. If you are considering buying Johnston and Murphy shoes, save your money and buy Rockports instead. I haven't taken a good honest step in 3 months.

19 days and counting...

Well, I am eagerly and impatiently waiting for the birth of our baby girl. "They" say she should be here by Nov. 22
I had my 6th ultrasound yesterday and she looks healthy and strong and weighs a whopping 6 lbs. and 3 oz. (approximately). Although, "they" do say that ultrasound weight estimates can be off by 1 lb. up or down...This was the second time however that the technician commented on her slightly larger, but normal head size. I can only hope this estimate is slightly wrong.
All that to say, I can't wait to meet my perfectly beautiful baby!