Walking Machine

The B-man is a walking machine lately. He officially walks more than he crawls now, which is a a fun adjustment for us. This video is a couple of weeks old, but you can see him walk at least.

Winter Wonderland

For those of you not blessed with the Winter Wonderland weather the last few days, here a couple of pictures to give you a glimpse of life in Manhappiness.

Our neighbor built a great snowman and fort over the weekend. I took this picture yesterday, 6 days after our snowstorm began!
And here's a picture of the middle of the snowstorm. I took this one last Tuesday afternoon walking out of my office.

We had about 8 inches of snow, but then the wind blew and it drifted all over the place. It made everything so pretty. Our back yard is still covered and it's great!

Rachael Ray-Southwest Chicken Bake

I tried a new Rachael Ray recipe last week and it turned out Yumm-O! Southwest Chicken Bake was fantastic. I think it was from the 365:No Repeats cookbook, but I could be wrong on that. Chicken, pasta, cheese, spice--what could be better than that combo?
Oh yes, vegetables are good, too. So we had a big salad to go with it. We've been on a big salad kick lately; trying to get more veggies into our diet.

What have you been eating lately? Anything new? Anything good?

Working with Dad

See, hanging out with Dad while he works. Fortunately Dad is multi-talented, so he can conduct a post-game show while entertaining the B-man!

Radio Star in the Making?

The B-man got to check out Dad's headset at the women's game the other night.
He didn't know quite what to make of it, but he enjoyed hanging out with Dad. He's been on a big Dad kick lately, especially at the games. He would much rather walk over to Dad and bother him instead of hanging out with mom.

2nd Annual Winter Runderland

Mom got to finally run in her first organized race post-baby!!! Yeah, I realize that should have happened a long time ago, but hey, better late than never, right?

So, I ran in the 2nd annual Winter Runderland hosted by my very favorite friends at Manhattan Running Company. I did the 10K relay with my good buddy Shelby--she ran the first half and did the 2nd half. The first half was hillier, so Shelby got the short end of the stick with that one. But hey, she's way faster than me and can handle those hills. She joined me at about mile 4.5 and finished off the race with me.

It was a balmy 30 degrees when the race started and we enjoyed some nice snow/sleet moisture throughout the day. Here I am, just before the start of the race.
And afterwards, having survived the chilliness. Truth be told, I was plenty warm after the first 1/2 mile. I even had to shed a layer because I got too hot.

Does it make you want to go out and run??? It was actually pretty fun and several of us gals have decided that iced-over hair is our new style.

Christmas Tree

The B Smoller clan headed out for some Christmas Tree hunting the Saturday after Thanksgiving. WE stopped by a local tree farm and perused the selection of trees in some very nice and mild weather.

We found our tree rather quickly. Brady has quite the view of everything from Dad's shoulders.

We needed to make the tree so it could be cut down, but Brady much preferred to play with the container rather than put it on the tree.

Success! The tree is home and all decorated. A decorated picture will come later, but it's up and looks oh so pretty. Brady doesn't seem too obsessed with it yet, but we'll see if that lasts.

Laughter

Okay, so just ignore the view on the video, but turn up the volume and listen. Brady had a great laugh these days and I managed to get a few seconds of it, but only by tickling him with one hand and taping with the other. Needless to say, that was a bit tricky. So, turn up the volume and close your eyes!

Birthday pics

Finally getting up some pictures from the birthday festivities.

Brady found Lightning McQueen very quickly and hasn't ignored a day since his birthday! He likes the gas tank noise the most, closely followed by the radio playing. Mom and Dad think it's some kind of torture device (albeit a cute one).
All these gifts and he had to put on a sad face. Don't remember what brought this out.

More playing. Look at all that stuff! He won't need new toys for a long time.

All right. Down to business--eating cake! And getting messy!

He was a little cautious eating the cake at first, but once he figured out it was okay, he dug right in and got it everywhere. Cake eating was promptly followed by bath time!

The party was a huge success. We are so very blessed by all of our friends and family--thanks everybody!

Another baby is on the way!!!

But not one in this Family. Got you there, didn't I? Heehee.

Our good friends Brandon & Kelly are adding to their family sometime around June 14th next year. We are pretty darn excited for them and just wanted give them a big Congratulations, blog style.

I wonder if they'll need to change their blog to Yoderbabies instead of Yoderbaby?

Monthly Montage

So, I can't get more than 5 pictures in one blog entry, so the monthly montage will be broken into 3 parts. Happy viewing!

1 month old
2 months old

Monthly Montage, Part II

3-months old
4 months old (he looks so bald in this picture; why?)

5 months old

6 months old (and hanging out in OKC as the Big 12 baseball tournament. A little change of scenery for the monthly pic).

7-months old

Monthly Montage, Part III

8 months old
9 months old

10 months old

11-months old

One-year old

One. Year. Old

Really. The B-man is officially one year old. The big day was yesterday and we had a great party. I will have lots of posts this week to get everything up, but at the minimum we had to put up his one-year picture with Pooh. No more of these pictures--Brady doesn't want to sit still long enough to take a picture anymore. I had to bribe him with the remote yesterday.
And this is the beginning of taking off down the couch.

Stay tuned! More to come this week.

Good-bye Bottle

In more milestone news, Brady has also officially switched to the sippy cup instead of the bottle. He still isn't a total expert at the cup, but he's getting there.
He particularly enjoys being able to bang the sippy cup on his high chair and make all kinds of loud noises.

All the bottles get to be packed up--the amount of storage needed for this baby stuff is amazing!

Let the walking begin

So, it is now official. Brady can walk. It's no big distance or anything, but he can take a couple of steps without holding on to anything before he plops back down on his butt. First was last night and then he has done it at daycare today, too.

Headbands

So, I got a free headband from good 'ol Manhattan Running Company when I attended Ladies Night and bought some running swag. On a sidenote, they have this new "shoe" that I had decided I want. If anybody needs Christmas ideas, check out the Vibram Five Finger Shoes. They may look weird, but I want them.

Anyway, we put the headband on Brady to see how he reacted, and it was pretty good. Doesn't like the headband, but doesn't scream or throw a tantrum when we put it on him either.
He did immediately figure out how to take it off. And that wasn't shocking.

More Halloween

Our first stop was at Shelby's house for the finishing touches on the costume. Here's the B-man still looking suspicious of all this Halloween commotion.
After Shelby, we headed over to Susan & Kenny's house for some treats (and saw a ton of trick-or-treaters in their neighborhood).

And here's the B-man with Mom, still not flashing a big smile.

After visiting the folks in Manhattan, we headed home. Dad held down the fort and handed out treats at our house while Brady and I hit the neighborhood. We saw lots and lots of kids out and got to visit with the neighbors, so it was a good night. Came home with all kinds of treats for Mom & Dad since the B-man doesn't get to eat the sweet stuff yet. He did score some Goldfish crackers and Teddy Grahams from Susan, though, and he will get to eat those! After all that fun, he had some dinner and crashed. It's hard work looking so adorable!

Halloween Treats!

Halloween was a resounding success with the B-man! He took a very late nap on Saturday, which is thought would thwart our trick-or-treating plans, but he made it a short one and after he was dressed, we headed out and about.

Here he is just getting started. The costume was quite toasty; we actually could have used some cooler weather, but we survived anyway.
And here is the B-man with his adorable tiger face. Our good friend Shelby put the finishing touches on the ensemble while I held him. He was fascinated--didn't move a bit while Shelby drew on his face. What a good kid!

Hmmm, what is this? Can I put it in my mouth? What does Tootsie Roll mean?

Really, you're going to let me have it?

Are you sure I can do this? This last one is such a mischievous look--pretty sure that is a sign of things to come.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! The B-Man is going to be a tiger for Halloween. We aren't doing much. Trick-or-treating at the homes of a few friends and then heading home to watch some K-State football. Dad traveled twice this week, so we're going to have some family time at home. We'll try to take more pictures this evening, but here's a sneak peek of the tiger costume.
Brady is really not so sure about those paws. He just keeps trying to eat them, as you can see. Putting things into our mouth remains his favorite activity.
"What are these things on my hands?"

Little Man Indeed

Brady has begun wearing more shirts instead of onesies and he just looks so much older when he wears his little shirts. I realize that is just Mom talking, but he is just growing up so fast!

Here's our little man wearing his new football sweater. Isn't he darling?

Football Sleep

Brady took a brief snooze during the football game last weekend with Susan and I couldn't help but snap a picture. He was so comfortable in her lap.

11 Months

Only one day late with the 11-month-old pictures! It's been a hectic week of dodging the swine flu in our house. Our day care provider's son had it last weekend and then one of the girls from day care also came down with it this week. But so far all is well in the Smoller household.

These pictures are really hard to take; I think we'll try for a one-year shot and then call it quits on the Pooh pictures. The B-Man does not want to sit!Here he is with his serious face.
Finally, freedom! Standing and playing on the couch.
Then taking a little snooze after playing with Dad all morning.
At 11 months, Brady still eats everything we put in front of him. His favorite items lately seem to be cheese, bananas, and peaches. He can stand on his own for several seconds at a time. He can walk as he holds on to furniture. He still loves bath time, but really dislikes having his diaper changed. In fact, he dislikes restraint of any kind: the car seat, diaper-changing time, the high chair, etc. This kid wants his freedom.

Wow, almost a year old. Yikes.