Thursday, December 31, 2009

Owen's First Christmas!

Owen had a very nice first Christmas! Mommy and Daddy got him a new jumper to keep him entertained. He really seems to like sitting in the jumper - he squeals with happiness, laughs, and talks a lot while he's in it. Daddy hung all of his favorite toys off of the bar, so that they dangle in front of Owen. He can grab his favorite rattle (which he got for Christmas from his grandparents) and put it in his mouth. He also has a good view of Betsy running around while he's in the jumper. The jumper will also make sounds and light up if Daddy can find the batteries that fit in it.Kathleen's parents got Phil a camera for the computer this year for Christmas so that we can use Skype to communicate with them. Since we didn't get to see Kathleen's family at Christmas this year, we opened our presents with them a few days before Christmas via Skype. It wasn't the same as being with them, but at least the new technology let us see them and talk to them all at once. Owen got a few plush toys (Big Bird, Grover, and Elmo) and some books. Owen and Phil got shirts that say "Little Guy" and "Big Guy." We got Kathleen's parents and brothers all books for Christmas. After they opened the presents, the audio coming from their end got very quite - they started reading the books before we were done with our Skype session.

For the few days around Christmas, we went down to visit with Grandmom and Grandpop (Phil's parents) in Delaware. We had a very nice time with them and they (of course) had a great time paying a lot of attention to their grandson! Mommy and Daddy even got to go out to dinner and a movie one night (saw Sherlock Holmes, which was excellent!)

On the way home from Phil's parents, we stopped by the see Owen's Great Grandmother (Mommom) in Delaware, and had nice short, but very nice visit with her.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Busy Holiday Season

Ugh... I'm over a week behind in posting to the blog.

Anyways, last weekend (before this past one), we had a very busy weekend. Friday night, we had a little neighborhood Christmas party. It was a chance to let some of our friends who haven't met Owen to actually meet him. One of Phil's coworkers just bought a house in our neighborhood, so the party also provided a chance for him to meet the neighbors. Owen had a great time, but tuckered out and fell asleep on the neighbor's daughter.

On Saturday, we went to a 30th-birthday party for another one of Phil's coworkers - Bridget! They started the party early so that all of the babies could stop by then.

On Sunday, Kathleen's old roommate from college Liz and her husband Michael came down to visit and to meet Owen. The morning started off rather icy and unfortunately their bus got stuck on the interstate for 1-1/2 hours. But they eventually got here, and we had a nice lunch out and coffees at home before they headed back to NYC.

This past weekend was not as busy. We mostly hung out at our house and waited for the snow to come. We had our first fire of the year. Betsy really enjoyed hanging out in front of the fireplace with us - she got out her best bones to chew on with us.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Big Boys eat Solid Food

Last week, we started Owen on a little solid food: a little rice cereal in his bottles, and also rice cereal mixed with a little formula and spoon fed. So, of course, that's been a little effort. He's starting to get the hang of eating from a spoon, but he still spits a lot of the cereal out and we have to spoon it off his chin. And he gets a little frustrated because the food isn't coming fast enough for his liking. But he loves it if you play the plane-in-the-hangar game and go zzzzzz while you're feeding him (such a stereotype!) Kathleen has also discovered that if you distract him with a rattle right after feeding him, he'll swallow the cereal. He does seem to really enjoy having a full belly after eating the rice cereal. And, as a final note, he's so adorable sitting in his high chair - such a big boy!

Other things of note... Kathleen discovered last week that Owen really likes it if you bark at him like a dog. Also, he really likes it if you call him Mr. O'Paddy Smith (i.e., Owen Patrick Smith). And he's loves it if you sing Mr. Heatmizer to him.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

First Snow in Bethlehem

Last weekend, we got our first snow in Bethlehem. We went out to Brewworks for lunch and were able to get seats before the hoards of Christmas tourists crowded in. We had a window seat, so we were able to watch the snow start falling. It was wet snow and stuck to the trees - beautiful! Owen didn't know what was going on, of course, but I think I did catch him noticing a snowflake or two on our walk to the car.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christkindmarkt

Last Thursday, we took Owen down to Christkindmarkt in Bethlehem. Christkindmarkt is a big German-style market in a few big tents off of Main Street. There are lots of Christmas gifts and crafts available to buy. It's a nice event, but not terribly thrilling. But, since we're members of the organization that runs the market, we're able to get in for free on Thursdays. So, we took Owen down last Thursday night to get him out of the house a little and walk around somewhere at night that's nice and warm. There was some live music while we were there - Sarah Ayers, a local blues musician, playing some acoustic blues. Owen enjoyed it all - he slept the entire time.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Owen's Favorite Toy.... His Feet!

Owen's been really into his feet recently... especially when he's dressed in an outfit that has stuff on them! He really likes to stick his feet up above his head and grab them - he does the yoga position "happy baby."

Singing with Mommy

Owen loves it when Mommy sings to him! These pictures are from Thanksgiving when Kathleen was singing Mr. Heatmizer to him. Papaw says that Owen looks at Mommy likes she's made of gold.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Sleepy Day

Owen and Betsy were very sleepy today after the holiday weekend and the long car trip. Betsy didn't get out of her bed until 2 pm (with only a quick trip to get a drink of water around 11:30). And Owen had multiple naps today - much more than normal.

Thanksgiving Trip to Mamaw and Papaw's

We drove out to WV to visit Kathleen's parents for Thanksgiving this year. It was our first long road trip with Owen. Owen did really well - despite a little fussiness. But who can blame him - he had to sit in his car seat for 7-8 hours. The trip from Bethlehem didn't start out great. There was a lot of traffic in the Lehigh Valley and around Harrisburg. It took us about 2 hours to drive a distance that normally takes about 1 hour to drive and then we had to stop to feed Owen already. So, after the first 3 hours of our trip, we hadn't gotten that far. After eating, Owen was a little fussy, but then he fell asleep and didn't wake up for the rest of the trip. The traffic thinned out after Harrisburg, so we didn't stop driving until we got there. For a trip that didn't start out too great, it didn't end up that bad.

We spent most of our time in WV just hanging out with Kathleen's parents and Owen ... and the dogs. Betsy had a great time playing with Abby (a Chesapeake Bay Retriever) and Maggie (a Dachshund). She likes to be part of the pack - running outside without a leash, fighting over toys, and begging for food scraps. Every time the doorbell rang or someone came in the front door, the three of them would run around the house barking and whining. This was often followed by many shushing sounds, as we all tried to keep the dogs from waking Owen up.

On Thanksgiving, we had dinner with Kathleen's parents, Owen's Uncle Rick, and some family friends (the Tuckers). On Friday night, we all went out to the K-of-C, so that Owen could meet some more of the Hudson family friends.

All in all, we had a very nice holiday. Even though his schedule was off for the entire trip, Owen did really well. He didn't have any trouble sleeping in his pack-n-play. And like normal, he was very happy - laughing and talking to everyone that paid attention to him!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Giddyap

It's little Neddy Nederlander!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Time for the Holidays!

Well, the Christmas season started last weekend in Bethlehem - it's a big time of the year here! Since we're going to be in WV for Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree and decorated the inside of the house today. Owen enjoyed watching us moving around and decorating - he was busy talking to us as we worked. He really liked the lights on the Christmas tree!

Night Out on the Town

Phil's parents came up to visit yesterday. We all had lunch out together and then sat around admiring how adorable Owen is.

And we had babysitters for Owen in the evening - we went out to the Hotel Bethlehem for dinner. Kathleen received a gift card for the hotel from her grandmother last Christmas and we finally had a chance to get out there for dinner (it's been a busy year). It was wonderful to have a nice dinner out and not to worry about how much you're spending - we both got $40 steaks! The hotel was decorated very nicely for Christmas. There were a lot of people partying at the hotel because Lehigh beat Lafayette in football earlier in the day. We had a really great evening out!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Rolling Over ...

Kathleen caught Owen in action rolling over during his tummy time the other day:

Coffee on Main Street

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Growing Like a Weed!

Well, Owen is not quite 3 months old, but we have him in his 6-months clothes already. He's growing (in length) like crazy! Kathleen's been having fun dressing him up in his new clothes!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Mommom's 75th Birthday Party

This past Saturday, we headed down to Delaware to go to Owen's great-grandmother's 75th birthday party. It was our first long driving trip with Owen - a two-hour drive. He did really well - slept most of the trip. Owen got to meet all of his great aunts and got to see his Ma-maw and Pa-paw at the party. He had a great time - although the commotion got to be a little much for him. He was completely exhausted by the end of the night!