Happy Baby!

Owen was in the best mood today! He was all smiles and giggles all day. We don't know what got into him, but suddenly everything was hilarious. We would be talking to each other, and Owen would just join in with squeals of laughter and joy. He was having a little party in his stroller while we were grocery shopping - just eating his blanket and smiling at Mommy. We think he is learning to smile at people in order to get them to come over and pay attention to him. He is a little comedian who loves to perform. When we got home, Daddy changed Owen's diaper while Owen showed off his new big boy laugh. He loves to play games with Daddy. He especially enjoys pretending he is an airplane coming in for a landing.

Postponed Christmas Pageant

Last weekend, we went to see the Christmas Pageant at church. The pageant had been postponed from before Christmas because of the big snow storm that we had. Owen wanted to see his friend Mark perform. It was his first acting role - he was baby Jesus. And he did excellent - he slept the whole time they had him in the manger!

Bumbo Seat

Owen's been enjoying his new bumbo seat. He likes sitting up like a big boy and it gives him a good vantage point for watching Betsy run around.

End of the Holiday Season

Here's one last picture before we took all of our Christmas decorations down for the year.

Owen Reads Books All By Himself!

He's growing up so fast - already reading by himself!

Happy New Year!

This year for New Year's Eve, we went over to visit our friends Wendy and Brian and stayed at their house for the night. Brian's sister and her husband also stayed over, and an old friend Karthik and his wife Vidya stopped by. It was a little bit of a baby party: there were two 2-year olds, Owen (4 months), and a newborn (6 weeks)! Later in the evening, we were all watching the various baby monitors to determine which kid was crying! We all played a little Wii and had some champagne at midnight, but it wasn't long before all of the parents were tired out and we headed to bed. I do have to admit that Kathleen and I stayed up a little later and talked for a while after everyone else went to bed. New Year's Eve is rather sentimental for us, since we met on New Year's Eve (12 years ago!)

Owen Meets the Smith Family

Owen finally got to meet some of the Smith family earlier this week! Phil's cousin Suzanne had a small family gathering to celebrate the holidays and to let the fam meet Owen. Owen was a good sport, even though we kept him up late.H e dozed a little bit after his bottle, but then woke up after getting his second wind and smiled and flirted with everyone! He did get a little scared when everyone started kackling (i.e., the Smith laughing), but calmed down when he saw that Mommy was smiling!

Check out that drool!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.