The Smith Family

Celtic Fest (continued)

Saturday night of Celtic fest, we went out to see Scythian play. They put on a great live show - really get the crowd going! We met up with some teachers from Phillipsburg. We had a nice time despite the fact that it was a little cold and rainy.

On Sunday, we tried to go see Hannah (Owen's future babysitter) dance (she does Irish dancing). But due to a scheduling issue and a little rain slowing us down, we missed her show. However, we were able to meet up with her and her family and visit with them a little.

We were able to catch another show by the Town Pants (they're great). Owen really seems to enjoy the commotion of the festival and the music in the tents. He slept through most of the show, and only got a little fussy towards the end. Which ended up being a good thing, because after we left the show, we ran into a few friends on the way home from the festival.

We took Owen home and fed him. And then danced with him to Celtic music at home. A nice end to a festival weekend.

Owen's First Celtic Fest!

It's Celtic Fest weekend in Bethlehem - one of the best weekends of the year here! Everywhere you walk in town you can hear bagpipes and see people in kilts.

Yesterday, the weather was beautiful and we were able to take Owen down for a walk around the festival. He really enjoys getting out - he slept for most of his walk. Kathleen's mother and grandmother came up to visit this weekend and to babysit for us so that we could get out to the festival by ourselves. Last night, we were able to get out to see one of our favorite Celtic bands (The Town Pants) play.

Today, we took Owen downtown to see the bagpiper's parade on Main Street. We were also able to sneak in lunch at Brewworks and a trip to our coffee shop. And like normal, Owen slept through most of his outing in town. We're going to be making some shepherd's pie for dinner tonight. It's supposed to rain a little tonight, but Kathleen and I are still planning on getting out together by ourselves to see Scythian play.

Smiles

Wonderful Fall Festing Weekend

We had a great weekend around town with Owen this weekend. On Saturday, we went down to Greek fest with Owen for lunch. Owen also had his first visit to Brewworks on Saturday! Finally, Owen went to church for the first time and went shopping for clothes with mommy for the first time - he (and daddy) got a little impatient waiting for mommy to try on clothes!

Owen and Kathleen @ Greek Fest

Dancers @ Greek Fest

Phil & Owen on Main Street

Kathleen & Owen @ Brewworks

Kathleen & Owen @ church

Funky Baby

Well, we've discovered that when he's fussy, Owen likes to dance around to funk music! We were watching a New Orleans special that we DVR'd and a funk song came on ... and Owen really liked it. So, the next time he was fussy and screaming during his evening rant, we put on some funk for him and he really liked it. We have the Muppets From Space CD, which has a lot of old funk, like "Shining Star", "Flashlight", and "Brick House." He really likes it. Shuts him up right away. However it is tiring on your arms to hold him up and shake him around to the music. So, we've had quite a few Owen Dance Parties to calm him down.

Owen while I'm dancing with him

Owen - after falling asleep during funk time

Greek Fest!

We took Owen out around town for the first time tonight. It was a beautiful evening and the first day of Greek Fest here in Bethlehem. This year, they decided to make our local Greek food festival larger, so they are having it on the festival grounds where they have Musikfest. They're having a Greek band, dancers, and a DJ or two... and, of course, a lot of good Greek food: gyros, tzatziki, mousaka, etc.
Owen had a good time on his walk around town today. He was screaming before we left home, but he calmed down after we got him in the car seat and then slept for most of the walk. We ran into some friends at Greek fest and also stopped in to see Arlene (our chocolate lady) at the Chocolate Lab on Main Street.

This is the first weekend of three weekends straight of festivals here in Bethlehem, so we're excited that we're able to take Owen around town now. Next week is Celtic fest and the weekend after that is Harvest fest!

Happy One-Month Birthday, Owen!

First Tub Bath

Owen got his first bath in his little whale tub over the weekend. Of course, he wasn't crazy about it, but he smelled so nice afterward.

Owen's First Purdue Game (on TV)

Well... I forgot to post this last weekend... Owen and I watched our first Purdue football game last weekend. It was the season opener: Toledo v. Purdue. It wasn't the most popular game of the weekend, so it was aired on Sunday morning (1 day later) on the Big Ten channel. I taped it and watched it with Owen on Sunday: it was actually a recording of a recording of a football game. Kathleen thinks I'm crazy to tape sports games. I'm just happy that the Purdue games on on here in PA. Anyways, Purdue won, which is nice, because they have a new head coach and there are a lot of questions about how well they'll play this year. And Owen had a great time curled up on my chest. I just have to try not to get upset at the game - don't want to bother Owen!

Owen, the conductor

If you're curious... that's National Lampoon's Vacation on the TV in the background. A good Labor Day movie.

Holiday Weekend

We had a nice Labor day weekend. Owen had a few visitors - some of our couple-friends, who hadn't met him yet. Wendy, Brian, and Abby came over on Sunday. Phil cooked dinner - garlic/lemon shrimp skewers with feta/dill sauce and roasted red pepper bruschetta. He might have used a little more garlic than everyone needed, but it was all delicious - no one denied that! Phil almost served the feta/dill sauce with vanilla yogurt (rather than plain). So glad that he tasted it before everyone started dipping their shrimp in it!

On Monday, our friends Joe and Rebecca stopped by for a late lunch (some tacos). Rebecca's pregnant now - so she got a little sneak peak today. We handed down a lot of our extras to them today. Owen was pretty well behaved for all of his guests this weekend - he seems to save his fussiness and screaming for us when we're alone!

Owen Update

Well, Owen's big news for the weekend is that his umbilical cord fell off yesterday. We're happy about that because we were a little worried about it getting infected. Kathleen was upset because it feel off a few minutes after I left for work and I wasn't around for the hubbub.

Last night, Owen watched his aunt Natalie on TV on TLC. She was on a makeover shown (Trinny and Suzannah Make Over America). Owen and Natalie have the same birthday. Owen said that Natalie looked very pretty at the end of the show.

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Owen - the model

Today, Owen had a photoshoot. Our friend Jenn, who is also a mom and a photographer on the side, came over to take some pictures of Owen. She's going to print up a "birth announcement" flyer for us. Owen was well behaved for everything except for the nudey, baby shots, which he did not like. Hopefully, we'll have the photos posted online sometime soon.

At some point while they were taking photos of Owen today, he flipped himself from being on his back to being on his belly - by himself. He's a strong little bugger for only 2 weeks old.