You decide

People always are telling us that the girls look like characters from movies. The latest is that Ginger looks like that flying dog from The NeverEnding Story and that Ruby looks like Sprocket from Fraggle Rock. You decide and let us know....

Mr. and Mrs. Leichtner

On August 4, 2007 our friends Michael and Michelle were married at Leo Carrillo Beach in Malibu, California. They had a beautiful beach ceremony with just family attending and then headed to Grand Cayman for their honeymoon. We are so happy for them!! As you can see the view was beautiful from all angles...mountains on one side and beach on the other. Congrats!

Crazy Pooches!

Those crazy pooches Ginger and Ruby had a field day playing with Gwennie this weekend. She is so infatuated with them both. Whenever we go outside she goes into hysterical laughter. Ginger and Ruby love to play with her too. Ruby seems to think she's in need of a bath constantly so Gwennie has probably got the cleanest feet in town. Ginger loves to lick her face after dinner to get all the extra veggie leftovers off.

Here are some pictures from this weekend

Choppin' Broccoli

Well...more like a puree. Gwennie's new favorite flavor is of all things...Broccoli! She just can't get enough of it. I will say that the diapers are getting pretty interesting now that she's changing the food up. So far her favorites are carrots, broccoli, peaches and beets. Here are some pictures from this week. The person feeding Gwennie in the last few pics is her amazing nanny Brandi.

Click here for pictures

5 Months Old

Today Gwennie is 5 months old! Over the weekend she finally figured out how to really bounce on the jumparoo so that's her new favorite toy. I think in a week or two we are going to have to raise the level so she can jump higher. Here is some video of her bouncing around and also a video of her cracking up during bath time.

The Jumparoooooooo

We just got the Jumparoo on Sunday and as you can see Gwennie already seems to have a new favorite toy.

Family Lake Weekend

This weekend was the Webb/Duncan Family Lake reunion down in Lake Bowen, South Carolina. Everyone had so much fun swimming, eating, tubing, eating, wake boarding, and did I mention eating? We drove down Saturday to visit with everyone. Gwennie as just recently started teething so she was a little fussy but Uncle Robert (with Gwennie in the picture) is like the baby whisperer and as soon as he picked up the baby, she was so happy!

Here's my pictures from the weekend
Here's Lynne's pictures from the weekend

Ginger and Ruby's new buddy

This Sunday Ginger and Ruby had a play date with their buddy Comet (a labradoodle that lives next door). As you can see they all go to the same groomer. It's pretty interesting how similar the three of them all are. Comet and Ginger love to chase the ball. Unlike Ginger, Comet thinks its more fun to make you chase him to get the ball back. Ginger returns the ball right away and Ruby likes to get the ball just so that the other dogs chase her!

Here's some pics from this weekend

Gwennie also was a show off all weekend. She now likes to stand on her own. She's still pretty wobbly but as you can see from the pics we are in trouble soon! She also now does these hilarious belly laughs that I tried to catch on film. The first time she did it in the tub but I couldn't get the camera at the time so here's the video of her cracking up on the changing table.

Weekend of Fun...

This weekend we had a full house! As you can see from the picture there were 6 adults, 2 kids and 3 dogs all hanging out at the casa. Dave, Missy and Henry Dixon as well as Matt and Dara Gocke (and their wonderful pooch Ben) came down for our friend Miranda's art gallery show on Friday.

Saturday we hosted a cookout with all the rest of our friends that came into town as well as a couple of local pals. Overall (as you can probably tell from the picture) it was a fun weekend and by Sunday we were all pretty tired.
This morning Miss Gwennie finally decided to show us her skills at rolling over. Brandi was in the kitchen grabbing a bottle and when she came back Gwennie was on her tummy checking out the scenery. So we turned her back over and figured she might actually perform for the camera

Auntie Ashley!

This afternoon Auntie Ashley had a long layover and spent a few hours entertaining Gwennie with her cool tricks. Gwennie was very interested in Ashley's jewelry and spent most of her time chewing on her bracelet. Here's two pics of the fun!

Video of the mess...

Here is a video of last night's mess. Sorry about the rotation, issues with my camera software.

What are you feeding me?

Last night we tried rice cereal for the first time. Needless to say, Gwennie was not really into it. I think she thought we were feeding her cardboard. Here's some pics of the mess....click here

Roll over...

Last night Gwennie decided to show us her rolling skills and made it all the way onto her stomach! Of course when I tried to get it on film, she decided to be coy and wouldn't perform for me!

Hopefully I'll have another update this afternoon after another round of "Gwennie filming".

4 Month Birthday with the Verninator

Friday Gwennie had her 4 month birthday. Grandma Verna (affectionately called "The Verninator") swept down upon our messy house and in 3 days had the kitchen, dining room, and living room unpacked. Oh yeah...and she played with Gwennie the whole time and also managed to do 5 loads of laundry. Corbin and I are still in awe of her organizational skills. The best we could do this weekend was unpack 5 boxes out of the office and hang a few ceiling fans. My mom could do that in her sleep!

Here's some before and after pictures so you get an idea of her skills......

Welcome Amelia and Tennant!

More baby news! Our Boston friends Laura and Matt Bryson welcomed Tennant Roarke on June 21st. Tennant popped out a healthy 9 lbs 13 ounces! So far he's keeping mom and dad pretty busy!

Over on the other side of the US in San Francisco, Jeebie and Vanessa Thomas welcomed Miss Amelia Grenfell who decided to visit a little earlier than expected. She was born on July 1, and weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces.

Happy 4th!

Grandma Verna is here with us on the 4th to visit Gwennie. She's also such a neatnick that in her spare time she's unpacked half of the boxes and she hasn't even been here 24 hours!

We didn't do much yesterday, just unpacked boxes, made a Home Depot run and grilled out (but ate inside because it was TOO hot!).

Here's some pics from yesterday.

New Digs....

Well, as you can see we are all pretty fed up with unpacking!

We have been in the new house for 5 days now and everyone is happy tb be in the new place. As of Thursday, our old pad on Asheville Place will have new residents. Everyone seems really happy to be here (especially the dogs...Ginger and Ruby LOVE their new yard). We are pretty sick of looking at boxes but we know that's just part of the deal.

The first night we noticed how quiet it was and Gwennie slept until 7 AM! We think she loves the place and can't wait to try out the treehouse and the swingset!

Here's some pictures of the move in progress

Ginger and Ruby met their new pals Comet (a labradoodle) and Lucy (a boxer). They all run around the fence barking at each other and the Girls go visit Comet in his yard for play dates. Here's a video of Gwennie's thoughts on the move.

The Bumbo.....

Gwennie is finally able to hold her head up and besides trying to stand up with Mommy and Daddy's help (which we both are NOT ready for her to be mobile anytime soon!) she also loves to sit in her bumbo chair and check things out.

She just started using it today and as you can see, she's pretty happy hanging in the bumbo. Corbin and I both agree this is the best baby gadget yet!

The Last Days of Nana Daycare...

For those of you that know me well, you knew I was pretty worried about going back to work and having someone else take care of Gwennie. I spent many hours fretting that noone could take care of my child as well as I could...including Corbin who was a wonderful Manny.

I have to say though that I am very sad (and getting slightly teary) about Nana Susan not being here anymore. Gwennie,Ginger, Ruby, Corbin and I have had so much fun with her and I am pretty sure the sole reason my child is now sleeping until 5 AM is because of the structure and schedule her Nana created while she was here.

We tried to get Susan to stay longer but her other child (Kara the dog) is probably getting a little lonely. We would invite Kara for a visit but we are pretty sure she will herd us all into one room because that's her nature and having people in other rooms might cause her to go nuts...and she might eat Ginger and Ruby in her down time :-)

So this is our public thank you to Nana for being such a wonderful grandparent and caregiver to everyone while she was here.

More Baby Aerobics

I am sure no one else gets a kick out of this as much as I do but Susan is at it again with the aerobics...I think my kid is going to have a washboard stomach soon! Both Susan and Gwennie really love this time and we are going to tell her babysitter to make this part of the daily routine!

Lu Lu and Gwennie

This weekend was pretty packed with activities. Saturday, the asbestos people came by to remove some old steam heat pipe from the 30's under the house. It was pretty funny, they told us it was completely safe to be there because they encapsulate the pipes before removing them. We had lofty plans of leaving beforehand and heading down th Lu Lu and Bill's house in Spartanburg. We should have realized that nothing is quick with a baby. By the time we had the dogs, baby, Nana Sus and ourselves in the car they were long gone! So we still decided to head down anyhow for a change of pace. We stopped in Gaffney, SC at the Pottery Barn Outlet.....big mistake! We ended up buying a sofa for the new place and a rug for Gwennie's room. Which meant a trip back on Sunday with a U-haul in tow. And today...2 more rugs and a chair...50% off is a sweet deal though!

When we got to Lu Lu's we had a nice day of lounging around the house, catching up and dining on Sugar 'n Spice Cheeseburgers-A-Plenty and Sweet Tea. For the non-Sparkle City folks reading this...A-Plenty means with slaw, french fries and onion rings. Really...the only good thing for you on the plate is the lettuce and tomato (which is optional...Corbin, Susan and Lynne opted out of the veggies and went for mustard and slaw on the burger. Something I still can't understand but it's a southern thing and is standard at these places - like a regular coffee at D & D - cream and sugar).

Baby Aerobics

Here is a video of Gwennie and Nanna Susan doing baby aerobics....

I'm 3 Months Old!

Pretty cute, huh?

Nannasus....

Gwennie's Grandama Susan is here now (we are trying out names...nannasus is the one that Corbin and I like but Gwennie has the final say!). She's taking care of Gwennie this week and next...and doing an amazing job! She has her on a schedule, keeps her occupied all day and the dogs are so excited for the attention they can hardly stand it!

Gwennie turns 3 months tomorrow as well so more pictures to come!

Click here for some photos

Memorial Day Vacation.....sort of.

If you are looking at this picture and wondering why Corbin and I are pasty white still...here's why. It's a long story so get comfortable.

On Wednesday Corbin, Gwennie and I headed to Arizona to see my parents, Aunt Pat, Uncle Frank and cousin Chris. The plan was to stay in Phoenix overnight and the drive up to Lake Havasu on Friday to enjoy some time on the water. Gwennie did great on the flight. She didn't cry at all and just slept the whole way there. Then we headed to my parents house and slept in Thursday morning (well...sort of, Gwennie only got up once and since my parents were so excited to see her they took care of her while Corbin and I caught some much needed sleep).

Thursday afternoon we packed the car and headed up to Lake Havasu where Pat, Frank and Chris were already enjoying the sun on their pontoon boat. For those of you that don't know much about AZ, it's hot...like 450 degree oven hot so usually we only stay out on the boat until around 4 and then after everyone is cooked we head in. Also, on Memorial day weekend, all of the crazy boaters come out to play with their new toys.

Thursday night, we all enjoyed a nice meal, and headed to bed early so that we could be ready to go out on the boat the next day. The plan was for me to work in the morning and take care of Gwennie since she's too little for water time. My mom was going to take over from there and let me go out on the boat after. I should have seen it coming that it wouldn't be that easy... Work kept me busy until around 2 PM and my mom figured since I was home she could jump ship and join everyone else on the boat, so the rest of the family just stayed out on the water. Gwennie and I watched a Star Wars Marathon on Showtime. The lucky boat people (as you can sort of tell...I'm a little bitter about missing out on the fun but that's life as a mom!) came back tired and dark...other than Corbin who lathered himself in sunscreen so that there wasn't a chance that his lily body would fry. We all had dinner again together than night and that is where things went downhill.

Around 1 AM both my mother and father started to get sick. Let's just leave it at both ends of my parents weren't doing so hot. My dad seemed to start to get better around 3 AM but my mother was just getting worse. At 4 AM Corbin and I decided we better start helping her or we were in for a long day. So Corbin headed to the Walgreen's and I worked on helping my mom. We tried everything...water, sprite, pepto, crackers....nothing was staying down! Around 7 AM Corbin and I made a judgement call....we were out of ideas and my mom could barely stand so I took her to the Emergency Room. 2 litters of IV Fluid, a shot of nausea medicine and some pills to help the other end and my mom was back to normal. They released her from the hospital at noon and we headed home. The rest of the day Corbin and I switched between nurse and nanny duty because both of my parents were pretty tired from the previous night. Frank, Pat and Chris went out on the boat but came back pretty early because there were too many people on the water and things were really choppy. That night my parents finally were able to eat some crackers and slept some more so they felt better. Frank, Pat, Corbin and I enjoyed a nice quiet dinner while Chris watched Chuck Liddell get the beat down on PPV. Sunday we all had seen enough of Havasu and packed the cars to come home. Once we got home, Corbin and I took a quick dip in the pool and everyone lounged around the back. I can honestly say yesterday afternoon was the first time my skin saw the sun or water since we got there! Gwennie was in a mood so the sun time didn't last long and we needed to pack up for our red eye flight home. I did some laundry, folded some clothes and Corbin enjoyed his last moments of sun with the rest of the family. Sunday night we had a farewell dinner and we headed back to the airport. Since we all were exhausted, the flight should have been a relief but everyone (including Gwennie) was restless so we all were pretty bleary eyed this morning. The plane landed at 6 AM, we picked up the girls from Doggie Hilton and have been sleeping every since. I can honestly say I don't want to go on ANY vacations again anytime soon....too much work!!!!

Click here for pictures of the weekend

Our First Big Trip

Well...we made it...barely! This weekend was out first trip on an airplane and in the car for more than 2 hours. Friday afternoon, Gwennie and I headed to the airport (with more crap that you can imagine) while Corbin drove the Jetta up with Ari's trunk in the back. Our fist stop...Owing's Mills, MD to visit Alan, Heather, Ari and Niko Eisrau.

All in all we did great on the airplane. Gwennie just chilled and slept during the flight. Alan picked us up at the airport where we headed to their house. Corbin got in about 2 hours later, tired and in dire need of a beer! That night we got sushi at a local joint and enjoyed our first night out without a baby. Many thanks to Myrtle for babysitting both Ari and Gwennie!!!

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Arlington, VA to visit Dave, Missy, and Henry Dixon. Dave is graduating from GW Law School with his Masters in International Law. The last time we saw Henry he was only 3 months old and I was about a month and a half pregnant (and didn't know it!). Henry is now walking and sounds like a turkey..he runs around all day babbling to himself and you'd swear he's speaking another language!!! Sunday morning Dave and Missy were the smart ones and told us to skip the graduation and leave from their house. At first we thought we would be fine leaving from DC but they know what it's like to travel with kids and we took their word for it.

Let me forewarn anyone that likes road trips. Add atleast 2 hours to your travel time with a baby. We left at 1 PM, had to make a stop every 1 1/2 hours for poopie diapers, feedings, searching for diapers (we ran out 3 hours from home), food, etc... Overall the trip was supposed to take 6 hours but we didn't get home until 9 PM...8 hours later!

Click here for a movie that I took at Heather's house. We were trying to get the kids to sleep so that it why it is so dark

Click here for Heather's pictures

Click here for our pictures

My Manny

No, that's not a typo...daddy is a man-nanny (Manny) for the month of May. Microsoft actually gives it's male employees 1 month of infant care leave (paternity leave if you can believe it!). So for the last week and a half Corbin has been Gwennie's entertainment from about 9 AM to 5 PM. It's hard work and he can't wait to get back to Microsoft so he can rest!!! Little Miss Gwennie is pretty exhausting.

Yesterday we had lunch with Matt, Jenny, Grace and Emmaline Myers at Zio's which is a great Italian restaurant in the area. Of course we forgot the camera but since they are in Charlotte until the weekend, we might try and meet up again.

Gwennie's Auntie Jess Christenson in Boston and Uncle Mike Leichtner in California requested we take more photos of her since we have been slackers lately so click here for some snaps from this morning.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope everyone has a great Mother's Day!!

Yippeee!!!

More exciting news over here. First, our friend Parks Workman graduated from Law School today. Parks was Managing Editor of the South Carolina Law Review while he was at University of South Carolina Law School (not too shabby, huh!). Even better news is that Parks proposed to our cousin Rachel Webb (she said yes incase you were wondering). Welcome to the Family Parks!

More Big News!

I usually don't post twice in one day but there's some big news over on the Webb side of the family as well as from the UVM side.

To start, our cousins Clay and Brandt Gilbert have moved to Charleston, South Carolina for Brandt to start Dental school in the summer. To top that in the "big news" category, they are expecting a baby in November!

Over in Norfolk, VA - cousins Russ and Gini Webb moved from Hawaii in January and are expecting a baby in December too!!

In addition to family, my sorority sister Meghan Westwood and her husband Bob are also expecting in December...identical twins!!!

We are very excited for all of them and can't wait to have friends and cuzzins (as Russ puts it) for Gwennie to hang out with!

I'm 2 months old and we are moving!!!

Big weekend over here in the Meek household! On Thursday afternoon Corbin went to look at a house with our realtor and called right after to say I better check this place out. So Friday morning the whole family (Ginger and Ruby too) piled in the car to check the house out. That afternoon we put in the offer and it was accepted on Saturday morning. Click here to check out pictures of the house.

Sunday, Miss Gwennie turned 2 months old. As you can see from the photos she smiles now when you make funny faces and is such a little diva!

Sick for a few days....

Sorry about that! Grandma Susan came up for a visit 2 weeks ago and joined us for our first voyage back to St. Martin's Church overall everyone did well. Gwennie slept through the entire service and after listening to all of the 6 and 9 month old kids chatter throughout the sermon, we figured kids are pretty welcome over there.

Last weekend Gwennie and I (Natalie) were sick from Sunday on. We both have a persistent cold/cough that we are fightinhg but thus far things are getting much better. Next person to get it will be Corbin, he's trying to stay healthy but his throat is starting to get pretty raw so we think he's not far behind us.

Sunday Gwennie turns 2 months old! Allie Pine (who shares her birthday with Gwennie) will be coming down to celebrate and then we head out to Arizona to visit Grandma & Grandpa Mead, Great Aunt Pat and Great Uncle Frank.

Grandma Gary and Great Aunt Nina

This weekend Grandma Gary (Gwennie's middle name is Iris - after this grandmother) and Great Aunt Nina came up for a nice visit. For those of you that have met Grandma Gary, you all know she's pretty reserved....watch out when Gwennie's around!! She's pretty smitten with this baby! Corbin and I were both commenting on how happy both Nina and Iris were to meet Gwennie and how much fun everyone had. Here are a few more pictures from the visit

1 Month checkup

Today Gwennie had her 1 month checkup at the doctor's office. So far she's doing great...10 pounds, 21 inches long and healthy! The doctor said she can start a little rice cereal in the nighttime bottle to sleep a little longer (which both of her parents are very happy about!).

Easter Weekend

This weekend was FREEZING... literally! After layering the baby and ourselves in fleece and everything else, Saturday we headed over to watch the 2nd annual Easter Egg hunt hosted by Carson, Cannon, Cole, Brenda and Barry Clough. The whole neighborhood looks forward to this event (especially the parents who can enjoy a glass of wine or a beer while the kids are occupied with eggs). Gwennie got a little chilly during the hunt so her dad brought her inside to "warm up" (AKA watch the Masters).

Saturday night we drove down to Sparkle City to Aunt Lynne and Uncle Bill's house for our first overnight adventure. Since the Webb family Easter Egg hunt is about 3 1/2 hours from Charlotte, we decided to start from their house so we would actually make it to the hunt on time....or 40 minutes late since we are never ontime now that the baby is around.

We piled Lynne, Bill, Corbin, Gwennie, Rachel and Natalie into the car and were surprisingly not the last people to arrive! Gwennie was a big hit and behaved herself. Everyone had a great time and I (Natalie) was lucky enough to find the money egg. For those of you that don't know, everyone donates a few bucks to the hat and we split up the money, someone hides it (usually VERY well...under trees, in snake holes, buried with the fire ants) and the adults and children all run around trying to find the eggs....or in the adults case the cash!

Then we drove over to the family cabin to take a few pictures and headed home. The last set of pictures was our failed attempt to get a nice shot of Gwennie...she was much more interested in dinner.

Click here to see the pictures

Charlotte Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday the whole family joined the Fishers and the Linny Brown over at Charlotte Country Club for the annual Easter Egg hunt. Crawford did pretty well in the 0 to 3 catergory. Gwennie and I looked on and coached from the sidelines!

Here's a picture of Gwennie with the "wacky wabbit" aka Mr. Hardin Minor who is the highlight of the hunt (other than the candy and the easter eggs).

Click here for a few more pictures from the hunt.