Halloween Party

Happy Halloween! Tonight we gathered in the old 'hood and went to a party. Everyone was there! Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures. But here are a few.

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Source of Continuous Amusement...

This evening Corbin came home to this....as you can see Gwennie's practicing her comedy routine. That toy is the alligator from the Loonie Spelling Squirties

Standing Up

Well, as you can see from this video, Gwennie has now figured out how to stand up on her own....and eat the stain off of the crib. She also has her mother's graceful balance and managed to bump her mouth on the edge (that's why we had to stop filming). Don't worry...no trips to the emergency room. Just a few tears and she was good to go again in a few minutes.

Halloween Parade

This weekend was the neighborhood Halloween parade! The local firetruck comes down and leads the kids around the block. Between maneuvering Gwennie and trying to keep her outfit together, I didn't get many pics. I took some pictures this morning of her in the full getup and she's also learned how to pull herself up in the crib so I grabbed some cute photos of that last night. I have a video as well so I will post that part later this afternoon.

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Sooner than we thought!

If you read the blog two days ago you would see that Gwennie was pretty close to crawling. I had said she would be motoring around by next week. I spoke too soon...as of today she's got crawling down!
Here's a video of her crawling across the room. As you will see, she was more interested in the phone (typical, right?) rather than her toys!

Zoom Zoom....

Yesterday we headed to Costco for some formula and came back with a car! Well...sort of. This little contraption keeps Ms. Gwennie entertained for hours. This morning Corbin was pushing her around and left her behind me. I kept hearing the horn going "honk, honk" and when I turned around she looked at me as though she was saying..."hello....Mom? I'm honking here....push me around the house!"

Pretty close to crawling...

As you can see, Gwennie is getting pretty close to crawling. Hopefully in the next week or two she will have it down (on the other hand we really haven't baby proofed anything so this should be interesting!!)

Invasion of the Yip Yips

Invasion of the Yip Yips Part 2

You tube is being kind of odd...ready the previous post before checking out the above video

Last night Gwennie had the sniffles and ended up waking up around 11. We brought her into our bedroom and she was making the funniest noises. Corbin thinks she sounds like the Yip Yip martians (google and youtube are the best!). I have to agree!

Weekend with the Girls

This weekend was just the girls while Corbin was at a concert with Gwennie's Godfather Clark. We went to the Fall Festival at a church down the street with Crawford, Janet and Andrew Fisher.

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Also - here is a video of Gwennie on her new swing

Pumpkins and Cold Weather

Well it is finally cold in the mornings now so Gwennie put on her hat (thanks Kiki) and sweater and was ready for a morning walk. We also headed over to the church down the street to take some pictures with the pumpkins. Gwennie wasn't too keen on sitting on the haystack (might have been the fact that she was wearing a dress!) but she was a good sport for the rest of the pictures.

Click here for pictures from today

I'm 7 months old!

This weekend was Gwennie's 7 month birthday. Saturday Corbin dressed Gwennie in her lucky Carolina onesie (thank you Matt/Michele) in the hopes that the Tar Heels would win their football game. Luckily it worked and they won 33 27, so Daddy was especially happy all weekend.

Here are some pictures from Ari's birthday and Gwennie

Happy Birthday Ari!

On Wednesday, September 26, Ari turned 1 year old so this weekend Corbin, Gwennie and I headed up to Owings Mills, MD to celebrate. The Eisgrau family throws a great party! As you can see Ari really enjoyed the cake!! Just wanted to get this pic up right away, I will have more pictures up later, check back soon.

Week in Boston

Last week Gwennie and I headed up to Boston to visit some friends and to do some work at my Boston GH office.

Wednesday night Parrish, Kiki, Rich and Jess came over to meet Gwennie. Somehow I forgot to get the camera out so no pictures...sorry about that! Gwennie really enjoyed meeting everyone and was pretty good given the late night she had!

Thursday night Gladys and Don came into town and took over baby duty. They are going to be such great grandparents! Gwennie loved playing with Gladys and Don and on Friday night when our flight was delayed to the next morning, Grandma Glad gave Gwennie a bath while Grandma Don handled taking care of Addie, Ryan and I (with some yummy dinner!).

Thanks to Addie, Ryan, Tyler, Gladys and Don for everything. We had so much fun!!!!!

Addie took some great pictures so check her blog soon for updated pictures.

Click here for pictures

Kanuga Weekend

This weekend we headed up to Kanuga for a church retreat. Don't worry...there was no weird chanting or holding hands...more like a weekend of meeting all the people in the church and lots of time to hang out with family. We were a little late in getting moving so Friday was more of a bust but the rest of the weekend was really fun.

Click here for pictures from the weekend.

There are also some cute pictures from when Ari and Gwennie took a bath last week.

Here's a video we also took a while back.

Yahoo!

Just wanted to share the great news! Our good friends in Charlotte, Mark and Kristin Bordeaux are expecting a baby in March. We are so excited for them! Gwennie is going to have another friend to hang with during the TarHeel games!

Yippee!!!!

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend our friends and family came into town to celebrate the christening of our daughter, Gwendolyn Iris into St. Martin's Episcopal church. Everyone had a great time together and we are all recovering from the food, food and more food.
Heather, Alan and Ari Eisgrau drove down from Owings Mills, Maryland. Clark and Nancy Spencer flew in from Bel Air, Maryland. Clark is Gwenie's godfather and Heather is her godmother.
Gwennie's Nana Susan drove up from Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Her Grandma Verna and Grandpa Mel flew in from Arizona. Her Grandpa Bob and Grandma Nancy drove down from Hickory, North Carolina. Gwennie's great grandmother Iris, Great Aunt Nina, and cousins Caroline and Meghan drove up from Spartanburg, South Carolina.
From the area, both Nanny Jennifer and Nanny Brandi came over. Gwennie's "Charlotte Grandparents" Linny & Pops Brown, Mamma & Mamps Fisher and Crawford (who calls Gwennie BabyWynnie) as well as Linda and Stacey from All Wags (where Ginger and Ruby go to "school")

Click here for pictures from the weekend

Crawford's 3rd Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Crawford's 3rd birthday with her family and friends. Crawford is from our old hood and used to live next door to us. Most of you that have been to see us know of "Jandrew" - Janet and Andrew Fisher. Crawford is their daughter. Here are some videos and pictures from the weekend. Gwennie took her first dip in the pool at the bottom of the water slide! Click here for pictures

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.

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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