The Going to Bed Book

Gwennie decided to read me a story as a change of pace tonight.

Crawford Turns 5

This weekend we celebrated Crawford's 5th birthday bowling at Strike City! All of the girls had so much fun and were sporting their custom made "Crawford's 5th Birthday Bowlarama Ball!" shirts. The girls were so cute in their outfits and had a great time using different bowling strategies (that they all wanted to tell us about). Overall it was a great party and we all went home for a long 3 hour nap!

Also - here are some of Heather's pictures from the visit in Owings Mills

Yellow Ducks....Here I Come!

Today was Gwennie's first day in the "Yellow Ducks" at school and as you can see all of the kids seem to be having a wonderful time there. Luckily most if not all of the kids in the class were from her previous class (the Butterflies") so it was an easy transition. Her new teachers are wonderful and I know them very well. Speaking of which, if any of you have an in with the Panthers, please let me know as one of them is a HUGE HUGE of fan of Muhsin Muhammad and just celebrated 30...yes that's right 30 years of service at our daycare so we are trying to get him to come see her.

In other news, we spent most of the weekend in the backyard playing with the snake (thank you Auntie Hey Hey) and enjoying the nice weather. Corbin is really enjoying his paternity leave, Hudson is getting bigger every day and Gwennie needs a haircut so we are planning for that this week so she can actually see again!

A Visit to Owings Mills and Daddy Leave

It has been a LOOOONG week and as you can see from the lack of pictures, very busy. Thursday Gwennie, Hudson and I decided to give Daddy a break before he started his paternity leave so we headed up to Baltimore to visit Heather (Auntie Hey Hey as Gwennie calls her), Alan, Ari and baby Matthew. As you can see from the picture below, we were loaded up! The last time we were up there Matthew was all of 2 weeks old so it's crazy to see how much he has changed in 6 months. Gwennie and Ari were inseparable. They literally would wake up and want to see each other. Whoever was the first to wake up would walk into the other kids room and say "Good Morning Ari" or "Good Morning Gwennie" and then they were off and running until about 9 PM every night. Luckily Matthew and Hudson were good babies so we were able to keep up with the toddlers. Alan usually took afternoon duty and was amazing. He took them on walks to the park, played out front with them and was so patient with the crazy 2 year olds!

Yesterday Corbin started Daddy leave and had both kids in the house. Gwennie was worn out from her visit so she napped from about 1:30 to 4 and Hudson was equally exhausted so he chilled in the car seat and swing for most of the day. So far he's doing great and enjoying some much needed father/son bonding.

2 Months Old!

This weekend Hudson turned 2 months old and as you can see he's pretty happy about it. We had a nice weekend hanging out with friends and going to the pool. For those of you not in the South, it was HOT. Saturday was about 93 degrees and Sunday was about 96 so we spent most of our time at the pool or in the house with a couple of walks or stints outside in the backyard.

Friday night we had some chicken for dinner and I thought I would grab a few of the funny shots of Gwennie/Dad devouring dinner. Saturday afternoon our friends Mark, Kristin and Ben met us at the pool. As you can see from the pictures Gwennie and Ben really enjoyed themselves.

Big Meeting and Look Who Is Smiling!

This weekend we headed down to Sparkle City to meet some very important family members. Hudson met his Great Grandmother Gary, Great Uncle Bob, Great Aunt Nina, and his cousins Megan (Happy Birthday!) and Caroline. If you follow the blog, you know that Hudson's middle name Ross is shared by Nina and Caroline. We all had a nice visit (Gwennie loves to explore around the back yard) and enjoyed our time together.

Hudson also just started to smile this week (might be gas but we think it's when he's happy to see us) so here are a few pictures from tonight when he was in a great mood before bed.

We also had a nice visit with the cousins Gini, Alex and Blyth. Gini and I must have been having a moment of temporary insanity because we decided around 5 PM on Wednesday night we were going to take all the kids (that's 4 kids - although Alex is 7 and an amazing help!) up to IKEA to get a few things and grab dinner. We must have been crazy! Still...we managed to make it through the night but one funny story I will share - for those of you that did not read about it via facebook - was when we were getting a potty seat for Blyth (who already at 19 months is interested in the potty!), Gwennie saw the potty, grabbed one out of the pile, pulled her pants down and was in the proccess of "going potty" when Gini and I had to stop her and usher her to the little girls room. We both were pretty sure she would have done her business right there had we not stopped her!

Webb-Duncan Family Reunion

This weekend was the annual Webb/Duncan Family reunion weekend! This year we changed venues and went to the Pine Island Club outside of Columbia, SC. It was a perfect area for big gatherings - beautiful lake, pool, playground, shelter with LOTS of space and running water (not to mention the wonderful vent that pulled all the grill smoke out). We all had so much fun!! Gwennie and Hudson were pooped! This morning Hudson slept for 6 hours straight and Gwennie slept in until 7:30 AM! Overall it was great fun and we can't wait until next year.

On our way down we stopped for gas and you will see what we found in the parking lot...created by Bob Ford from Blythewood, SC!

Here are our pictures from the weekend

The Zoo, the Potty and GeeGee is back!

This weekend Corbin headed to his 20 year high school reunion (yes...we are that old!). I decided to stay home with the kiddies and luckily GeeGee was kind enough to come back to help out. She also decided that I couldn't make any more excuses as to why I wasn't potty training Gwennie so Friday to today we are on the potty track. For any of you that say your kid isn't ready...let me introduce you to my mother! It really is just a battle of wills. Gwennie is really starting to get it but it just takes diligence and patience. We literally spent 2 hours on the potty on Saturday because Gwennie refused to go and we refused to let her get up. After she went, all was good!! And I will say after that she now goes within 5 minutes of being put on the potty.

Monday we decided to get out of the house and called Gini to see if she wanted to meet us at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. We love that zoo because there are so many indoor attractions if it gets too hot and the aquarium is amazing. As you can see we also spent lots of time in the Gorilla exhibit (air conditioned!) and the gorillas both just sat there and chilled with us infront of the window. Blyth and Alex loved to hold Hudson and we are looking forward to seeing them again this weekend!

Here are some pictures from the week. As you can see Hudson is wide awake now and Gwennie is in the fake "cheeeese" smile phase.

Hudson's Heart

During one of our visits to Hudson's pediatrician, he noticed a "noise" while checking his heart. We checked again last week and it looked as though Hudson had a heart murmur. His doctor reassured us that is was probably nothing but just to be safe he had us make an appointment at Presbyterian Pediatric Cardiology. We arrived today and the doctors were amazing (there is a reason they were voted Best of Charlotte for their practice/doctors). Dr. Hammill explained that Hudson does have a murmur but it is simply just that the chambers are so thin (because he's a baby still...they are about the thickness of a sheet) so the "noise is just the blood flowing in and out of the heart. Hudson is perfectly healthy and not to worry, the noise will go away in a few months when the inside of his heart chambers thicken.

This weekend was pretty low key. As you can see from the pictures it was as Corbin put it - "white trash weekend!" Gwennie was running around in a Thomas the Tank t-shirt and a saggy diaper on Sunday. She still loves Thomas and not much matches that outfit so we figured, go with the theme. I try not to say that my kids are amazing too often (well...actually I do all the time but sorry, they are my kids so I am biased) but Gwennie really is such a good big sister. Today she came in to tell me that "Baby Brother" was hungry and I needed to speed up the bottle so she could feed him. Then she held the bottle for him the whole time he was eating and after quietly told me she wanted her milk and headed into the kitchen to tell "MR CORBIN!!!!" that she needed her own milk. Our neighbor's daughter Stella calls us Mr. Corbin and Miss Natalie so Gwennie has taken to doing that....although I am Mr. Natalie which Corbin says is pretty appropriate sometimes!

A Big Thank You to Nana!

I meant to do this yesterday but as you can see the first day without help was a little crazy. Nana came up for a week to help out while Gwennie's school was closed for the week (coincidentally also at the same time that I had to go back early for a week at work due to some vacation conflicts). I am pretty sure if Nana wasn't there I would probably be committed by now. She took Gwennie to all sorts of fun places like the park, Monkey Joe's, the Library, the backyard (yes...I haven't ventured out there in a while...I don't do bugs).
Anyhow, again - thank you Nana for all your help. We miss you already!

4 Years!

This weekend Corbin and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by going out to dinner. We realized the last time we went to dinner by ourselves was around the time Gwennie was born!!!!! Anyhow, it was nice to get out and we had a great time. Unfortunately on Saturday Hudson had some serious gas and was pretty upset all day so we missed our BBQ plans. Since we didn't have any pictures, I figured I would post some of Hudson from today and a couple of old ones from the morning of the delivery.

Nana has arrived and a visit to Lulu and Big Bill's

Nana arrived on Friday and was a big help this weekend. Saturday Corbin and I had our first night out so we decided to see a movie but were a little worried about leaving a crazy 2 year old and a 3 week old with Nana but she was great! All the kids were sleeping soundly when we got home and the next morning Gwennie actually slept until 7:30!

Sunday we packed up the kids, Nana, and all the stuff that goes along with kids and headed to Big Bill and Lulu's place for a swim (and so Lulu/Big Bill could meet Hudson). We had so much fun at the pool! Gwennie loved to sit in Richard's old rocking chair and Will (Bill's son) was also there and was a HUGE help in keeping track of Gwennie. Belle also provided wonderful entertainment with her "cleaning" of the chicken Gwennie kept dropping/feeding to her.

Overall a great weekend!

A Big Thank You to GeeGee

Well.....the week is done and GeeGee is back in Arizona. I don't think she realizes what a help she was but Corbin, Gwennie, Hudson and I and I do! GeeGee moved Gwennie into her big girl room, organized, washed and cleaned both rooms and pretty much kept the house running for the last three weeks. We already miss her but know she has to go home some time. So this is our public thank you to GeeGee for all the help she gave us before, during and after Hudson's arrival!

Happy Father's Day!

As you can see from the picture Gwennie wanted to give her daddy his father's day present a little earlier than he wanted to rise out of bed!

This weekend was filled with more firsts but this time with Gwennie rather than Hudson! Friday night Gwennie spent her first night in her "new room" along with just about every stuffed animal, pillow and blanket in the house. It took GeeGee laying down with her for a while but she slept through the night and now loves her new space.

Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Welcome Adelaide Elizabeth!

We are happy to let everyone know that our good friends Dave, Missy and Henry just welcomed Adelaide (Addie) into the world yesterday around 2 PM. Addie weighed in at 8 pounds 15 ounces and is 21 inches long. Missy and I commiserated together while we were pregnant because we both thought we were carrying big babies (which as you can see we were!). This is a picture of her proud big brother Henry and Addie chilling in the hospital.

First Week....

Well, we made it through the first week and Ginger/Ruby finally got to meet Hudson on Friday. So far they have been really good with him and Ginger seems to constantly check the bassinet to see if Hudson is in there.

We also had another first this week....first bath! Hudson is now over one week old and so far has been doing lots of sleeping during the day. Not as much at night but he's getting better. Hopefully in another week we will have things down and will be well on our way to more night sleeping.

GeeGee extended her stay which has been wonderful. She takes Gwennie to school and pics her up and I am pretty sure if she wasn't here I don't know what I would do. So a big thank you to my mother for all of her help!

More pics and Hudson's Name

Here are a few more pictures we took today of Gwennie with Hudson. She now wants to hold him all the time and actually is pretty good at keeping him close to her. She's still mastering holding his head up but she is very gentle and careful with him.

A few people have asked where Hudson Ross came from.

Hudson was named for my Great Aunt Hudson (we call her Hudsie) and she was named after her Grandfather so he's named after his Great Great Aunt Hudson and his Great Great Grandfather Hudson. Coincidentally, our cousin Richard is Richard Hudson Heatly so he's also named after our favorite jokester on Corbin's mother's side of the family.

Ross is an equally interesting name. Corbin's Papa (Grandma Gary's Husband Tom Gary) grandmother's family name was Ross. Papa's father was named Ross and Corbin's Aunt Nina and cousin Caroline both share the middle name Ross. So Ross is for the many wonderful people on Corbin's side of the family.

Introducing Hudson Ross Meek!

For those of you that haven't heard...Hudson Ross Meek blessed us with his presence Monday morning at 7:32 AM. He's a big kid like his sister and weighed in at 8 pounds, 15 ounces and is 20 inches long (Gwennie was 8 pounds 11 ounces so we have some big babies in the Meek household!).

So far everyone is recovering well. Mommy is a little sore from her C-Section so Daddy and GeeGee have been great with helping out at the hospital and GeeGee is doing a great job taking care of Gwennie when we aren't around. Gwennie loves her baby brother and thinks he's the bee's knees! She always wants to know where he is, makes an effort to be gentle around him and likes to give him kisses.

Here are some pictures from the week and a video of the kids.

First Haircut!

Gwennie had her very first haircut this weekend! She did pretty good considering we can barely get a comb through her hair without her freaking out. Here are some pictures from the day! Remember to click on the picture below to play the video.

Summer is here!

Saturday we headed down to Sparkle City to meet up with our cousins Rich, Lynn, Faryn and Kamryn....as well as to see Miss Belle who was very excited for the company (and falling hot dogs from the girls!). It was an absolutely beautiful day and HOT so everyone really enjoyed playing in the pool. A big thanks to Lulu and Bill for opening your house to us! Most of the pictures are of the girls as they were more entertaining than the rest of us but there's a couple of pictures of the big belly that I am walking around with (and ready to get rid of!).