Arden Lily Arrives!

Arden Lily Tabony was born on March 14 at 5:29 in the morning, after a couple of sleepless nights of hard work.... but boy was it worth it! Arden is so sweet. She's having a milky meal as I write this now.
Arden already knows to stay close to the food source. She started out at 7lbs 10oz, but by Wednesday was down to 6lbs 15oz. Thank goodness the milk has come in now, and we're back up to almost where we started!
We're already preparing Arden for study at Hogwarts. "Stupify!"


She is such a snuggler. I remember Carter just being unable to be still on my chest. He would always kick his legs and drive himself up past my head. She just wriggles in close and sleeps.
Carter is doing so well with his baby sister. He can already say her name "Ahh-den" and he stroked her head today and pointed out her facial features for us. Although he obviously can't do much with her yet, he's given me big smiles when I bring her in the same room and show off to him how I care for her. He seems proud to be a big brother.

Cierra's parents, Greg and Deann got to be the first of family to visit! They love their granddaughter too and think she's just perfect. Well of course she is! Cierra read all the books on pregnancy and birthing to make sure.

This time around we decided to forego the hospital experience for a birthing center that's opened nearby with midwives running the place instead of doctors. Wow, what a change for the better. Much more personal experience this time, care that focused on support and not intervention. I wish more women could have this experience. And I would say that we had a great hospital experience with CMC and Carter's birth. Their staff and care was great, but with the proper preparation and a low-risk mother, the hospital is just not the most comfortable place to give birth. This time, Cierra was happy to labor in the tub for more than 4 hours. Plus, we had mom and baby at home and resting up in just over 4 1/2 hours after Arden was born.

Arden and her wizardly hat take a tour of the property, properly shaded under an umbrella from the sun's deadly rays. If babies under 6 months can't get any sunlight, how did the human race survive to produce physicians in the first place?

We jest, we jest... but better safe than sorry. Obviously, there's so much more to tell... but we're tired, people! Next up: an account of Carter's 2nd birthday and other stuff about Arden coming soon too. But first: Sleep.

Gimme that camera!

Gimme that camera, Dad! C'mon, it's my last chance to get top billing before I've got to share the spotlight.

Look at meeee! I'm EXCITED! Plus, I'm going to get a BABY SISTER really soon! Not sure what that means but Mommy and Daddy keep talking about it so it's gotta be GOOD!

I have become my father. I remember one of my earlier birthdays, Dad got me a post-hole digger for my birthday. Boy did I hate that thing but I'm sure Dad just wanted to get me working alongside him. Carter showed some interest in moving leaves around so I got him this little rake. Here he is learning to dance with it.

Carter's really trying to blow bubbles now. Also, he's trying to eat the wand.

Not posted.... the snap I got where the ring was actually inside his mouth. :)

That is one happy little guy. How lucky are we? We're spending a lot more time outdoors these days, opening the garden back up.

Going for a walk, again. We walk down to the playground around 3 times a day now. Most of the time it's just a couple of runs down the slide and he says "home". Then we walk back to the house and get ready to do it all again.

We took a little stroll through our local science museum the other day. Here, Carter stares at something in wonderment.

More staring. Science is EXCITING. Or maybe hypnotic.

Also EXCITING.... Eating! This is Carter in the "snack chair", which is really just his designated chair in the breakfast nook. He can crawl into and out of it all by himself.

Great Dad, just by talking about it, you've made the snack chair uncool.

That's it for now, stay tuned for our next update which will hopefully include very exciting news!

Adventures in the life of Carter

Daddy, it has been nice living with you and Mommy, but I'm going to move into this playground now. Can you have all my stuff boxed up and sent here? I'm not so much interested in the stuff as I will be in the boxes.

Carter quickly learned how to walk across this swing bridge without falling the other day... hey, maybe this is when he forgot how to walk on a flat surface! He fell forward twice today, the first time he just ate it, bounced his face off the asphalt and came up crying with little bits of road stuck to his cheek. I winced, bounding forward to scoop him up and gritting my teeth against the blood I was sure would be coming from his mouth. But no, only a few tears lost and when I asked him if he wanted to go back inside he looked at me as if I was stupid. "Walk, Daddy"

We're now members at Charlotte's Discovery Place. Most of the exhibits there are for bigger kids but Carter fell in love with this big board of plastic insertable rods that would light up as you inserted them in the holes. It really seemed like magic. If I worked at Discovery Place after hours I would get a banana clip and totally pretend to be Geordi LaForge trying to get the Dilithium crystals realigned to prevent a cascade warp reaction. I mean, I would do that if I was a total nerd or something.

Another trip to a playground. (This is a different one, we swear!) Looks like these days we only remember to pull out the camera when we're out and about tending to Carter's slide obsession. Here, he rides a big metal toucan. Is this the stork that's bringing my baby sister?

I'll take one of everything! Just put it all in a bucket.

Carter likes to eat. While feeding him I get to listen to yelled commands like "Mo' MEET" Mo-Mo-Mo KRAKAS. Mo BOCOLI!

When he was feeling sick a few weeks back we gave him orange juice. Whoa. Everything else went out the window. Carter, would you like some food? "Jus!" No, how about some food. "JOOOS! JOOOOOOOOOOS!" Carter you can't just have juice. "YAYAYA JOOOOOOOOOOOS!" Hoo boy. We've gotten him to forget about it for now but he may have to go to some meetings later in life.

We've been talking to Carter about his new baby sister who will be here in just a few weeks. He seems to know that there will soon be a new baby arriving... but what he doesn't know yet is how much his life will change because of it. Stay tuned to this space and we'll let you know how it goes!

Where does the time go?

I guess we've just been having too much fun around here... it's been 3 weeks since I posted anything new about Carter! It's been sunny but cold here in Charlotte, and Carter doesn't see anything wrong with bundling up to take a trip down to our neighborhood playground. I always know when it's outside time, because he marches out into the hall and starts rummaging through our bin of cold-weather items. "Coat" he declares as he hands me his jacket. A minute later he's back. "Hat" he demands, shoving a tassle in my face. He knows to turn around and put his arms into the sleeves when I hold up the coat. "Arm" he confides. Although, he did point to his leg on the changing table yesterday and said loudly, "Arm."

"No, Carter, that is your leg. Arms have hands on the end. Legs have feet. That looks like a foot to me!"


He's having a ball on the swing, which can mean only one person is pushing him... Mommy! Whenever Daddy loads him in the swing, it's "Down, Down, Down" right away.

Look at the mess I made! Aren't you proud of me? Long days of mostly inside time lead to some crazy messes around here. If it's a cooking day, sometimes it really looks out of control. I'm always amazed at how fast I can pick it all up. Since it's the last thing I have to do before I can relax, I probably look like the Tazmainian Devil whirling through the house, plastic blocks and stuffed animals orbiting around my head on the way to their bins.

On most nights before Carter heads to bed, he helps me put away the toys in his play area. Sometimes he forgets and starts to play with them again, but as long as I can keep him focused on the goal, (he loves his bath) then he really does a great job.

Here we are reading "Mommy, Carry me Please." Probably not the best book to have around, especially now that Cierra's trying not to carry him so much. Cierra's nearly 8 months pregnant now, and getting close to the "let's hurry up and get this over with" stage. But everything is looking good and aside from a cold Carter gave everyone last week, we're all healthy and happy.

Daddy, it's outside time again! Ok, gotta go!

The Blizzard of 2011

Hey everyone! My mom sent us a few more good pictures from the trip we took up to Virginia recently, so I thought we could lead off with those this week.

Aww, Grandpa. Don't you know tricks are for kids? This is my Dad's automatic response every time someone breaks out a camera.

Weeeelll, I know it's been a while and no, I really don't have much of an excuse. We haven't been doing much since we last posted. Charlotte has been going through a cold snap this past week, and we got some pretty significant (for us) snowfall a week ago that kept us from going anywhere for a few days. Carter got a little tired of spending so much time inside and got a bit fussy on us. Could be the new eyeteeth he's got coming in too.

As of yesterday our local neighborhood's playground still has a lot of ice and snow on it, so we've been walking right by in our wagon. Carter yells at us every time. "What's the matter, fools? Can't you see that playground? The one we go to EVERY DAY?" We explain the problem but he's not buying it.

The second morning the trees were still covered in ice. The moments of beauty in a snowstorm... before you have to shovel the driveway and destroy it all.

When can I get out of here?

Carter's started saying a lot more. He had been saying "moan" for a long while and we couldn't figure out what the heck he meant. Turns out it was "brown", which appears to be his new favorite color. Perhaps that's because it's also the color of "meat", which he crows enthusiastically every time I fix a steak.

Carter also went number 2 on the potty for the first time this past week! Now we know that one time does not a trend make, but the cool part was that he communicated well about it. We asked him if he needed to go, he made the potty sign, we took him in and told him what to do, and he sat on his potty, made the sign repeatedly, and got straight down to business.

We went out in the storm while it was still snowing and got some good play time in. I showed Carter the number-one thing to do with snow.... snowballs. He didn't want to throw them, but kept cheering for me to make and throw more at everything around.

Back at the playground! Sliding away until next week....

Happy New Year!

We're back from Virginia and visiting my parents, and I am beyond glad to be back in my own bed. I didn't grow up being quite so wimpy, but now I've got my lil' contoured pillow... and other people's pillows just aren't cutting it anymore. Carter had a great time up in Gladstone, and yelled at us heartily when we told him it was time to say goodbye after 3 great days.

There was still a little snow unmelted here and there, which encouraged Uncle Freeman to make snowballs. Freeman and Carter got along very well, because Freeman wasn't afraid to get down on Carter's level and play with him. That, and Freeman plays guitar and sings. If you can make music, Carter's going to like you. All I have to do if I want Carter to come running is break into song. He'll be right underfoot, clapping his hands together for more.

I told Carter this clothesline was a zipline. We had great fun "sliding" back and forth between trees.

...We had to tag the tree on each end before turning around and zipping off in the other direction.

While Carter took a nap, we left Grandma in charge and took a walk down by the James River, which my childhood home overlooks. No, (newly minted) Aunt Kate and Uncle Sawyer didn't throw Freeman in the river right afterwards, because if they did, we'd have pictures of a sopping wet and enraged Uncle Freeman chasing everyone around a field.

Oh, and we're all wearing those colors because it was the last day of hunting season and every other local was out with a six-pack and a rifle trying to bag one last deer for the year.

Merry Christmas Aftermath

Well folks, there hasn't been a white Christmas here in Charlotte since 1947. And it looked like the streak would remain unbroken despite what the forecasters said. But at 11:30pm on Christmas, we looked outside and the ground was sprinkled with the faintest speckle of snow. So, I'll leave it to the record makers to figure out if that resets the official counter. All I know is that unless I wake up on Christmas morning to a blanket of pristine white snow (well, pristine except for the reindeer prints on the roof), it doesn't count in my book.

But the day after Christmas we woke up to around 2 inches outside. Cierra's family was visiting and her Dad and I fashioned a makeshift sled from an old plastic tub and some rope. Problem was, I attached the rope at the top of this tall tub, not the bottom, so when it caught on a stick under the snow, the whole contraption flipped over and gave Carter a face full of snow. Not appreciated in the least!

But he calmed down and walked around the garden in this crunchy white stuff that he insisted on calling "bubbles". Well, it does kind of look like when he takes his bath.


The Baers brought some kryptonite in the form of 10 different jigsaw puzzles in one box. I cannot resist a puzzle. Here Carter attempts to help me puzzle it out.... but he's actually trying to figure out if he can eat these things.

Carter got the coolest wagon for Christmas, complete with umbrella. And good thing too, because we went for this walk in a light rain.

Another awesome present found by mommy... a ball pit! This place is starting to resemble Chuck E. Cheese's house.

Get a load of this tree! More specifically, the pile of presents underneath it. Any more gifts next year and we'll have to reinforce the floor.

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you did too. Tomorrow we are off to visit with my family for a few days in beautiful VA.