Disney Pics

We met Mickey! Hey Mick! I used to work for you!

Carter enjoyed his bath in this very large tub/ very small swimming pool.

Oh, oh, Mommy. I think you have something on your face.

Someone's been partying too hard.

Alexis and Carter had lots of quiet moments together.

Fun times at the Beach Club.

Who's that crazy leprechaun?

No, mom. That's "live long and prosper". THIS is "surf's up."

For once I'm not the Goofiest guy in the picture.

A mouse? Where, is it under the table?

Great, now a giant duck. My nightmare tonight should be interesting.

And the mouse is back again. I'm calling the health department.

Here's a pretty one.

We had a pretty hat-filled week.

Here I am back at the ol' workplace. Almost made me want to sell some ice cream....

Carter continued to be fascinated by Gary (or Opa). We think it's his goatee.

Can you see Carter's face? This is hilarious.

Piglet, Carter is intrigued.

Carter learning a new skill. How to take a hat off his head.

Carter turns 1 in the Magic Kingdom

I know it's hard to believe, but yes, the cracker stayed in the mouth even after that 2nd picture.





And we're back! Sorry it's been such a long time between posts but we were gone to Disney World for Carter's 1st birthday, and then I was so sick when we got back that I couldn't do anything. It was the first time in my life that I've actually had a fever break overnight like you see in old-time period movies....





Pa: Little Jimmy's head is so hot. And he's sayin' the craziest things...





Doc: His fever has reached what we call the crisis point.





Ma: What should we do?





Doc: (head bent in sorrow) If only he had some boils I could lance. No, no, I'm afraid all we can do is wait for the fever to leave him on it's own...





Yes, I went to bed with a crazy fever and woke up near 2am in the middle of a cold puddle of sweat. So much sweat I had to change my shirt because I was getting clammy. I swear I could have even wrung water out of my pillow.





Anyway, I'm still hacking up a lung every now and then, but I'm well enough to tell you all about our trip to Disney last week and Carter's first birthday. We don't have a whole lot of pictures yet though, they are coming but just not quite here yet. Once they are here, expect another post with more of those.
Here we are at the Animal Kingdom, where Cierra scaled the wall so Carter could have an up-close experience with a gorilla. Just kidding, that's actually one of many Disney characters that Carter got to meet. It's Turk! In case you're like me and your next question is "Who's Turk?", why, it's the adorable sidekick from Tarzan, of course.

Here we are enjoying one of Disney's attractions for kids Carter's age, the Wonderful World of Grass and Bugs. Carter had a great time but he may have eaten Flik.

Carter and Mommy had a meal while they waited for me to come off of Expedition Everest. What a ride that was! It's way ahead of the Rock N' Roller Coaster if you ask me.

Thanks to the Grandparents Bardonner, we had an awesome place to stay in for our trip... the apartment had a high chair and a pack n' play for Carter, along with all the decorations you could think of for both a 1st birthday and St. Patrick's Day. They thought of everything to make Carter's birthday super special!

We were in the Magic Kingdom on the actual day, and one of the things we wanted to do was get Carter's hair cut at the barber shop on Main Street. Alas, the line was really long, we said we would come back and by the time we did they had closed. So Carter had his first haircut at Great Clips back in the real world.

He didn't seem to mind.

This first video is just a blip of Carter playing with his birthday decorations... but now, a video of him playing with a new toy on the day of his birthday. He's already figured out how it works!
Look for another post really soon with better pictures from the Bardonners' camera!

Lots of Family Time!

Carter here, just color coding these floor tiles so it'll be easier to put back together next time I tear it up. Well, another week has flown by and I'm almost one year old now. It's been crazy having all these family members here! I had my Grandparents Baer here last weekend, and we had so much fun that apparently we forgot to take any pictures. What a wild time! But seriously, guys, if you have any pictures from those couple of days could you forward them to Dad for posting? Also, I'm trying to figure out where I parked my car.
I know it's around here somewhere. That is the last time I drink so much milk. I am continuing to work on the whole standing process. I've gotten to the point where I'll hold Dad's hands and stand without immediately panicking, but mostly I either want to be holding onto a piece of furniture or down on all fours. What can I say, I'm careful. You try falling on your face a couple of times and I bet you'll get overly cautious too.


We might have forgotten to take pictures of Mimi, but we took a snap of me in the swank new coat she brought me! I don't know why, but I'm feeling particularly rabbity right now. Perhaps I will have a carrot.

That's not a carrot! I have been branching out on the whole food idea though. Things I have eaten this week: Yogurt (of course), broccoli, crackers, Mexican cornbread, peas, raisins, and my own socks. Well, I couldn't quite get the socks down, but I'm working on it.

Photo credit on these last pics goes out to Great-Aunt Terri and Cousin Kara Hemmerlein, who dropped by on Sunday and Monday to keep me and Dad company while Mom worked. We had a blast! Terri thought she was going to put me down for a nap. Ha! I laugh in the face of your nap.

Kara let me try on her hair! We are definitely going to skip this nap now! Party!!!!!

Here I am crawling away from my nursery, bright eyed and bushy tailed! Can't nobody make me sleep. I am super-baby, immune to time itself!
Oh-oh. What's this outfit? It appears to be made of Kryptonite. It's a bird... no it's a fan... no it's a bedtime!!! Must fight...getting sleepy ah have to finish blog pozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Carter he is a-Changing

Life continues here at the Tabony Farm where Carter is fast approaching 1 year old! Less than 2 weeks left until he hits that magic number. He is changing so fast, yet is still the same sweet baby we've always known. His sixth tooth is on it's way in and will make his mouth temporarily symmetrical, with 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. He's eating a lot more now, experimenting with fruits, veggies, and cheese, but still stuck pretty firmly on yogurt. We're actually having to curtail his enthusiasm for yogurt so he can get his other food groups in. He's also been off milk for the most part during the days... he just doesn't seem to want it so I've been teaching him to use the sippy cup.
Cierra continues to contribute to Carter's social life by organizing a ton of playdates/information sessions for mothers. Here Carter is jostling for a turn at the mirror during the monthly meeting of the Baby Wearers group Cierra founded here in Charlotte.

And here he is with his friend Adelaide at our babysitting co-op meeting. Adelaide is only 3 weeks older but so advanced. She is walking, giving hugs and kisses and says a few words too. She likes to pet Carter on his head. He takes it pretty well, but I saw a few glimpses of "What is this girl doing?" in his eyes. Gotta learn to stand up for yourself, buddy.
Carter is still very into reading his books, but lately he seems to want alone time with them. If you begin reading a book to him, 9 times out of 10 he will want a different book by the halfway point. He much prefers pointing at them. And pointing at everything else in sight too!
We're not walking yet, but we're spending time cruising around objects, hand over hand, with the feet following along. Can't be long now! He also learned to open the kitchen cabinets today, so it's off to the store tomorrow for some babyproofing supplies.

You decide, are the grapes sour or is Carter really excited about their taste?

That's it for this week... but we've got family coming in starting tonight so look for lots of pictures next time!

And We're Back!!

Hi Everybody, Carter the Travel Baby here from my umbrella stroller. Just back from a whirlwind west coast tour that kept me busy for the last two weeks. I brought back lots of pictures though, so lean back with your beverage of choice and let my experience wash over you.

While in LA we stayed in a beautiful little community called Manhattan Beach. A swing set right by the ocean, now this is paradise! These babies have it made.
Here I am at the Mexican Restaurant right off the beach. Dad is feeding me cheese. This stuff is great!

And here we are hanging out in a little place called Noah's Bagels. I got up a teensy bit early around 4 am, so Mom and Dad took me out of the house to keep everyone else from being awakened. Daddy looks like a homeless person when he doesn't get his shower. Ha!
Mommy does her impression of a homeless person and I do my impression of an Ewok.

Aunt Kaelie got together with Mom and Dad and they all ditched me and went on the Price is Right. So everyone make sure to watch Price is Right on March 29th and see if you can spot Dad's big head in the center section, left side on your screen, right next to the aisle. And we'll all see if the camera really adds 10 pounds.
Here we are living the high life with Mimi. Our friend Molly, whose house we stayed at, knew some really well off folks who live in the high country just south of Manhattan beach. Their ranch is mere miles from LA, but up here you'd never know it. At least, I'd never know it, but then again I sometimes don't know it when I've pooped my pants.

Did we mention about the dogs? Molly is a dog walker and a dog sitter. We had 7 dogs in the house at one point. Dad's considering writing a movie script about the experience called "Hotel for Dogs". I don't have the heart to tell him that someone already made that one.
Okay, I've had enough of this beach stuff. Any more walks out here, I swear I'm gonna punch a dolphin.

Finally, we made it to the whole reason we came out here... to see the UCLA gymnastics meet! Aunt Kaelie is still recovering from the stress reaction in her leg, so she wasn't competing, but it was still fun to cheer her team on. Then on the beam, we had several girls fall and I got frustrated and started to cry. So Dad took me way up in the rafters and rocked me to sleep while the girls did their floor routines. I was asleep but they tell me that we had several more falls on floor and we lost the meet. Poop.
Then we went to Vegas! Here I am, crawling around in the Four Seasons Hotel at Mandalay Bay. Pretty swanky floor. It's always tricky in Vegas, but I managed to come out ahead, since I can't gamble and I was so charming while Mom and Dad were eating at the Pepper Mill that an old timer at the next table gave me a 2 dollar bill when he got up to leave. That one's going in the piggy bank!

Mom and Dad wanted to go to a Cirque show while we were in town so they arranged for me to stay with Syrine and Jafar, their old friends from Tunisia who live in Vegas now. We stayed up late and had a total baby party. I quickly found their radio and then I was the DJ... we scattered my toys all around and it was crazy. Luckily what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't consequences. Here I am totally sacked out on the plane the next day. Whew! What a ride!

Cabin Fever

Greetings from the swamps of southern Charlotte! The weather has been keeping us mostly indoors this week. We got our first real blast of winter snow and ice on Friday night into Saturday, and Carter and I didn't venture out of the house until Monday or Tuesday this week! That's a whole lot of playing with the same toys and reading the same books over and over.

Fortunately, we did finally get out and went to the library together for the very first time. (Cierra usually takes him.) We sat in a comfy chair and read book after book, but Carter could hardly concentrate on the reading because there were other children around! The librarians all knew him from his previous visits and kept stopping to check him out.
"What you looking at?" Just the cutest lil' baby ever! He's like a diaper-clad Rhoomba scooting around, picking up all the dust bunnies that I've missed with the actual vaccum.
Some artistic shots from this weeks' playing...
Carter (a.k.a. Destructo Baby) towers over the metropolis of Busy Zoo as the residents flee in terror. Who might he viciously gum to death next?
Hi Daddy! It's my turn to hold the remote now!

Well, hate to blog and run but Carter has gotten into my closet and is discovering the joys of bubble wrap. That's it for this week!