Rolly Pollies

Since many of you would agree that Nolan is in his own right an adorable "rolly pollie," it is only natural that he would attend classes at our local Rolly Pollies.
Rolly Pollies is a FABULOUS place for little ones. Nolan has been going since he was a cute 6 month "blob" of love. Although he couldn't really participate that much in the classes at that time (it was really more of a workout for mommy than anything), I felt it was very important for him to be exposed to that sensory and social experience. Now he acts like he owns the place and moves around everywhere!!! To date his favorite activities are the trapeze bar, the car roller coaster, and the trampoline~ he truly is my child :) Now he crawls over to the all the big kid equipment and tries to climb up on it. When he is redirected he just stares at it longingly. He is so ready to be a big kid :( His teacher is WONDERFUL and she is a pediatric occupational therapist and a mother herself. She is so good with all the little ones and she makes sure to give each one their own individual time, what could be better than that?!?!? We have also made some great friends (for Nolan and mommy) through the class. He just has SO much fun there. A couple of sessions ago he actually cried when class was over because he didn't want to leave!! If anyone has a Rolly Pollies locally you should definitely check them out!!

Happy 4th Anniversary (12 days late)!!

Ok, just a little behind with my blog posting but on June 12 we celebrated our 4 year anniversary!! So many wonderful and exciting things have happened over the past 4 years~ Getting married, changing jobs, moving to NC, moving to a different part of NC at 7 months pregnant, having a baby, etc. :) God has richly blessed our lives and I thank him everyday for bringing Bill into my life. He is such a wonderful husband and father and I am looking forward to many, many more happy years together. Happy Belated Anniversary Babe!!

First Steps, well first step that is!!

What an exciting day!! After a very busy day of socializing, i.e. flirting with my former co-workers :) Nolan decided to take his first step!!! He let go of the coffee table and took his first independent step towards mommy and a favorite toy before taking a forward lunge toward me. The way I clapped and cheered (and cried) you would have thought that he just ran across the entire room. He has been teetering with walking for the past couple of weeks and I am so excited, but nervous at the same time. He absolutely loves his push toys (this new found love happened at the beach) and practically runs through the house with them. He is also quite the cruiser around all the furniture and has been standing on his own briefly, so I knew the first step was inevitable.


This exciting new adventure presents mommy with several stressful thoughts: 1. Nolan is already very active and his impending walking will keep me even busier; 2. SO many more dangerous hazards for me to stress about; 3. This is a whole new stage for my sweet baby boy who is obviously heading toward toddlerhood at rapid warp speed; and 4. Can it possibly be time for my little Roo to be walking????

Our Little Beach Boy

The first week of June we went on the annual Kearney/Smith/Reeves family vacation. This year we made the journey to Pawley's Island in South Carolina. Nolan had so much fun seeing the ocean for the very first time!! The first night we arrived it was windy so he kept opening his mouth in complete awe while pointing to the ocean and saying "oh" over and over. too cute!!



Our little cabana cuties!! Nolan and his cousin Katie liked to take breaks from the sun and hang out in Nolan's cabana tent. How sweet are these little bits?!?! They love each other so much!!



Nolan LOVED playing in his pool. He definitely enjoyed this pool more than the bigger pools we tried. Our little independent man prefers being on his own rather than in a floatie with us in the big pool.



Since we were only about thirty minutes from Myrtle Beach we took the kids to Broadway at the Beach to ride the kiddie rides. Nolan's favorites were the carousel and of course the train.



What could be better than an afternoon nap by the pool with Papa?



We had such an exciting and fun time with Nolan at the beach!! He wasn't so sure about the ocean at first, but after about an hour he was in the water jumping waves with Papaw Kearney. He did great with the different environment and he only had one rough night of sleeping. The fact that he was teething probably didn't help very much either. He took AWESOME naps at the beach and really stayed on his schedule. I told Bill that maybe we should consider moving to the beach since nap times went so well.

On Wednesday night we had an interesting experience. By 9:30 the kids were fast asleep and the adults were hanging out and relaxing when all of a sudden the fire alarms go off. We were all completely shocked and checked outside to see the whole building evacuating, so we scooped up the little ones and headed downstairs. I have heard that kids don't wake up to smoke/fire alarms, but believe me it is actually true!! Nolan did not wake up until we were headed down the stair well and there was a fire alarm right over his bed!! SCARY!! Fortunately there was no fire. Turns out one of the pipes in a condo on the second floor had burst and caused the sprinklers to go off and flood that entire condo. I was worried that Nolan would be scared by this whole event, but he was fascinated with all the commotion, the 4 fire trucks, and the massive amount of firemen that came to the complex. He just kept pointing and talking to the fire trucks. (I don't have a pic because all I grabbed was little Roo.

We had a great time at Pawley's Island. So much so that Bill, Nolan, and I are planning to take another trip back the first week in September.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

HAPPY FIRST FATHER'S DAY to the best dada in the whole wide world!!

I Have an 11 month old!!

Ok, sorry again for the absence ( I am having to do that a lot lately). We were on the Kearney-Smith family vacay last week (picture update coming soon) and I only checked my email one time the whole entire week. On to more pressing matters, my sweet, little man turned 11 months old on Monday!!! What is that about???? Where has the time gone? I can't believe it is actually time to start planning Nolan's 1st birthday soiree. So the search is on to plan the perfect party for little "Roo". Any and all suggestions are welcome!

The Power of No

Sorry for the absence. Little man has been keeping me very busy!! So, for the last 2 months or so, Nolan has been shaking his head no. This might be one of the cutest things he does right now because they went from random head shakes to meaningful and purposeful "no's". Fortunately one of our friends told us a long time ago to not be alarmed when he started doing this because when her little girl started shaking her head she was scared to death that she was having a seizure. Therefore we were well warned. It all started one day while he was in his high chair and I was talking to him (imagine that) and he just began to shake his head no (I wish I could take a picture of this, but maybe I can get a little video clip and post it for all to see). However, recently he is consistently telling us no in response to questions and of course when we tell him no (for some strange reason he loves all things he shouldn't, i.e., computer cords, trash cans, dog toys, shoes, etc. :) just lovely!!).
Now we have been working on nodding yes because usually if his answer is yes to something then he sits very still and just looks at you very intently with those beautiful blue eyes. I'll keep you posted on our progress!