Last week Alex and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. At times, our wedding seems like it was yesterday, but living in St. Louis is starting to seem like a long time ago.
I hope we are finished teething for awhile. Isla hasn’t been too unhappy, but she’s had a pathetically stuffy nose. (She has all four front teeth now.)
It was great to catch up with Abbe and Allan as they stopped by with the boys on their way to and from Hilton Head.
And of course we played:
We have been doing a lot of teething around the Nolan household lately. One bottom tooth and one top tooth have broken through and we are waiting on two more that we can see just below her gums—Exciting, I know.
Last Sunday, the weather was beautiful, so we took Isla to the White Water Center. It’s a neat little (well, huge) place that we frequent, but strangely enough have never participated in anything related to white water. The U.S. Olympic team trains there, and anyone can go down the rapids, but we just hike or ride bikes on the trails and enjoy the good food at the restaurant.
Isla’s First “Hike”
And happy 7 months, Isla! We had a very relaxed yet enjoyable weekend hanging out with friends. Last week, we discovered that the outdoor pool at our YMCA is surprisingly very nice complete with splash park, waterslides, and large kiddie pool, so we decided to head back today. Isla seemed a little leery of the water on her first visit but enjoyed every minute of today (except when I accidently dunked her) causing dreams of days as a triathle dad to start whirling in Alex’s mind. Her chubby little legs are so buoyant that she can almost float :)
So, we’ve been absent for over a month! Here’s a quick snippet of what we’ve been up to:
Play, play, play. That’s all we do. I’ll try to get back to more regular updates, but finding time is difficult when little hands won’t stay off the keyboard ….
The Nolan’s first Saturday in May was milder in 2011 than in years past but was very enjoyable all the same. A friend chaired Derby Days, a social event benefiting Charlotte’s Mint Museum, and as we were not able to travel back to Kentucky for the real deal this year, we decided to check it out. We were not disappointed to say the least. On the park-like lawn of the museum, you could find games ranging from Horse Balls to Croquet. The catered food was from many of Charlotte’s top restaurants. Seer-sucker, hats, and gambling abounded, and we viewed the races in a theater from stadium seats. Not your average Derby party!
Isla has a head start on the social scene—She was the only baby present (I cleared it with the chair beforehand). As such, she was a hit amongst the female attendees. Her fascinator lasted all of 5 minutes. She has yet to learn the sacrifices that need be made for the sake of fashion.
Alex broke out the madras bow-tie.
The ghostly theater pics. The camera was on the wrong setting.
I didn’t think to take pictures until the evening and missed the photo ops that the Carolina blue sky offered earlier in the day. Hopefully, our family picture taken by the professional photographer will make the paper.
So, although my horse came in measly 9th place (Pants on Fire), with perfect weather (76 degrees without a drop of humidity) and the absence of Isla-meltdowns, the day overall was a success.
Holidays are so much more fun with kids. Probably because we have an excuse to act like them ourselves. We started the week dyeing eggs:
The set-up
Mommy’s eggs
Daddy’s more creative eggs
Then we took Easter portraits:
We went to church on Friday evening in an attempt to avoid the huge Sunday crowd to no avail:
And the Easter Bunny even paid a visit to our house:
Hope you have a wonderful Easter!
. . . loves her some rice cereal. She cries if I don’t get the spoon up to her mouth quickly enough. I guess it’s time to break out the ol’ Cuisinart. Next up greens.
(Sorry about the crappy phone pic)
After a (likely) coincidence where Isla seemed to answer to Big Gurl a couple nights ago, we have decided to phase out the nick-name. (I could foresee an embarrassing episode on the playground in a year or so when she introduces herself.) So, next up—Isla Bean. You’ll have to ask Alex where he came up with this one, but at least it incorporates her name.
We saw Dr. Dews for Isla’s four month well-check today. We are so blessed to have such a healthy little girl! She is gaining weight at a great pace, and it still looks like she is going to be tall like her mama.
Weight: 15 lbs. (75-90%)
Height: 26 in. (95%)
Head: 16 3/4 in. (75-95%)
Dr. Dews also thinks she is ready for solid foods. So, I’m going to be whipping up a yummy batch of rice cereal in the next few days.
She has been intensely watching everything I put in my mouth recently, so I think she will be this excited.
And anything she gets her hands on goes into her mouth (including her toes . . .)
Last week we had the joy of having DD, Aunt Abbe, and cousin Nolan come visit for Spring Break. Nolan has grown so much since we saw him last. He and Isla were almost the exact same size, and people assumed they were twins. DD even had matching outfits for them, and we had a blast taking pictures to save for future embarrassment:
Isla is becoming a little ham.
Matching bald spots.
Isla doesn’t like to talk about the size of her thighs 
Bouncy chairs are a gift from God.
Watch out for the five foot rat snake at Freedom Park.
DD and Aunt Abbe graciously babysat Isla on Saturday night while Alex and I attended a friend’s wedding. Strange enough, this was our my first real night out since she was born do to the whole bottle ordeal. (Thankfully, she is now taking bottles. Calling all babysitters!!!)
