March - A Month Full of Firsts

Andrew's First Trip to the Zoo  At the suggestion of Gram Elston (or more like insistence), we went to the San Francisco Zoo on their last weekend with us (March 10th-11th).  We had gorgeous weather and tons of sunshine.  In pure, first-time mom fashion, I forgot sunscreen and had to beg for some from another mom who graciously shared hers while slathering up her five kids.  Unfortunately, we weren't that impressed with the San Fran Zoo.  Maybe it'll be better when Andrew gets a little older and we can ride the Zoo train with him, or maybe when he is more interested in the animals than the kids running around, or maybe when he just stays awake for the whole visit.

Polar Bear!

Mom and Dad have to get in on the Zoo Fun!

After the Zoo, we headed toward the Pacific for Andrew's First Trip to the Beach! We went to Pacifica, a surfer/beach bum town, and braved the winds to see what Andrew would think of the beach.  Despite it being a gorgeous day, and getting a sunburn at the Zoo (well, everyone except Andrew), we definitely froze our tushies off at the ocean! Well, it was worth it - he loved it!  He was almost pensive, taking in the water, the wind, and of course, the sand.  I braced myself for him helping himself to a huge mouthful of sand, as every baby I've ever been on the beach with has ever done, but Andrew seemed happy just to sift it between his fingers and feel it squish between his toes.  We didn't stay long, but it was definitely a trip I hope to never forget.

        

 

        

Andrew's First Week of Daycare  After my parents left, we were finally forced to put Andrew in full-time daycare.  He had gone with me to Prudential's daycare a handful of times, but at 7 months old, this would be the first true daycare situation where he would be dropped off by Daddy in the morning and picked up by Mommy 6 hours later.  Andrew is enrolled at Kinder Care in Livermore, which we visited while out here on the house hunting trip in January. It isn't our first choice of where we'd like Andrew to spend his days, but it's the only place that had an opening that we didn't hate either.  Pluses are that we really like the Center Director, we get a "Lab" discount through Mike's work, and we get free formula and baby food.  There are some definite minuses, but I'm trying not to focus on those for my mental health.  ;)  

Andrew's first day didn't go so hot. When I arrived at day care, Andrew was sitting playing with toys, seemingly happy. But, upon closer inspection, he had tears on his cheeks and a bright red nose - Rudolph red. Apparently, Andrew had been placed in the "pool" - a raised circular mat with a six inch high padded border. While this was the perfect thing for Andrew as of month 5, at month 6 - Andrew's adventurous attitude coupled with his new-ish ability to pull himself to standing led him to take a header out of the pool and skin his nose on the (non-padded) carpet.  I made the mistake of sending Mike a picture of Andrew's nose (below).  I immediately received a return call from a very concerned, overbearing Dad (yes, Mike) - who wanted to go to KinderCare after he was done work and "speak" to them about what happened. He even went so far as to suggest Andrew wear a helmet.  Although Mike is definitely more relaxed than me with most things, apparently this does not apply to Andrew and daycare.


My poor baby!



Some more pictures from Gram and Grandpop's First Trip to visit us in California.

 Grandpop and Andrew in their hats.

 

Andrew's First St. Patrick's Day
This year, St. Patrick's Day was far from the days when Mike and I used to meet up with friends and head to the local Irish Pub to drink green beer. We woke up early to beat the crowds and headed to Dublin, CA for their Annual Irish Festival. There were some neat vendors selling Irish trinkets and a couple Irish bands playing, and Mike did get one Guinness.  But, after an hour or two walking around in the cold, we headed for Babies'R'Us to pick up the crib bed rails that came in, and then headed home after a quick bite to eat.  We're pretty lame these days, but I guess that comes with the territory (and I don't mind it one bit!). 

Another first - Andrew's first piece of art!



Okay, the festival looks really lame here...
but there were a ton of people walking in as we left.



My Little Leprechaun



This shot of our drive home reminded me of Ireland... pretty isn't it?



Andrew's First Tooth

Mike came in one morning all excited saying, "Look at his mouth!" I was very excited, until he explained further, "His gums are swollen!"  Boo.  He was right, his gums were incredibly swollen - right where you would expect his two bottom teeth to appear.  Well, we were on "Tooth Watch" for a whole week.  Every morning, we would go in to greet Andrew, fully expecting to see those tiny pearly whites glistening in the sunlight.  And, no one warned me about the VERY messy diapers and incredible amount of drooling that we'd experience prior to those babies finally breaking through.  I expected some fussiness, but we didn't have too much... until... we went into our local hot-spot, First Street Alehouse, for a quick bite to eat, and Andrew lost all composure.  He was completely inconsolable no matter what we did.  We chugged our beers and headed to the car to give him a bottle, assuming he was just hungry.  After his meal, we headed to Trader Joe's to pick up some groceries (and lunch, since we had to leave the restaurant prior to eating).  Andrew was back to his happy self, and sucking on my hand when all of the sudden, he bit me!  So, THAT's what all that fussiness was about!  So, Andrew got his first tooth in Trader Joe's.  Or maybe First Street Alehouse.  Either way, the second shortly followed a morning or two later. Our little boy is growing up!