May Happenings

We had a lot happen in the month of May... below are some of the highlights. (Amanda's trip will get her own blog!)

Livermore Wine Festival - Wine Country definitely likes to drink. We would highly recommend that visitors plan on coming out next year for Livermore's Wine Festival.  It costs $30/ticket for wine and $25/ticket for beer tastings.  For that price, you get a glass that you take around to various stations set up downtown.  Each station has multiple wineries and breweries pouring 2-3 different tastings (Sierra Nevada included!).  And, here's the best part - you can go up to each stand as often as you like over the course of 2 days!  The streets of downtown Livermore are blocked off and street vendors, food trucks and artists sell their goods.  They even have a mini amusement park set up for the kids with a tilt-a-whirl and Salt and Pepper shakers!

 

Andrew sound asleep at the amusement park

Livermore Farmer's Market - Thirsty Thursday - Yeah, so again... they like to drink here. We brought our glasses from the Festival and got them filled by Sierra Nevada and Wente Winery and walked around the Farmer's Market. They have the weekly Farmer's Market all summer long, but only allow the drinking once a month... we'll be back next month for sure!

Foster Family Visit - Before Mike was even offered the job out here, Linda, Aunt Barb and Uncle Warren had planned a trip to California.  So, when he landed the job, they altered their plans to include us, and Aunt Cyndie joined the trip as well.  The whole crew flew in on a Saturday and we had a mini-party for Cyndie's birthday.  They left the next day to explore California, but the following weekend Linda came back to stay with us for a few more days. We met up with Barb and Warren in Walnut Creek, and after a nice lunch and quick trip through the shops, we headed to Mount Diablo.  On our drive up the mountain, we got out for a quick hike to no where before heading to the summit for a quick stop at the visitor's center. After that, we headed to Mike's cousin's husband's Aunt's house (Rob's Aunt Rhodonia).  They were wonderful hosts and we had a really nice visit.  Before a really great meal (farmer's market salmon, asparagus, and dessert of homemade chocolate angel food cake), we took Andrew into their gorgeous pool!  It was Andrew's first time in a big pool - and he loved it! 

First Steps - Andrew took his first steps at 9.5 months old.  In addition to perfecting the whole walking thing, Andrew enjoys climbing up the steps, pushing his high chair across the room, and pulling my hair as hard as he possibly can... yep, he's a bruiser!

 

First Bike Rides - The Foster Family has recently gotten into bike riding.  Some of you may be surprised to hear this, but I'm not the most athletic of people... and I did not really know how to ride a 10 Speed until Mike bought me a very nice bike for Mother's Day.  So, now that we both have bikes, and live in this gorgeous, flat development (no hills, yay!)... of course we had to get Andrew all set to come along.  He is very happy we did!  We tried one in the front of Mike, but that didn't really work for Mike... so now we have one that sits behind Mike's seat.  Poor Andrew!! Hahahaha.. just kidding Mike! :)

He does NOT like it when we stop riding.

First Solar Eclipse - The scientist in Mike really enjoyed this one.  He made us Solar Eclipse viewing boxes... I had the brilliant idea of actually putting on our heads (much easier to hold that way), and silliness then ensued.  For anyone who's never actually experienced a Solar Eclipse, it's definitely NOT viewable with the naked eye - trust me, we tried.

View from inside the box.  The right one showed the sun with the moon coming across.
 The left one was too big and didn't work as well.

"What has surprised you so far about parenthood?"

I thought this was an appropriate post for Mother's Day, though slightly late and different from my standard updates on our daily lives.  A few months ago, my mother posed the question to me "So, Melissy, what has surprised you so far about being a Mom?" and it really made me think.  Some surprises were more obvious than others, some more meaningful. Below are a few of the biggest surprises (so far) in this adventure in parenthood. 
1) My "mama bear" instinct:  Everyone told me how I couldn't possibly imagine how much I'd love Andrew until he got here... so that love, in and of itself, was not truly a "surprise".  What did surprise me about my feelings for Andrew, was this overwhelming desire to protect him.  I'm not referring to the need to protect him from germs or bumps and bruises.  I'm referring to the feeling that I would protect him from harm at any cost and put his life in front of my own.  I guess that is a deeper love than I had anticipated after all.

Mother's Day 2012 - Bent Creek Winery

Who wouldn't want to protect this face?

2) How much I cared about nursing: I had this idea before Andrew came along that I'd "give it a go", and if it didn't work out, I would not stress about it, and he'd be fine on formula.  After all, Mike and I are both formula babies, and although a friend once asked me to imagine the lost IQ points because of this (yeah... seriously), I think I can hold my own and Mike has achieved a Doctorate in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, so lost IQ points were the last of my concern. But then, Andrew latched on from hour 2 of life, and the nurses called him their "Star Nurser"... and my original goal of 3 months, became 4, and then 5, and then 6.  And before you knew it, I was very unhappily introducing formula and resisting the weaning process.  Who knows how long I would have nursed if we hadn't moved?  Having to use up my frozen supply of pumped milk before moving is why I ended up introducing formula.  This, coupled with the large amount of weight I was losing and starting full time daycare, led me to wean completely at 7 months.  Now that Andrew is on 5-6 bottles a day, I often thank my lucky stars that Mike can feed Andrew out in public or more importantly, at 6:00 am if needed.  I also enjoy no longer having to watch what I ingest - wine, cold medicine, margaritas, Corona, etc. :)

Livermore Valley Wine Festival!

3) My lack of confidence: I was surprised to learn that years of baby-sitting, being a camp counselor, having an Elementary Education degree, and 5 years of professional experience in public schools cannot prepare you for bringing home a baby.  No matter how many babies you've held, rocked or fed, when it's your baby, all confidence goes out the window.  The first couple months of Andrew's life, I questioned everything... is he hungry? should we let him cry it out? should we still swaddle him? is the bath water too hot? too cold?   I felt so overwhelmed by all the wrong decisions I could potentially make, that I had a hard time noticing all the right decisions I was making without a second thought.  Luckily, this self doubt faded as I realized that I'm pretty good at this Mom thing.  No, I didn't breastfeed until the age of 3, like the Mom on the cover of Times.  And No, I didn't let Andrew sleep with us in bed (I was sooo afraid of crushing him!).  But, when Andrew falls and bumps his head, he wants me to hold him.  And when Andrew has laughed the hardest, it's because of me being silly.  And when Andrew is nervous around a new person, it's me he clings to.  He definitely knows his mommy, and he is healthy, happy and thriving, and I take credit for at least half of that :)

4) Mike: The person who gets the other half of the credit was probably the biggest surprise so far.  Mike needed some convincing that we should even have a baby.  He had only held a few babies prior to Andrew - mainly at my insistince, and never for more than 2 minutes.  Mike, who had once shared a concern for not knowing what a Dad's role is, having lost his own father at an early age. But, from Day 1 in the Hospital, Mike was hands on, making decisions with confidence and ease, and in general being the perfect father.  Besides changing diapers, giving baths, getting up in the middle of the night, and all the other "parenting" duties - Mike has supported me - while recovering from childbirth, through nursing, and when returning to work.  He has really stepped up in every way, and I am so happy I forced him to have a baby.  ;)    I think we make a very good team.

April - Part 2 - Aqua Boy!

It's official, Andrew LOVES water. We first suspected this one night when he started frantically crawling toward the bathroom as soon as he heard the tub start to fill.  We always knew he didn’t mind the bath, but this solidified that he truly enjoys this nighttime ritual. Well, April was unseasonably warm, so we got to test just how much he would enjoy the water outside the bathroom.

Grandma Foster bought Andrew this awesome toy for his 1st birthday.  Okay, so he had just turned 8 months during her visit, but how would we get a gift this size home on the airplane?!  :)  The "Aqua Center" has one side for water and one side for sand, plus lots of fun toys. The next weekend we bought a blow up pool for our feet, and made our hot backyard into an island oasis.

Showing off my new pedicure

Cool Dude striking a pose

                                      
I couldn't resist including these two shots!

Mike found a nearby lake on the map at Del Valle State Park, so we headed there hoping for some relief from the heat. Well, apparently everyone in a 20 mile radius had the same idea, because man, was it crowded. We tried to find a quiet area without too much splashing to take Andrew into the water (which of course he loved), but we ended up heading toward a stream that fed into the lake instead. Either way, it was a beautiful day and although I'm not sure we'll be rushing back soon, it definitely proved to us that Andrew is not afraid of large bodies of water.

When the temperature rises, kids are excited to play in the Livermore Fountains, and Andrew is no different. We can't walk past the fountains anymore without him squealing with excitement and attempting to climb out of his stroller. I know he's still too young for this to be a memory for him some day, but playing in the fountains is the type of thing that brings back childhood memories for me. Specifically, it brings back the memory of that feeling of cool wet clothes against your skin on a hot summer day, and of your mom letting you do something special that you can't do on just any day.

These two fountains are on opposite street corners in downtown Livermore.