Teach Them While They're Young

One thing I didn't want to happen after becoming a mom was that I would be tied down to my house and my kid would "limit" our excursions. Of course I don't deny that my life has drastically changed but I have been trying to continue being active and doing fun things. My philosophy is that if I start my kids young enough they can learn how to behave in public and I can learn how to teach them to behave so we can all enjoy our time out. One of the perks of starting them young is how much they sleep, food is easily accessible (either breastfeeding or bottle) and everyone thinks they are cute and may even give you some perks :)

In Andrew's short two month life so far he has been many places and we plan on taking him and our future children on many more adventures.

Just nine days after being born we went to Top Golf and I even played and won. Andrew did so well. Between the 5 adults present there were plenty of us to pass him around and the atmosphere at Top Golf is great because we had a couch booth and could relax while playing. For this adventure I was more worried about me overdoing it than how well Andrew would do.

GG holding Andrew at Top Golf

At one month old we had family in town and wanted to do something fun. We have Six Flags passes and they were having a special allowing us to get a friend in free, so we made the crazy decision to all go on Labor Day. According to my cousin who talked to a worker this was the busiest day in 10 years with over 30,000 people. CRAZY busy! Being Texas and still in the 90's I was worried that Andrew would get overheated. Thankfully I had the bright idea to use our camping towel as an evap cooler and it was heavenly. I lightly wet the towel in clean water and laid it over him in his stroller. He was kept comfortable and I was able to go on a few rides and enjoy my time there.

Here we are hanging out at the water park at Six flags. Oh and that is the green camping towel on my lap.

David and I love going to the races at Circuit of the Americas, this is actually where Andrew's middle name COTA came from, and were excited and a tad nervous to take Andrew to his first race. At just 7 weeks old we took him to the America Le Mans series. I was set on going because as an added bonus Patrick Dempsey (aka McDreamy) was driving in the race. Yes please! We planned ahead an bought Andrew a pair of baby earmuffs. Because of our planning and knowing the area we were able to successfully watch the entire six hour race. Andrew squirmed a bit at the beginning of the race but after getting use to the constant background noise he settled in nicely.

My sweet racing family. 

So cute with his earmuffs and racing jumper.

Because this race went late into the night they had fireworks! It was really windy because we are up on the observation deck (the tall red and white structure in the previous picture) 

And a few random pictures from other adventures:

San Antonio Aquarium (2 weeks old) Looking back he looks so little

San Antonio Doseum AKA kids museum (2 weeks old)

High school football game (7 weeks old)

Houston Museum of Natural Sciences (2 months old) 

We are very blessed and these are just a few of the fun things we have done but don't include all of our adventures thus far. I can guarantee that we will continue to do more fun and crazy things throughout Andrew's life.

The biggest things I have learned about taking a child out with me have come from trial and error, but here are my tips:

1. Plan ahead: If we didn't have earmuffs for the race we would not have gone. If we didn't have the camping towel we would not have lasted long at Six Flags. You get the idea. So if you are going to an activity or event you have done before you know what to expect and need to think of the situation in regards to your baby. If you are trying something completely new do your research.

2. Stay calm: Granted this is sometimes easier said than done because a crying baby can easily strike a nerve. Add that to nerves from trying something new and you have a recipe for a hot mess that you won't try again. I truly believe that a baby picks up on your vibes and the more stressed you are the more stressed and loud they become. Try and stay calm and if it starts going downhill, take a deep breath, evaluate, and make the best decision for you and your little one.

3. Listen to your little one: As you continue to bond with your child you learn to communicate with them by reading their emotions, cries, and eventually their baby talk . They will let you know what they can handle and if things are becoming too much for them.