First time for everything

Some firsts are more fun than others ...

On Friday, Annika celebrated her first Fourth of July on the outside. We had some friends over (K&K and their baby Sky, Tom, Bamanda, I&K and their baby Theo, and Mark & Janice R.) and grilled in the baking-hot July sun -- oh wait, no, this is Pacifica, so actually it was foggy to the point of being wet, and it was also rather chilly. Yay summer. But bocce and badminton and foosball warmed people up a little bit at least, and we did grill and have some beers and some Pimm's Drink and Tomaszos and whatnot, plus the jerk chicken & pork brought by Mark & Janice, and naturally there were fireworks (safe 'n lame, the only kind we can have here), so a good time was had by all. Annika, being the Very Obliging Baby that she is, charmed the socks off of our guests, then went to bed at 8:00 and slept through the whole of the fireworks.

Saturday, practicing her standing and exploring skills, Annika put her hand on the media tower to the left of our TV, leaned her weight on it, lost her grip, and bonked headfirst into its door, giving herself her first actual bruise. The nickel-sized spot above her left eye swelled up a little, but dissipated when we applied the frozen washcloth and turned into the faintest purple after awhile and is barely a shadow today. Poor thing, she was so surprised (and then so pissed off!) at the fact that it hurt -- the laws of physics apparently do not cease to exist in our living room, and I guess a baby's got to learn sometime. :-( Oh well -- she's totally forgotten the incident, and continues to explore at an astonishing pace. Can't stop this baby!

In other news, she and I are going to Texas at the end of this month for her great-grandmother's 8oth birthday! Dad can't get the time off, having used it all for parental leave recently, but we are going to brave the heat and visit all the fam. Grandmother M. is coming to "sunny" CA for a visit too, so this baby's just going to be soaking up the love in the next few weeks!