If you follow cute New Orleans-centric stores like Fleurty Girl and NOLA Gifts and Decor, you might have seen the adorable NOLA Baby Firsts print by local artist Allie Behan. I ogled over this print on FaceBook, thinking that it would be a perfect keepsake to commemorate our daughter’s first NOLA experiences. From going to the zoo for the first time to eating her first crawfish or snoball, this print fits into our interests and lifestyle perfectly. Unfortunately, when I visited two different Fleurty Girl stores, they were sold out out of this popular print (they have since restocked). I was bummed, but figured I could wait; after all, it is not like she can do everything on the print yet.

A few days later at work, a coworker of ours gave us gift for our daughter. Happily, it was the NOLA Baby Firsts print! I think I squealed with delight when I saw it. It is so sweet to have such marvelous people in our daughter’s life. We are definitely blessed and started planning out when to start accomplishing some of these firsts. We then picked which first we thought we would accomplish last. My husband guessed her first Saints game since we have only ever been to one and that was during the preseason. I picked her first streetcar ride since in all my time living in and around New Orleans, I have never ridden the streetcar! Though maybe we will purposely ride one now, just to make sure we fulfill all of the firsts.

We attained her first First on the print before we even had it. We took her to Audubon Aquarium of the Americas on April 4th. Audubon often has specials where you can receive 10% off membership prices. We really want our daughter to grow up loving animals and the aquarium and the Audubon Zoo are two wonderful institutions in New Orleans, so we figured we would start her off early. Not to mention, the current special gave us an extra month free. Our work’s Spring Break was the week after Easter, so that was the perfect time to start our membership and spend it at an Audubon institution (there is also the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium). Since the weather was unpleasantly cold that day, we decided to head to the aquarium. And since it was Spring Break, a ton of other parents had the same idea. Needless to say, it was crowded.

Since it was her first time, and since it was so crowded, we simply did a quick walk through to take some photos and introduce her to some animals. Not that a six week old could fully appreciate them, but the earlier we start identifying and exposing her to new things, the sooner she will be able to recognize and enjoy them. Looking at the fish through the water clearly intrigued her; her little face scrunched up and her eyes kept moving back and forth. On the other hand, she intrigued a penguin. He was right up against the glass in the water and kept tapping it with his beak as my husband held her up. Perhaps he thought she was another little penguin on the wrong side of the glass? They were about the same size! The white alligator was hanging out and though my husband pointed him out to her, I am not sure she quite grasped what she was supposed to be seeing, since only the lower half of his body was really visible. We skipped most of the other exhibits due to the slight claustrophobia thanks to all the kids there and her getting a little fussy. But since we have our membership, we will have plenty of time to go back and enjoy everything the aquarium has to offer. I cannot wait to take her to Parakeet Pointe!
 

The weather warmed up by that point, so we took a few pictures in front of the Mississippi River, including what is our favorite picture of our daughter by far. We picked up the little sunglasses at Carter’s in the Riverwalk on our walk to the aquarium, and she loved them. They are still a little big for her, but she did her happy babble when she had them on. I understand; being able to see better in the sun is a must for us fair-eyed people!
After lunch in the Riverwalk, we wanted to go to the zoo since the weather was nicer, but thanks to my blood pressure medicine, my feet were started to swell and hurt. Thus, he headed home, but thanks to our membership, we look forward to checking off another of NOLA Baby Firsts in the very near future.

By the way, please vote at the links below! You may vote once per day until 11:00am CST on Monday, April 30. Winners will be announced Friday, May 4, 2018.

#AudubonZoo & #AudubonAquarium have been nominated by the USATODAY @10Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards for Best Zoo & Best Aquarium. Vote for the Zoo & Aquarium every day!

To vote for Best Zoo – https://t.co/VtM2pVwG5H
To vote for Best Aquarium – https://t.co/wvSM7OLZ3Q pic.twitter.com/GyybaTK0c3

— Audubon Nature Institute (@AudubonNature) April 11, 2018

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