Let it snow!

It snowed 10 inches this week, giving us a real taste of winter here in Maryland. We're awfully thankful that we have a relatively short driveway to shovel, but we did discover that our front-wheel drive cars do us no good if our cul-de-sac isn't plowed in the morning. Brian found this out when he confidently backed out of our driveway and immediately got the minivan stuck in the snow.




This mountain of snow was created in front of our house after the cul-de-sac was plowed.


Tromping over to the sledding hill a couple of houses over.




Claire is quite pleased about all the snow piles.

We have Aunt Ali to thank for Claire's first sled. She loves it!

7 Weeks

It is now appropriate to say we're on the final stretch here in the Sivitz household. I am literally stretching like I've never stretched before! My pregnant belly is itching from all the stretching so now I'm waking up in the middle of the night because of that, in addition to all of Tyler's midnight acrobatics. With less than 7 weeks to go, we've been cracking down on our final preparations for his arrival.



Tyler's room is ready to go! We spent a couple of weekends getting the ceiling fan installed, putting up crown molding and the chair rail, and painting. He has a new crib to boot! (Claire is still using hers plus it's a recalled drop-side kind.)








Claire is practicing her infant-care skills on Daddy.

You can't tell in this photo, but I'm actually working really hard on growing the baby belly. Whew! (Well, all right maybe it's just coming naturally for me.)

Turkish March by Claire

I was puzzled earlier today when I noticed Claire standing quietly, listening to piano music. She's usually extremely animated when we play music of any kind, so it was a shock to see her holding still. Then all of a sudden the song burst into a climax and Claire came alive too! She grabbed her maracas and jumped all over the room. When the music calmed down, so did she. I thought it was a coincidence, but I was wrong. She patiently waited for each of the musical swells before doing her dances. I just had to laugh. Who know music appreciation starts at such a young age? I caught a little of it on video:

Coolest Parents Ever

I think we might get voted coolest parents of the year. Check out what we bought Claire for her 2nd birthday. (And yes, we know her birthday technically isn't until the 30th)

Steeltown for the New Year

Pittsburgh is a wonderful city with much history. Once the center of the steel universe and still the center of the sports universe (in my opinion anyway), it was built at the intersection of 3 rivers. They start with M,A,and O. You'll have to look them up for yourself because the only one I can spell is the "Ohio". Anyway, my (Brian's) family has a lot of history there as after my great grandparents moved to the city, my grandma and grandpa stayed and raised my Dad and Uncle Josh. My Uncle and cousins still live there, so we decided that since its a mere 3 and half hour drive from our house that we'd spend New Year's there. It was a wonderful time and we Josh, Patty, Nat, Adam, Chrissy, Marcy, and Allison were wonderful hosts. We got a wonderful tour of the city, learned all about Justin Beber, and stayed up until almost 10:30pm on New Years! Here are some wonderful pictures courtesy of Aunt Patti:

Patti, Josh, and Claire overlooking the city on a cloudy but warm 57 degree day right before the Winter Classic at Heinz Field:

Uncle Josh and Claire at the farthest point from home plate at the old Forbe's field.



Josh and the Ellicott City Sivitz's still hanging at Forbe's field.

On the incline by Station Square.

Christmas tree near the Pittsburgh Plate Glass in downtown.

Claire and Josh made at fort at home. I think this was Claire's favorite part.

Cracking down and nesting

This whole "nesting" concept in relation to pregnancy is very amusing. For me, it means that I worry about getting Tyler's nursery in order but also I worry about getting all our home projects done before the baby comes. Worry worry worry. I can't actually DO any of the projects on my mental list since they require physical labor beyond my means at this point. So that's where my handy husband steps in to save the day! Nesting = Daddy working on the house. This blog entry is a huge THANK YOU to Brian. (Poor thing does not know the full extent of my nesting list.)

Fortunately Daddy has a little helper. This weekend they installed a closet organization system in the nursery.

We've got about 8 weeks before Tyler arrives! Where has the time gone? Daddy will be finishing up the nursery while I...get bigger and bigger. I'm also planning Claire's second birthday party. You can expect a post on that at the end of the month.