No Mommy, Day 2

I think I've figured out how Claire is compensating for the fact that mommy isn't here. Every time she's feeling lonely she reaches for (or screams for if she can't se him) that loveable furry red Seasame Street character. Normally Mommy can comfort the seemingly random sadness in the middle of our happy toddler's day, but without Mommy she's turned to the comfort of Elmo. Today, we hiked on the Applachain Trail through Gathland State Park on the border of Maryland and West Virginia. I enjoyed the scenario and reflected on the historic importance the surronding mountains played in forming the nation we have today during the Civil War. Claire simply called for Elmo. Daddy brought snacks, a change of diapers, a nice warm jacket, and books, but made the fatal mistake of leaving Elmo in the car. Claire was able to enjoy herself for the most part, but in between playing with leaves, attempting to climb on rocks, and screaming at bugs on the ground, she'd let out an occasional "Elmo" sigh. When we returned to the car and saw Elmo relaxing in the car seat, Claire's eyes lit up like I've never seen them for me. I'll compare, but I'm guessing she'll have the same reaction when Mommy returns tomorrow. With Elmo safe in hand, we proceeded across the Potomoc to Harper's Ferry West Virginia. Not only was this a bustling innovate mid-19th century town, it was also a key battleground of the Civil War. Today the town is simply a large Historic Park as between the Civil War ravaging the town and many floods along this narrow valley with steep cliffs on either side, the town gradually died down and its residents moved on. Lucky for us, the historic society has kept up the buildings and continues to stage them as 19th century village. As usually, Claire found that playing in the nearby river was more fun than learning about the living quarters of a federal war correspondant. Mommy comes back tomorrow! We're both very proud of her fresh off her impressive 3:36 minute half marathon walk through San Francisco. Sure she's completed a full marathon in that time before, but cut the woman some slack, she's 20 weeks pregnant.

Sans Sarah Adventures Day 1

Claire has been out of the womb for 621 days and nights. Each and every day has ended with a good night kiss from Mommy. An impressive streak for any mother but one that has finally come to an end. For tonight in a quiet wooded area of Ellicott City Maryland where deers prance around at will, Claire has gone to bed with her mother nearly 2400 miles away in San Francisco. Early this morning we drove Sarah off for a weekend in the city by the bay. It is her chance to unwind and live care free experiencing life without a child for the first time since Claire was born. In her first trip back to California since the move, Sarah has choosen to coerce her body into a relaxing half marathon walk giving her a chance to see and hear the sights of a city that was once so familar. Back here in Maryland, Claire and I did you best to have a wonderful day. Without mommy things are never as good as they could be, but we certainly had an action packed, fun, and exciting day. After an early morning viewing of Elmo's "Potty Time" Claire and I ventured down to her boyfriend Cameron's house for their daily play time. With Claire in tow on her Chariot, I then hoped on my bike and took a nice ride along the Patapsco river in the very leafy and colorful Patapsco park. We stopped to enjoy a playground and enjoyed leaves falling on us on this beautiful fall day. After a difficult uphill ride home Claire napped for 2 hours before we headed out to Woodbine for an afternoon with the Ellicott City Kosters at Larryland Farms. Normally a bustling "pick your own produce" farm, this 100+ acre compound transforms into a must-see Halloween destination this time of year. Complete with Hayrides, the "boo barn", a straw maze, refreshing apple cider, and a large pumpkin patch, there's something for everyone. According to the farm's website (http://www.pickyourown.com/), they " started the pick your own farming operation in 1973" and today they "grow 14 acres of strawberries, 2 acres of tart cherries, 1/2 acre of sweet cherries, 1 1/2 acres black raspberries, 3 acres of red raspberries, 1/4 acre of purple raspberries, 5 acres of blueberries, 1 1/2 acres of thornless blackberries, 14 acres of peaches, 1/2 acres of nectarines, 16 acres of apples and 15-20 acres of vegetables including spinach, beets, tomatoes, cantaloupes, broccoli, and pumpkins". Claire had fun with most of the activities but was most entertained by the 4 chickens roaming free on the property. Her, Alex, and a group of 9 or 10 other children ranging from 1-12 chased these poor chickens endlessly around the property. When the chickens tried to get away from the pesky children by hiding under thorn bushes, the crew led by a fearless 12 year old girl devised a divide and conquer plan in which she risked her safety by entering the bushes while the other children surronded them in hopes of chasing them out into a clearing. I must say, if this were the year 1200, these children would make excellent hunters for the local village. Anyway, after a long day we headed back to historic Ellicott City for a nice dinner at "La Palapa" before retiring for the evening. Even being sans mommy today, she largely maintained her cheerful demeanor and went to bed without a fight, whispering her usual soft "goodbye" as I closed the door to her room.

YOOKIDOOn't

It's a happy and a sad day in the Sivitz household. Its a happy day because this is my (Brian's ) first blog post since we moved out of our California house over 3 months ago. During my absence from this blog, my courageous wife has stepped up to the plate and posted many a blog despite being saddled with taking care of our young princess day after day. My list of excuses are as long as this posting will seem by the time you get done reading it, but the main one is lack of time. Sarah has done an excellent job keeping up with things, but I will point out that she's missed a few key events. She got the move both out of California and into our house in Maryland, so she gets kudos for remembering those things. She got the cute little moments with bubbles and animals and those are the kind of posts that keeps our readership strong. She got the zoo, she got our trip to Kansas City, and she even shared the news of our expanding family. Speaking of which, we'll find out whether she's a boy or a girl at the beginning of November, so you'll need to keep reading as we get closer to that date and of course closer to the expected due date of March 1oth. Hmm, that reminds me, we'll need a new name for our blog. Check out the poll on the right and help us pick a new name for the Sivitz chronicles. So, anyway, what has Sarah missed. (Good husband disclaimer: The following statement(s) are in no way intended to belittle Sarah's blogging skills and should not be taken this way by you, your significant other, your mailman, or your dog). I think the biggest thing she missed was our trip to New York City and Massachussetts. We began by meeting up with Ali and Victor in New York City where we also got the opportunity to hang with Ryan, Leah, and Elle (see "Cool People with Blogs" on the right to follow their adventures). We then journeyed up to Massachussetts to meet with my parents and the extended family. It was a wonderful time and Claire got the chance to meet many of her great Aunts and Uncles, Great Grandma, Great-Grandpa, 1st Cousins once removed and her Great Aunt's dog. After we returned home from Mass., we closed on our house and began to settle in. Within the first week here, Claire became best friends with our next door neighbor Cameron and for this honor, we were all privledged enough to attend his 2nd birthday party yesterday at Gymboree. Our weekends have been a combination of shopping, Home Depot (even though the house is only 8 years old, we're still finding lots of ways to remodel), searching out nearby hiking spots and killing stink bugs. The bugs are perhaps the biggest and most unanticipated change with our move. The weather has thus far been quite nice but the best word to describe the bugs is amazing. For those of you non-Californians, the entire state is basically bug free. Sure your house is likely to be nearly eaten to bits by termites, but you never really see any bugs living in California. Here in Maryland, they quite literally grow the size of small vertabrates and appear to be living in and around nearly everything. The most annoying of thes bugs is the stink bug. These non-native pests have just mysteriously shown up in the mid-Atlantic region over the last couple of years and can now be found by the hundreds in the favorite house of your choice. These bugs live for 8-9 months and must breed like rabbits, or I guess maybe its better to say "breeding like StinkBugs" now. They're not annoying because they don't get in your face or bite. They don't even land on your food. Its hard to describe really, its just the sheer number of them. They're very dumb and don't move fast so even Claire could catch them if she tried, but there's just so darn many of them. Well, enough complaining, overall we're really enjoying the beautiful and family friendly Ellicott City. There's much to see and do and Money Magazine recently ranked it the 2nd best place to live in the country (only trailing Eden Prairie, MN).

You might ask why I entitled this blog "YOOKIDOOn't" and why I started by saying it was a sad day in the Sivitz household. That's because after a long and trying year, the faithful old Yookidoo has finally succumbed to all of Claire's poking, slapping, and prodding:


















And I'll end this blog by giving all of you faithful, patient readers a nice preview of the Sivitz family's first Halloween in Maryland:

Claire and her dolls

Claire is serious about her dolls. When she plays with them she has to involve ALL of them, and she usually moves them around one at a time so it is very laborous activity. When I walk into the family room I never know where I am going to find them all piled up. Here she is putting them in her chair:

Bubbles!

I've routinely let Claire practice blowing bubbles by herself, and this latest time she actually succeeded! It's so cute to see her pride in doing a big person activity. You'll have to forgive her awful hair! Some days I just don't want to fight her with the daily hair brushing and/or ponytail creation. She hates it! She screams like I'm killing her.

Thanks Grandma Karen!

Technically this garden cart was a birthday present for Mommy, but Claire has other uses planned for it.

Zoo time

Last weekend we went to the National Zoo in Washington DC, and our friends Katie, Tim, and Owen met us there. It was Claire and Owen's first time meeting and they really hit it off! Owen was such the gentleman, helping Claire up curbs and sitting next to her. Although we only saw maybe a third of the zoo, it was enough to tucker out Claire. She slept like a log in the car afterwards. It was great seeing you guys!

The orangutans were by far the most entertaining to watch. They "walked" from one pen to another on this sky way.

Owen checking out the orangutan up close.

The kids were fascinated with the pacing lion. Big kitty!

"Watch your step, ma'am."

Block lovin'

It's been rainy and wet here lately, which means I'm having to work extra hard to entertain Claire while we're home. One thing I can always count on are these stacking blocks. Claire LOVES them so much, she has to try to hug them once they're stacked. She does this almost every day!

Chatterbox

I hate to say it but Claire has a phone already. It's a pretend-phone but she doesn't seem to care -- when Mom's boring you to death on a hot day and there's nothing else to do, you just gotta call someone up and vent.

The city of fountains

We learned something new last weekend. Apparently Kansas City, MO is the city of fountains, second only to Rome! I believe it too because everywhere we walked in the plaza district we could see a fountain: little ones in the walls, big ones with huge statues, some in restaurants too. Aside from visiting with family from my Dad's side, we walked the neighborhood and went to a petting zoo for Claire. There were 4 other toddlers running around (2nd cousins of Claire), so Claire had a blast hanging with the "gang". The family reunion weekend was tons of fun and way relaxing.






Claire and Elle wishing they could jump into the fountain.

It's a miracle all of them are looking at the camera!

Claire loved this goat for some reason. That's not a choke-hold. It's a bear hug!

Everybody at the petting zoo, enjoying the shade for a little bit.

Here she is with the goat again...I think it's smiling.

Claire finally gave me 2 seconds with Grandma and Grandpa to get a photo! Then she squirmed out of there and ran around in circles.

It's been a while!

Sorry it has been such a long time since we posted on this blog. We have been super busy with our move, AND I have been majorly lazy! At least I have an excuse for this: I'm pregnant with baby number two!! I'm now almost 13 weeks along. This first trimester has been terrible in terms of fatigue and nausea, but maybe all the mayhem of moving with a toddler had something to do with that. We moved into our house on August 18th, and that same day we saw our new baby for the first time. Here's Claire and Daddy checking out the ultrasound:

Claire was probably more excited about the moving truck than she was about the baby.

EVERYTHING was wrapped in paper. It filled our sunroom!

The packing boxes filled our living room:

I'm sure our new neighbors enjoyed this sight.

We've even had our first official sit-down dinner in the house!

We've made good headway with buying furniture and organizing our belongings. There'll be pictures of the furnished home soon. In the meantime, here's some photos of us hiking in Patapsco State Park for the first time. It's a 5 minute drive from our house.