Missing Baltimore Already Part 6

A huge part of our lives this past year and a half has been our Baltimore "family," the Rivera's. Both of us have families that live outside of Baltimore so we began to depend on one another for things that you would from your family if they were in town. They only lived one street over from us so it was so nice to have neighbors close by that you could rely on. If we were ever in a bind or needed something, they were there to help us out. Several months ago we started a monthly babysitting exchange with them so that we could have regular date nights with our spouses. It was great to be able to spend time with their daughter, Maria, and to see the friendship develop between her and Lucy. And the free babysitting was a huge bonus! We are going to miss the Rivera's so much! They have been wonderful friends to us and Lucy is absolutely crazy about Maria. Every time we would pass their house Lucy would ask if she could go to, "Maria's house."
Here are pictures of Katie and I. Although Lucy is going to miss Maria, I am pretty convinced that I am going to miss Katie more.

Both Don and Chris as just crazy about their daughters!
This picture was taken several months ago during a babysitting exchange. Of course we had to put them in matching pj's!
It was always so much fun to give the girls a bath together!

Maria is looking at Lucy like "girl what is up with that hair!"

Maria is great at giving hugs-Lucy not so much!

Missing Baltimore Already Part 5

For the past 9 months or so I have been doing a monthly Girls Night Out with a group of my friends from Baltimore. All of the girls in the group have kids close to Lucy's age and we often get the kids together to play. But it sure is fun to have a night out on the town without the little ones in tow. It is such a welcome change to be able to have good conversation and delicious food without your little one yelling, "Mommy." I always looked forward to these nights out and it was a great opportunity to be able to try out some great restaurants in Baltimore. I am so sad that I won't be able to go to these anymore, I told them they had to phone conference me in for the July Girl's Night Out.

Missing Baltimore Already Part 4

We have had so much fun taking walks and pulling Lucy in her wagon. Our house in Baltimore was 2 blocks from a huge park, and we definitely took advantage by spending lots of time there. Lucy is a huge fan of her wagon rides and got such a thrill when we would make our way to the local playground (or as she says "paygowned").

One night we were feeling wild and crazy, so after Lucy's bath when we normally would be reading books and putting her down for bed we took her on a wagon ride at dusk instead. It is so funny how something as simple as breaking the routine makes her feel like she is going on this huge adventure.

Missing Baltimore Already Part 3

So for the past year Lucy and I have participated in a Music Together Class taught by Ms. Miriam. Since music was such an important part of my childhood as well as Don's, we felt it was important to expose her to a music curriculum at an early age. Music Together is a huge part of our lives, not just because of the weekly class but mostly due to the CD that they give you which pretty much Lucy asks us to play every time we are in the car! This is our third "semester" and I have been able to recruit some of our friends to the class as well. Lucy always looks forward to seeing Katie and Maria, Sundai and Robbie, and Stacy and Jacob at music class. We have even been adventorous enough to do brunch with four toddlers after a couple of the classes. Even though I am sure we will find another music class, it won't be the same without our friends in the class!
Sundai and Robbie look on as Ms. Miriam makes one of her goofy faces.

It is so freeing to be able to just be silly and dance with your kid!

Lucy loves it when it is time to play with the instruments. She loves to help pick up and carry the bin when we are all finished.

The highlight of class is at the end when the kids get to strum the guitar!

Missing Baltimore Already Part 2

The fact that I was able to work part time at Hopkins was great because it gave me more time to do activities with Lucy on my days off. I have really enjoyed our weekly activities. Every week we attend Hoppin Tots, a Music Class, and we usually go swimming. As most of you know both mother and daughter are full of energy (or at least I was until I got pregnant again), so these have been great opportunities for us to bond while being active. Hoppin' Tots has playground and gym equipment for the kids to bounce, jump, run, and swing on. Lucy looked forward to this class every week and is definitely going to miss it. The first set of pictures are of her romping around at Hoppin Tots.


We love going to our local library to visit Storyville, which is miniature town with different play areas. Many weekends have been spent exploring all that Storyville has to offer. Here Lucy is playing dress up at Storyville.
She always loved playing in the general store and checking people out at the cash register.
But her absolute favorite thing about Storyville (in her words) is to "rock in the boat a minute!"
Don and I enjoyed going on child friendly outings and exploring different activities around Baltimore. I was really surprised to find out how many family friendly events there were in the city. Don hit the jackpot when he took Lucy to the B & O Museum where she rang the bell in the little train over and over again for about 20 minutes.
Lucy has become a little fish and is almost too fearless when it comes to the water. This must be due at least in part to the fact that we have gone swimming very regularly at our health club ever since she was an infant. Lately though she says she is scared of the "hot water spout" and avoids it at all costs.
This past winter we got a membership to the Maryland Science Center. We definitely got a lot of mileage out of it. Lucy loves running around the kids room, and those of you that know Lucy know that she really never walks-she always runs! Every time we drive past the Science Center she asks if she can play in the "water table."

Missing Baltimore Already Part 1

So the next several blog entries we are dedicating to the people, places, experiences and memories we will miss about Baltimore. Although we are thrilled about our move to Chicago, I felt it was important for us to reflect on some of the meaningful aspects of our lives in Baltimore (sorry all this reflecting is the therapist in me). We have been richly blessed and satisfied with our lives here. Four years ago when we moved to Baltimore if you had told me that I would be this sad to leave all the wonderful people we would meet, I wouldn't have believed you. Don had to drag me to Baltimore kicking and screaming, I was so dreading this city where all I knew of it was what was depicted on The Wire. The single thing that is the hardest about leaving, is definitely the PEOPLE. We have made such incredible, lasting friendships here. Lucy loves her little playmates and we love our friends. Thank you to our wonderful friends for all the fond memories. Our lives have been enriched by you in more ways than you could imagine. Here are just some of the people we will miss (sorry I didn't have pictures of everyone).