Under a month to go!

Gemma - our happy little girl - has recently taken to playing all sorts of pretend-games with her "blankie" in her crib. When she wakes up in the morning and after nap, we usually leave her for 20-30 minutes while she happily talks and plays with her blanket and stuffed animals. 

Out in the hallway we can hear her talking and saying things like, "Let's go, guys! Let's go to the Wonderlab! Come on, guys." (pretending that she is taking her animals to the science museum) 

Or: "I painting on the wall!" or "I jumping rope!" or "I putting on seat-belt." (as she uses the blanket to pretend those games)

And then a couple of days ago my heart absolutely melted when I went in to get her from naptime, and she had wrapped up one of her animals (Possum) in a bundle. She looked up at me and said, "I holding baby brother."

So - yes! - we are ALL getting excited & ready for the arrival of baby brother in a few weeks, due Nov 1st. (Short or long weeks, still to be determined...) The bassinet/crib is ready; clothes are washed and in the dresser; diapers and wipes are on hand; the "call list" (for folks who can help out with Gemma while we are in the hospital) is being prepared; and weekly appointments to the OB are on the calendar.

at 36 weeks

A family Saturday morning trip to Nashville (Brown County)

Now that October has arrived - marking one month until "baby brother" - we have made a little list of fun things to do together as a family. Naturally, an excursion to the nearby village/town of Nashville for breakfast and a stroll around the shops was a must. Brown County tourism peaks during fall, with thousands of visitors to the state park, village, and antique malls flooding in on weekends. Fortunately it is still early enough in the fall (and we were up early in the morning) that we avoided too much traffic and still got to enjoy the beautiful, winding 30 min. drive from Bloomington to Nashville, admiring the hills and the changing trees. 

Many of the "downtown" Nashville shops are located in houses, like the one below.

our breakfast spot was a restaurant with gobs of Indiana sports memorabilia

hmm, do they smell? Must stop and see.

this shop was a bit scary...please pray that this baby boy will not be born on Halloween!

We spent some time in a few of the shops along Antique Alley, including the leather shop (cool stuff) and a shop selling all stuffed animals. Gemma threw a little tantrum when we had to leave that store...

We'd been walking around the shops for a while and were back on the sidewalk when Gemma suddenly looked behind us, pointed at an older couple, and said, "Man and lady finished eating breakfast." Sure enough, it was the couple who had been sitting near us at breakfast - ! They smiled and waved.

pit stop for Cheerios (Gemma) and water (Jul)

Hmmm, somehow the father figure and photographer didn't make it into any photos on this trip. Must remedy that next time.

Park fun

A fun Saturday afternoon at the park! How to capture Gemma smiling and making other goofy faces on camera? Get her running around and having a good time!

"Run up the ramp! Mommy, too!" she said (and the 35-week belly slowly lumbered along after her)

Back to a Routine

The fall semester has started up again and we have tried to get into a weekly rhythm once again after the busy summer and various trips away. Jim takes the bus to campus 4 days a week to work/study/write at the library (in the school of education), and spends another 1-2 days at a coffeeshop or working from home. Go, dissertation, go. He is hoping to get the majority of the dissertation written and into revision stages by the end of this semester.

And Gemma and I continue our weekly pattern of grocery shopping, library time, play dates, park time, walks on the trail, plus a mom's group at a local church that we have just joined this year. Oh - and doctor's appointments and getting ready for baby brother!!

However our life pattern right now feels more like a "routine" than a routine. There is a lot of uncertainty about what the near future holds. Our condo is for sale and we are hoping for a buyer in the next month, while there is still some activity on the market (before colder weather hits and the market goes quiet). And Jim is of course still looking for a full-time job, and we are wondering where we will be and what our lives will look like a few months from now.

Some Sundays after church a few families with young kids will gather for a picnic lunch at the park across the street. Here are a few pics from two weeks ago. It has been fun this summer to watch Gemma grow in her physical abilities and - in particular - conquer a lot of climbing on park equipment (slides, ladders, and monkey bars).
 

Gemma with Pierce and Blythe, some friends from church (and small group)

Here's Gemma holding her beloved Possum, a hand puppet that Margaret Gunn sent back (from Australia) with Jim as a gift for Gemma. The possum (a much cuter species than our American ones) is a new favorite for cuddling with books and at nap-time and for taking along on car trips.

A Rare Date Night

It's a rare Friday night that we get out for a date - hurrah!!!! Special thanks goes to our new babysitter, Kyrsten, a senior at IU who we know from the church nursery (and who Gemma adores). 

So where did we go? To an IU men's soccer game, of course! For starters, we love soccer and we enjoy the pep band that plays at the games, and we get in to the games for free with Jim's student card. The men's team is currently ranked #15 and won this game 2-0 on two nice goals, including a sweet one from Caleb K., senior captain & defender (whose parents, Paul & "Nonna Donna" (as Gemma says) we know from our church).

We even splurged on take-out falafel pita sandwiches to eat for dinner at the game. Somehow the foot-long hot dogs at the concession stands don't tempt us...  And we brought our own chocolate and thermos of tea for later; it was pretty chilly during the 2nd half. It was fun to spend an evening watching a soccer game together, after all the games we have attended together over the years.