Under construction

As you can see in the photos, things around here are changing in lots of different ways. The city of Bloomington decided to put in curbs and refinish our road this summer; they began the project a few weeks ago, but in the past week - we had new lawn "ornaments" delivered and the street dug up. Last night as I walked home from the bus stop, I wasn't sure how I was going to reach the house as the pile of dirt they had dug up was so high. But I made it home and by the time I got home tonight, all of our lawn "ornaments" had been buried in the dirt street. I think Roni will be happy as this as the house has been vibrating a lot as they dig and return the dirt.

While the construction has been going on outside, we've also been redoing the inside of the house. We moved my office downstairs to make the other upstairs bedroom the baby's room. This reorganization was pretty big as we then had to move the TV upstairs which required reorganizing both the upstairs and downstairs living rooms. The house was in a bit of chaos for a while, and we continue to have lots of the decorative stuff still lying around without a new home, but overall we like the new arrangement. The baby's room remains a little empty at this point; the crib is put together and we moved the dresser upstairs, but that's it for now. We've ordered a rocker recliner that will go in there and Nana's bookshelf will serve to hold all the books that everyone has given to baby. I'm sure once we get the rocker and the crib bedding, it will look a little more finished.

And finally, we're expecting to have a new outside to the house within the next week as well. We had some hail damage to the house from a storm that came through at the end of May and thanks to our insurance company and Jeff, we're getting all new siding, roofing, and a lot of the trim. So, we've picked out a new color and we're anxious to see what it's going to look like when it's finished. The "team" is to begin this weekend, so we'll maybe have photos of the finished product next week for you.

And finally, baby continues to be "under construction" as well. I think I grow a little more each and every day. When I saw the pictures we took to post, I was startled to see just how far I was sticking out, and here I thought black was supposed to be slimming! It's hard to imagine how much more my stomach can possibly stretch, but I know it must have some stretch left as baby has about another 8 weeks until the due date. At our last doctor's appointment (about a week ago), the doctor said my stomach is measuring big, not because I've gained too much weight but because I'm just all baby. And I think she's right, from what we can tell, baby hasn't yet taken a toll on the rest of my body. We have another ultrasound scheduled for this coming Monday, September 8, so we'll see how much baby has grown in the past month. Baby continues to move around, but I think the space is limiting the movements a little, I feel a little more rolling and stretching than kicks per se, but I'm never really sure what I'm feeling when I feel baby move.

We're half way through our birthing and parenting classes, so far we've been pretty much focused on the birthing part. I often leave feeling a little apprehensive about labor, but Aaron continually reassures me that I'm stronger than I think, and I remind myself that millions of women have done this before me, so we'll see. We had a pediatrician come visit the class this past week, gave us some other things to discuss and think about. Our goal for next week is to choose a pediatrician; after all, these next two months are sure to fly by-

This week also brought about the first week of classes. I'm teaching a new course this semester - Intro to Hispanic Linguistics - I'm pretty excited about it, but it's very different than what I've taught before and at a much higher level. I'm working on finding a sub to take over for me when I go on maternity leave, but it's a little trickier than I had anticipated because there are so few in the department with the qualifications to teach the course. Aaron continues with the job process but not much new to report. We'll keep you posted -

We hope this finds you all well and we promise to not let as much time pass before we update you on all the construction going on around us. In fact, we'll probably have an update after the doctor's appointment next week, may even have new photos, so check back again soon. Less than 2 months to go -