September 2009

Wow. September began and ended before I could blink. It makes me a little afraid at how fast October will pass and then the Baby will be here! Yikes!

Socializing
Nate and Erin
It seems we did an extraordinary amount of socializing over food this month. We had Nate and Erin over for a Mexican dinner (fajitas) where we stayed up way past my bedtime. I can't believe how time flies sometimes! After chatting all night, Erin and I decided that we should take advantage of the fact that we have relatively free schedules because our work lives are fairly lax right now. So we made plans to have lunch at Hob Nob on a thursday, after which I took her to some of my favorite Downtown Missoula stores: Selvedge, Noteworthy, and the Missoula Artist's Co-op. But between my pregnant belly and Erin's hurt foot we couldn't walk too much. Plus, we both had projects waiting for us at home (my how we know how to fill the time) so after a few hours we called it a successful first outing.

Jane
Since I am now working in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, I no longer share an office with Jane and I miss Jane. So I emailed her to arrange lunch together to catch up. We met one Friday for lunch at Food for Thought and discussed our summers, our plans for the fall, etc.

Todd, Kimberlee and Ivan
We also finally got to see Todd. (Since we had gotten home from Boulder our schedules had not allowed for us to get together. But one evening, we all met for a small plates dinner at the Silk Road. It was another lovely night with friends.

Around the House
Nursery
We also spent plenty of time this month getting the nursery together. Part of this was just the nesting instinct kicking in and part of it was due to necessity because very large packages were starting to take over the house. We made shelves for the weird little closet; I colored the butterfly mobile that Chithra and Gokul sent; I washed all the clothes that have arrived as gifts to the baby Schneider; and we assembled the crib and the changing table. It was when I looked at Mike while he was screwing together the crib that I realized that there is going to be a third person in the house soon. After 8.5 happy years of marriage that we have spent alone together, a new soul will enter our lives. This realization was a little startling to me because my nightmares are always about an intruder. Not to say that I view the baby as an intruder...just that this unknown little personality will be joining us soon. I wonder what he'll be like! :) I also felt like one of our parents were going to barge in and scold us for playing house when we shouldn't be! In my mind's eye we were both still too young and too irresponsible to be expecting a baby.

Us
One more house adventure that made us want to move...the drain in the kitchen stopped up. 5 hours and lots of stinky smell later, Mike had managed to take apart the drain in three places and snake it and dig decaying food matter out with a spoon so that our kitchen could be used again. It was awful but Mike saved the day. (I spent 2 of the five hours at yoga.)

Our hobbies continued to grow...my new fountain pens arrived and Mike started using a straight razor to shave, which include stropping and really elaborate sharpening techniques. Whenever I watch his strop or shave I can't help but to think, "What a manly man!" :)


Media
Internet
Discover the D
http://www.dptv.org/ondemand/dd/ddvod0344lg.shtml

Books
The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy
the Mongan Method
The Baby Book
The Emporer's Children (still)

Film/TV
Mad Men