Eight Month Belly

Since it has been over a month since I last showed off the belly, I thought I would document its progress and share it with all of you long distance friends. I tried to keep the same shirt and the same spot for more ease of comparison. We had our latest doctor's appointment on Tuesday and she said everything is looking great and moving along nicely. Only 26 days to go!! Of course I am hoping for less--an early arrival would be nice.



Except of course for the fact that we still haven't done any shopping, despite all the great advice that I got from so many of you. But we officially had our last day working in the temple and I only have two more weeks of work, so hopefully we will now have some time to get everything ready for the arrival of the papoose.

I just wanted to say that I really appreciated all the advice, by the way, even though I haven't been able to thank you individually like I have wanted to. You don't know just how much all of you helped orient me into the baby world. Aaron is impressed by my knowledge on what we need to prepare, and I'm just thankful I have such good friends. You are the best!!!

Good Luck Brady

Last weekend we made the 10-hour pilgrimage to Aaron's motherland. Yes, at eight months pregnant Aaron and I along with his sister and brother-in-law all packed into the little Mazda 3 for the long journey. They were nice enough to put up with my need for frequent stopping because we had a worthwhile cause: Aaron's youngest brother Brady was giving his farewell speech before taking off for the next two years to serve a mission.

He actually reported to the MTC today to serve in the Raleigh, North Carolina Mission. Here is the Anderson clan right after he was set apart.

Of course it was an emotional time for the family, but we are all really excited for him and know that he will be an excellent missionary. It was really nice to see all of Aaron's relatives and appreciate how supportive they all are of the big events in everyone's lives. My own brother even hitched a ride with a couple of Aaron's cousins down from Ricks to join in the festivities. A big thanks to everyone and our best wishes to Brady in his new adventure!

Calling all Moms

So some of the ladies at work have been continually asking when I am going to register the little papoose. I haven't done this yet because it feels a little strange, but I am thinking it is getting to be time. If they want to buy her presents, who am I to say differently?! Since I am a bit overwhelmed when I think about what babies need, I thought I would poll some of you ladies for your experienced advice. I would appreciate you sharing your thoughts on what things you couldn't have lived with out in those early days and now, what things you never use, what things your little ones love, etc. You can post a comment or send an email to rebeccabanderson@yahoo.com.

In the Spirit of October

Now that I am so experienced with ultrasounds after having my second one, I understand the comments that people made saying the last ultrasound picture was one of the best they had ever seen. We went in last week for a follow-up and this is the picture that we were left with. If you ask me (and I don't mean this to any offense of our unborn child, only to the ultrasound tech), it is a little bit on the spooky side. Just in case you can't tell what it is, I will post it vertically for you as well.



Amazingly from this picture, Aaron was able to conclude that she does indeed look like me. Hmmmm....not sure what to make of that. We did find out though that she weighs in at 3 lbs, 6 oz, so she will probably be a good sized little baby when she pops out.



While Aaron is working in Spokane, I thought I would host my own photo shoot so I could show you what she's looking like from the outside these days too.

P.S. I don't mind anyone praising me for not waiting a month to post since the last time I posted. :)

Summer Exploring

Once again, it has been awhile since we have posted. I know, I know, you would think that we would learn our lesson at some point, but I guess I am just a slacker at heart. Instead of telling you all of our stories, I figured that I would just post a slideshow and you could read the captions to see all we have been up to the past little while. If any of it sounds especially interesting to you, feel free to drop me a line and ask about it.

Surgery Gone Wrong

Many of you probably already heard about our little medical trauma last month, but just in case you didn't, I will summarize. Aaron first went in to the doctor because he was concerned about a mole he had on his leg that seemed to be growing. After a biopsy, they couldn't figure out if it was cancerous or not. When they told Aaron that they would have to take another piece out, he told them to go ahead and take it all--he didn't want any of it anyway. We were happy to hear that during surgery they discovered it wasn't the mole that was growing, but there was actually a cyst underneath it that was causing the problem...but definitely not causing cancer.

So we thought we were okay, just a little tortured by the fact that Aaron was not allowed to even so much as go on a walk for exercise. That is...until his wound starting stinking and oozing when we were in Utah for his cousin's wedding...I know, lovely picture. We weren't sure exactly what was going on because it was still covered by the steri strips (and we both don't know anything about that sort of thing). The night we got back from Utah Aaron decided to take a peak and found that the stitches had actually burst and everything was infected. So we went to the ER and they fixed us up (after taking a look at his leg and asking if he had tried to remove the cyst himself), but now his wound just has to heal naturally over the next few MONTHS. They couldn't try to close it up because the tissue was so sensitive.

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it at its peak of grotesqueness for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing, but here it is starting to heal.



And just in case you wanted a little closer shot of it, we thought we would provide that for you too.



After having something he has grown removed from him, he feels ready to empathize with what I'm getting ready to experience in childbirth.

It's a Girl!

Hey Everyone! Many of you know already, but we thought we'd share the news online as well. We had an ultrasound about a week ago and found out we'll be having a girl! It was cool watching the ultrasound because she was alive and kicking...literally. We thought she had learned how to kick and punch like that from our excersize videos that we do.

Anyways, here's the profile:





So who do you think she looks like? Aaron or Becca?