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?

Aaron the Entertainer

Our friends Dave & Arielle recently moved back from Colorado/Texas with their cute new baby Grayson. We had them over for dinner the other night, but weren't prepared for what little Grayson had in store for the post-dinner entertainment. This is one small video, but the laughter went on and on for so long that we were all in pain by the end. We thought we'd share it with you.

Old Friends in New Places

As many as you know, I was back on the road again recently for work. Aaron was a little worried about me making this trip alone while being pregnant, but I couldn't convince him to go with me. So instead I twisted the arm of my good friend Jennie Arrington. We have known each other since we were eight years old, but haven't spent much time together since her family moved from Texas to Florida and mine to Washington. Atthe last minute she was able to go with me to three of the four cities on my latest recruiting trip and I thought I would share some photos of the places we were able to go when I wasn't running around to all my appointments. This first one is of us at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.



This giant Buddha is at a monastery that is located not too far from where I served my last area of my mission in Kaohsiung, but it was just far enough as a missionary to not have taken the trip to see it. This was only one of thousands and thousands of Buddhas we saw that day, but it was definitely the most impressive!



This is still at the monastery, but we were DYING it was so hot!!! I thought it was hot enough being pregnant in Washington, but those 2.5 weeks in Asia really did me in, I tell you what. Jennie and I had to reward ourselves for our forbearance of the unbearable heat with a little ice cream. From that day on out, ice cream was all I wanted.



From Taiwan we went to Hong Kong and actually had the sunniest weather I have ever seen there. For our first day we were able to take the Ferry across to Hong Kong island before I started working and actually got some nice views.



This one is taken from "The Peak" looking down to the Harbor below. The last time I was in Hong Kong, pretty much all we could see from up here were clouds and smog, so Jennie and I were definitely excited.



This was also my first time to go to the Hong Kong temple. I don't know if you can even tell I am in the picture, but I am that tiny little dot in front. We had enough time on our last day to go through a session and meet a friendly old man afterward. He was so chatty, wanted to tell us his whole life story, and then wouldn't you know it, we ran into him the next day at church too! And I ran into my mission president's wife as I was heading into the ladies' room. It's a small world, I tell you what.



So there we have just a few pictures, though Jennie took about 500 I think. If you want to see a few ore you can check out my Facebook (if you are my Facebook friend, of course!!). Hope it's convincing all of you to want to come on my next trip with me!!