She's Here!

Surprise! Riley Mae Anderson arrived 6 days early.

Brittany started having contractions at 3:30 AM on Wednesday morning (the 20th). She woke up at 5 and had some breakfast, finished packing the hospital bags and a bag for Dean, and let James sleep in until 6. We called the hospital at 6:30 to let them know we'd be arriving sometime around 8, and then called our neighbor around 7 to ask if it would be okay to leave him with her for the day. James had time to eat and get ready, get Dean ready, and see him off to our neighbors just in time to get us there and checked into the exam room right around 8.

Thankfully, the doctor was there to check Brittany's progress himself, because within 20 minutes she was ready to stay for the duration! They set up Brittany on an IV for antibiotics, and told her that she couldn't have the baby until after 1:30 because it takes 4 hours to be considered "treated." We just laughed at the irony, and said our prayers that everything would go well. After the antibiotics had been administered Brittany was able to get disconnected from the IV and walk around a bit, and then rock through most of her contractions on a rocking chair while we watched disc 3 of Season 7 Glimore Girls. It was perfect because we finished a whole disc with many references to pregnancy that had us both laughing and being distracted until transition.

Brittany finally felt like she was ready for some pain medication through the IV, and had to be put back on antibiotics at around 2 PM, when they discovered the IV clotted. So, unfortunately, they had to remove the first, very painful IV, and begin a new one in her other hand. She was already in transition during all of this and had her water broken just before the antibiotics and pain meds were given to her. Needless to say, when 2:30 rolled around Riley Mae was ready to come! Brittany pushed for about 10 contractions, and there she was!

Such a different experience all-together from Dean's labor and delivery. It was quite pleasant besides the IVs. We are/were so thankful for all that happened to allow her to come so quickly. Riley was wrapped up pretty good in her cord, and had swallowed a lot of maconeum before her grand debut so she had to have a little help right in the beginning to remove most of it. But after that she nursed right away and has been nursing really well since. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful baby girl.

She was officially born at 2:46 PM and weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and measured 19.5 inches long. More pictures and good stuff to come...

Love,

The James Anderson Family

Down to the Wire

Feeling like this may be one of the last posts for a bit, since there are only 10 days left until Riley's due date! We can hardly believe it. Seems like it kind of snuck up on us. Once she comes I'm sure it will be a little crazy, but we'll try and post as we can.

Anyway, just a few fun things to report since the last post.

James and Brittany went on a date! Our good friends offered to watch Dean so that we could get some time to ourselves before baby # 2 arrives. It was so nice of them to give us that opportunity, so we could just have some fun together! We went Easter shopping and walking around shops in Idaho Falls. We even took some photo booth pictures to make it feel more official. We also had the opportunity to watch the original TRON movie. The second one makes so much more sense now, and we loved the original. So fun!

We went to the Rexburg Temple together to let Dean run around on the grounds and talk to him about it. He was so adorable. He kept walking closer and closer to it, saying "Temple!", the whole time.

We've been really trying to enjoy our time with just him while we can. Brittany has been teaching him about Jesus, in his "Jesus book" that he got for his first birthday. She'll go through it with him and ask him, "where's Jesus?", "where's the trees?", "where's the water", etc. and he'll point to everything she asks him to.

He's also starting to grasp the whole, 'put-one-toy-away-and-bring-me-another' concept, which is exciting!! However, we can always tell when he's not quite ready to let a certain toy go because he will put away, wait for us to say "You did it!" and then pull it right back out again. Hahaha. So fun.

James found out that he finished the last semester even better than anticipated with a 3.625 GPA! Yay! He has been so happy that he got his new netbook and wireless router set-up to help him with the upcoming semester. We're saying our prayers that all goes well this next week, with him starting on Tuesday. He's also been working faithfully on his AWESOMEntrepreneur blog and has spotlighted his first person, and has a second in the works. It looks great, and you should check it out. The artist he spotlighted is amazing and a friend of ours.

Brittany finally broke down and tried to put some girly bows together that she'd been researching for awhile. So here are some pictures (above) of her first attempts...She's been doing pretty good in her last few weeks of pregnancy despite some pulled muscles, a stubbed toe, and the classic heartburn. We're so thankful, and continue to say our prayers that all goes well for her and Riley.

Can't help being excited for Easter and all the other things that Spring has to offer in the next few weeks. Thanks for caring about us. Hope you are all doing well.

Love,

The James Anderson Family

Another Semester Down and Baby Prep

Our internet has been playing hooky again, but we have access back today. Yay! Hope you're interested in playing catch-up with us. Here it goes...

James finished another semester (and on a great note! ;P). His final voice recital was his last assignment of the semester and we actually have a tidbit for you to watch. Hopefully, it will play sound correctly, because he did such a great job. He sang "Tale As Old As Time" from Beauty and the Beast. Everyone absolutely adored it, and James too. Now we know where Dean gets his charm. James also did some excel magic to figure out his projected GPA for the semester and is anticipating a 3.5. Go James! He is all signed up and ready to go for next semester, which starts on Tuesday, the 19th. Just one week of break and back to the grind-stone!

Dean enjoyed helping Daddy practice and celebrate as you can see in the following two videos. The first is of him concentrating really hard to pound those notes on the piano, with his tongue sticking out for help. The second is of him licking/sucking on a lime at Taco Time, which was an outting to celebrate another semester going well and being finished. Just look at his faces!! We love our silly boy.

We also caught him trying to use his potty seat this week...a little unconventionally...and enjoying being able to reach the water fountains on campus. Such a curious kid.

As for Brittany, she has finished Riley's baby blessing dress, and been enjoying crossing many things off of her to-do-lists in further preparation for Riley's arrival (hopefully sooner than later?) now that James is able to help. For example, we pre-registered at the hospital, washed bedding and clothing, rearranged furniture, organized the closet (yet again) to accomodate more things that needed to be moved to make room for a new addition, and have begun packing the hospital bags.

Brittany's 38 week appointment went well, and she is currently 2-3 cm, 50% effaced, and Riley's in a -3 station position, as of Tuesday. Good to hear! We also took Dean in to see his Cardiologist, Dr. Judd, for the year to get it over with before Riley comes, and he is doing great also. We are so thankful for being busy, healthy, and having things to keep us moving forward.

So here are pictures of the blessing dress, and matching headband that Brittany made. Tell us what you think!

Love,

The James Anderson Family

Studly and the Dean

Two posts today...don't you feel loved? :) We sure do! Especially on such a nice sun-shiney day in Idaho. Thank goodness for some days like this inbetween all the rain and snow, so that we can all get outside once inawhile.

(Yes, he loved playing with the bark more than on the equipment...that's our Dean!)

The park was finally dried-out enough that we could go enjoy it. Dean was having fun chasing leaves blowing in the wind, throwing pinecones, and running around saying "Hello" to everyone. We sure enjoyed letting him.

This is what happens when we don't let him outside to run around! He decorates the floor, and tries to claim his old carseat, now Riley's, as his own. To bad kiddo, you have to pass it on! It was quite amusing though because he'd just climb in there and play, and then whine to be let out, and then climb right back in again. Silly, silly cute boy. :)

And this is the studly, entrepreneur, sporting-his-new-glasses, James. His old pair finally lost one of the nose-guards and the lenses always came loose; it was time to lay them to rest. These were the first pair he tried on, and we both loved them, even after trying on about 50 others. What do you think?

So, just a few quick notes to end off this post.

1) James has started his own blog called AWESOM-Entrepreneurs. He has yet to get any spotlights completed, but he does have an Introduction and some AWESOM-Ebook recommendations to check out until then. He'd love any comments, suggestions, and encouragement for this new hobby.

2) We have created a seperate page for scrapblogs at the top of our blog, right beneath our family picture. We have only posted one so far, which is a link to the book of Dean's First Year in Photos. We'd love to hear any feedback on that, as well as any other scrapblogs to come.

3) We have updated the design of the blog for Spring. So, yes, it looks different, but you are still in the right place! Hope you like it as much as we do.

Keep reading and commenting! We post for you all to keep in touch as much as possible.

Love,

The James Anderson Family

April Showers

It is April already! Can you believe it? So many great things come in April...end of school, General Conference, babies...it's great! :)

So, you know the saying: 'April showers bring May flowers?' Well, we are hoping that is true for a little Riley Mae, because we had the most awesome surprise this week! A baby shower by mail! We literally went to the mail-box and it was filled with packages and cards for us that all came on the same day (mostly). We had a hard time carrying it all inside. It was so neat! 

A huge thanks goes out to Brittany's parents, Aunts, cousins and Grandma who all banded together to make this happen and make us feel so loved and special. We are so thankful that we have girly clothes to help welcome a 'Mae flower' into the world now! She is going to be so cute...just look at what we received on her behalf:

(From cousin Tamara! Thanks so much cousin!)

(All from cousin Fawn! You are amazing woman! :) )

(Yes, these bows were homemade, and the gorgeous baby blanket too!)

 (Look at these cute outfits! Yay!)

 (And a leopard-bear, Riley's first stuffed-animal-friend.)

 (All from Grandpa and Grandma Keel! Such adorable clothes! 2 dresses, a sleeper w/ matching stuffed elephant--thanks Gpa!, two fashion onesies, a 3-piece frog outfit set, and an adorable layette set that says "little sister" and includes those awesome socks that look like shoes. She's going to be so cute in all of them!)

(And such a sweet card! We love you G&G Keel!)

(All from Aunt Jana! Beautiful little dress, sleep n' plays, and matching caps, plus the cutest little newborn onesie that says "I love my Aunt." Can't wait to see her in them!)

(Grandma Viola, and Aunt Vicki sent these adorable finds: a newborn onesie that says "little sister", two bigger onesies that say "My Aunt is the Best" and "I was spoiled by my Auntie", two skorts, a little pair of cotton denim-looking bloomer-shorts, and a beautiful yellow dress that will be perfect for Easter next year around her first birthday. What a blessed girl Riley is! )

(Last, but certainly not least, Aunt Rosalinda and family sent this adorable giraffe card with a giftcard to target. We went already and loved picking out some cute petite newborn outfits to sport in her first couple weeks. A dress, a top with matching leggings, and some 0-9 month tights in three different colors. Yay!) 

And as if that wasn't enough fun for all of us...Dean was remembered too!

(A lion-bear from cousin Fawn!)

(And shirts from Aunt Jana, and G&G Keel! A huge thanks from Dean, who was feeling a little left out during all the girly squeals...he loves you!)

We are certainly blessed to be part of such a thoughtful family, to remember us way out here, and throw us a mail-in baby shower! Wouldn't have had one without you all, it means so much to us. THANK YOU for such a wonderful surprise! WE LOVE YOU!

--And just to be fair, we wanted to make sure and mention again that Mom Anderson sent us a beautiful sewing machine a few weeks ago, and our sister Janine gave us tons of hand-me-down clothes for 9-12 months. So, they are definitely worthy of mention! We love you for being so thoughtful, thank you! How did we get so blessed with family?!--