Yup

So, there's really not much going on at the ol' Anderson place these days. Tim and I have been enduring icky head colds since we came back from PA, and we've both been either really busy with work (Jean) or really busy trying to enjoy the remainder of the break (Tim). Alas, it's back to school for Timmy today, so it's back to Jean staring listlessly at the wall again! (Just kidding.)

I suppose we did a few things this week, like we went to the Visions fantasy art show at the Forest Lawn Memorial (featuring works by Tim's art-crush Syd Mead, as well as some other really cool people), and then enjoyed the nice view on a somewhat overcast day:


Tim got started on building some of our new baby furniture, but once he finished the changing table, he (entirely justifiably) decided that he was done for the day. It took awhile!

I kept on being fat and pregnant, and here is the 34-week picture:

And finally, we spent some quality time together, watching Lost season 3 (gotta get refreshed and prepared for the 31st!), and being downright strange:

I'm So Proud

So, as you probably noticed, Tim (of the Tim and Jean blog) wrote his first post below!! How wonderful of him. As he said, I am snotty and sickly and busy with work right now, and I implored him to contribute to our "mutual" blog on my behalf. Hooray!

We got back from PA with head colds, but we had such a fun time during our trip. I met my little nephew Killian for the first time! SO CUTE!!! I WANT ONE!!! My awesome friend Lauri did a pregnant photo shoot with me and Tim!! Sample photos will be coming soon. We had some Christmas parties and a wedding and a little baby shower with my PA peeps. And we ate TONS of Wawa soft pretzels, Tastykakes, and Asher's chocolates. Mmm... delicious Pennsylvania...

Anyway, I was going to quickly supplement Tim's post with a summary of baby tidbits.

Tidbit #1: Our apartment is all rearranged now! Well, we still have to hang up some photos and what not, but the baby's room has finally been vacated by its previous residents (me and Tim), and is now ready for the crib- and changing table-building process. Hooray! I feel excessively unprepared for a new baby still, but at least when his room is finished, he'll have a comfy little place to crash (and cry all night long).

Tidbit #2: My stomach has become amusingly lumpy of late. It's so amazing and unbelievable that there's a little, five-pound, independent being in there, who's constantly rolling around and poking out. Just over the past couple of weeks, we've noticed a lot more bony bumps protruding from my abdomen, which I haven't yet been able to identify. I'm thinking they've consisted of a heel, knee, and possibly bum, but I'm not totally sure. Crazy. Seriously, I never knew how crazy pregnancy was.

Tidbit #3: We had our hospital orientation and tour yesterday! I dragged myself away from my PJs and Kleenex for the 1.5-hour event at our local hospital, Huntington. And lemme tell ya... I have NEVER seen such a concentration of pregnant bellies, and I'm Mormon! There must've been 75 couples in attendance, with all the women visibly showing! It was wild. We had an informational meeting in the auditorium first, where I learned a couple of new things (such as the fact that after I get to spend an hour with our brand new little guy, he's taken away for his two- to six-hour checkup in the nursery, and after that, returned to us at our leisure). Good to know. After the meeting, we broke up into small groups for the tour of the labor and delivery area, the maternity area, and the main lobby. I was pretty impressed with the LDR rooms - they are warmly lit with private bathrooms and soft colors, and they basically look like small hotel rooms (that, we're told, can transform in a jiffy into more medical environments). Very cozy. So, overall, it was a fun and educational experience, and it made me realize that I'm actually having a baby. (Duh Jean.)

Only about six weeks to go now!! I just told Tim a few minutes ago that I hope little Tadpole-Leonard doesn't come early. I adore him and everything, and am absolutely thrilled to meet him, but we still have quite a few things to take care of. (And his increasingly strong movements are making me a little nervous!) So we'll see! :-)

What? Tim posts, too?

That's right, all-- I can post, too! Due to a headcold and an abundance of work, Jean has called in the second string blogger of the family, so you get to hear from me for once. You'll be clamoring for her before this post is over, so be sure to make her feel welcome once she returns. Anyway, that's me above, sportin' the Molestache and trying not to hurt myself with scissors. I was mostly successful.

Here's Jean holding our nephew Killian while we were back visiting our families in PA (that's Pennsylvania, for you state-abbreviationally challenged) for Christmas and New Year's. He's seven months old now, and cute as a button.

From left to right, this is Lauri, Karyn, and Jean at Karyn's wedding reception. We were able to attend during our trip back home, and it was great to catch up with some old high school friends with whom we do not visit very often, being 3,000 miles away and all. It was a very nice wedding, and we wish Karyn and Ed a wonderful and happy marriage.

My sister Dana takes down 9 pins during our Christmas Day Wii Sports Bowling Tournament '07 (or CDWSBT '07, for the tournament-abbreviationally gifted among you). They got a new 50" HDTV for Christmas, and it looked pretty nice.

Below are two of my brothers, Brett (11) and (bottom) Mark (18) with nephew Killian. If you hadn't guessed, Mark is the one rockin' the giant fro, a talent that he alone possesses among us Anderson boys.

We had a fun trip back to PA and have returned to Pasadena to rearrange and build new furniture in preparation for our little guy. He gets bigger every day, and his movements in the womb now fall more into the "squirming" category than that of "kicking." It's really fun to try to guess what body part is poking out as he moves around. I'm really excited to get to know him, as is Jean, though we are both willing to wait until the due date.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy New Year, and we wish you all the best in 2008!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

So, I've officially decided that everyone who reads this blog is Totally Awesome to the Max. (Feel free to self-describe that way!) All of the comments about our recent Un-party were very supportive, and it makes me truly and deeply wish that we all lived in the same neighborhood. (Commune, anyone? No? Okey doke.)

Anyway, December has been a busy month for us, so I've decided that brevity is in order this late night. Our month included a Rose Bowl Half Marathon by Tim (great job!), a trip to Wicked at the Pantages Theater for Jean's birthday (PHENOMENAL... I had no idea... let me say it again... PHENOMENAL), and a business trip to a super-awesome resort in Zihuatanejo (where they left me a Happy Birthday message in flower petals!). Finally, we enjoyed a gleeful moment this afternoon as well when we gave our friends Jacob and Tak a belt encased in Jello for Christmas. (Long story.) Anyway, here are photos of all the exciting events:

Finally, here is the next three-week pregnant photo (31 weeks now - Tadpole's gettin' big!):

Tim and I are off to PA for the holidays, so this will probably be the last post for a little while. Have a Merry Christmas! You guys are the best. We just love ya. :-)

A Very Merry Un-Party

Have you ever thrown a party, and genuinely wondered whether anyone was actually going to come??

So, Tim and I conducted a little social experiment this week. When we first moved into our apartment back in August 2006, we thought it was so bizarre that our neighbors never spoke to us or to each other -- no smiles, no pleasantries, nothing. (Very different from Provo, where you go to church with your neighbors and become best friends.) At first we questioned this oddity, but eventually, we just joined right in, ignoring our neighbors just like they were ignoring us.

This holiday season, I had a revelation. SOMEONE had to make an effort so that we could all get to know each other better, and doggone-it, if no one else was going to do it, then WE would! Seriously, how many times are we going to pass our neighbors, with both of us avoiding eye contact? How many times will we mutter "Hi" without even knowing their names?? So, I made these cute little Christmas flyers inviting our neighbors to a "Holiday Get-To-Know-You Party!" at our apartment this past Monday. I handed them out a week and a half in advance, close enough that they would remember, but far enough away that they could mark us on their calendars and save the date.

We only actually have six neighbors in our little "area" -- two couples who live in the little house next to us, and two girls who live in separate apartments just upstairs from us. So, I figured that turn-out might be a little light as it were. Incidentally, no one RSVPed, which at first led me to believe that no one was coming. However, I eventually reconsidered, and figured that they may have felt weird calling us to RSVP, since they don't even know us (hence the purpose of the party). So, I went ahead and planned a fun little evening. I cleaned and mopped and vacuumed and baked for much of the day on Monday, and the menu was impressive by my standards: warm hors-d'oeurves, fresh basil tomatoes, lemon poppyseed bread, spinach dip with crackers and carrots, chocolate bundt cake, and Hershey Kiss cookies. I even heated up some spiced apple cider on the stove top. Yum!! I couldn't wait.

So, at 7:00, all the food was out and ready, the cider was warm, the Yankee Candle was lit, the tree was on, the Christmas music was playing softly in the background, and Tim and I were .... waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. And still waiting. And did I mention WAITING??? Here's the moral of the story: (1) If no one RSVPs to your party, then NO ONE is coming!!! (no matter how much you want them to anyway); and (2) Unlike towns where normal people live, if you live in an urban area such as Pasadena, then your neighbors don't care about getting to know you, don't want you to get to know them, and will ignore or flat-out reject invitations to break this comfortable but regrettable status quo! (or so appears to be the case).

Seriously, how bizarre is it, that we spend our lives less than 15 feet away from people who we don't even know the slightest thing about? What is wrong with this trend? Are Tim and I the only ones experiencing it? I admit it, we were social risk-takers this week, placing ourselves on the Pedestal of Extreme Vulnerability and finding ourselves neighbor-less and stuffed with tasty food by the end. Evidently, our social experiment failed (or succeeded?) in the way that we were most curious about.

Epilogue: Don't worry about us, everything turned out fine. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we ended up calling on some good friends to come over and help us out with all the delicious party food. Jacob, Tak, Paul, and Ciana came to the rescue, saved us each from 20 potential pounds, and hung around for a rousing 4 games of electronic Guesstures (SO fun... highly recommended). Then as they left, they loudly praised us for our awesome Neighbor Party. Hahaha. Thanks guys. Our neighbors might not want to step out of their comfort zones, but thank goodness for good friends.

The sumptuous spread!

Waiting...

Still waiting...

Any minute now...!!!

That's it... we're starving... let's eat. :-)