Faye: Month 4
So, as we sit here (Corey writing papers while I, Donna weed through pictures) finishing up the month 4 blog we cannot believe how quickly time has flown by (yes, we had a similar opening statement to the last blog as well). Our little one is 6 months! But here in this blog, we take a journey back, to two months ago—when Faye was in her 4th month. Brace yourselves, this is a long one...we took a trip to CA and SO much happened in our time down there (It was almost a month road trip, and we survived traveling TONS in the car. Faye was amazing.)
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This post will start out with a series of adorable photos of Faye (ok, most of the posts start out this way).
We can't help ourselves when there is such a cute subject to photograph and show off! 
Faye's serious and contemplative side.
Reflecting on the months past... 
She LOVES her tongue. Instant reflex when anything comes close to her mouth. 
The start of our roadtrip was a straight 8.5 hour drive down to Sacramento.
Faye slept pretty much the ENTIRE time, only waking up to feed (thank you, Faye).
So thus began our trek to see friends and family. First on the list, Auntie Joan and Cousin Lindsay. 
Next up was "GiiGii's" place (where we rested up to prepare for more driving the next day).
We couldn't make a trip to CA without Faye and Elliana meeting for the first time! (they are only 8 days apart!) To think that
Kim and Donna have known each other since they were 12...Faye and Elliana are getting started on their friendship much earlier! 
Awww, holding feet!
I think Ellie is more fond of holding feet than hands, wouldn't you say? 
It was so fun laying them down next to each other and seeing what they would do
(...not much action, but it still entertained us)!
Wow, the next time they see each other they are going to be doing so much more! 
The Bay Area was the next brief resting place (24 hours).
We got to see the Carters again! Baby Carter could be here any day now! Yay!
Faye's look says, "What cha lookin' at? I am just lounging while chatting with the girls!
They do the chatting (which they have no problem doing) and I will just suck my fingers and seem interested."
Faye loves mirrors, even small little ones.
Ok, so we just said she likes mirrors...well she does, when she is not tired,
hungry, or just plain upset for no apparent reason.
So while we were in the Bay Area, we were able to go to Donna's 10 year H.S. reunion.
In honor of high school dance pictures, we took this one below. Awkward, intentionally (but still better than all of our H.S. dance photos).
Our favorite picture of the evening: cell phones used to light up the table for "ambiance".
Not many others were taken, no need to take pictures of everyone aging (ok, that was cynical—truthfully we just didn't take many pictures).
Madera was the following stopping point. Our main reason for visiting (though we loved seeing everyone) was to let Faye meet her Great-Grandpa Dobbs. And that she did. He actually had some good holding time with Faye and really seemed to enjoy the time spent with family around. (Four days later he passed away and we counted ourselves as truly blessed to have been able to see him and for him to hold his first great-grandchild) Since Faye is looking more like Donna and to remember Grandpa Dobbs as Donna knew him, we put up a photo of him holding her back when Donna was a baby. We love you Grandpa.
And here are the other family members who got to meet Faye for the first time! Uncle Brian,
First time Grandpa! I think he is already telling her
the "wide mouth frog" joke and she seems quite captivated.
(Great) Grandma Dobbs. Maybe next time Faye sees her
she will dance with her as she did with Donna as a baby.
The cousins! As you can see they had a FABULOUS time with her!
In this shot they were saying "elephant" and it made Faye crack up!
If only they were closer, we would have some great babysitters! 
Good time with family, then on to SLO to be with more "family". The Thompsons were awesome and let us crash at their place again! This time, with little babies just weeks apart, it was even more fun (we always have a great time with them)! Below Yarin and Faye are doing baby yoga class or maybe the hokey pokey? Whatever it is, they are pretty serious about it. 
Donna smiles as she thinks about how crazy life would be with twins
(Crystal and Bryan, we don't know how you do it!)
We got to have some time hanging out with the AGO crew. Below David/Beaker holds Faye as he prepares to enter parenthood.
(haha, well he just got engaged so parenthood is probably a little ways out...) 
Morning breakfast with Jun and Michael and there little one, Ziah. So glad we got to see them before they moved to China!
Faye and Ziah texted the night before to make sure they would be wearing matching bibs. 
With Anthology store close by, we had to stop and see Connie! Faye enjoyed the time
(other than the fact that it was sweltering hot in Templeton and Faye got heat rash all over her body)!
We were stoked to be able to go to Shoreline's Wednesday night study. Erika held Faye most of the study, while she slept (Faye slept that is). Afterward we got together at the Burson's place (where the baby shower was held 5 months prior). Loved spending time with Shoreliners. 
Erika has a way with babies! 
Kayla does not. (just kidding, she really was great with Faye!)
Best sad-face shot ever captured! Love that Kayla is smiling through this!
You can't go to SLO without going to Farmers Market! (Yes that crazy wind-machine/ego-maniacal/gross man playing the electric bass was there...see post from April "Trip to CA" if you want to see the video) We were able to spend some time with our other Thomson friends, Wes and Sara. (Faye was still getting used to the bear-eared getup and was not in the mood for faking a smile) 
Faye was quite taken by all the sights and sound of the Market. 
...and it quickly led to exhaustion.
When Donna put the bear-eared warm suit on Faye it fit her JUST right.
We knew we would probably not get her in it again. Hence the photo shoot that follows of the cutest little pink bear.
Before we left the Thompson's place we HAD to take a pictures of the babies in the matching bumbos!
We had them just in their diapers so they could be "twins".
Faye was enjoying it, she thought it was quite funny.
Faye was enjoying it, she thought it was quite funny.
Yarin was not so sure..she probably was thinking,
"when I look in the mirror the baby that looked back appeared different than what I am seeing now."
Back in the blog "Trip to CA", Sara and Donna took a similar picture with their "bumps",
this time the bumps were on the outside!
We took a picture in front of California adventures by the "F" for Faye! :)
We will definitely come back and actually go into the parks when Faye is a bit older to appreciate it!
Now, down to LA we went! We were eagerly awaiting for Donna's sister, Vicki, to have her first baby, Brayden! We thought we might be able to bring good luck by being there... To get Vicki walking (to encourage Brayden to come out) we went to one of Vicki and Garrett's favorite places to stroll, Downtown Disney. So when little girls go to Disneyland, they all get transformed into little princesses (or at least they dream about that)...so when we brought Faye it did happen! Though she didn't seem to like the transformation at first. She is just like mommy—not into the princess thing (LOVE the flared nostrils!)
Here she was a little more into the idea. (she realized that being a princess has its benefits)
We took a picture in front of California adventures by the "F" for Faye! :)
We will definitely come back and actually go into the parks when Faye is a bit older to appreciate it! 
This was the first time that Vicki and Garrett got to see Faye.
They had some fun and said it was helpful having a baby around right before Brayden came.
We decided to help out in any way possible and took on many projects to prep the baby room, organize and much more! Below represents one of the projects that was accomplished. Love how awkward this whole scene was. 
At nights, we took a break from projects and played **Nertz** with other friends, Tim and Rachel.
At nights, we took a break from projects and played **Nertz** with other friends, Tim and Rachel.
Just waiting waiting waiting for Brayden to come...
So, he wasn't coming just yet, so we decided to head up north to see more friends and family in hopes that if we left for a couple days that maybe Vicki would go into labor. First stop back up north was Monterey to see our dear friends Lee and Cary! Faye had a great 24 hours with them (as did we).
So, he wasn't coming just yet, so we decided to head up north to see more friends and family in hopes that if we left for a couple days that maybe Vicki would go into labor. First stop back up north was Monterey to see our dear friends Lee and Cary! Faye had a great 24 hours with them (as did we). 
For lunch Faye sat in the bumbo chair and participated in the conversation. Actually, she did most of the talking
—so entertaining. (in the pic she is wearing the little felt shoes that Vicki whipped up for her) 
Goodbye Monterey, hello Atwater. To see more family and friends. Grammy and Grampy were quite anxious to see Faye again. As they say,
"My heart aches for Faye!" Grammy (being the wonderful teacher) gave Faye lots of books. Below they read "Goodnight, Gorilla."
Goodbye Monterey, hello Atwater. To see more family and friends. Grammy and Grampy were quite anxious to see Faye again. As they say,
"My heart aches for Faye!" Grammy (being the wonderful teacher) gave Faye lots of books. Below they read "Goodnight, Gorilla."
The Kals got to meet Faye for the first time. 
We had a group of people come over, all to see the star, Faye. Goldie...
Glen and Cheryl...
Faye did so well as the center of attention. And when we say center, we literally mean "center". She was placed in her little seat on a large lazy susan on the table in the middle of the living room! We rotated her so she faced different people. What a laugh to see 8 adults all focused on little Faye!
Gilbert had the skills of lulling Faye to sleep. Gilbert kept telling Grampy, "watch the pro!" 
Great-Grandpa "Pop" Templeton was able to meet Faye for the first time as well. It was endearing to watch how much he LOVED Faye from the moment he saw her (it was in church, during announcements and he was leaning over the pew and talking to her as if no one else was talking at the front of the church)! He didn't easily give her up to let anyone else hold her either! 
Grammy and Grampy wanted to see Faye in the water so Corey suited
up and demonstrated a little "swim time" as Faye took a bath.
Later on that night we got a call from Vicki saying that her water broke! So we threw everything partially packed into the wagon and off we went, back down to LA to be there for the birth! We made it there very early in the morning. It wasn't until late that night that little Brayden came. Because of security reasons (they told us security guards cannot tell the difference between newborns and babies younger than 1 year...lame!) Faye was not allowed in the entire baby unit. So downstairs in the closest waiting room, we had to take turns watching her. 
She did so well for being confined in a small room for around 20 hours. 
Brayden FINALLY came...and he was completely healthy and adorable. Look at that smile!
Brayden FINALLY came...and he was completely healthy and adorable. Look at that smile! 
Donna got to play a bit of a "doula" roll, so she felt a very strong connection to newborn nephew Brayden!
(we only slept for about 2 hours over the span of 48 hours!)
Yay, we are now (cheesy) "Uncle" and "Auntie"!
And a bit delirious at this point, but having fun nonetheless! 
Love. 
Because Faye could not go into the Baby unit...we weren't sure that Brayden and Faye would even get to have a picture together, which made us sad. The night nurse said there is one point where the stars will align for this to happen. When Vicki and Brayden get transferred into a different room downstairs, in the hallway in front of the elevator we could take a couple pictures before they got in the elevator and went to another "secure" room that didn't allow babies! Problem was that when the "stars aligned", Faye was asleep. So below you will see the results of waking up a baby and expecting good photos!
Notice the only way to get Faye to smile was shaking her "fun toy".
Awww, the cousins! See you at Christmas, Brayden!
(when we see Brayden next he will be the age that Faye was in this picture!)
The boys hanging out...
Corey, still a bit delirious even the next day. 
The girls hanging out...
What an experience! SO glad it worked out for our family to be down there for this special time!
Before making the trek back up to Oregon, we saw Norma and Stan! It was great seeing them.
