These may be the last bump pics posted before baby!

So here are the latest belly shots. These could be the last posted before baby comes! The ones below were taken in week 37 and 38. (as this is being updated we are at week 39...) Thanks to our friend Elizabeth and her "assistant" Eva, we were able to have our first family photo shoot!We took the photo shoot up at Hendricks Park—SO beautiful! Such a nice day with all the flowers around! We are more and more excited to meet our little Faye. Hopefully our next post will have pictures of our newborn baby!

Trip to CA, baby showers + belly pics (of course)

During Corey's Spring break we were able to head down to CA (yup, we drove). During that time we were able to see friends and family. Below are some highlights, though there were definitely more pictures and stories to place in here, but hey, it is hard to get caught up with all the happenings! We figured it was better to put up a little update than none at all!

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Donna (and Faye) did well on the car ride. Amazingly we did not have to stop every hour to go to the bathroom! This will be the last road trip (for a while) that Faye gets to sit shotgun! Upon arriving in SLO we realized that it was not just a 10 degree difference from Eugene. We should have packed more short sleeves and flip flops! It was a nice break from the cold highs of 50 degrees back in Eugene. Montana de Oro was a quick "fly-by" stop that we just had to make. It was SO green and beautiful. Why did SLO have to be SO GREEN! We were hoping for the brown mountains so that we would be able to brag about "green Oregon". Because SLO had a good rain right before we came, we were able to benefit from the Ireland-like surroundings. Our next stop was Farmer's Market. (Eugene's Saturday Market does not even come close to how amazing SLO's market is!) Though, when we arrived we saw a person that would fit very well in Eugene's Market... You HAVE to watch the clip below—words cannot describe this. (yes, he has his own wind machine)

This was the response from the above video. Nancy and Eric, as well as the rest of the crowd, were amuzed and couldn't help but watch. When the crazy gold-plated wind machine man stepped closer to the crowd when he realized many people were taking pictures, all of the moms with strollers in the front row quickly exited the scene. Wow, what a scene it was. •••

We saw SO many friends at Farmer's. It was overwhelming but exactly what we wanted—truly the best way to see many of our friends. For a short but sweet few moments we chatted with Wes and Sara (Wes had his end of the quarter mustache to show off...Sara that is nice of you to let him have one, Donna is not so nice in regards to Corey having one... but maybe that is because Corey looks quite creepy with one). The Castros were the first to allow us to crash in their house on this trip (we stayed at a different place each night! Thanks to the Castros, Thompsons, and Arnolds!) We always have a blast with the Castros. Below we are enjoying the chocolaty goodness that surrounded us at the Chocolate Factory. Mmmm. We finally ate dinner with them at around 9pm (just had too much socializing to do at Farmer's!) We had a wonderfully relaxing morning at Celia's Garden Cafe in Los Osos. Later on we were able to see Michael and Jun and their newest addition, Ziah! He was SO little. Corey was quite comfortable while holding the little guy. (soon he will be holding his own baby!) See Ziah practicing the "sprinkler" dance move that Corey taught him. Apparently, he already knows how to do a different type of sprinkler when diaper changes happen ;) Donna and Jun allowed Ziah and Faye to have their first "play date" together (though neither did much, especially Faye). Later on that evening we went to Firestone for their delicious tri-tip sando (that we share because the once $4 order back when Corey first lived in SLO is now close to double that price). We were able to see even more friends here, which was a blast. Corey was on "friend-overload", hopping to and from to all the different tables (but he loved it). Unexpected friends, Joel (visiting SLO from OK to get married that weekend), Sarah (visiting from Washington, here to attend the wedding), and Josh (a local friend from way-back) were all there. It was a reunion of the early college dorms and campus crusade years. Saturday was the first baby shower thrown by Sarah Carter (who did an AMAZING job)! There were definitely more pics taken and awesome gifts received, but for sake of getting this posted, here are just a couple of the pictures. Below is a pic of the "tea group". Donna so misses being able to go to tea with these great friends (but she was told that they would "skype" her in next time... and they better)!Donna and Jaime have Faye and Corban meet. Jaime is due just days before Donna and hopefully Corban and Faye will actually get to meet outside of the womb someday! Sara and Donna pose (eating as they both like to do). Donna is eating one of the delicious "cake pops" that Erika made! Sara and Evan let us crash at their place on Friday night. Sara JUST had her baby girl, Yarin, this past Thursday! Congrats Thompsons! Vicki (Donna's sister) stole the show with the BEAUTIFUL quilt she made for Faye. We LOVE it! In this picture (though she is hiding behind the quilt) Vicki is also pregnant, due in September! Woohoo!It was such a good time in SLO, and was too short but we were glad to at least have a couple days there. We definitely miss all our dear friends there! Our next stop was Atwater for Shower #2 the very next day! At Corey's parents' home we were able to meet up with Kim and Brandon and take a few photos before heading over to the shower. Donna and Kim have been friends since age 12 and it is such a fun experience to be expecting within DAYS of each other! (Kim is due 5 days before Donna) We attempted posing for a cheesy "prom pic", I think we succeeded in the cheesy part. (hopefully people aren't going to prom pregnant like this!) Here Donna poses for her "paparazzo" husband in front of the family orange tree. :) Again, so many more pictures were taken at this shower, here only a few are shown... we still need to get photos from everyone who took pictures! Below Donna and Heather (past roomies) enjoy a hug for the camera (yes, Donna has a name tag on her belly that says "Faye"). Heather just recently got engaged—congrats Heather and Adam! Donna's cousins were able to attend their first baby shower! (the highlight for them was the decorations that they were able to take home!)What a trip! We felt VERY loved by friends and family throughout our stay in CA! We look forward to Faye meeting all these wonderful people!

••• Up next: recent belly pics and a mini-family photo shoot!

...preparing for landing... beginning descent

These two pictures below were only taken one day apart... notice anything different?

Here is the most recent belly pic for those out there who would like to see just why Donna was asked this last week, "Whoa, did you swallow a watermelon?" (one of Donna's coworkers jokingly asked that—maybe it wasn't a joke...) Most customers that come into the office just start freely talking about the pregnancy when Donna stands up from her desk and her belly is visible... so crazy! But exciting, definitely. We are so looking forward to holding little Faye in our arms in as soon as 8 weeks!

take two... see below!

So you might think that the above picture is repeated twice, but actually they are two different pictures. If you look closely...the belly pic at the top Donna has a higher "bump" than the lower. Now the crazy thing is this all happened within 12 hours. Donna had a horrible time sleeping last night and had pain SURROUNDING her entire midsection and back and she spent 3 hours trying to massage/change position/rock/sit/sleep it away and it was not working! In the morning at work her coworker noticed that her belly had dropped, she looked down and realized that it really had indeed! She can now see and feel her ribs that were, just yesterday, covered by the bump! So just to prove that quick change had happened, Corey took a picture of Donna wearing the same outfit she wore last night and you can truly see the drop! Wow, baby Faye is preparing for departure! (not this soon, hopefully, we still have just over 7 weeks!) We didn't know it was possible to have the belly drop in one evening. Crazy.

Preparing for baby...

So prepping for baby has led us into a frenzy of registry preparation and reorganizing the house to make it less "chaotic" for when baby T arrives. Donna has spent most of her free hours after work and weekends trying to accomplish this main objective. She has a long list of "to-dos" and like Donna's belly, the list seems to keep expanding.

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One item on the list was purchasing a glider rocker. At first we didn't think we wanted one, since they don't really go with our decor, but once Donna sat in one, she realized that she wanted to get one. After spending a few days on craigslist we hit the jackpot! We saw an ad that was offering two for $40, so we went and looked and offered $20 for one of the chairs and the guy said, "no, I will take $15". So, no fighting from us, we willingly paid $15 for a glider! Donna took this glider from dull to doable by using fabric from our old duvet cover and made new cushions. Voila! New and super inexpensive glider! Below is the before and after. Ahh, love the lighter colors and plush cushions! Super comfy and perfect for when baby comes! Here is one belly pic for those who would like to see the progress! Week 30! You can go and look back at the last blogs and Donna is pictured wearing this same shirt—you can see the definite change in size through these last 3 months! Along with getting a glider rocker from craigslist, we also scored an AWESOME chair for baby. This is very much like the Stokke chair but this one was used and from the UK (according to the seller). We love that this chair can transition from being used by infants to toddlers to kinders all the way up to being used by adults (because of the adjustable components). We thought it was a worthwhile investment. We will be refinishing this to match our kitchen chairs, but since we won't be using this until Faye is 6mos we are going to focus on other priorities. Right now all the kitties love the chair. They rotate who sits on top throughout the day. It is pretty funny. Our largest update for this post is that we got a new family car! We traded in our beloved little yellow Beetle for a 2009 Jetta Wagon. We did much research and test driving and decided on this guy below. (tons of storage space for baby accessories!) Our only pic was with Donna's phone and the "photographer" was the sales guy who obviously was too excited about the recent sale he made to care about centering the picture! Corey did an amazing job working an incredible deal for this car, he had Donna fooled on his little show that he put on through the buying process (that lasted over 5 hours)! He got it down to below bluebook used price (though this was a new car)! Nice. One of our favorite features thus far is the seat warmer on the passenger and driver seats for our cold Eugene morning commute to work/school.

Pics and a Heartbeat

So here are some updated belly pics. (Donna poses out of love for friends and family because she REALLY does not like being in so many pictures alone! But she is not fully alone, little Faye is in each picture, more and more!) We are into the THIRD trimester—if you can believe that! May 4th is going to come sooner than we expect, though we are really excited. We go to our first "birth class" tomorrow. Make sure to check out the video at the very bottom... it is our favorite! Below is Donna "holding" little Faye. Feist decides to pose in this one, though she is not very still (she doesn't really care about the picture, just the fact that Donna is petting her)! Trying out the left side for this shot... Here Donna attempts a more "abstract" version of the belly pic. A little blurry but you still see the bump! It is getting so much bigger! The belly button is pretty much flush with the rest of the belly (and super sensitive). Here is the video that was taken from Donna's phone at the last appointment. (it was taken for what was heard, not seen) That is the nurse midwife holding up the doppler speaker. (you can see Donna's shoes at the end of the table) Doesn't it sound like galloping horses—or maybe little ponies?! Such an amazing sound to hear, we love it!

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Until the next bump pics...

And the baby bump grows...

Here are some updated pics of "the bump"... Cheers to the New Year. What an amazing year it will be... the coming of our baby girl! Below Corey is saying "cheers" to Faye. (of course we are bringing in the new year with apple cider!) Our last New Years before our kiddo comes... awww. (Yes, Corey has since trimmed his beard down so it is not so large!) Since the New Year, a few more belly shots have been taken to show the progress from last time. Corey is singing and playing for Faye to hear... hopefully she will come out singing (more likely wailing, but that is ok!) Donna doesn't much like taking these pictures on her own so she roped little Psapp into taking one with her. Psapp is just so excited to be apart of this, can't you tell? (Sarah C. recognize the shirt you gave me? Love it, and I love that it is stretching along with my belly!)Soon the toes will not be able to be seen. Soon we will be entering the 3rd trimester! Can't believe it! May will be here sooner than we can imagine. Close-up of Faye (a few layers in). That's all for now...

Going retro for Christmas cards

Here is the "Excelsior", the 5x8 table-top letterpress that was used to make the Christmas cards this year. Finally putting together rollers from the UK and springs/hooks from a press restoration store we got this little beast working!

Here is the vintage 1950s press die locked up in the "chase" and ready to go into the press.

This picture below is an action shot of Donna using the press, making sure it is ready and functioning before adding ink.

Below is the press all inked up and ready to print! (fact: we were able to dig up the ink we used for our wedding invitations back five years ago.)

We had to bolt the press down to the table and reinforce the table to make this guy work efficiently.

It took a little "make ready" time to get the press making the correct impression, but we eventually got it dialed in. Corey and all his 170lbs were used in making the deep impression that Donna demanded. (Donna didn't have the strength/weight to crank that little press down enough) If you received one of the Christmas cards, make sure to feel the lettering on the front and notice the impression (it came with blood, bruises, sweat, and tears!). He had a bruise going across the palm of his hand and thought he might have a stress fracture in his forearm, but seems to be just fine now (and Donna said that the sacrifice was worth it...easy for her to say)!

Donna "the riveter" flexing her arm and showing off her baby bump under her press coat. The cards turned out wonderfully for a small table-top press with not much psi but lots of heart (from the press operator, Corey)! Hopefully not much dust will collect on this press and it will be used again for future cards...