Last week I posted some pics of an elephant painting that I made for Baby Swift’s room, and I loved it so much that I started a new one in the series the following day. Here is my little rat painting in progress! I hope to finish it up today — I’ll share a photo when I’m done. (Or follow me on Instagram, because I’m sure I’ll post the finished piece there sooner than I will here!)

In other news, my mom was just here visiting for a few days, which was awesome. She’d never been to Portland before, so I was really excited to show her around, show her our house, etc. She brought us a bunch of baby stuff, and as we were opening it up and assessing what we still need to get for Baby Swift, Juneau made herself comfy among the baby things — who knew our little drawer organizers were perfectly cat-sized? Haha, she’s so cute! Anywhere she can be cozy, she’ll jump right in.

We drove out to the Oregon coast for the day on Sunday, where we took selfies in the wind. Isn’t my mom so cute? No one ever thinks we’re related because we obviously look nothing alike. (Ha!) Actually, people usually think we’re sisters, which my mom LOVES. It happened at breakfast on Monday morning. Oy!

She loved the coast — if you’ve never been to the Oregon coast, I highly recommend going someday. It’s stunning. It’s so wild and rustic and dramatic, with mountains descending straight into the ocean, craggy rocks out in the surf, cold cold water, starfish and anemones and chartreuse-colored moss…… it’s quite beautiful. My mom took videos all day and then spent the evening watching them over and over. My plan to get her to move her is officially in motion. ;)

My mom looks adorable. I look like I have a pillow stuffed in my shirt.

35 weeks this week, omg!

The next day we went into the Columbia River Gorge and went to Multnomah Falls, another spectacular Oregon destination. It’s pretty touristy, because of its easy accessibility right off the highway, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. Ryan came with us on this adventure.

Oh, the Columbia River! Amazing.

This is my favorite shot from the weekend, taken by my mom:

Holy belly, Batman!

Juneau continued to be as cute as ever in her favorite perch, all weekend long. :)

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In other baby news, my good friend Mary and her daughter stopped by our house last night because Annie had a gift for Baby Swift and me that Mary said she was so excited to give us and that I was going to love.

Love is an understatement! I could not believe it when I opened it up and it was a hand-made flannel fox blanket, made by Annie, complete with 81 hand-tied knots. It is SO PRECIOUS! What a gift. Annie loves babies and is so excited to be our baby-sitter, and conveniently they live just 3 blocks away! I can’t wait to wrap the baby up in this snuggly, adorable blanket. We are so lucky. Everyone in my life has been so generous during this pregnancy — it makes me teary to think about it. Wow. I am so blessed.

Soon I’ll share pics of the baby’s room! It’s coming together, slowly but surely……