Merry Christmas!

We leave for Michigan tomorrow to spend a belated Christmas with our families, but first, here is a glimpse of some of the holiday festivities we had here in Colorado. Merry Christmas!

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More Talking and More Teeth

The last couple of days have been rather eventful. First, Taelyn spoke her third word, "duckie," on Tuesday. She was in the bathtub, playing with her rubber duckie, and after I said the word several times, she started to say "duckie." The next day, we were at some friends' house where Taelyn got to play with their dog. Again, I said the word "doggie" over and over, and then Taelyn said it back as she was looking at the dog. She has known the meaning of these words for a few weeks now, but this is the first time she actually said them.

Since Taelyn is starting to identify words with objects, she loves to read her touch-and-feel baby animal book with us. We look at each animal on the page together while Justin and I say the name of the animal. Taelyn loves to go back and read this book over and over again to learn the names of each animal. Then afterward, I will take out her animal puzzle and ask her to find a specific animal from her book like the bunny. After studying the bunny from her book, she immediately grabs that puzzle piece. It's really neat to see her making these connections.

Today, I also noticed another tooth, totaling nine now. It is up top, but not next to the other four. Instead, it is a couple of spaces down on the right toward the back.

Taelyn - 10 Months

Taelyn is now 10 months old, measuring 20 lbs., 28.5 inches long, and has a head circumference of 18 inches. Just yesterday, she got two more teeth, making a total of 8 (4 on top, and 4 on bottom). She is still crawling all the time and pulling herself up against furniture and any object she encounters. She loves to walk along these objects and is cautious at times to prevent falling. At the same time, she is a bit more daring moving from object to object. She used make sure she had a hand on each object before moving from one to the next, but now she will take a step without the support of one hand to make it to another object. Taelyn has also improved her hand-eye motor skills. She can take two different toys and bang them against each other.

This past month has been all about dancing! Taelyn absolutely loves to dance and will do so anywhere, anytime: when she stands up against the coffee table, sitting on her knees, when she sees other babies, when she gets excited at the baby gym, and any time she hears music. She especially loves dancing to our singing/dancing Grinch Christmas decoration. We have a great video of this that we will post on our Christmas Smilebox later this month.

Taelyn's personality has also sparkled more and more. She is very affectionate and doesn't like to be left alone very often. She wants Justin or I to be by her side constantly. Though she prefers our company best, she is still fantastic with other people. She even had her first non family friend baby-sitter this month, and she had a blast playing with someone new. Taelyn loves her baby doll, ball, books, puzzles, and Sesame Street. She especially likes the doggie piece of her puzzle because she loves dogs.

First Words

Over the last couple of weeks, Taelyn has been talking a lot more than before and has actually started saying some of her first words. The first word came after Taelyn had pulled herself up to stand on the coffee table and then fell down. She instantly started crying and crawled straight toward me for comfort. In the midst of tears and moans, she called out "Maaaa" and landed in my lap. A similar situation reoccurred just last night where she called out my name again.

About a week later from the first word, Taelyn was bouncing and playing on Justin's lap when she started saying, "Dad-dy, Dad-dy, Dad-dy" over and over again. Since then, "daddy" is her favorite word, and she says it all the time. She doesn't always associate it with Justin, though. Sometimes her baby doll is daddy, the phone is daddy, and just about anything else she sees can be daddy.

Other than spoken words, we can tell that Taelyn can understand quite a few words as well. Whenever we tell her to give us kisses, she opens her mouth and smacks a big one on our cheeks. She also knows the words "ball" and "baby doll." Just yesterday I told her to go find her ball, and she looks around the room until she spotted and crawled right to it.

It has been really fun watching her figure out language and try out new sounds. On several occasions, we have said a word or two and it sounds like she imitates it afterward. And there are other times where it sounds like she says an entire phrase on her own, but we know this is just a coincidence.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had our first Thanksgiving with Taelyn yesterday, and we had a wonderful day together. Now that we are back in the States for Thanksgiving, we were able to revisit some of our favorite traditions. First, we ran the Turkey Trot 5K. Justin ran the race with a friend, and Taelyn and I ran together at a slower pace. I was able to enter in to the stroller division, though, so I competed against anyone else that was running with a stroller. Taelyn and I ended up in second place behind a male stroller runner because they did not separate males and females in this division, and we won a gift certificate to a running store. Taelyn had a great run; she was talking the entire time, saying "bah, bah, bah" which I think was her way of saying "gobble, gobble, gobble"!

After the race, we headed over to a friend's house where we cooked some of our favorite dishes and played a lot of Wii. Taelyn had fun playing with our friend's dog and of course, eating Thanksgiving dinner with everyone. She sat at the table with all of us and dug her hands into anything in front of her. It wasn't before long, though, that her plate ended up on the floor from all of the excitement.

Taelyn - 9 Months

Taelyn had her 9 Month doctor's appointment this week. She is now measuring 20 lbs., 5 oz., 27.5 inches in length, and a head circumference of 17.9 inches. She is slimming down now that she is crawling and moving around, but she is still in the 76th percentile in weight. Taelyn is a healthy baby!

Taelyn has also mastered crawling now without belly flopping and can pull herself up to a stand from any nearby object. She especially likes to stand up against the coffee table in the living room. Every time she does this, she gives us a big smile because she is so proud of herself and so excited to see the world in a new way.

Guess What This Is?

That's right, Taelyn is going to be a big sister! I am now 8 weeks pregnant and am due on June 22nd.

More Motorin'

Taelyn has increased her mobility significantly just in the last week. She was crawling with a little belly flop that kind of resembled "the worm" for several weeks, but now she has mastered a real crawl and loves to motor up and down the hallway. She has also been pulling herself up using small objects, but she was not completely up to a stand before. On Tuesday, she finally pulled herself up to a stand. Justin was sitting on the couch with a bag of tortilla chips, and Taelyn decided that she had to be a part of the action. So she crawled over to the couch, placed her hands on the cushions where Justin was sitting, and pulled herself right up so she could get a better view. SInce then, she won't stop trying to stand with anything in sight: my legs, the coffee table, tv stand, and even the wall.

Needless to say, we have to keep our eyes on her all the time now. She is constantly moving and constantly finding new things to get in to!

Fall Foliage

We have had a beautiful fall here in Colorado and are enjoying every moment of it since we missed out on this season the last two years. The mountains, water, trails, trees, and falling leaves are priceless. A few days of snow have caused the trees to shed a bit more, though, and we are hoping that it doesn't bring an early end to the fall foliage.

Recently, we have captured some of fall's finer moments that we have witnessed while out on various runs. Here are a few of the views that we have had - all within a few miles away from our home.

On the Move

Taelyn is now mobile! She started the army crawl on Monday where she dives forward with her arms and then drags her feet behind. It began at baby library time this week when she saw the play mat at the end of the class. The instructor started to lay toys on the mat, and Taelyn was on the move. She lunged right toward the mat, and was the first baby there, playing with the toys. Then I watched her laying in the living room at home on Tuesday with her eye on a bouncy ball. She went after it to attack, but each time she tried, she would push it further away. After about a minute of this, she ended up in the kitchen for the first time. I learned that not only do I have to keep the place baby-safe now, but I also have to keep it clean and vacuumed because Taelyn seemed to find every little crumb tucked under the cracks of the counter-tops!

Taelyn - 8 Months

Taelyn turned 8 months today, and she is now 20 lbs., 27 inches long, and has a head circumference of 18 inches. This has been a big month for her. Just in the last week, she has gotten two more teeth, making a total of five, and the 6th one is visible but hasn't broken through yet. She is our little jack-o-lantern now! And to celebrate, we carved pumpkins last weekend. Taelyn, of course, spent more time digging her fingers in to the pumpkin and tried to eat the mush.

Taelyn has also been busy moving, moving, moving. She has been rocking on her hands and knees for about a month now (still not quite crawling), and has recently started to straighten her knees while trying to push off of her feet. It looks like she has not mastered what to do with the arms yet. She can also get into a sitting position on her own from a laying position, and she can pull herself up to a stand when using a prop such as stairs.

Her hair has also gotten much thicker this month. We are now using baby shampoo during bath time instead of just bath wash. It won't be long until she can wear little pigtails!

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Taelyn's New Tooth!

Taelyn got her third tooth today! When looking at her, it is the top right, and it has just barely broken through the gums. She has had quite a few night wakings over the last few weeks, and today I noticed that she was drooling a lot more than usual. I am assuming these were all a result of her new tooth. 3 down, 17 to go!

Wishing Star Farm

Since we were in China for the last two years, we have unfortunately missed the fall season because the weather is too warm all year round... no leaves changing (or even many trees for that matter), no crisp, fall air, no pumpkins or apple cider. So this year, we have been eager to take advantage of the beautiful fall that Colorado has to offer. To start the season off, we went to a farm last weekend full of lots of animals to pet and feed, slides to ride, hay and corn to play with, a pumpkin patch, and lots of photo opportunities.

Overall, Taelyn was very curious and got excited when she heard the barn yard animals making noises. We have been reading several books about barn yard animals; they have been her favorite types of books lately because she loves to hear Justin and I make the animal sounds. I think she enjoyed hearing those sounds and seeing the animals face to face.

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Taelyn - 7 Months

Now that Taelyn is 7 months old, she weighs 19.5 lbs., is 26 inches long, and has a head circumference of 17.5 inches. Although she looks like she is slimming down a bit, Taelyn is still in the 80th percentile in weight.

This past month has been about new challenges and experiences for Taelyn. From learning how to scream, starting solid foods, interacting with other babies, taking swim lessons, teething once again, and working toward crawling, every day seems to entail something new. We have discovered that Taelyn loves applesauce in the morning and carrots in the evening. Her favorite time during swim class is playing with a big bouncy ball in the water and pushing it over to the other babies. She also just starting getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, and she is always going after toys spread throughout different areas of a room. When she gets a little fussy, Taelyn loves to sit in her outdoor swing on our balcony to relax and chill. She also can't get enough of some of her favorite toys: gecko, crazy eye man, baby doll, rings, and her teddy bear. Most importantly, though, Taelyn cannot get enough mommy and daddy time. Nothing excites her more than laughing and playing with us!

So far, Taelyn does not have any new teeth, but we know they are coming soon. She is waking up one extra time at night than she used to, and she is always playing with her gums. The interrupted sleeping has caused her to be a little more tuckered out in the morning, so we have enjoyed some snuggle time while we both try to get a little extra sleep. Justin has done a great job capturing some of these precious moments on camera.

Taelyn is a very busy 7 month old. Her typical week goes as follows:
Monday - Baby Library Time where we read books, sing songs, move around and dance, and play with toys
Tuesday - Swim Lessons in the morning where Taelyn practices kicking, scooping her arms, blowing bubbles, holding on the wall, and plays water games; the evenings consist of going to the Irish pub 5K followed by dinner and drinks with friends
Wednesday - Doggie Time at the library where Taelyn gets to pet a dog and gets lots of kisses in return (this cracks her up every time!)
Thursday - Playgroup at a playground with other babies and mommies; she loves the slide and swing the best
Friday - a different activity each week; this week we will hang out at another playgroup session
Saturday & Sunday - we usually do some type of family activity; this weekend we will go to a farm

Taelyn's 1st Race

Taelyn had quite an eventful time at Baby Library Time today. At the end of the session, there are always toys spread across and blanket for the babies to play with, and of course, all of the babies go crazy during this time. This week, Taelyn and another boy that is a few weeks older than her had their eyes on the same toys the entire play time. The boy would have a certain toy, and Taelyn would watch that toy relentlessly. Then Taelyn would play with a toy and drop it - the boy would quickly scoot on over to pick it up. Neither baby has mastered crawling yet; Taelyn just started rocking on all fours and lunging forward, but it takes her an entire morning to move across the room. This boy, however, was a little bit faster at scooting since he is older.

Then the true test began. Taelyn and the boy were both laying on their bellies side by side. Taelyn was playing with an orange ball, but then she dropped it and it rolled ahead of them. So.... the race began, and they were off! Both babies got on all fours and started to rock. The little boy started to move forward, but he was no match for our big brute. Taelyn fell to a belly flop, flailing her arms and legs as if she were swimming on dry land. This technique worked to her advantage as her arm pushed the boy's face and shoulder back. Every time he tried to move, she gave him a big shove. Both babies inches forward, but alas, the little boy was just a little more experienced with age and reached the ball moments faster than Taelyn could get there.

Needless the say, the attention of every mom in the room was drawn to the race. We all got a pretty good laugh out of it. I don't think Taelyn was too upset for having lost the toy; however I do think that she is eager to start crawling!

Giggle Girl

Little actions has made Taelyn giggle, giggle, giggle lately... kissing her cheeks, blowing on her belling, putting her hands on our faces, singing in a funny voice, dancing, making her stuffed animals dance, and so on. She is certainly a happy baby these days. Here is an example of how funny she thinks her teddy bear is.

New Milestones

Over these past few weeks, Taelyn seems to have grown up so much. She is reaching new milestones weekly, and there are new milestones just around the corner. Some of Taelyn's recent accomplishments are...

1. Coloring with crayons (although sometimes she would rather eat the crayons!).
2. Holding her own bottle.
3. Eating finger foods. (She really likes graham crackers and anything that is on mommy and daddy's plates.)
4. Pulling herself up when sitting on her knees.
5. Picking up small objects with her thumb and pointer finger.
6. Sitting forward with her arms up when getting out of her car seat. This is a big help in getting her out.
7. Grabbing our noses when we say "Get my nose."

A Day at the Park

One of Taelyn's favorite activities to do this past month has been going to the playground. She loves the baby swing and recently started to enjoy the slide. Here are a few of our favorite moments.

Taelyn - 6 Months

Taelyn had her 6 month doctor's appointment last week (it was actually 11 days after she turned 6 months). She weighed 17 lbs., 15 oz., was 25 inches long, and had a head circumference of 16.9 inches. This was the first time that she did not gain weight from the previous month. The doctor wasn't concerned at all about that, though, because she still grew in length and she is still in the 80 percentile for her weight. The doctor predicted that Taelyn may continue to grow in length but not as much in weight as she continues to move more and start crawling.

Taelyn's movement has drastically increased in the last month. She is rolling over all the time from both front to back and back to front. She also wiggles across her bed and the room by arching her back and pushing off with her feet. It won't be long until she starts crawling. I have already prepared myself for this by baby-proofing the apartment!

Baby Library Time

I took Taelyn to her first baby library time yesterday, and she had such a great time! As soon as we entered in to the room, we sat in a circle with the other moms and babies and started singing and motioning a song. Instantly Taelyn was alert and all smiles as she moved to the song. Her face just came alive when she saw all of the other babies there too. She then wanted to talk to everyone there and started making "ma" and "ah" sounds as well as louder squawks. Taelyn was by far the most vocal baby there; it brought quite a few smiles to the other moms.

At the end of library time, the babies are placed in the center of the circle on a blanket and given toys to play with. It was amazing to watch Taelyn interact with the other babies during this time. She would play with her own toys and then find another baby more fascinating, so she would reach out to that baby to touch him/her. There were of course some struggles as well where babies wanted to play with the same toy at the same time, and Taelyn was no exception. She got in to a little tug of war with another girl and wasn't quite sure what to do!

When it was time to leave, Taelyn was exhausted from all of the fun, but it was obvious that she had so much fun.

Big Girl Moments

Taelyn has recently taken on a couple of big achievements. A few months ago, she rolled over from front to back and then never revisited it again. Now she has not only rolled from back to front, but she is doing so over and over again on a daily basis. The best part is watching her interact with toys and objects around her while she is rolling. She will move half way and stay on her side to play with a hanging toy on her play mat and then roll completely over when she is done.

Taelyn's next big step has been in starting solid food. She is taking in some rice cereal during one feeding a day right now. The first time she tried it, she made a pretty funny face like she didn't like the cereal, but then she kept on eating it. It was pretty cute.

New State, New Home

We have now made it to our new home in Colorado Springs, and we absolutely love it. We live in the southwest part of town overlooking the mountains; the view from our balcony is amazing! There are also an unlimited amount of trails here. Within one week, we can run on a different trail each day.

View from our apartment





Our apartment is slowly coming together with furniture, paintings, and simply finding a place for everything to go. The next step is finding out more about the community. Taelyn and I will attend baby library time soon and look in to other baby activities such as swimming lessons. So far, our favorite outing as a family has been at the Jack Quinn's Irish Pub 5K run on Tuesday evenings. Every week, the pub hosts a 5K run followed by pasta and salad. We bring Taelyn in the baby jogger for the run and have a great time hanging out afterward with other runners, good food, and great Irish music.

Summer Time

After a busy and eventful summer, I am finally updating our blog again. Our family went through quite a lot this summer between seeing lots of friends and family and introducing our little Taelyn to everyone, a baby shower, baptism, and Kate and Brad's wedding. Taelyn went through some major changes as well. She went from sleeping through the night in China for about 5-7 hours straight to waking up every 1-2 hours during her entire 4th month! One reason for this change was that she was getting adjusted to a 12-hour time difference and was always stimulated with new faces every day. But the biggest reason for the night waking was probably due to her teething. At the end of the 4th month, Taelyn got her first two teeth within a couple of days from one another! Once those teeth broke through, Taelyn found a new fascination - she couldn't stop playing with them with her fingers and tongue.

Life got quite a bit easier at the start of Taelyn's 5th month, after the worst of the teething was over. She weighed 17.4 lbs. at 5 months and was 26.8 inches long.

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Taelyn - 4 Months

Taelyn had her 4 month check-up a week early, just a few days before leaving China to go back to the US. She measured 14.9 lbs, 24.4 inches long, and a head circumference of 16.3 inches. Her length and head circumference were still in the average range, while her weight was at the 75th percentile. Taelyn was full of lots of smiles this past month, and she even had her first giggle on the plane ride over to the US - sparked by her daddy, of course. Here is a little recap of some of her best moments from the month.

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Goodbye China!

We are now back in the States! It's good to be back, but we are struggling with the time change. I was looking over some of our photos from China, and here is a glimpse of some of our most memorable moments in China that we will never forget.




Our Apartment - and Taelyn's first home






View of Hong Kong







Ralph & Snowball










Bamboo Construction









Communist Bill Boards

The Best and Worst of China

Now that we only have a couple of weeks left in China, we have started to reflect on our time here. Here is what we have come up with.

Things We Will Miss About China:
* 70 minute foot massages for $4 (this has been a weekly treat since we first moved here two years ago)
* Simplicity of life - no bills, no car, we would simply just walk to work together in the morning, and then go home afterward and spend the evenings together. Time outside of work is always "quality time."
* Random Chinese people saying "hello" while we are on a run. They will even call out from the 10th story of a building to say "hello" to us.
* Traveling at least five times a year. During our time here we went to: Hong Kong, Xian, Yangshao, Beijing, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.

Things We Will Not Miss About China:
* The extra step - whenever we are getting a service such as eating out at a restaurant, there is always an extra step. Ex: when going to the doctor, first you go to a desk to pick up a service card, then you see the doctor, then go back to the front desk to pay, then back to the doctor to get the service, and finally back to the front desk to return the service card. Do you really need to go to the desk three times??
* Sidewalk chaos. With 14 million people in Shenzhen alone, you would think there would be some organization on the sidewalks (stay to the right, no sudden stopping/starting, etc.) but people seem to wander from side to side, push and shove, and dart in to oncoming traffic (people and cars) at any time. Just this morning, I took out a woman with the baby jogger on my run because she wasn't looking and made a sudden move to the side as I was running by.
* No personal space. If you are not touching the person in front of you in a line, then someone will cut in front of you!

Taelyn Rolled Over Today!

It all started after Taelyn was screaming for a good half hour. This is very unlike her. She will usually get a little fussy when she is hungry or tired, but light crying is very different from screaming. I tried all the basics to soothe her: feed her, rock her, put her to bed, but nothing seemed to work. So I decided to go through the bedtime routine to calm her down. First I gave her a bath (which she loved but started screaming again once I took her out), then I put her on her tummy and gave her a back massage. During her massage, she kept leaning more and more to her right side and my anticipation rose. I started leaning to that side too, just waiting and hoping for her to make the next move. Then before I knew it, she leaned far enough over that she rolled right over on to her back - amidst the continual screaming! I put her on her belly one more time, and she did the same thing! So it is official: Taelyn has rolled over (twice).

I never did find out what she was screaming about. I thought she might be teething, so I gave her a cold wash cloth to suck on which helped for a little while. I also thought she might have some gas, so I tried moving her legs and bouncing her to move it out. That was a temporary fix too. Eventually, she was so exhausted from crying that she fell asleep in my arms. Oh well... at least something exciting came out of it!

Taelyn - 3 Months

Taelyn is growing more and more each day, and that has been pretty fun to watch. She now weighs 13.4 lbs., is 23 inches long, and has a head circumference of 15.75 inches. What has been most exciting this month is how Taelyn is revealing a bit of her own personality. Here are a few examples of some of her finer moments:

1. Her favorite color is red, and she will fixate on anything that color for long periods of time. She especially loves to stare at her red paintings on the wall. Needless to say, those must now make the trip back to the US with us when we leave China.

2. She loves it when we play contact games like blowing on her belly or "Got Your Nose." The best is when we kiss her nose and say "got your nose" out loud. Then she wants to do the same thing, so we give her one of our noses, and she loves to suck on it. This game always generates a big smile.

3. Taelyn smiles and talks often throughout the entire day. She is even starting to put the two together and will talk during a really big smile - mostly a lot of "ooh's" and "yah's." She is on her way toward laughing but is not quite there yet.

4. When laying on her back, she now likes to lift her legs in to the air, and she is really close at grabbing her toes with her hands.

5. Sometimes Taelyn will cry when she doesn't feel like she is getting enough attention (although I don't really see how that is possible!). This usually means that she wants to play "Got Your Nose" or that she wants someone to look at her only inches from her face.

6. She now loves to splash her hands and feet in the water during bath time. It's no wonder she had such a good time swimming in Bali.

7. She loves her soft, purple blanky. She will often snuggle with it up against her face and occasionally chew on it too.

8. Taelyn hates the hiccups (just like her daddy) and will definitely let you know this when she gets them.

9. She loves to play the piano with her mommy. She will sit on my lap, and I will take her hands and push down the keys for her. Then she tries to do it by herself but can't push the keys down quite hard enough to make a sound. She has a very intense look of concentration when she does this, though, so it is obvious that she wants to play by herself.

10. And our personal favorite.........

At least once a day, Taelyn will give a little smile and then turn really red and grunt as she's pushing out a big poop!

Hugs & Kisses

Today, Taelyn learned how to express herself by giving hugs and kisses. First off, she has been working on giving kisses by sucking and licking anything that we put in front of her mouth. This is usually one of our noses! But today, she added some hugs to the mixture. All week, she has been extremely fascinated with her hands. All day long, she will hold them in front of herself and just stare at them and see what they can do. Well today, we put a stuffed animal monkey in front of her, and she was pretty intense about testing out what her hands could do if she reached out toward the monkey. She kept grabbing his nose and then his arms, and before we knew it she pulled him toward her like a hug and started licking his nose like a kiss!

Then we tried a different toy. She has a stuffed turtle with a mirror on its belly. First she gave the turtle kisses on its mouth. And then she noticed the mirror and was very interested in the baby inside. Again, she grabbed the turtle, pulled it toward her, and started giving herself kisses in the mirror! It was so fun to watch; she is such a little sweetheart!

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Our Trip to Bali, Indonesia

We just got back from our vacation to Indonesia, and we had a fantastic time. This was Taelyn's first trip with us as well, and she did well too. We started the trip at Legian Beach where we stayed in a beautiful hotel not far from the beach. Taelyn had her first swim in the pool at the hotel. The water was a little too cold, so she wasn't quite sure about it. She made some pretty funny faces at first, but once her body adjusted to the temperature, she seemed to have a good time. Then later that day, we took her to the ocean. Unfortunately, she was fast asleep the entire time. Although the waves came crashing in on her little body and moved her legs around while I held her chest, she was out cold, so she had no idea that she went in to the ocean! We spent the rest of our time in Legian shopping the local stands for souveniors and clothing and eating some great dishes.

Next, we took a small boat to a nearby island, Lembongan. We stayed at a quaint lodge that was connected to a scuba diving company. Justin and I both went diving the first day and saw beautiful coral and a couple of very large fish. The visibility wasn't great, but it was nice to see a new area of sea life. That night, we had an amazing local experience eating a local dinner by a woman from the village on the island. As we walked to her place, we saw locals driving by on motorbikes with cargo balanced on their heads, we saw people partaking in an intense volleyball game which seems to be quite popular with the villagers, people were farming and drying seaweed - the main source of income on the island, young children came running out to see us and touch the baby, and we saw a beautiful sunset. When we arrived at the dinner site, we found ourselves in the middle of a 6 year-old's birthday party. She played the hostess for all of the children at the party and served them small presents and slices of cake. She then handed all of us visitors some cake. It was such an experience to hang out and interact with the children. We found out that the birthday girl recently lost her mother and had no one to care for her, so she just stayed on the island by herself. It was a very sad story but also touching to see her so happy on her birthday. After the birthday party was over, a woman prepared our meal. She made rice and vegetables inside the concrete-slabbed hut while her husband cooked fish over an open fire pit. The meal was delicious!

The next day, we decided to travel around the island like the locals do; the three of us all climbed on to a motorbike, and Justin drove us through paved pathways of the island. Here we witnessed gorgeous beaches, thick forests, seaweed farms and the farmers at work, and buildings that looked like ancient ruins in which the local people still live in.

After our trip to Lembongan, we took the small boat back to Bali and landed in Kuta Beach. This time we stayed in a bungalow overlooking a pool and just down the street from the beach. Again, the lodging was beautiful! At Kuta, we enjoyed full body massages, more shopping and great food, and spent time with Taelyn in the pool. The water was much warmer in this pool, and she loved it! Justin took her all around the pool on her tummy and on her back. The best part of our time in Kuta, though, was when we learned to surf. Justin and I took turns on the surf board and both had two very different experiences. Justin was quite a natural at the sport and was able to balance on the board right away. I did not have as much luck, though. I spent a good deal of time falling, but I had so much fun! We both were really happy that we tried it out.

Indonesia has a lot to offer with its white sand beaches, but we found that the best sites to see were away from the beach and immersed in the culture. We are so fortunate to have gained all of the great experiences from this trip.

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I Have Hands!

Taelyn has officially discovered her own hands this past week and now loves to touch everything around her: her pacifier, blanky, mommy and daddy's hands, etc. But today, she did something amazing. As I was reading her a "touch and feel" book about baby animals, I noticed that for the first time, Taelyn was actually focusing on the pages instead of staring off into space. Each page contained different textures of material to represent a furry rabbit or rough elephant, and I would take Taelyn's hand and have her touch each page. When we got to the fuzzy gorilla, though, I let Taelyn look at the page on her own without forcing her hand to touch it. She was so fixated on the material, and before I knew it she lifted her hand up and reached for it on her own! It was such an "aha" moment, and I am so proud of my little girl.

Taelyn - 2 Months

Taelyn is now two months old, and it's amazing how much she has changed from the first month. The obvious changes are physical - her face has developed much more, and her body has filled out quite a bit. After her 2-month check-up, Taelyn now weighs 11.75 lbs. and is 22 inches long. Her length is average for her age, but her weight is nearing the 75th percentile. What has caught me by surprise most, however, is her recent emotional needs. She no longer sleeps 21 hours a day while only crying when she is hungry. Now she is awake much more, and we have had to work hard to make sure that happens mostly during the day time. There have been a few rough nights where Taelyn just doesn't want to go back to sleep at 3am while she has also made it six whole hours of deep sleep during the night!

During the day, Taelyn is also pretty active. After sleeping and eating, it's play time where we sing songs, dance, read books (especially the gorilla book with daddy), play with colorful toy bugs, go to the playground, and jump in the sand. She is quite busy these days, and she certainly enjoys telling people all about it. So far, she mostly speaks vowel sounds, but there are a few times where she will try out the occasional consonant. Just the other day, it sounded like she said "okay."

Babies change so quickly, and I can only imagine how different she will be in a month from now. I will be sure to capture those new moments as they come!

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Running Again

I have finally returned to running again after 6 long weeks since Taelyn's birth. I have been mentally ready for several weeks now, but it took a little longer for my body to be ready physically. So far, running feels great! I have been at it for about a week and a half now, and I am surprised at how it isn't very difficult to increase the time I am out running each day. My lungs don't feel too out of shape, and I am making it further and further each day. Today I made it to 40 minutes - something I haven't done since the first week in December! My pace is still really slow, but I know that will come down. And the icing on the cake... Taelyn gets to come with my in a baby jogger that we borrowed from a friend while we are here in China. Both Justin and I have taken full advantage of this. Taelyn has no problem jogging with her mom and dad; she usually falls fast asleep from the smooth ride. That is good because it is something she will need to get used to during the early stages of her life!

Top Family Activities

Our Recent Top Fun Family Activities:
1. Bath Time!
Taelyn has discovered the thrill of bath time and now likes to move around the tub as if she is swimming. Throw in a rubber ducky, and it's pretty cute!

2. Singing
Sarah's favorite song: "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks
Justin's favorite song: any great Irish jig (with a dance included, of course)
Taelyn's favorite song: she's currently working on composing her own song that consists of quite a few high pitched "hah" sounds

3. Watching MSU during March Madness
Taelyn especially likes her own MSU gear and now knows all the Spartan cheers.

One Month - Taelyn is such a big girl!

It's hard to believe that Taelyn is already one month old! After her one-month doctor's appointment, I discovered how much she really has grown since her birth, and it is amazing how fast it has gone by. Taelyn is now 9 lbs, 21 inches, and has a head circumference of 14 inches (at birth she was 7, 19, and 13 respectively). She is in the average range for all three categories, but what is surprising is how much she has grown in the last four weeks. The doctor said most babies gain about 15 grams a day, and Taelyn has averaged 45 grams a day. Now she is such a big girl!

Welcome to the World, Taelyn Mackay!

It all started at around 5:30pm on Valentine's Day. Contractions were getting a little stronger, and before I knew it, they were only 3-5 minutes apart for several hours. It was time to head to the hospital in Hong Kong. 18 hours later, after lots of coaching from Justin and our friend, Darcy, and lots of pain, our beautiful baby girl entered in to this world. Since then, she has learned to adapt to a new environment, moved from Hong Kong to China with her new passport and visa, lost her umbilical stump, and has made a few successful attempts at rolling to her side. I know we are biased, but Justin and I think she is adorable and perfect!

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Pre-Baby Family

Although Justin and I are eager and ready for our new baby to arrive, I am not sure how our cats will handle the change. They are in need of lots of daily attention, and they are certainly getting it these days. Some days, they seem so desperate for our attention that we find them in the craziest places: under the bed sheets, within the shoe rack, and in a full laundry basket. The biggest question to come, though, is whether Ralph and Snowball will be willing to give up their newest bed... the baby's car seat. We will have to see how they react in just 5 short weeks!

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