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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