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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