Christmas in Asheboro

We made the l-o-n-g trip back to Asheboro this week. We have been so excited to see our family for Christmas, but slightly dreading the plane rides and jet lag for Finley. Considering what an active baby Finley is, he did really well on the planes (but that doesn't mean it was fun). We actually had a couple of people compliment us on his behavior!

The jet lag has been difficult at night. Finley wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks it's time to play, so Nate and I have to stay up with him. He sure does take good naps during the day, though! It seems to have messed up his appetite, as well. He has been very anti-baby food, and only interested in our food (little bits of bread, cheese, broccoli, etc.). That could be jet lag or Finley outgrowing being spoon fed, but I just figure it's a bit early for him to completely give up spoon feeding.

We have a few photos from Asheboro to get things started. We probably won't post any more Asheboro or Michigan photos until we get back to Hong Kong, because we're leaving for MI tomorrow.

Finley with his great-grandparents, Granny and Papa. Granny and Finley had on matching outfits!

Cuddling with Papa, almost nap time.

In the high chair that my grandparents bought when I was a baby, eating some pasta.

Annual Allen family Christmas photo at my grandparents' house.

Our little family.

Standing with Dad.

Hmm...this looks like a very nice bow...

I think I'll eat it!

Playing with a very cool octopus that blows bubbles and plays music in the bathtub. (Thanks, Granny and Papa!)

Finley chewing on the wrapping paper while Nate helps him open his gift from the Glasses.

Getting late. Finley's making use of the blanket from the Diabs.

Brett trying to compete for attention by wrapping himself in his blanket like Finley.

Okay, Brett. You're cute, too.

Passed out on Granny's shoulder.

Nursery Photos

First, here is a photo of Finley's scrunchy nose. It's his favorite new trick, and it's totally cute and funny.

I realized the other day I had never taken any photos of Finley's nursery, so for those of you who are interested, here it is. It's a very small room, so it's quite challenging to even take the photos!

This photo is taken standing in the doorway. Out the window is a beautiful view of the water and mountains, which you can't see in this photo. To the left, behind the little bookcase is Nate's built-in cabinet/closet. I have my clothes in the one in our bedroom, and Nate's clothes are in Finley's room, so poor Finley only gets the dresser for his belongings.

The crib mattress is lowered and the bumpers were removed long ago. Finley is too mobile to be trusted with them. The crib also converts to a toddler bed, so we hope to use it for a long time with Finley and any sibling(s)!

We got the elephant paintings in Bali, and the pillow cover in Thailand last year. Our friends Chris and Kathryn helped us put up the tree wall decal the night I went into labor. It was pretty funny. They came over for dinner and to help with the tree, and I was like, "I think I might be in labor." It didn't hurt much yet, but the contractions were already 5 minutes apart, even from the beginning. Kathryn was like, "Should we leave??" I didn't see any reason for them to, because I wasn't in a lot of pain yet. Several hours later, though, we finally went to the hospital when I was in so much pain I couldn't speak and the contractions were 2 1/2 minutes apart! Ah, memories. So exciting!

Long Overdue Video

Sorry I've been a little slack on putting up videos recently. Things have been busy. Only a few more days until we leave for the States, and lots to do!

Finley turned 8 months old yesterday. I almost hesitate to put up this video, because Finley has already changed so much since it was taken a week and a half ago. He has stopped crawling on his belly now and is up on his knees, and he pulls himself up to standing quickly and easily on everything. He can even stand up in his pack 'n play by walking his hands up the side. Finley can get himself into a sitting position now, and he loves to shriek. (I'm hoping the shrieking is a very short phase.)

A little unsure about how the plane ride will go. Finley is a very good baby, and I think he's quite a happy baby, but he is active. He tries to get out of our arms so he can get down and crawl or walk. I'm hoping we can keep him happy on the plane by helping him walk around so he doesn't have to crawl on the yucky floor! Speaking of, Nate and I have finally started the Asian custom of no shoes in the house. It just seems disgusting thinking about us walking around in public bathrooms or stepping in dog poo and then wearing our shoes around so Finley can lick those germs off the floor. (Seriously, he really does put his face on the floor frequently.) It's such a strong custom here that no one would dare wear their shoes inside your house-- ever. If a repairman comes, he leaves his shoes outside the door. If a friend comes over, they always leave their shoes by the door. It's actually quite nice because I don't like wearing shoes anyway, and tend to walk around barefoot all the time. But, I digress. Here's the video!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We tried to take some Christmas photos of Finley last week. I took about a million, and only got a few good ones, because all the others were blurry! Finley is so active and wiggly that I have to put the camera on the sports setting, and he still often comes out blurry!

Here are photos we took at the beach in Stanley.

This is when Finley discovered the sand. He thought it was very interesting!

Here are a couple of shots in front of our Christmas tree. It was impossible to keep Finley from crawling away, so Nate tried to hold him.

Practicing his "good boy" look for Santa.

More Bali Photos

Here are a few more Bali photos from the beach in Nusa Dua. They were on Tim & Marcia's camera, so that's why they weren't included in the other posts. Enjoy!

Grad School

I just realized I never put anything on the blog about grad school! (I guess I've forgotten that this blog is about our whole family, not just Finley.) I found out a couple of weeks ago that I got accepted into the Masters of Arts in Education program at Michigan State University.

How, you might be wondering, will I attend MSU while living in Hong Kong? It's an online program, so all the work will be done via the internet, including my masters portfolio of work. I am going to have two concentration areas, Literacy and Special Education, so many of my classes will be in those two areas. I think being in an online program will be difficult and require a lot of discipline, but I also think it is the perfect option for me to be able to do my work from home and not have to leave Finley.

The program starts in January, and I'm already signed up for my first two classes. Here's hoping that a couple of years from now I'll have a masters degree!

On the Move

It's official, Finley is mobile. Exciting as this is, it does not bode well for the flights home for Christmas. Here are some photos of the little guy in action.

He's still trying to decide how to crawl, but he loves to go up on all fours, legs and arms straight.

Here's the traditional crawling stance. (I told him to make a surprised face for this photo.)

Back up and escaping off the rug.

Crawling is so fun!

Down into "commando style" crawling, which is what he usually reverts to eventually.

Halloween Photos & (Almost) 7 Mo. Stats

Okay, so I'm a little late getting these photos posted, but here goes. We dressed Finley up as a pumpkin for Halloween. He went to "Book-o-ween" (dress up as your favorite book character) at HKIS, but we didn't get any photos that day so we had to recreate the event at home. Finley was too busy visiting with people and nursing at Book-o-ween for photos. It was a pretty funny site, me nursing a pumpkin.

Finley thought the pumpkin was very interesting.

Trying to bite Daddy's nose

My little pumpkin

Don't you love how he holds the pumpkin with his hands and feet?

It was only a matter of time...

It tasted bad, but he couldn't help himself.

We had Finley weighed and measured this week. He's a whopping 28.25 inches long and exactly 19 pounds. So big! He's getting quite heavy to lug around. I need to go to the gym and build up my arm muscles, or else he needs to learn to walk!

In other exciting news, Finley rode in the child seat in the shopping cart today at the grocery store. I hadn't even thought about him being capable of doing that until my friend Sylvia was with me and asked if he was riding in the cart yet. So, I gave it a try, and it was the best shopping trip Finley has ever had! He loved it and didn't even need a toy to play with or anything!

Bali: Ubud

Here are the photos from Ubud, the first place we went in Bali. We stayed at a villa in the countryside. It was beautiful- rice growing everywhere and lush vegetation. Very hot and humid!

This is the first morning, having breakfast that consisted largely of things grown on the premises at their organic garden. Check out the lovely fruit smoothies.

Sate (satay), a staple food of Bali, over smoking charcoal-- yummy!

There are so many temples in Bali. I was blown away by how many beautiful temples there were. We went to a lot while we were there!

They put clothes on their statues. Need to do some research as to why.

Inside the large market, where you can shop and bargain to your heart's content

Just a pretty street

At the Blanco art museum, where they also had birds. Here's Tim holding a couple of them.

Marcia wasn't a huge fan of holding the birds.

Finley slept through it all while I tried not to sweat all over him.

The entrance to Blanco's former house, where his art is now displayed. He seems to have been a very eccentric person.

There were roosters EVERYWHERE in Ubud, just running around. I thought they mostly crowed in the morning, but apparently I am wrong; these roosters crowed ALL DAY.

Finley with a statue in the temple at the museum

Finley laughing his head off

The nice fruit basket they gave us, most of which was grown on the premises (and rice paddies in the background)

View of the owners' house from our villa

Going on a walk through the rice paddies

Back at our villa-- there were three separate bedrooms (on right), two outdoor bathrooms, and a separate sitting room (on left)

Our room, with Finley's Pack-n-Play set up in the corner, complete with mosquito net!

Our outdoor bathroom

The river at our villa, a little muddy from rain the night before. On the left, you can see where the owners carved out a pool from the rock, and it is spring-fed and crystal clear. Very refreshing in the heat!

Another great temple in Ubud

A final view from our villa