Monterey Bay Aquarium

{Lunch break}

{This girl LOVES lemons}

{sour face}

{Austin in front of Austino's}

{Back to the Aquarium}

Who knew this is what Sand dollars look like in the wild?

Throughout the day, hundreds of dolphins made their way in and out of the bay. Since living in California {for almost 2 months} I have seen whales and dolphins, 

but in my whole life in Oregon, never once.

The weekend after Thanksgiving the Lee crew took a day trip to visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a beautiful, low 70's and perfectly sunny day. We had lunch on a balcony overlooking the whole bay and watched sailboats drift by while enjoying fresh chowder. The aquarium was so nice, I loved how it incorporated the real bay and bay life into the set up exhibits. Maisie had so much fun playing in the kid zone, watching the penguins and standing under the wave/tide simulator {her favorite}. I apologize for the lack of pictures of the more exciting animals {sharks, turtles, penguins} but as anyone knows, trying to take a picture behind glass, of swift moving creatures is hard. So we took tons of video instead, but unfortunately I can't post all of that on here. We just have to make do with the slow/non moving creatures.

Thanksgiving in Sacramento

Thanksgiving was great. Austin's parents came down and we spent Thanksgiving in Sacramento visiting with Grandpa Sprague (my mother in-law's dad) and the rest of the Sprague clan while eating delicious food. Austin and I even went out black Friday shopping (I have always wanted to venture into the craziness, but never had the chance because I was working retail or in a food coma). We started our shopping adventure at midnight and didn't get back to the hotel until 4am. It was so much fun, a date of sorts. Plus it was our first full night away from Maisie. My in-laws had her, so Austin and I had the whole night off (yay!). We met up with them around 11 the next morning and Maisie was happy as a clam. When we pulled up to the house this is what we saw...

Maisie Clause, picking fresh lemons from Great Grandpa's tree.

A perfect way to ring in the Christmas season.

Get mad...

She wasn't in the greatest mood here, but most of the time she will crack up afterwards, but when this video was taken it was too close to bed time for her to be her normally chipper self.

The video didn't catch it, but in the beginning I ask her to show me her mad face and she starts to make it, but then she replies "noooo" so I then simply say "get mad" and then she makes the face that always makes me laugh.

She also makes a happy and a sad face. They are all so cute, but this one takes the cake.

Dear California,

 I think we are going to get along just fine.

Love, 

Austin, Sammie & Maisie

It was a few days shy of December when we took these pictures at Santa Cruz.

Beautiful no?

free crappy portrait

Last night I was checking my email out of boredom when I saw that a real treat was waiting in my inbox. 

The sender? Only from the coolest and funniest free service ever... freecrappyportraits.com! Excited was an understatement. It was an early Christmas gift in my eyes. 4 weeks ago,  {yes that's a long time, but trust me it's well worth the wait!} I wrote an email with fun and interesting facts about our little family, attached a photo and pressed send where it would fall into some random artists hands and from there, the sky is the limit. 

This was my email:

[Hi we are the Lee family.

Things about us:

We are a family who adores salt. Instead of the Morton girl holding her Umbrella, it should be us. We have a pretty serious salt addiction. 

My husband speaks German and I don't, so for fun he will quote famous movie lines in German and I have to figure them out in English. It's pretty amusing and I have been getting pretty good at it.

Since getting married and having a baby, Shark week has become one of  the highlights of our summers.

We love cheese, movies, books, bubble baths, State fairs, bocce ball and drinking boring beverages out of fancy glasses. Milk in a wine glasses? You bet. Orange juice in a Whiskey tumbler? Yep.

We love the show madmen. We would kill to dress like that now a days.

Our baby loves flowers, dancing and wearing hats. She also has perfect pitch. Not bad for an 18 month old. 

I adore red lipstick. My husband refuses to drink anything that doesn't have an ample amount of ice. 

We love animals. All animals... a few of our favorites: sheep, ducks, flamingos, whales and wiener dogs.]

Ok, so now for the portrait. Get ready because it is awesome...

Our movie-quotes-in-German-game totally paid off because I instantly knew what movie this was from, which makes it even more perfect because Lord of the Rings is one of our all time favorite movies. I was crying from laughing so hard at how perfect this free crappy (more like awesome) portrait was. If you guys are still having a hard time figuring out what the German says , it's towards the end of "The Fellowship of the Ring" when Gandalf yells "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!!!!!!" in the mountain.

I was so excited about this that I called my sister at almost 1 in the morning to tell her. Don't worry she never sleeps, and that's what sisters are for right?

So, everyone go get your free crappy portrait and make sure you show me ASAP!

Even if you don't want one done, go to the website and look at the hundreds on the archive it is so funny!

18 month check up

Yesterday morning Maisie had her 18 {almost 19} month check up. We wanted to go to her pediatrician in Oregon for one last check up, but we were much busier than expected. So, we pushed it off until our insurance switched over here in California. We really like her new pediatrician, so that's a relief.

Austin and I were a little anxious about Maisie's language progression, because she is fluent in some language that Austin nor I know. She blabs all day long but only says about 10-20 {English} words consistently. Then occasionally out of the blue she will say a new word, but then won't say it again. The Doctor told us she is progressing just fine and in the realm of normal. Austin and I were both very relieved.  

Words:

yes, no, please, up, car, tree, dog, wow, oh, woah, look, eye, milk, Pooh, hi, clock, ball, book, bath.

Animal sounds:

cow, dog, cat, goat, sheep, duck, bird, crow, horse, elephant, snake, tiger, bear, lion, monkey.

In the courtyard outside the Drs. office.

                                                  Let's get to the stats:

 birth: weight- 7 pounds even

    height- 19.5 inches

1 week: 7 pounds 3 oz (gained back the 4% body weight + 3 oz)

      2 weeks: weight- 7 pounds 15 oz

                 height- 21.25 inches

2 months: weight- pounds 1 oz

            height- 23 inches

     5 month: weight 15 pounds 5 oz

           height- 26 inches

        7 month: weight- 16 pounds 14 oz

           height- 27 inches

       9 month: weight- 17 pounds 15 oz

          height- 28 inches

    12 month: weight- 18 pounds 14 oz

          height- 30 inches

     18 month: weight- 20 pounds 12 oz

                 height- 31 1/2 inches

We have known Maisie has been little for a while now. Every time she is playing with other kids that are her same age or even younger than her they tower over her. No joke, people still ask me when she will be turning 1 years old, but after this appointment I am a little shocked with how small she is.

For weight she is in the 4th percentile! That means 96% of kids her age weigh more than her. 96%!!!

She is in the 37th percentile for height. 63% of kids her age are taller than her.

and finally, she's in the 42nd percentile for head circumference. 58% have a bigger head than her.

The doctor reassured us that Maisie is just petite and all her features are also very small {she still is wearing size 3 shoes which is for 6-12 month olds}. She is very healthy just little. She said we could try to see if she is interested in cows milk (Maisie for some reason HATED cows milk. She would gag every time we tried to give it her). So on our way home we picked up some whole milk and tried again and this time she liked it. She actually asked for more! I think I will still give her almond milk as well, but for the majority Maisie will be sticking to the Moo juice (that's what my grandpa would call it).

She also had her first blood draw other than her newborn heel pricks. She did so well. I kept her distracted and Austin held her tight and she didn't even complain once. The lab techs were a quick draw and we were out before no time. 

Maisie showing off her bandage.

I will post again with what Maisie has been up to lately, probably in the next few days.