Oregon State Fair

Last Monday (the 29th) we went to the State Fair with Austin's family. We got there the hour it opened and stayed until closing. Maisie went all day with only a little 40 minute nap in the stroller (it's a miracle she even fell asleep, she NEVER falls asleep in the stroller). She actually did great. She would get a little antsy, but as long as we found a little area in the grass to play in she was fine. We also purchased a bubble gun and that was hands down the smartest purchase EVER. Every time Maisie would get a little cranky we would bust the bubble gun out and she would be all smiles again. I mean, who can be cranky when bubbles are involved, right?

I love the fair.
The rides, roasted corn, Casey's Hot dogs, elephant ears, scones, ice cream and lemonade.
Most of all I love the animals. I could spend hours talking and petting all the sheep, goats, horses, rabbits. Oh man. I get so excited. We even watched a couple horse shows including a beautiful Clydesdale show. I want to own a horse so badly (not now obviously but one day), but I am still working on Austin about that little request.


Maisie's new friend












yo gabba gabba!


roasted corn & sunburns

Frolicking in Bush Park

On our way home from the Coast we decided to make a stop in Salem to have lunch with Austin's parents. We finished up lunch early and since they didn't have to be back to the office for another 40 minutes, we all decided to head to the park to run around for a little bit post meal. Maisie enjoyed stretching her legs in the grass and being chased around. She loves being outside that little Maisie, she is happiest in the sunshine, enjoying the fresh air. California will suit her well.

A Night at Otter Crest

A couple weekends ago Austin and I decided to have an impromptu night at the Coast. Since Maisie's birth we haven't had a night away with just the three of us. So very last minute we decided to stay a night at Otter Crest. Austin and I both remember going there as kids and with our then impending offer about the California opportunity, we thought we might not be here too much longer, so why not?

It was so nice. Maisie loved scoping out the hotel room. We cranked up the heater and slept with the sliding glass door open and listened to the waves crash on the shore. We spent hours in the heated pool where Maisie preferred the warmer in between pool (she's like me when it comes to water, the hotter the better). The regular pool was like warm bath water, there was a smaller warmer tub (it used to be the original hot tub, but they made a newer one), and then the new real hot tub. Maisie was not happy when we took her out. She had so much fun making new friends with all the other kids and splashing around on her little ledge. The weather was a bit on the foggy side, but with how hot it was back at home we were happy with the cool crisp air.

We didn't get any pictures of our pool adventures, but here are a couple of our little get away.

climbing a tree.

look at those curls!

When Maisie sees a flower she points and sniffs really loud. It's so cute.

Mo's at night

California.

I am going to break the silence to say that it's official.

THE LEES ARE MOVING TO CALIFORNIA.

(more specifically, to the South Bay area)

  

 

We have been aware of this possibility for many months now, but after much prayer, research and debating we have decided to go for it.  Austin's job is starting a global center and they are taking a handful of their best employees to pioneer the new center in sunny California. Austin went through all the hoops and was formally offered a position down there. We signed all the necessary paperwork last Wednesday. 

To say I am nervous and stressed out is an understatement. This was a huge decision, but we both feel that this is a great opportunity for our little family and after months of frequent prayer we feel we are doing the right thing by going down there. 

The move will be taking place late October (around the 25th) so we are starting to figure out exactly where we will be living, what we are taking, what we need to purchase before we go and what we are selling/good willing. So we might be hosting a huge garage sale here pretty soon...

I can't believe this is happening! I am so excited, but am dreading leaving Austin's family. We are all very close and it breaks my heart thinking about how hard it's going to be to take Maisie away, but we will cross that bridge when it comes.

Ginger Snaps

I forgot to mention in my last post that among Maisie's current favorite foods is Trader Joe's triple ginger snaps. We just call them "cookies". Maisie will point at the container nod her head and sign please. 

oh ginger goodness.

Anyway, today she showed us she knows that shaking her head back and forth means no. She even was telling a little lie. 

Here's the scoop:

I brought the ginger snap container into the living room and Maisie managed to get the container off of the end table and brought them to the floor. I opened the container and handed her a cookie (after she said please, of course). I made sure the lid was on tight and continued to let her play with it. Austin was sitting on the other couch and Maisie brought the container to him and would point, nod and say please. So Austin snatched up the container and went to give her another, but he noticed she still had one in her mouth. Austin then asked Maisie "would you like a cookie Maisie?" she nods. "Ok, but you have to finish the one you are still eating." Maisie keeps pointing, nodding and saying please. Austin then asks "Maisie do you still have one in your mouth?" and to our amazement she shakes her head back and forth. Ok, it must be a fluke. She has never shook her head. "Maisie do you still have a cookie in your mouth?" (which it was obvious that she did) she shakes her head again. I then jumped in and asked if she wanted another cookie which she adamantly nodded.  Ok so she just wasn't shaking her head for the fun of it, she was truly answering him, even though it was a lie, it was amazing that she understood EVERYTHING we were saying. Austin then asked one more time and she shook her head, opened her mouth and asked for another cookie.

It was amazing, but a little scary.

When do children start to lying intentionally?

15 months

Little Maisie turned 15 months old, 4 days ago.

Gah. It blows my mind. There are still days where I look at her and I think to myself "Goodness, WE have a BABY." but what is stranger is, that baby is 15 months old, and not really a baby anymore. I would call her a toddler, but we all know shes not truly "toddling" yet. Shes a silly one, that Maisie.

I am really enjoying this stage. She is rich with personality and it has totally changed my previous notion about "nature vs. nurture". That child is all who she is by nature. I feel so honored to be the one who helps nurture and guide those traits into qualities that are for one appropriate, but also what will help her develop confidence in who she is now and in the future. 

Some of the many things I adore about my little (15 month old) girl:

Besides how adorable she is of course!

I love her inquisitive spirit. Her need to explore, but also her joy when shes in our company.

I love her eagerness to try something new or copy something, but also her hesitation to make sure it's "ok" or safe. I was always the hesitant one. My sister was the get up and go without thinking it through one. There have been times that I wished I could have been more like that, but both serve their place. Maisie is a good mix. I like that.

I love her love of books. I used to be a baby clothes junkie, I couldn't go anywhere without b-lining to the baby clothes section. It would always end with me sporting puppy-dog eyes convincing Austin that Maisie would look so darling in this, or that she NEEDED it for something. When Maisie started her book fascination at a young age, I found my new fix. No matter where I go I have an eye out for good books for her. I just recently hit up the closing sale at Borders. Lets just say I had a bag full of books after the spree.

Our night time routine is very funny now, before Maisie would be content reading a book a couple times (it was ALWAYS "the very hungry caterpillar") and then it went to reading two different books before bed, but NOW Maisie will read a couple pages of all her books. She wants to get all of them in before bed. She kisses them all too. It sure is sweet.

I love her determination. She will try so hard to get her socks and/or shoes on by herself. She always ends up getting frustrated and handing them to me so I can help, but I love her furrowed brow and how she musters as much coordination and strength to try over and over to do it by herself. She knows I am there to help, but I am always the last option.

I love her little head nods. She has put together that nodding her head means yes. I love the fact that she learned "yes" before "no". It seems that's not very common. We try our very best to refrain from no. We say careful a lot or just put a positive spin on it (i.e Maisie, we eat our food, not throw it on the floor). We ask her lots of questions and she totally has put together that when we ask a question that she can answer. Even if she doesn't know what we are saying, she knows we are directing a question and she knows that's a mean of communication.

I love how she picks up on little things. She watches us and its evident in all her activities. Shes even mastered the cell-phone-no-handed-shoulder-to-ear-technique. I don't even talk on the phone all that often so its amazing that she even picked that up. She also pretends to brush her hair with random items and also she helps me empty the dish washer too.

I love that she is a daddy's girl. Sometimes I am a little jealous because "what am I chopped liver?! I play with you allll day, feed you on demand, but you still want dada to come home?!" But daily I see them interact with each other and it is breath takingly beautiful. Its such a joy seeing the person your husband turns into when he becomes a daddy. It's amazing to see him through her eyes. I married an awesome man and we made an amazingly beautiful daughter.

I love that she will use all of her signs to get when she wants something badly, or when she is excited.(ALL DONE, FOOD, MORE, MILK, PLEASE, POINT, HEAD NOD) these are jumbled together so fast that if you didn't know her repertoire of signs you would think she was going crazy.

I love that when she cries she talks. It's like she is trying to tell you what she is upset about. It's a nice change up from the typical wailing. Her red tearful eyes and her little voice as she is trying to pout and catch her breath. Oh man, this sounds terrible, but it is seriously so dang cute. She sometimes will point her chubby finger and then talk giberish in an upset tone. 

I love all her little nuances:

For one, she has a sensitive spirit. She is sensitive to the feelings around her, but most of all she is sensitive to music. Maisie and I spend hours a day listening to music. We have since she was a newborn. We listen to an array of classical, alternative and fun dance music. Our current favorite Pandora station is "Phoenix radio". It's upbeat and so fun to dance too. That girl can dance like no other. Anyway, when a slow or heartfelt song comes on (especially if it has strings) she will get upset and cry like her feelings are hurt. The other week we started a new tradition of watching "The many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" after dinner and before she goes to bed. She adores it, but every time the pretty soft strings start playing the theme music, she cries like I just scolded her. Its cute, hilarious and heart breaking all at the same time. She hears it even when its softly playing in the background when there is narration. We now fast forward certain parts because how upset she gets. This girl has music woven into the fiber of her being, but I knew this would be the case from the beginning. I just didn't realize how sensitive she would be to it. Just wait until I play some Eric Whitacre for her. Or when she hears some of Austin's solos in high school. Cue tears.

She hates and I mean HATES my juicer. It's not even that loud, but she cries every time I use it. She loves the juice it produces, so I am trying to teach her it's good and not scary, but no such luck yet. She loves the vacuum, but hates the juicer, go figure.

She dances to any music (that is if its not a slow sad song and she is busy crying some where over it). No joke she danced to the theme song of "what would you do for a Klondike bar?"on a commercial. It was like 8 seconds tops, but that didn't stop her from wiggling and bouncing around.

She is gifted with her feet. She grabs and holds onto things with them all the time. She will even bring it to her hands and mouth. When ever we are in car for a good period of time like to Salem, she will hold her sippy cup with her feet and shake it back and forth while giggling. If we don't see her funny trick right away she will yell "look! look!" Until we laugh and praise her for her silly talent.

Talented huh? She has been doing things like this since she was like 6 months old.

"Bamboo shooting" is what Austin calls it. Background on this, when Austin and I started dating when we would hold hands Austin would always put his thumb nail gently under one of my finger nails. Like he was pinching my nail. I always thought, it was funny and kind of cute because he always did it unknowingly. Well months ago Maisie started doing it. She would do it when we were holding her, but she ALWAYS does it when I am nursing her. Even when she is half asleep at 2:30 am.  Sometimes she is not as gentle and her little talon nail goes just a little too far for comfort. That is why Austin has dubbed it "bamboo shooting" like the form of torture for prisoners of war. It's funny how little nuances like that get passed down.

Favorite foods:

Pasta with mushrooms, spinach and ricotta with cherry tomato sauce. She LOVES this.

Noahs cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese.

Oatmeal with fresh blueberries.

Fruit smoothies.

Cesar salad (mainly the chicken and dressing)

scrambled eggs.

Rice.

Garlic spinach Orzo.

Greek yogurt Popsicles.

Nutella on anything.

yum yum nutella.

Things we are still/currently working on:

Sweet little Maisie Moo, is STILL not sleeping through the night. She still wakes up two times a night to nurse. It is killing me. We are trying to gradually cut out night nursing, but she melts down and then is impossible to get back to sleep. This is a deadly combo when Austin has to wake up for work at 3:50 am. I have just dealt with it, but it's time for a change. Hopefully within the next month or so she will just stop ( I am hoping that when she is fully walking she will be so worn out that she will just stay asleep). Her day feeds have drastically went down, but those dang night feedings haven't budged. I haven't slept more than 5 hours consecutively in over a year and a half. Gah! Our Dr thinks with Maisie's personality that fully weaning her most likely be the only way to get her sleeping through the night. She is an all or nothing type girl that Maisie.

We are also working on patience. She is quick to get angry or upset. Which some times results in her throwing something, pushing you away and rarely but sometimes hitting. She knows we are here to help and comfort, but she goes about it the wrong way sometimes.

Broadening her taste buds. She is quick to not like something, but if I am persistent and try it a few days later she ends up really enjoying it. I refuse to have a picky eater and after conversations with other moms I have come to the conclusion that: how much of it is that the baby truly hates something and how much of it is that the baby didn't like it once, so the mom stopped trying it and therefore that baby grows up without it and becomes a picky eater? Really I am surprised that even with Maisie's strongest rejections she always did better the next time around.

I am still trying to lose this baby weight, but while still nursing it is a nearly impossible task. I will just be patient, and then go crazy when she is weaned. I mean, I will never get the same moments again as I did nursing her. She only willingly snuggles so for so long before dashing off to play with something, so having that time where we are still physically close and bonding,  to me that's worth carrying around some extra weight even if that weight equals 40 pounds.