Mom Life in the PNW

Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Oahu, Hawaii

Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Oahu, Hawaii

Hawaii was beautiful but I recommend leaving the city /resort area. We booked a trip to Oahu and stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort which included flight for 3k on Costco Travel.

Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort

View from our hotel room

Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort has numerous different room towers. The closer you are to the ocean, the higher the room rate. We were in the Tapa tower in the village area, so it was sort of a walk to the ocean from the room, but that was fine since we needed the exercise!

The village area was pretty cool though. There’s a bunch of shops for touristy purchases, food options, and even bird viewings at certain times of the day. This was our first trip with our daughter so having some animals for her to check out was pretty cool. They had a fish pond and a turtle pond as well. Definitely, a family catered resort which was a plus! View Post

Hawaii Vacation is Less Than 3 Days Away!

Our late anniversary present this year is a vacation to Hawaii. My husband was talking about going there back in may but I knew I couldn’t rely on him to actually follow thru, so when my parents gave us some money from their inheritance, I decided we were going, and we booked our trip in September. We’ll be staying at the Hilton waikiki village resort with an ocean view room. There’s even a lagoon and like 5 swimming pools.

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I think we may be a little crazy to take an infant on a 6 hour plane ride though, but we figured it’s better to do it now rather than when she’s mobile. Although, lately, she’s been trying to throw herself off of our laps. I just hope she behaves on the plane and doesnt have any blow outs. Even though I haven’t used an airplane bathroom, I know they’re small and it’s not going to be pleasant.

Please lord let us get through this flight safe and sound.

I get extreme anxiety when flying and hitting any sort of turbulence will make it 10x worse.

Ugh.

I’ll just think happy thoughts of 84 degree weather, pretty beaches and Mai tais with little umbrellas.

Mmhmm.

Less than 3 days now. YAY!!!!

Baby Girl is 7 Months Now

On the 19th, she turned 7 months. I was just looking at photos of her as a newborn and it’s amazing how much she’s changed and grown already.

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I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be a mom and to this little girl.

We’ve truly created a great daughter.

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She’s been a little more whiney lately if you don’t hold her but I feel like that’s my fault cause she always wants to be on the boob still and is just used to being next to me, or maybe it’s contributed to teething as well. Still no teeth yet.

She’s definitely more alert to sounds. She’ll be nursing and some jingle comes on the TV and she’ll whip her head back to see what’s on the TV and rips off my nipple while still sucking. All I can say is ouch. I’m going to have to turn the TV off while I feed so she’ll break that habit, but even if she hears dad or the cat, she does the same thing. Means I probably should take her to an isolated room but then I’m stuck there myself until she’s done nursing/ napping, because as soon as I put her down, she wakes up. Need to figure out a better method of transfering I guess.

She’s sitting up by herself now, which is great. She hasn’t really mastered crawling yet, but that’s okay, because I’m not ready for her to be mobile. Ha. I still need to baby proof ugh. And I want new carpet, but there’s just no funds for it right now. I need a money tree, but who doesn’t?

We’re feeding her some pureed baby food. Well, we have given her a little here and there since 4 months as recommended by pediatrician, but we’re giving her a lot more now. If dad had his way, she would strictly be consuming only breastmilk. She’s curious about food and wants some of what we’re eating, then you feel bad cause she can’t have it so I said it’s time. And she loves it of course!

Sleep has been good since the beginning.  Okay maybe not the first few weeks, but it’s been good since then. I get up once a night to feed her for 20 minutes, then we go back to sleep for however long she’ll allow. Usually we get in bed at 11pm (she still sleeps with us) and wakes up around 5:30 am and I’ll change her and feed her and we go back to sleep til 9:30-10:30am. So it’s been nice.

I know youre probably thinking get her out of your bed or you’ll have issues later on. I have her sleeping with us cause during the summer it was hot and our room is the only one that was cool because we have an ac in the window. Now that it’s not summer, the house gets cold if we don’t keep the heater on. My husband turns it off every night, and obviously if we keep it on, going to be a higher bill and if we dont, she’s going to be cold.

So that’s my Co sleeping dilemma. Right now it works and I like her being close to me.

How did you transition baby to own bed and was it a success?

First Sale on Etsy After 2.5 Months

After 2 and a half months of getting our Jenn Makes it Cute etsy shop up, I am happy to say we got our first etsy sale. Yay!

And it was my seahawks inspired paper mobile for a nursery, kids room or wherever you see fit.

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It has been a little discouraging to know that etsy is basically like a blog and it requires a lil more work than just posting your items and hoping you get a sale. You need to keyword your titles and descriptions and the more favorites/views you get, the better your listing will rank in the search.

I hope this means my work is paying off and that many more sales are to come.

Thank you for looking and possibly even buying. Just remember we can do custom orders as well.

Jenn Makes it Cute

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Brazi Bites – Love Your Food Review

Brazi Bites – Love Your Food Review

I love supporting local companies, which is why I agreed to share this Brazi Bites post with you all today. BraziBites originally started in Portland, Oregon (right across the bridge from me) in 2009 since they were having a serious craving for Pão de Queijo, Brazil’s most popular snack food. It took until 2010 to come up with their magnificent recipe since the Minas cheese was not readily available in the U.S.

I got a chance to sample all 4 of their Brazi Bites products and I am happy to say they’re delicious; way better than what you’ll get with your pizza order on a Sunday night.

The flavors are Bacon (who doesn’t love bacon? mmm), Jalapeno pepper jack, garlic Asiago and original.

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Cooking them was quite simple. The package instructions say to cook on a cookie sheet or parchment paper on a cookie sheet but I opted to use my pizza stone since it’s an all-over type of heat.

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You preheat the oven to 400 and cook for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Wa-la, all done!

I decided to a couple of each in my fettuccine Alfredo

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I think the one that is most noticeable is the Jalapeno pepper jack of course because you get a hint of spicy which I love, so I’d have to say that one was my favorite, but I definitely loved them all. They have a unique cheesy blend taste that goes well with Alfredo in my opinion. Best of all, anyone that is on a gluten free lifestyle can enjoy these as well. There’s also no GMO’s, no added sugar and no soy!

And now you can find these at the NE Portland Costco location. And they found out they will be airing on ABC’s Shark Tank Friday Nov. 20th.  Be sure to check it out!