LARK wooden whale.

So here is a little blog for my Mamasita friend.

This is a Whale pully toy. It was purchased by my lovely Aunt at LARK toys in Minnesota(they do have online shopping). Here is their website! For those moms who love wooden toys, these are great. They are semi-expensive. For this pull toy it was 30 dollars. The other ones were a couple dollars cheaper.

They have some great stuff on their website so check them out. It is all hand made :)

Fun Stuff.

So let's start off by saying my son prefers a good box to any toy, and seems to like shoes better then stuffed animals. That being said, there are a handful of toys that he absolutely loves. Now I'm not one of those mom's that is super picky about the toys he plays with, I know a few of those mom's and they are awesome, I just am not one of them. I think at this age they are going to be creative no matter what, and Jakey can't keep his attention on anything for too long anyway. So I have to find what I can to keep him busy.So toy number 1. This is actually a multi-purpose toy, it doubles as the best teether I have found.

This teether has different textures on all of it's nubs. It's VERY easy for baby to hold onto, and it twists, so when their busy little hands are all over, it moves too. I love this teether! And so does Jakey.

Number 2. 

Is kind of a toy I guess, Jakey does play with it, but it's a book. 

I love this book most because it is interactive, on each page there is a different texture, the cat has fur, there is a scarecrow that has burlap on it, a ghost who has a silky texture, and so on. Plus Jakey loves it when I say "Woof woof". He also talks to Biscuit while I'm reading, which is pretty cute.

(these next things are products, not toys, but I enjoy them just as much as Jakey enjoys his toys)

First off, we have Dr. Brown's bottles.

I guess there is a good and bad to these bottles, while I love them and they seem to do exactly what they say and reduce the gas with positive pressure, they are also a pain in the butt to clean. If you don't have all the right tools to clean each piece you feel like they aren't getting clean enough. I have found myself using a Q-tip in a pinch. So if you don't mind a little extra work then these are the bottles for you. I still like them and we still use them, just be wary if you don't want to spend 30 minutes at the sink cleaning 4 bottles. 

Second thing we have, is a baby food maker from Babies R Us. PLEASE don't waste your money on the Baby Bullet, for you 4 payments of 19.95. Out of control expensive. This works just as well and comes with  storage cups that have pictures of what you might want to put in them and labels for dating.

We got all of it for like 60 dollars.

If you are into making your own food this is the way to go. Plus no waiting, go to the store and buy it.

Alrighty, if you have a son like mine, who seems to be abnormally large, he's 20lbs already, and you have found the cute little travel system you bought just isn't working out anymore, get a pop up stroller( I believe they are called umbrella strollers) and a "big" kid car seat.

I can see the pros and cons to having that infant car seat and not having it. On the many nights that we had to go for a car ride to get that fussy little boy to sleep, it was nice, just pop it out, and take him upstairs, we could even leave him in the car seat if we wanted to. However, for the money that was spent on that, and what we later had to spend on new car seat we bought and new stroller(because lets face it those damn travel systems are HUGE, and if you don't have a HUGE trunk, it might not work when you decide to go grocery shopping. We now have a convertible car seat and one of those little strollers. If you are going to spend the money on a travel system, you might as well buy the car seat(infant) by itself, and buy one of these to go along with it.

You get a less bulky stroller that still holds your infant seat. It's going to run you about 70 dollars at Babies R Us. 

I personally like having our car seat and the stroller we have now. 

(Stroller)

Now the thing I love about this stroller by The First Years is it has storage, and it's small. It has storage underneath, and up top. Up top has 4 cup/bottle holders, a zipper pouch, and mesh on the front to tuck in other things. I like it better then the travel stroller we had.

End Part 1.

Makani (wind)

(Pali Lookout, so gorgeous, and insanely windy)

You have to feel lucky when you can wake up and take a drive and this becomes your view. 

I can honestly say I must be one of the luckiest people out there, I have the most wonderful husband anyone could ask for, who also happens to be the most amazing Daddy and little boy could ask for. I live on a beautiful island, and I am with the 2 best boys anyone could ever want.

The last couple days have been sight seeing, Jake is on house hunting leave, and since we've found a house, the rest is fun. 

I can't believe this is my life, years ago I would never have imagined anything close to this. I thought I would still be in Rockford, not that that would be a bad thing, but after awhile it gets old. 

I have always been the traveling kind of girl, I would just pick up and drive to Chicago whenever I could. Or road trip to Indiana to see my cousin. So this type of lifestyle suites me. 

One sad thing that happened today, my poor little Jakey yanked my straightener off of the sink while I was parting my hair, and burned the back of his arm. It's not too bad, just a little triangle, but enough to scare us all and make him scream.

I am already starting to get sick of this hotel, I want a kitchen, with all the fixin's and my TV and my couch and my bed(although the mattress pad they have on this one is VERY nice), it's the things you never thought you'd miss. 

What else did we see today?? We drove out to Ford Island, which is where they shot Pearl Harbor, The Movie. We saw the tower from which they shot down some planes, and the USS Missouri. Very crazy to be this close to so much history. Probably going to see the Arizona at some point while Jake is on leave.

I will honestly probably cry a lot. I get very weepy at military stuff. I am so proud of my husband for all he does. And everyone else who is serving our country.

One of my other goals is to find a photographer here in Oahu to do 6 month pictures and family pictures at the beach or something. 

Aloha!

Hakuna Mutata.

ʻohana

1. nvs. Family, relative, kin group; related. ʻOhana holoʻokoʻa, ʻohana nui, extended family, clan.

We have experienced a lot in the past couple weeks. I would like to quote it as being an "Offly big adventure"-Peter Pan. He wasn't referring to what I am talking about, but still. 

In the past two weeks many things have happened. My Ohana and I have moved from San Diego to Honolulu, we visited family, we experienced a loss(my families dog, we had her for years, since I was in 5th grade.), a gain(my sister in law is pregnant), and sadness, as we leave our families behind and start our new Navy adventure in Hawaii.

Jakey has also made big strides in these two weeks. He crawls(rather fast), he pulls himself into a standing position(while holding something), and he can sit up by himself. Recently his crawling has reached new heights as he can now over come obstacles...lucky us.

He is getting so big so fast. We weighed him the other day, 20 pounds. Where did my little 6 pound guy go??

In his short little life he has experienced a handful (or 2) of plane rides, 2 homes, 3 if you count our short stay in Rockford, which I would because we are using that as our address for now, 3 different time zones, and all his little milestones.

So, we went home for Labor day weekend. Jake's brother was coming into town and we wanted to surprise everyone by showing up too. For Jake's family it was the first time meeting Jakey, and for my sisters as well.

It was nice. I was starting to get home sick. I tried not to let it get the best of me, but it was really nice to be there.

Then we flew back to San Diego to get ready for our Great Big Adventure to Hawaii. We had to clean the house out(aka get rid of tons of crap that had piled up), have the movers come to pack it all away, stay in a hotel till our flight to Rockford, drop our car off to be shipped across the ocean(still isn't here), and keep a baby on a schedule(somewhat).

All the stuff in San Diego wasn't so bad. The hotel was okay, the one we are currently in is ten times better, not sure if it has anything to do with the location...

Rockford was the hardest, you have to try and divide your time when you are married, between both of your families, to give them equal chances to see you and your children, should you have any.

That to me is the hardest thing to do, how do you divide your time, and keep everyone happy. You end up feeling slight guilt when you have to leave and know you are taking time away from everyone. Whether we did a good job or not I am not sure, I can only hope we did.

That being said it is EXCEPTIONALLY hard to keep a baby on a schedule when so many people have differing schedules and you are trying to maintain that equality. 

Leaving was a sad day, you know how long you are going to be gone, and how long it will be till people can MAYBE come visit, but you can't help but be completely excited for all of the new things that are going to happen.

Last time we moved(to San Diego) I was 30 weeks pregnant, driving in a moving truck across the country, this time I have an almost 6 month old, cutting teeth, who is very active...hmm...which one was a more enjoyable trip.

I'll keep you guessing for just a moment longer.

Last trip, 3 days, driving through mountains, nothing-ness, and snow.

This trip, 2 days, flying with my husband and son.

(You may be leaning one way at this point)

Last trip, swollen feet, long hours, MANY bathroom breaks.

This trip, crying baby, long hours, many bathroom accidents.

(Still leaning in one direction?)

Last trip, just the two of us.

This trip, the three of us.

The results are in, I would rather travel pregnant, driving a 16' truck across country, then travel on a plane over 2 days with a teething 6 month  old who screams for 3 out of the 5 hour flight.

But hey, that's just me.

SO, we arrived here yesterday. It is amazing, one of the Petty Officers above Jake(who was actually one off his instructors in C School) picked us up from the airport. He got us leis. We finally checked into our hotel and just hung out for awhile. 

Jake's doing his paper work today, and I'm going to try and pick up a rental car and go to the housing office.

Jakey is awake from his nap, so I better get going.

Next up, how this little boy is going to adjust to a 5 hour difference in time....results should be interesting.