Little Otsu - Portland OR

Visiting my mom in Bend, Oregon has its perks. Portland perks to be exact. Full of great eats and fun shopping. We love exploring the different neighborhoods on our little stop overs. With a baby in the car we never know if the timing will work out, but I usually insist we stop on the way back if not on the way there just so I can get my hands on a scoop of ice cream from Salt & Straw. 

With Salt &B Straw in so many neighborhoods we usually just pick one based on what we want to eat or maybe shopping we want to do. I love to hit the fabric stores and Mr. Ramon loves to hit a record store. This trip we stopped on Division St. Home of the famous Pok Pok. Neither of us were really very hungry but I wanted ice cream and to take in the little stores dotting the street. 

Ice cream flavors featured were all about Thanksgiving - Buttered Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Sweet Potato with Maple Pecan and more. We tasted them all and walked out with a couple scoops. If you have not been - and are a lover of ice cream it is imperative you stop when in Portland or LA.

One of the reasons we like to stop is that Lady likes to stretch her legs. Its a long ride to be crammed in a car seat. Now that she is walking and on the move I try to let her get as much activity in as she needs. Hard on a road trip. So these little stop overs are perfect. She can sun up and down the sidewalks and shop in the stores with us. Sometimes we find park for swinging and flower picking. 

There were some cute shops and lots of yummy places to eat in this neighborhood but one shop caught my eye and ended up being the place I couldn't resist picking up a few things. Little Otsu is the kind of place I wish was mine. Filled with paper goods - planners, journals, cards and other treasures like beautiful pens, kids books, calendars and gifts. 

I've been looking for a new calendar as we head into 2016. I am a paper calendar girl. I have tried so many times to convert to a digital calendar and sync with Mr. Ramon so our whole family is online and organized. But it s just not me. I need to feel it as I write it and be able to open it and look at many months in front of me. This last year I went with a very slim version only containing months. I am ready to get back to a calendar with full months as well as week views for more detailed calendaring. I also continue to try and get Mr. Ramon to use a calendar. He is not great at it - and since I calendar for the family he doesn't think he has a lot of need. 

We loved looking around this store and I could have spent all my dollars easily. Lady was helpful rearranging their card selection. She's so helpful! We did walk out with a few items that really are lovely and represent the kind of things you can find there. 

I picked up a beautiful Rifle Paper Co 18 month calendar, an adorable zipper pouch (I am addicted to zipper pouches) and Mr. Ramon decided on a week to week calendar that is blank so if he falls off the calendar wagon he can pick right up without the guilt of empty months to look at! 

Clockwise -

Cute cat bag - Darling Clementine

Rifle Paper Co 18 Month Calendar 

Tiny Pencil from Little Otsu

Little Otsu Week to Week Planner 

If you find yourself in Portland this is a lovely shop with beautiful goods and helpful people inside, stop and take a look! 

Life without an infant car seat

We have all seen them - cumbersome plastic buckets being lugged around by new parents, containing a well protected newborn. This is the infant car seat a device that doubles as a carrier. A modern day convenience. You can easily transport your baby to and from the car without waking them or having to hold them while trying to manage all the other baby gear you brought with you. They also snap into specially made strollers to provide you with an easy transportation option. Just click and go. Sounds like the best invention ever. Or is it. 

Sure I love convenience. It can make life so much easier. But I believe it can also be a crutch sometimes. 

Infants usually sleep well in the car - the road noise and motion lulling them to sleep. Then snug in their bucket they continue to snooze. This allows the parents to carry them in and place them on the floor or a chair at a restaurant and have an evening out without having to hold or manage their baby. I even had friends "baby sit" an infant of friends once that arrived asleep in its infant car seat. This baby slept the entire time they were "baby sitting" and so stayed in the car seat that evening. How great to have a device that keeps your baby comfy while you enjoy life. 

When Mr. Ramon and I were going through the list of "gear" that is recommended for babies car seats were at the top of the list. The first thing we needed to consider was my car. I drive a Mini Cooper. Super small car. I scoured the Mini Cooper forums looking for the car seat options that worked well in the Mini. There were several great options and even a couple infant car seats that fit in - barely. Most of the infant car seats had to be taken in and out of the car through the rear hatch - super inconvenient. This opened the conversation about starting with a convertible car seat and bypassing the infant car seat completely. 

There were some other things to consider when making the decision. One was that we would have to invest in a new car seat when baby out grew her infant seat. This could be somewhere between 6-24 months depending on which brand of seat we chose and her rate of growth. The biggest factor for me when deciding to skip the infant car seat was the carrying around baby in a bucket - not interacting with her - not holding her and letting others hold her. 

We were called crazy by a few parents - what? You are going to wake her up every time you take her out of the car. What will you do if she is sleeping? How will you go out to dinner or social gatherings? Even Mr. Ramon asked "What do we do at a restaurant?". I honestly was amazed. I have to look back at my baby days and wonder how my parents managed to have a great social life and take me everywhere they went without this device. Maybe they just held me. Crazy - but that's what arms are for I think. Especially when there is a baby - who doesn't want to hold a baby. 

Then I have to believe that being in a car seat in this position for hours at a time cannot be good for an infants body. I know that if I sit in one position for long periods I get uncomfortable. And when it comes to sleeping is this the best position for a baby? 

We knew we were going to do a lot of baby wearing when we were out and about. Research has shown how baby wearing is one of the best things you can do for your baby. Benefits of being able to connect at a deeper level with your baby, proper spine and body alignment when worn correctly and a baby that cries and fusses less. These are some fantastic benefits.  

We chose the Ergo carrier for our out and about baby wearing and the Moby Wrap for me to use mostly at home. For the car seat we chose the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 with Tiny Fit. 

The Maxi-Cosi is super safe and really compact for the type of seat it is. It fit great in the Mini Cooper. It fit her from the very beginning at 7.5lbs and will continue to fit her until she is 70lb. The Tiny Fit feature is for babies 4- 22lbs is what makes this carseat have a smaller footprint than most infant seats allowing for the front passenger to have more legroom.  

We are now 17 weeks into our new baby life and have managed to make it through with our convertible car seat. We have been out to numerous restaurants, shopping trips and events all without an infant car seat. We have baby carried her when walking around and when sitting have mostly held her in our lap. She has seemed to enjoy being in the action from the beginning - checking out all that these environments have to offer. 

Of course eating one handed is a skill to acquire and Mr. Ramon and I have supported each other during meals. We switch off with her sometimes or cut up one another's food. Teamwork for sure. 

Friends have loved meeting her and holding her while out as well. If she is tired she can fall asleep in arms or we baby wear her. Usually we try to respect her sleep needs and be home during those times - choosing to go out when it works best for her. 

There are times where she falls asleep in her car seat. Of course - the car seems to be her drug. Lulling her into a deep sleep we could only dream of at home. Sometimes we just have to run a few errands and she has to get in and out of her seat. She handles this well most of the time and I like to believe this helps her learn to be adaptable. If she is asleep when we get home I hope Mr. Ramon is around - he is a magician and can move her out of her seat and into the house to continue napping without a fuss on most occasions. 

So this is the path we chose for our babe and everyone has the right to choose what works for them. But I also say - do your research. What is best for the child? I would rather be a little inconvenienced if necessary to make the best decision for my child's best development. 

Roasted Broccoli

I recently took a personal chef gig. Sounds awesome doesn't it. And for a new mom with a 11 week old baby it is awesome. I plan menus, shop then go into my clients home one day a week and prepare several dinners for them to reheat. The menus revolve around lean proteins and vegetables. So I am always looking for ways to coax flavor out of ordinary vegetables and make them more exciting. One way to do that is by roasting. I prepare a lot of roasted vegetables in the winter but also love them in the summer and find that they are great cold leftovers added to a salad. 

This week I decided to add some broccoli into the mix. I have a slight disdain to steamed broccoli. To many nights in the early nineties, steamed broccoli was on my Weight Watchers dinner menu. I find though that if I roast it with some tasty seasoning it becomes quite magical. 

It is one of the easiest things you can do. Cut up the broccoli and toss into a bowl. Add some olive oil to lightly coat. Sprinkle with desired seasoning and lay out into a cookie sheet. I line mine with foil for easy clean up. Throw it in the oven at 375 degrees and about 30 minutes later you have transformed your broccoli. 

I love to try out new premixed vegetable seasoning mixes. Whole Foods, Cost Plus, Food 52 and the like usually have a variety of seasonings for vegetables. The one I bought recently is from Urban Accents. It is the Balsamic and Roasted Onion Vege Roaster. I found it at my local Safeway. Occasionally I will also find some great spice blends at the Marshalls near me. So look around and pick a couple up to experiment with. It can really add some depth of flavor that beats just salt and pepper.

You now have a great side dish to go with just about anything and the leftovers can be used in omelettes, salads and more.

Hope you decided to take your broccoli to the next level soon!

Baby Wipe Solution

There are a lot of baby wipe options out there. We went with cloth re-useable wipes for our home. We have been diapering baby with cloth diapers since 2 weeks old. Along with cloth diapers we are using the cloth wipes I made before baby was born. I love the flannel fabric I made them from so soft. I also double sided them so they are thick and don't bunch up in your hand like the single ply cloth wipes can. 

There are several ways to moisten your wipes for use and many options of what to wet them with. Some people like to keep their wipes dry and moisten them with a small spray bottle as needed during changing the baby. I just imagined a disaster - a squirt bottle in the dark, during a diaper change. 

You can also pre moisten wipes and store them in a container near the changing area. This is the method we went with. I wash them with the diapers and take them out of the washer wet - no need to dry them if I am just going to moisten them. I fold them in half and stack them to get them ready to soak in wipe solution. 

When it comes to solutions there are many recipes out on the world wide web. Many of them contain essential oils. Some babies are sensitive to oils - so be cautious when making your own wipe solution. Your baby's skin does not really need many ingredients to clean it. In fact - many people just use water and during a really rough patch of diaper rash I switched to water and it works really well. 

I decided to go with Baby Wipe Juice. One bottle makes 2 gallons, it is organic and full of beautiful ingredients like aloe, lavendar and olive oil.

To get my wipes ready for use - I take one cup of water with a couple of teaspoons of wipe juice and stir together. I place my wipes in a bowl and pour the wipe juice water mixture over the wipes. I then squeeze them together to make sure they are all saturated. 

To make sure they stay fresh I only prepare enough for a couple of days and store them in this awesome wipe holder. The Perfect Pull Wipe Dispenser holds traditional wipes as well as cloth wipes. It seals nicely when closed to keep wipes moist and has a weighted plate to hold wipes in place when you pull one up. It also has rubber feet to keep it from sliding around when you pull up a wipe. 

Wether you make them yourself or buy them pre made, I really encourage you to switch to cloth wipes. So nice for your little ones skin and so much less waste. 

Baby Nursery Mood Board

Of all of the things on the to do list for the upcoming arrival of baby - designing the nursery was something I was really looking forward to doing with Mr Ramon. Flash forward to me crying in the paint isle at Lowe's with Mr Ramon as we try to agree on paint options. Whew - 2 design minded people, one who is full of pregnancy hormones trying to bring our ideas together and compromise.

We both brought a piece of inspiration to this project. Mr Ramon found a lovely gold Jonathan Adler elephant bank at JC Pennys. It was really cool to see the entire Happy Chic Jonathan Adler collection - such stylish pieces at affordable prices. This piece brought gold as an accent to our overall look.

My contribution was a four piece collection of prints with cute kittens and flowers. When I was little - 10 or so I saved a bunch of box tops or UPC's from something to order these adorable prints from the back of some magazine - maybe Readers Digest. I can't quite remember the details, but I know that I had to have them and they were precious to me. I have held on to these 4 prints in the original packaging I received them in for at least 20 years. They now will have the chance to be framed and hang on the nursery wall.

We decided to keep the paint neutral and go entirely white. To add a graphic element Mr Ramon will be painting a diamond and heart motif on some of the walls. A pop of color will be added to the room in the form of a vintage child's armoire I am repainting Pantone Pool Green.

We wanted the room to feel clean and crisp but also add in some warmer accents with pops of color and texture. Below is our mood board that is guiding us as we move forward with the actual creation of the room. Also notice there is no crib on our mood board. We will be building this nursery to embrace some Montessori practices and will instead of a crib have a floor bed. I am exited to share these parts of our nursery with you very soon.

And If you can't tell by the kitten print or gold hearts - we are expecting a little girl!! We could not be happier!