Halloween Fun

Well I know I'm late with this post but you know what they say... "Better late than never." I would like to share a couple of the boys in their Halloween costumes. This year I made their costumes. Draiman was Gnomeo and Gatlin was an Alien from Toy Story.

Halloween was a lot of fun and I truly enjoyed making costumes for my boys. Now it's time to work on Christmas stuff though. I have lots to make and little time in which to make it. It will be fun though and I can't wait to share some pics with you.

Draiman's 1st

Draiman is officially a one year old. Wow I still can't believe how fast time flies by. My little guy is growing up so fast. I swear he was a newborn just yesterday and now today he's walking all over the house. This reminds me yet again that it is crucial to spend as much time with my little guys as possible because before I know it they will be all grown up.

Well I haven't gotten through all of Draiman's birthday pics yet because it's been a busy couple of weeks with his birthday party, and now making Halloween costumes but here are few pics of the cupcakes.

New skills

Recently I taught myself how to crochet hats. I'm still very new to crochet but I'm steadily getting the hang of it. When I decided to learn to crochet I wasn't really sure what all I would do with this new skill but now I am so glad that I learned. I can see that this is one skill that is definitely going to come in handy. Check out a couple of the hats I've made so far.

The dangers of photographing your own children

I should have known better, it is never easy to photograph your own children. I know this first hand because every time I try to do it they decided to do everything in their power to defy me. It's been this way forever. Gatlin gets angry or runs away laughing when I try to photograph him. Draiman usually just gives me a very sour puss face or he refuses to look at me. They put up enough of a fight for just candid portraits but when I actually set up a scene it's always game on. That's when they decide to be their worst.

Well yesterday I decided to set up a fall scene because I really wanted some fall portraits of the boys. I knew that the odds of me getting anything good were very well stacked against me but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. It's always a challenge with these two but at least it's worth a shot.

Overall Draiman was very good, he stayed in the same spot and even looked the right direction a few times. Gatlin on the other hand wasn't having it at all. He refused to stay on the hay bales and if he did sit still for a moment he made sure he was facing backwards so that I could not get a portrait of his face at all. Most of the time he was screaming and attempting to run away. Things were so crazy that at one point I knocked my tripod around and managed to get some crazy out of focus shots. This one here depicts how the shoot was really going. I must say I love it as much as the nice portrait, got to love my boys. :)

Surgery

This past week has been somewhat odd for us. I had minor surgery so I haven't spent as much time with my babies as I usually do. The first couple days I pretty much stayed upstairs away from everyone as I recovered. After that I was able to come downstairs more but I still didn't spend a lot of time with my little ones because they tend to get too rough and I didn't want them hitting or kicking my incisions. Everything is pretty much back to normal now but it was definitely strange this week.

In some ways it was a little nice to get a break away from my boys as I usually do not get that. Once I was feeling better my husband brought my laptop up to me and I was actually able to get quite a bit of stuff done although I was not able to get any editing done. (That's a whole other story) So I can say that it was nice to get some productive time in and to be able to work for a while without constant interruptions. Thought I did enjoy my time alone, I still missed being with my boys.

No matter how crazy or chaotic it gets around here I love being with my babies. They mean the world to me. I enjoy being able to play with them whenever I want. I enjoy watching their crazy antics. I even enjoy that they are always so loud and rambunctious. They are most definitely the brothersbad, but I wouldn't change them for anything. I'm glad be able to spend my days with them again.

New pics and a freebie!

I was finally able to get a fairly good picture of the brothersbad together today. Yay!! So now the header to this blog is no longer outdated. Thank goodness for that. My munchkins love to be difficult when it comes to me taking their pictures. Today I was lucky enough that Daddy was home to help and Gatlin was more interested in his movie than me photographing him.

Here are some pics from a few weeks ago when both boys were mad at me. They were not in the mood for me to be taking the pictures but I did it anyway. I absolutely love these pictures. they show so much personality.

I love photographing my boys! Well on that note I would also like to add a freebie here for you. This one is a set of two actions that I created in Photoshop CS5. These are my go to actions for resizing images for facebook. I created two actions, one for horizontal pics and one for vertical pics. I did it this way so that I can just select the appropriate one and it resizes automatically without opening up any dialog boxes. These will resize your photos so that they are 500 pixels on the longest side at 72 ppi. I hope you find them useful. Click here to download.

Getting ladled

It's always sheer craziness around here and today was no exception. First off we needed to head to the grocery store for groceries. Those trips are always fun as we caravan through the aisles with separate carts for each of the boys. Generally all of the food or anything else that can be easily destroyed goes in Draiman's cart so that it is safe from Gatlin. Well today we learned that things are not much safer with Draiman either. Today he decided that he must pull things out of the cart and chew labels off or throw things out of the cart as we headed down the aisle. Lots of fun!

After hitting both grocery stores it was nap time for the boys. Luckily for us they both fell asleep in the car on the ride home. The good news here is that we were able to unload the van and put away the groceries with out any fuss. Then after the boys woke up and dinner was over, I decided to make a peanut butter cake. I've never had peanut butter cake before but a photographer friend gave me the recipe (yes we share more than just photography tips) so I thought I would give it a try. Of course during the prep of the cake Gatlin started freaking out because he wanted the rubber spatula. My boys are always stealing my kitchen utensils!

After I got the cake in the oven I washed off the spatula so that Gatty could play with it. Yes I let him play with my stuff because it keeps him entertained and I plan to teach my boys to cook one day anyway so the sooner he gets used to the utensils the better. As it stands one of Gatty's favorite movies right now is Ratatouille and he loves to act like he's cooking. So all was going well, Gatty was playing with the spatula and Draiman had a ladle, then the next thing I know BAM I get smacked upside the head with the ladle. It did hurt but man did my husband and I get a laugh out of that one. John told me I "got ladled!" So I sit here typing this with a mild headache from Draiman "ladling me" but I wouldn't change my life for anything in the world.

Stand up baby

It never ceases to amaze me how fast children grow. I swear it seems like just yesterday I worried that we were going to have to deliver Draiman early at 29 weeks due to pre-eclampsia issues and now my little guy is all over the place. You can't even keep him in one room any more. He's crawling all over the house and now he's all about standing too. He constantly wants to stand and he will pull himself up where ever he can. Unfortunately for him hard wood floors don't make for very nice tumbles but no matter what he still keeps getting back up.

We purchased a big play mat in the hopes that it would help cushion his falls but it doesn't work very well when the little guy won't stay on it. He seems to want to play every other place but there. Even if I put most of the toys on the mat he still has to move elsewhere. I must say that I admire how resilient children are. No matter how many tumbles he takes he just continues on.

Missed you.

 Oh how I've missed you. Lately I have been so caught up in family stuff, reunion stuff, and photography stuff that I have completely neglected this blog. I need to balance my time better. There's so much I want to say and it seems I never get to typing it out. Some how this has got to change. This blog is important to me and for that reason I need to make a better effort of posting here.

I don't have many followers and I don't really know how many of you are reading this but it's still important to ME. I enjoy writing about my boys and everything that I post is just more documentation of their lives. Time passes by so fast and I know that I will enjoy looking back through these posts later. So it's just like everything else in life. I need to prioritize and schedule things better.

In just the time that I have neglected to post my babies have grown so much. Gatlin is looking more like a little boy and less like my little toddler. He seems to have calmed down some and now he's not near as uncomfortable with new people as he used to be. Draiman is all over the place now. You can't keep that little guy still for anything. He's crawling all over the house and trying to get into everything. Now he's all about standing up. He still can't stand all by himself but it's only a matter of time before he will. It's just crazy how fast they grow.

Hold the Green Beans

Today I attempted to feed Draiman some green beans baby food. Yeah well that didn't go over very well at all. This was even worse then the day I tried to feed him squash. He started off making the weird faces and then turning his face away from me when I tried to feed him. Then next thing I know he's all fussy and mad because he wants to eat but does NOT want those green beans. So in the end I had to throw out the green beans and feed him some rice cereal with apple juice. Usually he's not picky but he just was not having those green beans today.

Messy Boy

Here's my messy boy. I just caught him right after he finished eating lunch. When I say caught him I mean it. He was running around and shaking his head so that I couldn't get his picture. This time I won the battle though. I managed to capture this messy shot of my handsome boy. It's definitely a keeper if you ask me.

Draiman Baby

Mama's little baby is growning up so fast. Just looking at these pics you can see how quickly he's growing and changing. As I've said numerous times before I just can not believe how fast time flies by. It seem like just yesterday he was my tiny little newborn and now he's rolling all over the place and starting to crawl! I can't keep him still for anything. He's always been a mover and shaker but now that he can actually roll around and move where he wants for the most part there isn't much stopping him. I anticipate that it will only be a short time before he's officially crawling everywhere. Look out world, here he comes!

I'm back!

     Whew May has just been a busy month for me. I'm sorry that I have neglected you, but there's just been so much going on. I will do my best to check in more often. I have missed you though. This blog means a lot to me and I know I need to put more effort into it. I hope to add some more stuff and make some changes here soon. I would especially like to add more freebies, so just please hang in there with me. As always I feel like I am pulled in so many different directions. I just need to find my focus and get moving forward.
     In case you are interested here is a brief rundown of what's going on this month for me. Let's see, I have had two Help-Portrait events plus our weekly meetings. One of the events was our big spring event where we provided free portraits to over 70 families. This month Taylor turned 15 and we were supposed to attend her big Quinceanera but due to circumstance here party has been postponed. Tori's graduation this year as well her boyfriend and most of her friends. There's been senior pictures to do, grad parties to attend, and then this Sunday is graduation. Then on top of it all my brother has gotten a new job and I've been working on pics of him and the salon for his facebook fan page.
     I'm sure there are lots of small details I have missed but you get the idea. There's just been a lot going on. Well on that note I'm going to wrap this up. Poor Draiman is fussing right now and requires my attention. I will post again soon. Thanks for reading!

Cars

     Gatlin's latest movie obsession is Cars. He is just in love with this movie. Quite often he grabs the dvd box and hands to me so that'll I'll put that movie in. What's really funny is that once the movie starts he goes over to the dining room table and starts playing with his cars. He watches intently from the dining room (we have a large open doorway to the living room so he can still see the tv) while playing with his cars on the table. A lot of times it looks as though he actually acting out different parts of the movie with his cars. I really get a kick out of watching him. Kids are just so amazing.

Time Flies

     Sometimes it really does seem like if you blink you might miss it. I'm always amazed by how quickly time flies by. It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with Draiman and impatiently awaiting his arrival. Now he's 6 months already! Don't even get me started on Gatty, that little guy has grown up so fast as well. This is why we really need to slow down sometimes and take a moment to enjoy it all. We'll never get back these moments again so we must make the most of them. Enjoy the precious moments today, don't let time just slip away.

The Haircut

     Gatlin is not fond of haircuts at all. Since his very first one he pretty much loathes them. Unfortunately for him his hair grows super fast and he tends to need them fairly often. For a while we had been going to the same stylist in our local Walmart but after one very embarrasing day I haven't really wanted to go back.
     The stylist, Amy, was great but my son was a whole other issue. He'd been having a rough day anway but he really needed to get his hair cut. Well lets just say that this particular time he pulled out all the stops as far as throwing a tantrum goes and I ended up carrying him out of the store, stiff as a board, while kicking and screaming. Oh yeah I was embarrased.
     Luckily for me my brother happens to be a stylist, infact Amy was his former boss so he's learned some tricks as far as dealing with kid cuts. Then there's also the fact that we've found an even better way to cheat the system so to speak ... we cut Gatty's hair when he's asleep! Yep that's right, the last few times we've just waited till he fell asleep and then my brother did his thing. Let me just say that this makes everything a whole lot less stressful for all of us. Thank goodness my brother is so talented.
     Well anyway this last cut Billy ended up cutting Gatlins hair quite a bit shorter than usual. Now we've always kept Gatty's hair longer but at this point is was way too long because we hadn't been able to schedule a cut soon enough. Billy's thought was that by cutting it shorter I wouldn't have to get Gatty's hair cut so often. Well I just have to say that as much as I appreciate his good intentions this Mamma is too stuck on her baby's long hair.
     I absolutely love Gatty's curls and I feel like his longer hair has always suited his personality well. This is why we've never cut it short in the first place. Right after I saw the cut for the first time I knew I didn't like it. Nothing against my brother but it just wasn't Gatty. Now after several days I will admit that it's growing on me a bit but I still can't wait for my baby's hair to grow back out again. There's just something about those curls that go so well with my little guy's personality. I guess some Mamma's don't do well with change.

Happy Easter!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday! Ours was very laid back and casual but we sure enjoyed it. Lots of love to all my readers and I wish you a Very Happy Easter.

Greeting card freebie

Here is another freebie for you. This one is a 5x7 card template. Its another psd file so just use the clipping mask to insert your photo.

Download Here

Just like my brother

     I have to laugh at how Gatlin seems to want to do all the things that Draiman does. Usually I think of the little one wanting to do what the bigger one does, but in this case Gatty wants to do what little guy does. We have a little swing for Draiman but when he's not in it Gatlin uses the swing like its his personal lounge chair. If Draiman has a rattle toy then Gatty instantly wants it as well. Then there's the activity center that Draiman can stand and play in. Gatlin will actually climb into that as well and play in it. He looks ridiculous sitting in Draiman's activity center but hey at least he's being good while he's in there. I figure as long as he's not getting into trouble or hurting anything or anyone it's fine to let him be. Though the toy thing can at times be an issue, but I already knew sharing wouldn't be easy.

There's a Tigger in the House!

This is an old picture that I took of Gatlin when he was about 9 months old. The funny thing is that sometimes I feel like he really is part Tigger. This kid just wants to bounce around all the time. Sometimes I think it may not be a good idea to even let him watch his Tigger shows. He is always bouncing around. He bounces on the couches, recliner, floor, pretty much anywhere. It doesn't matter how much I get after him, he still bounces!

Horrible Hands

     As I'm sure most of you know already, when dealing with children it is important to wash your hands often. Well with two little ones like I have I am constantly washing my hands. In fact I wash my hands so much they that they just look terrible. They are extremely dry and just look awful. I know I should put lotion on often, probably after every hand washing, but there's no time for that. I'm a busy person and unfortunately my hands suffer for it.
     There are a few things that I do though to try to spare them. I do apply lotion when it occurs to me but honestly that doesn't happen very often. When things get really bad that they hurt I will put vaseline all over them before bed and usually by morning they look significantly better. But there is one thing that I have noticed that helps the most and that's when I use natural handmade soaps. I am a huge fan of natural handmade soaps for many, many reasons but my hands are a big reason.
     It never fails that if I use natural soaps for my hands then I never seem to have near as big of a problem with them. I can wash my hands just as often as any other time but natural soaps will keep them protected better. They never seem to dry out as much when using an all natural soap compared to commercial soaps. The is probably because most commercial soaps aren't really even soap at all. They are actually detergents and there is a big difference in the effect that soap vs detergents have on your skin. So my advice to you is that you make the switch to natural soaps.

Opinions Please

     I would like to ask you for your opinions. I've been thinking about changing the image on the header of blog but I can't decide whether or not to do it. There's no big rush so I could just wait it out a while but I just thought I would ask what you think. I'm torn between loving that image as a mother, but disliking it as a photographer.
     As a photographer I tend to view images very critically. I have to because it's my job. I want to always be improving on my work so I strive to create the best images that I can. From a photography view point it's not a very good image. For starters it was taken with my point and shoot camera and not my dslr. The lighting is poor and it is just not a good representation of my work at all.
     On the other hand, as a mother I love that picture. Those are my babies and it was a rare moment that I barely caught. I tried over and over again to get another image of the two of them together like that but it never works. I don't even know how I managed to catch that one. Gatty is a mover and shaker so it's very hard to get him to sit still at all. Then if that wasn't bad enough he loves to run away from me laughing when I try to take his picture. Draiman is just too fussy most of the time to cooperate much for pictures. The other issue with him is that he usually goes completely sour faced as soon as he sees my camera.
     I could create a different header with better images but I will have to use images of the two boys separate. This blog is about the Brothers Bad and that's why I chose an image of the two of them together in the first place. It is a blog about them and not necessarily about my photography so maybe I should just leave well enough alone for now. This blog is still very new so there is always time to change things later on down the road. All and all I'm just really torn about what to do. So I ask you, what would you do?

Brother like brother

     A while back Gatlin's favorite movie was Toy Story 3. He just wanted to watch it over and over and over again. It seemed like he just couldn't get enough of that movie. It got to the point that I felt like I knew every line because we had watched it so much. Then more recently he has finally switched it up a bit and moved on to a new movie. He still likes Toy Story 3 but it doesn't seem to hold his attention as much as it used to. His new move is Chicken Little.
     Though Gatty has seemed to move on, it seems as though Draiman is more hooked than ever on Toy Story 3. Draiman likes to watch tv in general. He will watch just about any movie to a certain degree but put on Toy Story 3 and he's glued to it. It's really kind of cute watching him as he get so involved with the movie. He pays more attention to this one than any other move, well with exception of Dora the Explorer. So I guess Draiman is taking after his brother when it comes to movies. They both seem to have the same interests. At least for now they do.

Spoon Baby

     It seems like no matter how many toddler spoons we buy, we still never have enough of them. Maybe that's because Gatlin is obsessed with spoons. He steals them all. For some reason he just really likes spoons. Usually you will see him walking around with a handful of spoons. Even if we do manage to get them away from him and washed he still manages to get them back.
     If you give him a spoon to eat with he will keep it well past meal time. If you have a spoon out and set it down you might as well forget about it because he's already stolen it. Put the spoons away and he just manages to break into the silverware drawer to get them. You could always leave them sitting in the dish drainer up on the counter but he'll just grab a toy bus or something and climb up after them. There's just now winning with this kid!
     I guess there are worse things he could do besides carrying around a bunch of spoons. Usually he just takes his own spoons anyway. Honestly it's kind of funny watching him play with his spoons. I probably shouldn't complain at all because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I recall Grams (my grandma) telling me that when I was about two I used to play with spoons a lot. I bet if she were here to see him now she'd get a kick out of it.

Wallet Template Freebie

     Here is another freebie for you. This template allows you to put two standard sized wallets (2.5" x 3.5") on a 4" x 6" print. Now I have no idea if there are other free templates out there to do this same thing but this one I'm offering was created by me. Again I was inspired by Rita's CoffeeShop Blog, I really like her action and template for putting four 2" x 3" wallets on a 4" x 6" print but in my case I also needed a couple standard sized wallets.
     You see I have an entertainment center with glass pane doors that I cut mat boards for so that I could put pictures of my kids in the "windows" so to speak. I love this idea because it keeps my entertainment center looking nice and hides the cluttered storage space as well. The thing is that when I cut the mat board I made the opening for standard sized wallets in the one door. So I have one narrow "window" that holds five wallet sized photos. I want each picture to be different so I decided to go ahead and make another template to accomodate my needs.

     Here is the link to down load this psd template file:    Wallets Template

Good News!

     A little over a month ago we found out that Gatlin was very anemic and we had to start giving him iron drops twice a day. The doctor told us that after about 6 weeks he would do another blood test to see where things stood. The hope was that with the help of iron drops things would improve greatly and that eventually we could get him off of the iron drops. The fear was that it could turn out that Gatty had a blood disorder which would cause him to have problems with anemia for the rest of his life.
     Well yesterday was his blood test and today they called saying that things have improved a lot! I can not tell you how happy I am to hear this news. I just feel this amazing wave of both hope and relief. They said that we will continue in this course and then do another blood test June. If everything goes well for that test we may be able to take him off of the drops. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that things continue to improve for my baby.
     This has been a little rough for us because Gatlin is a very picky eater and it is hard to get him to eat in general much less foods that are high in iron. I have done my best to keep offering him different types of food to get him better nutrition but every day is still a struggle. To help keep things balanced we have been giving him a bottle of pediasure a day and I've also begun adding Ovaltine to some of his milk. Ovaltine has a lot of different vitamins and minerals and there is even 15% iron per serving. I figure at this point anything I can get him to take is worth a try. Do you have any suggestions for me? I'd love to hear them if you do.

Baby Books / Free Charm Template

     Family heirlooms are a BIG deal to me. This is the main reason that I decided to become a photographer. So I do my best to spend time working on baby books for the boys. I don't always get every blank filled in when I should but I always make time to add to them. I feel that it is important for my boys to have their baby books when they are adults. It will be nice for them to look through them and learn a little about their own history. (I am lucky to have my own baby book to look at share with the boys later)
     Well a few weeks ago I was working on the baby books when I got an idea for the little family trees in the books. I decided that it would be nice to put in little pictures of each of the relatives along with their name. This way the boys could associate a face with the name. As I'm sure many of you know there is not a whole lot of room on those pages to be adding a bunch of pictures. So I got to thinking about it more and decided that some little charm size pictures (1.25" x 1.75") would work out rather well for this. Now the next problem was how to get little pictures that small of all the different relatives. With that I decided to create a template where I could put several charm size pictures on a 4x6 print. (an idea inspired by Rita over at The CoffeeShop ).
     It has taken me a while to figure out how to create this template but I finally have it done. I created a 4x6 template that holds 8 charm photos. All you have to do is use the clipping masks to insert your pics and then send if off to be printed!

If you would like to use my Charm Template the just click the link here to download : Charm Template.

If you need instructions for using clipping masks then check out Rita's awesome tutorial Here.

It's all about hair!

     Lately it seems like every time I turn around I'm getting my hair pulled. Draiman is all about grabbing things now and of course he goes for hair every time. He likes to get big old hand fulls of it. As if that wasn't enough, Gatlin also seems to be interested in my hair lately. When he's sitting with me he likes to start playing with my hair or trying to pull out my pony tail. The problem with him is that even though things may start out nice it always ends up getting rough and out of control. He's just playing and having fun but it still almost always gets out of control.
     The other thing with him is that for some odd reason he likes to bite my hair. I know that sounds really odd but for some reason he's all about grabbing a bunch and biting it. Sometimes I think he's just playing nicely and then I suddenly realize that he's biting it and my hair is all wet from slobber! What a crazy little kid. So if it's not one brother getting me then it's the other brother!

Where's the Gatty?

     Gatlin loves to hide. Sometimes he's hiding from Mommy and Daddy but other times he's just hiding out in his own little hang out spots. He's one of those boys who will probably want a club house or fort later. He seems to always find little spots to hide out at. There's a sliding door in the kitchen that is currently covered with a curtain to help keep out the cold but a lot of times it seems more like Gatlin's little hideway. He likes to go behind the curtain and hang out with his toys or sometimes he hides from us. It's so cute when he hides from us because you hear him giggling as we call his name.
     He has lots of other hiding spaces too. We have a picnic table in our dining room that he just loves to hide under. I must say that with the benches flanked on the sides and the tablecloth hanging over top it sure does make a nice hide out for him. Long before that he used to hang out underneath Draiman's bassinet. The bassinet has a long skirt cover that is perfect for hiding under. The bassinet is also on wheels so it used to look pretty funny moving around the house by itself, Gatty hidden and all. Today it was a large cardboard box that he found for his hideout. He looked adorable playing in the box today. I just love how imaginative he is. What a joy it is to watch him play.

For the boys

     I love my boys. I love them so much that with each of them I have made more and more changes in my life to make things better for them. Since the first pregnancy I have cut out a lot of excess caffeine by no longer drinking caffeinated pop. Then during Gatty's pregnancy I was required to cut back on my salt intake a lot. I did it, though let me just say that I hated it and have been bad about using salt again. With Draiman's pregnancy I had issues with pre-eclampsia and had to make a lot of changes. I had to spend a lot of time resting, give up my computer for a while, avoid bright lights, etc. Each time it was frustrating but I did it.
     Now I need to figure out how to convince myself to change my lifestyle for the boys. I really need to make some big changes as far as diet and exercise are concerned. Its time to get healthy and lose all this excess weight I have gained over the last few years. I don't want to be overweight any more and I really want to be able to keep up with my boys as they get older. I want to be able to run and play with them without feeling winded or tired. Unfortunately it's not always easy to make such big changes.
    This is important to me and I truly do believe this is something that I need to do for my boys as well. Now is the time to start making these big changes. I know that it's going to be a rough road but I also know that the end results are going to be totally worth it. I anticipate that there will be struggles and set backs but I know that I must march forward. Besides, if I want them to be healthy then I really need to lead by example. So wish me luck!

Ordinary Days

Ordinary Days - Please click the link to read Rita's post. I can not agree more with what she says here in her post.

Fun in the bassinet

Smiling happy baby

Spitting and blowing bubbles

Time to chew on toes



No more pictures Mommy I'm tired of this!

Recycle Baby

     Although we are not the best at it, we do try to do our part around here to help the environment. I am a firm believer that even if you only make a few changes towards being more eco-friendly you can still make a big impact. With that we have been gradually making changes at home to try to be more eco-friendly in our everyday living. We have tons of reusable bags, though I constantly forget to take them into the store with me. We save all plastic grocery bags (when I forget to bring my reusable ones) to be recycled. I have switched to mostly homemade eco-friendly cleaning products and of course we recycle plastic, glass, aluminum, cardboard, etc.
     I really think we are doing a good thing by implementing all of these things into our daily routine. Though like anything else there can be some drawbacks so to speak. For us it's the fact that Gatty won't stay out of the recyclables. This child loves to play with plastic pop bottles and cardboard more than any of his toys. We have bins to keep all of our recyclables but he is constantly taking everything out of the bin and dragging it all over the house. I swear my house looks like we just throw trash everywhere. Every time we think we've found a better place to store things he just finds another way to get to them.
     Sometimes this just drives me crazy, but I will stand my ground and continue recycling. It would be so much easier just to throw it all in the trash, but I will not give up. It is important to me to teach my children eco-friendly habits. Right now Gatty likes to destroy and create messes but one day he will get better at putting things away. As he gets older I will explain to him why we save all this "trash." One day he will learn the importance of recycling.

Kisses for Mommy

     Like a lot of mothers, I really enjoy giving my babies kisses. Since they were newborns I have always given them lots of kisses. Then when they get a little older, like Draiman now, it's so adorable to see them light up with a smile when you give them kisses. Of course there is always that period of time when they're too busy to be bothered with kisses from Mommy, like Gatty was a while ago. However, if you're lucky, you get those special moments when they come up to you and give you kisses. This is what Gatty does now, and I must say that I just love it! It's nice to have my baby come to me for kisses. He does at times use this against me, like when he just gets in trouble and then two seconds later he's giving me kisses. In any case I still find it adorable and I will continue to take all the kisses I can get from my boys before they get too old to be giving Mommy kisses.

Dora the Explorer

     It's kind of crazy, but Dora the Explorer is the one show that Draiman really loves. Every time he hears the Dora theme song he gets all excited. It's so cute! He likes to lay in his bassinet and watch Dora. He will lay there laughing and making noises while watching the show. It is almost like he's talking to her. He even kicks a lot because he's so excited about it.

Framed 16x20 Giveaway!

Rita over at The CoffeeShop Blog is holding framed 16x20 giveaway! Click here for the full details and to enter to win. Thank you Rita for all that you do!

Handsome Boys

Look at that adorable smile

Oh how I love to chew on my toes

Mommy can't you see I'm watching tv

I'm up to no good again

Grocery fun

     It was another fun filled trip to the grocery store today. It can be quite a challenge to get out and about with these two munchkins and grocery shopping is no exception. I can only wonder what people must think of us when they see us out and about. Each trip requires a lot of time, patience, and two carts. Yep fun indeed!
    First off it seems like it takes for ever to get everybody ready to even leave the house and go to the grocery store, and then once we're there we immediately have to get our two carts so the fun can begin. Usually I take the cart with Draiman in it and John takes the cart with Gatlin in it. The reason for two separate carts is mainly because Gatty likes to attempt to open, eat, or otherwise destroy pretty much everything we put into the cart. So the Gatty safe objects go in his cart and everything else goes in Draiman's cart.
     Today was an exception to the rule though because Gatty decided to climb into Draiman's cart when I had the two carts side by side. So we went with it and kept both boys in one cart and the majority of the groceries in the other cart. Though it is a hassle, I do enjoy taking the boys to store because it is good for us all to get out and they're going to have to learn how to do this stuff eventually any way. Mostly it's just kind of comical the amount of attention we seem to get from people. Gatty always gets attention because of his loudness and cute face and of course now Draiman gets attention as well because of his cute and everyone seems to love babies.
     The trip today was a good one. Overall Gatty was pretty well behaved with the exception of continually throwing Draiman's elephant toy out of the cart and on to the floor. He did seem to have one admirer, a women commented on him being loud and then we ran into her two more times throughout the store. Each time she talked to him and smiled. Draiman got lots of smiles from people as well. Then as we were attempting to check out Gatty got overly excited about watching the groceries go down the belt at the self check-out in Meijer. He was practically screaming in excitement. You got to love when everyone in the store is looking at you. After the kids and groceries were loaded into the vehicle I popped open some Jarritos (Mexican soda pop) and we headed home.

FYI- the bars on the front of the cart where the coupon holder is make for a great bottle opener

Oh how I missed you!

     There are lots of things that I am good at where computers are concerned but then again there are other things that I am not so good at. Well let's just say that connecting my blog to my new domain name is definitely not something I am good at. So for this reason my blog has been sort of M.I.A. for a while now.
     My husband is the one I turn to for the technical stuff that I either can't handle or am not interested in. That goes for the domain set up as well, but unfortunately for me he has been kind of busy lately with work and other things. All this time I have been patiently (yeah who am I kidding, I'm not a patient person) waiting for him to have the time to check things out and figure out what was wrong. Finally today was my lucky day and now BrothersBad.com is up and running.
      I must say that I am very thankful to my husband for taking care of this for me. Though it is still very new and I do not seem to have many followers, I really really missed this blog. I really enjoy having a place to record those interesting things that happen with my boys. I hope that one day this blog will have more followers and that as much as I enjoy writing for it, others will enjoy reading what I write.
    

Quiet

      Sometimes enough is just enough and I really need a little quiet time. I am blessed to have a wonderfully rowdy boy who loves to talk and make noises all the time. Most days I am completely fine with this and know that he's just learning and playing. Then there are other days like today when I honestly feel like I just can not listen to any more noise. My head starts hurting and I desperately just wish Gatty would be quiet for a little while.
     Well today was one of those such days for me. Gatty was being loud all morning, just as he has been the last few days, but this time I just couldn't take it any more. I don't know if it was stress or maybe just from lack of sleep but either way I felt myself getting angry because he would not be quiet and settle down. I tried ignoring him, distracting him, even getting after him about being quiet but he just continued. I mean what should I expect from a two year old.
     Finally I was just getting so frustrated and my headache was getting worse that I knew I had to do something. So I decided to shut off the tv. Gatty loves his movies so I just shut off the tv and told him no more since he wouldn't be quiet. At one point when I was changing Draiman's diaper Gatty came to me and tried to get me to put a movie on but I just calmly told him no. Well what do you know... it seemed to work. Shortly after he started playing with his school buses and trucks quietly. He didn't barely make a sound for a little while. Then as I was sitting in the chair nursing Draiman (he was already asleep), Gatlin climbed up in the chair with me and within five minutes he was asleep as well. Finally Mommy got her quiet time.

Comfy Chair

     When I was pregnant with Gatlin I started having a really hard time sleeping comfortably in bed at night. I wanted to lay down and sleep but it was just so completely uncomfortable for me that I barely got any sleep at all during the night. So after several conversations about it my husband and I decided to go buy a recliner. We looked at recliners at almost every store in town before we finally settled on one at Ashley Furniture.
     The recliner there was perfect. I was a neutral beige color and very comfortable. Plus the biggest draw was that it was the most affordable price. It was a very nice leather recliner but it had a large discoloration on the right arm rest so they had it in their clearance room. An unbeatable price and it looked great, despite that one spot. I knew this chair was going to be my best friend through the end of my pregnancy.
     I was right of course. That chair was about the only way I got any sleep for the remainder of my pregnancy with Gatty. What I didn't anticipate was how much that chair would still mean to me after all this time. Not only was it great to sleep in when the bed was unbearable, but it was also excellent to sit in while I nursed Gatty. So just with Gatlin alone it had been of great use but now Draiman I get even more use. Just as before it's a great spot to sit while nursing Draiman but the nice thing about it is that with it's overstuffed arms there is still plenty of room for Gatty to sit with us.
     That's right, a lot of times I am sitting in that same chair with both of my munchkins. It's been a great way for me to be able to nurse the new baby and still keep Gatlin close with me as well. Gatty and I have always been so close and I was really concerned that once Draiman came along I would have big issues with jealousy, but surprisingly it hasn't been bad at all. I honestly think it has helped a lot having the recliner. It's been nice to be able to nurse Draiman and still have Gatty comfortably and safely by my side. I really think it's helped the three of us bond together even more. I would've have never guessed that a recliner would provide such closeness for me and my boys.

     As usual my little mover and shaker never stays still so he's a little bit blurry in this one, but I love it just the same. It's not often that he even cooperates at all to let me take his picture.

Photo Alert!

     I love my babies and they love me, but I swear they love to sabotage my photo editing time. It never seems to fail that as soon as I begin working on my photos somebody is crying, or hungry, or needs changed. It call be all quite with them asleep even, then as soon as I settle down to that computer everyone is awake and fussy. I mean I do get in some time for photo editing but let me just say that they sure make me work for it!

Better late then never

The Brothers Bad Valentines Card. I meant to post this early on Valentines day, but you know how things go. In any case here it is.

Thank goodness for Pink

     This week has been a rough one for poor little Draiman. He's been quite fussy in general because he seems to be teething, but things were a little worse for him when he started having diaper rash issues. I'm not sure what I ate that upset him (the trouble with nursing) but poor little man constant poopy diapers for a few days and let me just say it really did a number on his bottom.
     Both of my boys seem to have very sensitive skin and a few excessively poopy diapers can really do some damage to them. We used to have big problems with Gatty (before Draiman was born) and I felt so bad because no amount of Desitin seemed to help him. Desitin had always been the saving grace for the other kids in the past but it just didn't seem to cut it for Gatty. Luckily for us when discussing the situation with my Aunt Dona she told us about "the pink stuff." She couldn't exactly remember the name of it but she knew if was pink and it worked great.
     At one of Gatty's doctor visits I told the doctor about the diaper rash issue and asked him if he had any suggestions. He hesitated as he thought about for a minute and then I mentioned "the pink stuff" and he instantly knew what I was talking about. It's actually named Pinxav (pronounced Pink Salve) and the doctor said it should do the trick for us. He suggested we go to Walgreens and ask the pharmacist for it. He said it did not require a prescription but that it was usually kept back in pharmacy.
     Needless to say we went out immediately and got the stuff and let me just say that's its awesome. That stuff has worked better for my boys than anything else has. I hate to think how bad poor Draiman's bottom would've been this week without it. I mean he still got red and irritated initially but keeping that stuff on him regularly really helped to keep his bottom protected. Plus the nice thing about it is that it has a cooling sensation that helps to relieve any pain. So if you babies get bottom issues like mine then I highly suggest you go out and buy some. Trust me it's worth it.

Valentines

Check out my handsome boys in their valentine picture. I took this (technically these as it's actually two separate pictures) back in the middle of January but just now got to editing it. It's hard to keep on top of my photos with these little munkins around. Oh well. They're worth it!

The CoffeeShop Blog: How I don't do it all and can live with that.

I recently read this post on The CoffeeShop Blog and let me just say that I can relate entirely to this. It is virtually impossible to be all things at all times, but we can always strive to do the best we can and prioritize the importance of what we do get done. Sometimes it is hard for me because I have so many things that I want to do but my little ones truly take up the majority of my time. Then I remember that of all my accomplishments in this life my kids will be number one and they deserve as much time as I can give them. So as always my kids are my first priority, but like most moms I do some juggling to fit everything else in as well.


The CoffeeShop Blog: How I don't do it all and can live with that.: "We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend. There was a sea of pumpkins and happy children in cute little black and orange fall costum..."

Round 1: Gatty for the Win!

     What is a mother to do? I swear I try so hard to do right by my boys and it never fails that something is amiss. Last night I found out the results of Gatlin's last blood test and it turns out that he is very anemic. The doctor said that it is possible that he's just very low on iron right now and that we may be able to get this under control but it also may be that Gatty has a blood disease which is going to cause him problems for the rest of his life with anemia. So some how I have to find a way to get my very picky eater to take in more iron so that we can see if we can fix this problem. Of course the doctor is also prescribing iron supplements for him as well.
     It just so happened that I was actually at the grocery store last night when the doctor called me back so I was able to buy several different things to try to get him to eat a little better. Today was the first full day of putting things to the test and let me just say that this round went to Gatty. Out of everything that I tried to get him to eat I only succeeded with the Pediasure (that was a good win) and some spanish rice. Most everything else went to straight to the dogs. I should've know as this is always the case, but if I hadn't figured it out by now ... this is going to be a long battle.
     It's hard enough to get him to try new things and eat as it is, but the bigger problem now is that there aren't a whole lot of things that are a good source of iron. Rather I should say there aren't many things that he will eat that are a good source of iron. The one thing that we have in the house that is the best source of iron and shouldn't be too bad to get him to eat is MultiGrain Cheerios. They actually have 100% DV of iron, but do you think he would eat them? NOPE!! Somehow I've got to trick him into eating them. For my first attempt I tried mixing them in with his yogurt (he LOVES yogurt) but that was a complete fail. He did eat the yogurt but he pulled every Cheerio out of his mouth and threw it on the floor! I hope I have better luck tomorrow.

Get rid of that Monkey!!

     Right now Gatlin is big into Toy Story. He loves them all in fact. We can rotate through all three movies and he's happy, but his favorite right now it Toy Story 3. He just absolutely loves that movie. He got it for Christmas along with some Toy Story pajamas and I swear we've been watching that movie almost daily ever since.
     Then for his birthday at the end of January Gatty got a Buzz Lightyear. So now he can wear his Toy Story 3 pajamas, watch the movie, and carry around Buzz all at the same time. Let me just say that this makes for one happy Gatlin. For the most part Mommy is usually pretty happy too. You see when Gatty is busy watching his movie he tends to be less interested in destroying Mommy's house. So generally when Gatty is happy watching his movie then Mommy is happy too ... but there is one issue.
     What could possibly the problem? The monkey!! That's right, Mommy agrees with the telephone when he tells Woody that the monkey is the problem. Yes indeed... "Get rid of that monkey!!!" You see as soon as that monkey sounds the alarm and screams, so does my Gatty. Yep Gatty's a screamer just like the monkey. He will even scream at the daycare  part of the movie where the other litte kids scream, but what really gets him going is that monkey.
     Luckily for me Gatlin is mostly just mimicking his favorite movie. So he does scream at those certain parts of the movie but usually that's it. He screams at the daycare part and then every time the monkey screams but then it's usually over. I can be annoying but at the same time it's pretty funny also. Just as Gatty mimicks his monkey ... Mommy agrees with telephone. "Get rid of that monkey!!"

Perfume Wars

     The other day while Gatlin was out with Daddy I decided to leave Draiman with his Tia Tori while I jumped in the shower real quick. (For those who don't know, Tia means Aunt in Spanish) She had already picked him up and was playing with him so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get a quick shower. Everything was fine until the very end. As I turned off the water I could hear Draiman fussing.
     Usually I prefer to put on some body lotion as soon as I get out of the shower but this time I figured I was probably going to have to skip it. I called out to Tia to see if Draiman was super fussy or if I had time to slather on some lotion really quick. Tori said he'd be fine and to go ahead and put on some lotion. Meanwhile she held him close to the door so that I could talk to him. As I continued talking to him through the door he seemed to calm down some just from hearing my voice. Once I finished I came out for the usual "Mommy to the rescue" and took Draiman from Tia so that he would settle down.
    Well lets just say that things did not work out according to plan at all. Once I took him he seemed like he was going to calm down at first but then suddenly he started crying even worse then before. In fact he got so upset that he was nearly full on screaming at this point. So my next thought was that he was all worked up and probably hungry so I should go ahead and nurse him. I then sat down to nurse him and that just made it all that much worse. He just started screaming even worse at this point and when my little guy gets upset like this he is very difficult to get to calm down.
     Once Daddy got home I had him take Draiman and I took Gatty who was also upset because he had just been to the hospital for blood work. There was a lot of crying at this point. Draiman seemed to calm down for Daddy but he still seemed to be hungry. Since he had calmed down I tried to take him back to nurse and once again he started screaming. This happened several times before I finally had to just put him in his bassinet and let him scream because nothing I did worked and Daddy had to leave for work.
     Finally I told Tori to watch them while I headed up stairs to change. This whole time the only thing I could figure that was upsetting Draiman so much was my perfumed lotion. I usually put on JLO Live lotion and this time I had used JLO Glow so maybe just maybe this perfume was upsetting him. You know they say that babies have a super keen sense of smell (the lotion was strongly scented) and are able to smell their mother, well this time his mother must have smelled bad to him I guess. So I quickly aired out so to speak, changed my shirt, and washed my hands before picking him up again. Then just in case that wasn't the only thing bothering him I switched sides to try nursing him on. Well what do you know, it worked like a charm. Little guy finally started to nurse and then he calmed down and fell asleep. So for future reference I better go easy on the perfumed lotion or at least stick with the same scent.

Gone Bananas

     So today I thought I'd be good and get some time in on the Wii Fit. In the beginning it was going quite well as both boys seems to be occuppied. Then just as I'm in the middle of advanced step Draiman starts fussing like crazy. No big deal. I just finish up with that and then pick him up and carry him while I do some more less intense aerobics. All is well .. or so I thought.
     Once I finish I look towards the dining room and realize that for some reason the dogs (two Chihuahuas) seem to be staring over at something. I walk over to see what's going on and there's Gatlin repeatedly throwing a banana on the floor. Now the bananas were getting soft as it was but this poor banana was beyond squishy after being slammed on the floor so many times. The banana was even busting open at the side. Before I can finishing saying "Gatlin what are you doing?" he's off running away with the banana. I catch him over at the couch and manage to get the banana away from him when I suddenly wonder what he must have done with the rest of the bunch.
     I head back to the kitchen and check the counter for the rest of the bananas. As expected the whole bunch is missing. I walk around looking on the floor in the dining room. Next I check the living room and then of course the hall and back to the kitchen. No bananas anywhere ... they're just gone. I know darn good and well that the dogs did not eat those bananas and of course Gatty is really only interested squishing fruit right now so they've got to be some where. Oh wait! Why didn't I think of it before ... they must be in the sink.
     Low and behold that's exactly where the bananas are at. The whole bunch sitting in the sink along with some dirty dishes. Yep, I should've known it. The sink is the one place where almost everything ends up. On any given day you can find anything from Gatty's toys to papers, shoes, pants, you name it. I just love how it all ends up in the sink.

Battle of the pants

     Everyday it's the same story. Change Gatlin's diaper, get him dressed, and then let the pants battle begin. Yep that's right ... we're going through the whole "it's fun to take my pants off" stage. No sooner do you put his pants on him then there he goes running the ring pantsless! Our home has a sort of "ring around" where you can go around in a circle from the living room to the dining room, then the kitchen and back to the living room. The "ring" is where lots of battles at our house take place ... especially the pants battle.
     It is pretty much daily that Gatty slips his pants off super quick and then runs around the ring laughing as we chase him with his pants. It's almost like a classic episope of Tom and Jerry only instead of us chasing the mouse we're chasing the Gatlin. My favorite though is when he has shoes on already, those are the times we gain the advantage. At those times Gatty pulls his pants down but forgets to take his shoes off first. Let's just say it's quite comical when he runs (or rather waddles) around the ring still stuck in his pants. These moments he's easy to catch , that is if you can stop yourself from rolling on the floor laughing!
     There are times that we do get annoyed with him taking off his pants repeatedly but kids will be kids. We do our best to stay lighthearted about things because after all they are only this young for so long. Might as well enjoy the "battles" now while they're still young enough to want to engage with you.

Write On!

     Well it's been a long time coming but I've finally gone ahead and created this blog about my life with the brothers bad. That's right... I call my boys "the brothers bad." Why do I call them that? Well as I'm sure you already know boys can be quite rotten at times and lets just say that things can get quite crazy with two little munchkins. It can be especially crazy when my oldest, Gatlin, is beyond a handfull on his own and then add to the mix, Draiman, who likes to fuss at the very same moments that Gatlin is out of sorts. Sometimes it can be quite a challenge dealing with these two but I wouldn't have it any other way. They are the love of my life and they sure keep life interesting. So with that I begin this blog about my life with the brothers bad ... a two year old and three month old. Let the writing begin!