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.