Mama and The Dudes

time for another tattoo

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. Tattoo season. I've told myself (now that my money is OUR money) that I'd try to do one tattoo a year or less. Well, I got those beautiful daffodils last year in honor of the boys and their first birthday. I'm ready for more.

I've mentioned before that I want a 1/4-1/2 sleeve on my left arm. So I'm thinking my next piece will be below the flowers. I'm not sure what I want yet but I've found a lot of good inspiration on Pinterest!

I love the pink! It would look awesome with all my blues and yellows. I like the idea of a lotus because of the fact that they grow in the mud. It's awesome that something so beautiful can come out of such nastiness. Also like peonies (which are a really pretty pink) because they remind me of growing up and the peony bushes we had at our house.

I love everything about this, although I don't need any more blue. I really love the clean edge, which is what I want at the bottom of my 1/2 sleeve.

This is just plain gorgeous and speaks for itself. I love the paint style, which is what I've really kept with for all of my tattoos, they've been done buy multiple artists but I've been really good at letting them know the style I want to continue with.

Anybody have any good recommendations for tattoo artists in South Orange County??

5 minutes of raising toddler twins.

2012-02-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

This morning was one of those parenting moments that was absolutely crazy while it was happening but afterward, it was one of those things I don't want to forget. I don't want to forget how much these two little THINGS that aren't even 2 years old can completely own their parents...

Important information to know before I tell you this story: I got the boys out of bed before doing what I usually do, put the baby gates up at the stairs and at the kitchen entry. Bad move.

As soon as I got Julian out of bed he was squealing and squirming to get away from me. I put him down and he practically spun out trying to run away. He saw the gate wasn't up at the stairs. Shit. I chased after him and put the gate up all while I hear Isaiah whining in his bed, thinking I'd deserted him in the bedroom.

I walked back into their room and was greeted with the biggest, most excited smile from Isaiah. I should have known he had a special surprise for me. I lifted him, snuggled and kissed him and he wanted down, too. (My cuddle moments are few and far between.) As I watch him walk away, I notice the lump in his pants looks a little lopsided. I decide he must have gotten his diaper off and it was in the left leg of his pj's. Thank everything that is holy I put on his tighter pj pants so it all stayed in there.

I scoop him up ready to change his diaper and quickly realize it's not just a wet diaper in those pj legs; there are other treasures awaiting. I'm now holding him out in front of me, his pants and diaper full of poop dangling at his knees and I'm yelling to Chikeize,

"Wipes! I need wipes!!"

He runs to get wipes and a diaper as I lay Isaiah down trying to contain the poop situation. It's worse than I thought. As he's yelling at me and kicking me with his freakishly strong legs, I see there is poop all over his legs.

"Scratch that! Just get me a towel or wash cloth or something! The poop is everywhere!" I yell back to Chikezie. I see him frantically searching for something to contain toxic spill.

Meanwhile, I hear the noise of something spilling all over the kitchen floor. Shit shit shit! I forgot to put the gate up. Julian has dumped an entire bag of straws out all over the floor.

"Chikezie can you get Julian out of the kitchen?" I ask as he hands me a wet wash cloth as he walks to the kitchen to stop Hurricane Julian from doing any more damage.

"I need a towel! This wash cloth is not enough! There is poop everywhere!" I say back to Chikezie, after the washcloth basically did nothing to clean up the nasty. By this time, Isaiah is full out fighting me. I'm just trying not to get poop on every surface around us and Chikezie is trying to do 8 things at once. And then, with my mommy super hearing, I hear another noise from the kitchen.

"Chikezie...Julian is getting into the cupboard under the sink!" Yeah, this kid is freakishly strong and can break the locks in the kitchen. (Which is why I always put the gate up. Oh wait, I didn't.) He was breaking into the cupboard under the sink...you know, the cupboard with all the hazardous chemicals.

Super hubby sweeps into the kitchen, saves Julian from eminent danger, I successfully clean up the poop-tornado without getting it everywhere and we're all safe.

This was just a 5 minute snippet of what it's like to be raising toddler twins.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

my children eat cute for breakfast

2012-01-31T22:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend our friend (and one of Chikezie's coworkers) Cassie wanted to get some practice photographing kids...and the boys got to be the lucky subjects! I seriously LOVE how these pictures turned out and wanted to share them all with you. So, I apologize for the massive photo dump. There were just too many good ones not to share!

FYI

Julian = red shirt/gray cardigan

Isaiah = bow tie/vest

You guys can check out Cassie's photography page HERE

hey look! it's me!

2012-01-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

This picture/post is for a challenge over at Chelsey's blog to take a self portrait and to tell a little bit about yourself. We all have our insecurities and a lot of times, as bloggers, we don't take a lot of pictures of ourselves. I take about 80 until I find the right one. This one isn't even one of my favorites but it highlights something I get insecure about: my huge head. I have a big head (hello, have you seen my children? I praise sweet baby Jesus every day that I didn't have to push those Amazon babies out) and I have a big face. I know that sounds weird. I just sometimes get insecure about my giant head/face. Whatever, I have a big head because it's jam packed full of brains. I'm not dainty and little. And that's ok.

Obsessing over:

The pictures our friend Cassie took of the boys this weekend. The first real pictures from anyone besides me and I LOVED not having to be the one behind the camera for once. I mean, look at this preview. I can't believe I made those children.

Working on:

More bow ties for the shop. Keeping up with orders. Oh, and some things for the So Cal Blogger Meet Up on Saturday...going to be 60 people there this time, versus the 20+ last time. I'm a little excited. Ok, a lot excited.

Thinking about:

All of the things I have coming up in the next couple of months....and this week! A craft night with Summer and friends, a trip to San Diego for the blogger meet up and to see my Stephanie. Then there's Valentine's Day (I want to make it special for hubs and my boys). The boys' 2nd birthday on March 3rd, and then my best friend's wedding in Iowa on March 17! So many good things!

Anticipating:

The next season of Dexter. I just finished season 6 last night. Why the hell can't seasons just keep on going? They don't need to take a break! Damn it!

Listening to:

Kanye- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I really think he's a super doucheface in real life but I feel like I can leap between roof tops and punch people in the face when I listen to his music. Wait, that sounded wrong. His music is just makes me feel like a badass? Shut up. You know what I mean.

Eating:

I just ate my 4th spoon of cookie dough which, let's face it, is the only reason I made the dough to begin with. I won't eat the cookies when they're made, I'll be too full of dough. I live life on the edge. Screw salmonella or ecoli or whatever I'm supposed to be getting from it.

Wishing:

That it was March/April already and Jess would be moved already. I can't wait to meet her/hang out with her and um, the boys and Wyatt as friends? Can you even handle the image of cuteness? The adventurous blondie boy and the two sweet afro dudes as friends? They'll form some super club like the Little Rascals.

eyebrows! get your eyebrows here!

2012-01-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

As we all know, I have about one good facial expression for most of my pictures. Why? Because it works. And because I work the eyebrows.

In the recent weeks/months I've gotten a lot of questions/comments/compliments on my eyebrows. And you know what? I really like these things.

This was not always the case for me. Only in the past 6-8 months have I really paid attention to them. Before, I'd tweeze every time they got out of control or just go to get them waxed or threaded. One day this nice girl waxing my eyebrows told me they were beautiful and I needed to let them grow more. I was breaking one of the most commonly broken facial hair rules; over-tweezing.

I was taking off WAY too much in the middle and completely shortening my eyebrows.

So, in response to the comments and inquiries, I want to share with you some tips I've picked up on rocking a set of bitchin' eyebrows. Now don't get me wrong, you are already gorgeous! However, I realized what a difference it made after I took a chance and grew them out, and really loved the change.

It all starts with how they're maintained. I LOVE this tutorial on how to shape them:

Love these brows.

**Stop over plucking! The wider the space between your brows, the wider your nose looks. So, if you're trying to downsize the nasal department....there ya go.

**Try letting those babies grow. The growing out process was sometimes awkward for me because I just felt a lot...harrier. But it really has been worth it and they make me feel more feminine now? Does that make sense? Whatever.

** EYEBROW PENCIL!!! AHHH!!! I can't praise this enough! Seriously, I love it. I had someone try it out on me at the make up counter at Macy's once and immediately fell in love. She showed me how to use it and helped me pick out a good color. It matches my brow color perfectly (you don't want to go too dark or it looks crazy fake).

*** When using eyebrow pencil, I only lightly fill in the middle parts of my brows where the hair is the most thin and do one thin line across my brow to give it color. My pencil has a brush on the other end so I can blend it in afterward. THIS is the eyebrow pencil I use.

Now go! Experiment with those brows-they will change your face. AND make it so much easier to give your kids dirty looks.

things you can send to my house, please.

2012-01-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

This little girlie. Because it's so stinking cute.

This old window turned useful. Because my husband would get mad at me for getting this.

This rainbow stripes coin purse. Because I have so much money I need an extra purse for all of it.

These cute felt baby booties. You know, for my little tiny babies.

These organic cotton lounge pants. Because I need yet another pair of lounge pants.

This gnome onesie/t-shirt. Because that guy rocks socks. He looks like a gold miner. Or Santa.

This driftwood coat/towel hanger. Because. Just because.

they're torturing me on purpose

2012-01-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

Send help. Please send help. My children have turned into little a-holes. Seriously? I love them, but people you love can be jerks sometimes. And I know I use the twin card sometime but this is definitely one of those occasions where it's completely ok for me to wave it out like a white flag of pitiful mommy surrender.

Oh, what have they been doing to have turned me into a sad, depressed and discarded little goldfish hiding in fear under our couch? They've been doing EVERYTHING. That's what.

Julian, don't throw your cars. He then proceeds to empty his entire toy box of cars by hurling them across the baby gate into the kitchen one at a time. Every. Single. One. (they literally have close to 50 cars) Laughing and squealing and rubbing it in my face. And it looks like so much fun, his brother decides to help with everything else he can find within a 6 mile radius. All the while, mommy is in full on re-direction, scold, re-direction, scold, move, do-anything-to-get-them-to-stop-mode.

At one point I even flicked Julian's hand. Yes, I flicked it. Call child services. And he looked up at me with big confused eyes and gave me the whole quivering pouty lip thing and then I shriveled up into a ball and died.

Oh, and yesterday Isaiah threw a car and it hit me in the head and I really did cry. And he was laughing.

F word.

Then there's the breaking through the baby locks to get into the bathroom and throw my make up/everything within reach all over the floor. Or breaking through the other baby lock on the hall closet repeatedly to get all the cords and chargers and remotes everywhere. Or when I'm savoring one whole minute of alone time in the bathroom (for the love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph can I seriously pee alone???) and I hear nothing in the living room, only to come out to both boys up on the computer desk pounding the shit out of the keyboard and our iMac about to have a mental break down. (I feel you iMac. I feel you.)

Or the pounding of the sippy cups upside down on hard surfaces to get liquid everywhere and then the splashing around of hands in the liquid. And the stealing of and fighting over one car when they have about 3823 other ones.

What in the name of Ryan Gosling did I do to deserve this torture?

Is it acceptable to keep children in steel reinforced cages? You know, like tigers and other exotic pets those crazy people keep in their back yards. No?

Whatever. I had Chikezie put them to bed 15 minutes early and I left to get some fro yo. Fro yo always makes life better. I even made a quick side trip to Tj Max (where I can never find anything decent) and bought a new shirt for the blogger meet up on the 4th.

And it made me feel better.

tips for caring for your kids' curly hair

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

I've gotten many emails asking me how the heck I care for the boys' super curly hair. Today I thought I'd share with you a few of the things I do. I'm by no means a pro, but curly hair is curly hair and I take care of their hair, a lot like I take care of my own.

throw away your comb.

Combing through curls is always a no-no. It breaks the curls and they'll just end up looking frizzy and unhealthy. The only combing done should be with your fingers, while the hair is wet.

condition, condition, condition.

Every time I wash the boys' hair, I put in at least 3 "pumps" of leave in conditioner. Curly hair is naturally more dry than straight hair and leave in conditioner helps keep everything tame and under control. You might need to experiment with how much to use. I use THIS leave in conditioner for the boys (and for myself!)

And PSSST! I'll tell you a little secret for when/if you run out of leave in conditioner: regular conditioner does pretty much the same thing. Just put it in when wet and don't wash it out!

sulfate free, yo.

Look for hair products that are sulfate free. Sulfate completely dries out hair, especially curly hair. This rule is applicable for anybody's hair, not just curly. And pretty much all shampoo has sulfate in it. It's not as sudsy but suds aren't what clean your hair. I only wash the boys' hair once or twice a week. Otherwise it's just rinse and condition.

don't mess with baby locks.

When the boys were little, I just washed their hair with regular baby shampoo. Baby hair is so fine and fragile and sweet, just let it be messy and curly. Don't overload it with products. I didn't really start "caring" for the boys' hair until they were about a year and a half and the hair was getting longer with more defined curls.

let it be.

You guys, curly hair is meant to be wild. It's going to be crazy. Let it be crazy. Help your kids embrace their curls. Give them compliments on how great it looks when its curly. Some days it's frizzy, some days it lays perfect. The less you stress about it, the less they will.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mamamandolin@gmail.com...or if you have any tips of your own feel free to share!

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shit people say in LA

2012-01-24T22:58:00.001-08:00

I don't live IN L.A. but I live in the L.A. area...and I haven't lived here long but I've said a LOT of these things. I don't know if that's good or bad. But I found this really funny.

go get 'em!

2012-01-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Yay! I power housed it out and have all of the bow ties listed up in my etsy shop for you wonderful people.

And um, Isaiah even modeled one. He hasn't wanted to take it off for the past 24 hours. He's going to be THAT kid who wears bow ties all the time. I'm ok with that.

Yeah there's more than just that tie. I just couldn't get that one off of him lol.

GO to my SHOP to see all the rest and get one or ten for your little guy! (just kidding...kind of)

And, if you're not planning on buying, could you "heart" your favorites?

come on ride the train

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've been motivated lately. You need to hop on this motivation train. It's-a not slowin' down.

Oh and incase you're more of an audio learner:

Ride the motivation train, y'all.

(source 1) (source 2) (source 3) (source 4) (source 5)

pre-order bow ties!

2012-01-23T00:37:00.000-08:00

You guys. YOU GUYS. I'm so excited about these bow ties. I wish I would have made them a million years ago. I spent almost all of my free time last week and over the weekend sewing these babies up. I even bought a printer (finally) and made my own labels. The labels were really something I've been wanting and needing to do forever. Seeing my name on the things I've made gave me a crazy boost of motivation and a sense that I'm finding my niche.

I'm hoping to get the product photos taken and everything posted up in the shop by the end of the week at the latest. But in the meantime, I want to give you guys the opportunity to pre-order the tie(s) you want. This will give me a chance to get some extras made over the week so by the time I post them in the shop, yours will be ready to ship right away! And I won't be on crazy overload mode if you guys all happen to like the same ones.

I've put all of the current options in an album on flickr and have all of them numbered. (I apologize in advance for the cell phone pics. Like I said, the good product photos will be up when I post them in my shop later this week) If you want to pre-order any, you can leave a comment here letting me know how many and of which numbers you'd like. Price per bow tie will be $10 or $17 for two.

ALSO, these fabrics are all also available in necklace form. So, if you are interested in matching mommy necklace/son bow tie combos...great for family photos or just wanting to coordinate with your little men :)

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support as I've been working on these, and starting my boys' line. I've been dreaming this up for awhile and really am over the moon excited.

Go HERE to view all bow tie options.

Yeeee!

worth a click: links I'm digging this week

2012-01-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

This week I've really immerged myself into reading about handmade businesses. I know what I love to make and what I want to do, but knowing just that doesn't make you successful. You really need to do your research and dive into the business world. Here are some links of great things I've found this week about growing your business and blog (and a couple other cute things as well)!

- Shop or blog in a rut? Here are six ways to refresh without having to redesign.

- This is an awesome post about how to write product listings with personality. I'm definitely going to be using these tools because I often find myself at a loss for words when writing something as seemingly boring as a product description.

- This store in Orange, CA where Stephanie and I stopped this weekend. It is seriously the cutest place.

- I worked at a summer camp in the mountains with this girl and she is just such a talented make up artist!

- This post from Paperstitch about pricing your handmade work. Love this.

- Reverse canvas wall pockets over at Just Something I Made.

- 10 Reasons Your Freelance Career is Failing

- And these sweet little bow ties I've been working on. YEEE!

not afraid

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes blog life calls for a reality check. I stretched a lot to grow two little boys in me. Skin is pretty awesome, huh? I guess some women hate their stretch marks. What you don't see is underneath those stretchy yoga pants, where my c-section incision is, is just some saggy, wrinkled, loose skin. Don't think that will go away anytime soon. And you know what? I'm not afraid.

They don't really show you what you're going to look like after kids. You see pictures of cute pregnant women but none of us really know what's going to happen to our bodies afterwards. Some of us are lucky, our skin bounces back flawlessly without a stretch mark in sight. Mariah Carey? Jennifer Lopez? These women with flat gorgeous tummies? Total freaking crock of poop. Nobody looks like that after twins. I highly doubt you'll see any close up, untouched photos of their tummies anytime soon.

I saw a picture like this on Pinterest recently and this was the quote underneath:

"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me. It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

So, here's to loving ourselves and not being afraid to be (and show) who we really are.

advertise on Mama and the Dudes in February!

2012-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to finally be offering advertising opportunities on Mama and the Dudes. I've been playing with the idea for awhile and had been doing an ad swap for a few months to test the waters. I've gotten a ton of interest. My blog continues to grow leaps and bounds every month and I'm quickly realizing I need to grow with it. As much as I'd love to continue swapping with everyone, I have to do what is best for me and this blog.

I'm going to be honest, sponsorship takes a lot of time and effort. While swapping is good for a growing blog, you can also attract a lot of people who aren't willing to put in the work. I think offering paid sponsorship will really open doors for those who are serious about growing their blog and working with me here on Mama and the Dudes.

I'm really excited about this step and hope you'll come along with me on this journey. Here is what I'll be offering starting in February:

And because February is a short month, and the boys turn 2 in March, I'd like to offer a deal for those interested: if you purchase 2 months of ad space (any size), I'll give you an additional month for free. Right now, my large spot is taken for February but everything else is available.

Check out my advertising page for more information on all of this! I look forward to hearing from you guys :)

long hair!

2012-01-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm really working at growing my hair out long. Like, long long. It's never been much past my collar bones before I'm ready to chop it again. However, my husband has told me on many occasions he likes my hair longer. And, because I'm such an amazing wife and I love my husband, I'm growing it out.

But it takes dedication...especially if you're used to short hair. And when I start to feel weak, I go onto pinterest and stare at pictures of beautiful women with long hair. I will be them. One day, I will.

That's not creepy is it? Don't answer that.

source

Whatever, Emma Stone. I can rock your red hair, too.

Banana Bread Recipe

2012-01-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

I love banana bread. I don't make it often enough, but when I do it's gone right away. No really. I made it last night after the boys went to bed...it's 10:45 this morning and it's already gone. We seriously kill it.

I thought I'd share with you the recipe I always use, nothing special but always comes out perfect. If you have any additions to this recipe that you use, please share!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten (or whipped)

3 mashed over-ripe bananas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate, larger bowl, cream brown sugar and butter. Stir in the eggs and mashed bananas. Stir in flour mixture until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Bake for 60 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan.

Enjoy!

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I have a dream.

2012-01-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

We have truly traveled a great distance since the days of segregation and racial hatred of our parent's youth. This man stands for a fight that will continue as long as there are different colors of skin on this earth. No matter how many people want change, there will always be that many more who can not change, who refuse. Our world will never be free of the beasts that are racism and judgement and fear. However, it will always be full of those who are fighting against it. People like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We have the monumental task as parents to create the world we want our children to live in one day, through our children. The values we instill in them now are what will govern us when we are wrinkled and gray. Being in an interracial marriage and having mixed race children has opened me to a new world of experiences based on the color of my skin, experiences I'd never dealt with growing up. Family members and former friends have said hurtful things to me, Chikezie and I have gotten all sorts of side eyes, and a whole new chapter of these experiences have begun now that we have children who are their own beautiful shade of brown.

All I can do is teach my children by example, to be strong. They will undoubtedly encounter the negatives this life has to throw at them based on the color of their skin. I don't dream that my children will live in a world free of these things. I have a dream that the injustices they face as they grow will serve to make them stronger and more resilient men.

I dream that my children will stand for what is right in this world even if those around them are telling them to sit or too afraid to stand themselves.

peeves

2012-01-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

As much as I love blogging, there are a lot of things about this online world that drive me peanut butter and banana sandwich. If you are guilty of any of these things, don't fret. We all have our own personal preferences; these are mine.

I've mentioned this before but bad grammar, punctuation, bad English in general. Spell check is pretty much automatic, people. Use it. Love it. Embrace it. Learn the proper use of they're, there, their, etc. You didn't "seen" something, you "saw" it. Basic English. I've unfollowed many blogs because I just can't get past the grammar.
Blogs turning into Pinterest promoting machines. I've seen so many blogs lately with post after post quite obviously centered around Pinterest and how many pins they can get off of it. I feel like sincerity declines as pushes for traffic increases.
Handwriting fonts for main blog text.
When people post like 80 pictures to instagram a day of the same thing over and over again. Use instagram wisely. It gets annoying when people flood your feed constantly. The same goes with Twitter.
When people start etsy shops to make money. If you do it because you need the money, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Shops should be started when you truly enjoy handcrafting things and want to share it with others. If you make money at it eventually, that should just be a plus. No matter how much you beg and plead for people to buy your things because you need the money, if it's not something you truly love it will show through.

End rant.

What internet pet peeves to you have?

to the park

2012-01-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

You know how you get sick and basically become like the worst, most worthless mom ever and then when you feel better you feel guilty for neglecting your children? Yeah that. So I took them to the park yesterday. Let's just say the next place we live is going to not be in the hills or be on the 2nd floor. Since I don't have a car during the day, I walk the boys anywhere we go. There are 2 parks about 1mile from us. One UP the hugh hill we live on, one down. I HATE GOING TO THE PARK. There, I said it. Ok, I enjoy it when I have assistance. Alone? Stress-tastic.

Enough of my whining.... Ok, some more whining. We haven't been to the park for awhile not only because it my legs turn to jello just getting there but I'm still not entirely sure how to wrangle two runners at once. One boy runs one way, the other runs the other way and I have no idea who to go after first. It's fine when there's nobody at the park but I get super nervous/paranoid/psycho mom when there are random adults everywhere. It's dumb, I know. But I really am not one of those moms ok with their kid randomly running around like 100 yards from them amongst random people.

I managed to keep them semi in the same area. Julian would climb something but is slow and unsure and all the big kids are running by. When he decides he wants down is when Isaiah is running the other direction. Who do you help? The kid sprinting away or the kid about to plummet to his death off the rickety bridge?

I need to formulate a new game plan for this crap. My children are totally owning me in this park business. Ok, that really is the end of my whining because here is the real story from our park trip.

At one point while the boys were climbing something and making me nervous, a 7-8 year old boy asked me from up in some tower,

"What happend to his Batman shirt?" (Thinking Julian was Isaiah) "Oh are there two?"

"Yep!" I replied, not sure why this random kid cared.

"Are they your babies?"

"Yes they are."

"Oh, they just look kind of different."

"You're right. They do."

getting out of a funk

2012-01-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Being sick this week has really muffled my creativity. So, when all else fails I get out the ole DSLR and start stalking my children. Typically they're annoyed at the camera in their face and always grabbing at it, and the majority of the shots I get are profile and close ups. And then the really cute ones that I love always end up being blurry. Stop moving, will ya? Anywho. If there's anything that can pull me out of a rut it's incredibly adorable photos of my little minions.

2nd birthday party ideas

2012-01-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

The boys turn 2 in March and I really want to throw an ACTUAL PARTY. I've never done a cool, themed party. Last year I tried but failed to plan farther in advance and we just ended a semi-robot/rocket themed cook out. This year, I'm going to do it up.

And now there's Pinterest to give me all these awesome ideas!

sicky sickerson

2012-01-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes life isn't all peaches and butterflies.

This is what's up, folks. Hard core sickness. Well, yesterday anyway. Not good. I HATE being sick. I mean, nobody likes it, obviously but I just seriously hate it. I have kids to take care of, yo.

After about 24 hours of it, I'm feeling a little better today. No energy whatsoever and still no appetite but let's look on the bright side, I lost 5lbs yesterday! All the crap I ate while we were on vacation just disappeared in one miserable day.

So, it may be a day or two before things get back to normal around here. I'm trying to take it easy and disinfect like crazy. I don't think I could handle two little pukeys and I sure wouldn't want any of my guys feeling as bad as I did yesterday.

And the boys? They seriously have been angels the past couple of days; playing on their own and keeping their distance from mama. I think they know.

Stud.

top referrals of 2011: a thank you.

2012-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

source

So much of our blog traffic is based solely on people seeing our links on other blogs, or someone else told them to come here. The blogging community has been awesome to me over the past year, and it is in part to all the wonderful people I've met here.

I want to give a sincere thank you to the top referrers to Mama and the Dudes from the last year. You guys rock chalk.

1. Baby Making

2. Once Upon A Time

3. Nine Lion Design (thanks husband)

4. Ramblings and Photos

5. She Breathes Deeply

6. jenni from the blog

goals for 2012

2012-01-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

I returned home from our 10 day Iowa Christmas vacation with a renewed sense of purpose and a little boost of motivation. All it takes is a new year with millions of new possibilities and ideas and a little reminder of where you come from to kick your butt into gear.

I'm not one to make resolutions. Resolutions are so commonly broken. I prefer goals. Here is the beginning of my list of goals for 2012. I think I shall post them on the side of my blog so I can continuously add and check off completed goals. We all know how much I love lists.

Take the boys to the park to run and explore once a week. (without a car this is a task in our hilly neighborhood)
Schedule my necessary doctor appointments. I'm past due.
Add a boy's line to my Etsy shop.
Have a booth at the spring and/or fall Queen Bee Market.
Drink more tea.
Try one new recipe each week.
Grow my hair out (more).
Volunteer my time for a good cause.
Expand my sewing and photography skills.
Do something active everyday.
Read one book each month.
Take a yoga class.
Family vacation to Colorado.
Start a compost bin.
Use less electricity.
Go to BlogHer 2012.
Pay more attention to the foods I eat, focusing on a balance diet.
Blog my little heart out.
Throw a bitchin' 2nd birthday party for the boys.
Run another 5k.
Dance my face off at my best friend's wedding in March.

What are some of your goals for 2012?