mine on monday

hey, so i'm sure you all heard we jumped forward an hour. and can i just say i freakin hate it. i love everything that it indicates; more daylight, spring is coming, pizza dinners at the playground, etc. but why do i feel like i've been beaten up over the loss of an hour!? point of fact, i am an insane night owl. so yesterday, dragging myself through the day, we headed over to the in laws for weekly sunday dinner. it was good to be back to that act of normalcy. our first sunday back from CA, the one that was the day after our return, we had to skip due to older child having fever and an incident involving vomit. moving on...over the course of the weekend my friend gave me a bunch of hats she had crocheted on the sly for me. ah they are so cute! i am really nuts for any hat with ear flaps, pom poms or ears. nuts. so of course, yesterday being a sunny day i thought hell, i'll bring em over and see if i can find a head or two.

it just so happened both baby niece and baby nephew wore colors complimentary to the hat. so i looked around for a well lit spot. my in laws do not have great light in their house. have i mentioned that? (ha...ha...) so i had to open the front door to the house and then just propped myself in the threshold of the door. and pretty much just let them play. we hung out for quite a while actually. this has always been me. even as a kid bopping from place to place with my mom to visit friends, i always found the youngest kid in the house and hung out with them. i babysat as soon as anyone would leave a baby with me. i am very soothed by the presence of these little souls. especially when they're not mine and i get to be a bit more relaxed, haha.

Henry decided my finger was a good teething toy. i agreed. sometimes, when i think about all these little nieces and nephews that love all us aunts and uncles the way they do, it kinda makes my heart explode.

i can not wait until Mary is sitting, because currently it is difficult to get a pic of the two of them.

and guys, i'm not sure if it signals the coming of the apocalypse, but my big kid let me take his picture. and instead of looking borderline insane, he instead looks almost happy, but also like he almost might cry. i'll take what i can get.

ok, Mother's Day Mini Sessions! April 17th! stay tuned for a post later in the day with all the details! xo isabel

Daisy Petal Designs - product shoot

aren't the interwebs awesome? i stumbled upon Dawn Roth through a friend and loved her hair products immediately. she's a short haired gal like myself and rocks a damn good headband. i let her know i'd love to do a little shoot for her new kid's line of headbands and the rest was history. Dawn is so sweet and is a mother herself. i hope this is the beginning of a long friendship and partnership. plus, hanging out with all these cute little ladies didn't make for a bad saturday morning!

everything is handmade by Dawn. i love helping and supporting another work at home mom. i love this job for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is that it does allow me to (try) and give my kids the time they deserve from me at home as well.

for more information on Daisy Petal Designs by maddiesmommy you can find her on Facebook (where she most definitely already has our thumbs) and also HERE ON ETSY .

happy shopping! xo isabel

***if you're a vendor interested in product photography, please use the handy contact button up top, thanks!***

Anna Banana's Homemade chocolatey goodness - review!

i had the truly unfortunate task of testing chocolate this week. i know. your heart breaks... luckily, i had someone who was willing to brave the storm with me.

(by the way, this is what i get when i ask him to smile normally...to be fair, the kid could use some chapstick. and his hair! if anyone can tell me how to give this child a decent haircut, i'm ready and willing!)

ok, but really. my friend Sarah is starting her own little gig making handmade chocolates. she also has an incredibly adorable little girl, Anna, who is 2 and change. and so Anna Banana's Homemade Goodness was born. Jack hunkered down with me while Leo napped.

oh, you were hoping for the review part! short story, they're absolutely delicious. she's really playing on the sweet and savory, with most of the blends featuring sea salt. you had me at sweet and savory. Jack's favorites were those little cubes (caramel and sea salt. to die for.) and the turtle with caramel. i thought i'd be all about the peanut butter cup, and while it was really delicious, it was actually the almond butter cup that won me over. and yea, the caramel cubes. seriously. to die for.

you can find Anna Banana's Homemade Goodness on Facebook for information and pricing. but they've got our thumbs already!

xo isabel

is it possible?! can it be?!

that i feel more tired and bedraggled today than i did yesterday? i seriously contemplated using toothpicks to hold my eye lids open. or scotch tape. i abandoned all hope of getting anything productive done today early on. my friend lured with me with the promise of coffee and the ability to bitch and moan. plus, this particular friend has a child the same age as Leo, and so they mostly just get lost in the bowels of the apartment. much easier than completing a grown up task like, say, grocery shopping. as we were walking out the door, i looked at my camera and made the choice to leave it at home. Leo started prancing around while i got my shoes and coat on. i just happened to look up and see this:

i told him not to move and ran to get my camera and a memory card (i still had not touched it since uploading my photos from the funeral services...) and hoped he'd still be prancing happily around.

mr. happy is an understatement, and if you've ever met Leo, you know it. it's been so nice to be with him these past two mornings. but that california sunshine was magical, and this cold march weather is the pits. spring, you're so close!

xo isabel