I'll be back.......

So my year has finally come to an end! I had my last session this past Sunday and had a shoot on both Saturday and Sunday. I never thought that I would have been working this late in the year, especially in this area but I'm forever grateful that I was able too and got some amazing photos to boot! I feel like I've come such a long way and yet I still have a long way to go. Next year is all about growing not only my business, but my family as well. Then after that my goal for 2011 is to open a studio space so that I have someplace that my clients can come too to meet me and to separate my business life from my personal life as much as possible.......and it of course needs to be space in Arlington so hopefully something will be on the market during that time with great light coming in through nice large windows (a girl can dream right?!)

Lilly is doing well. We finally scheduled her second evaluation with the speech therapist and this one will be a little more intense for her and she'll be observed in pre-school as well. She's really doing a lot better than she was when she first started school, but still no where near where she needs to be for her age so we'll just continue to work on that. She's on the waiting list for the pre-K program at her school for next year so I'm hoping that she'll get in not only because she'll be able to go to school with her peers but also because the school is like less than 2 miles away and the 20 minute drive to Cambridge is starting to wear me down.....though I know she'll miss Ms Jane and Ms Carol, but you never know.....she could end up going there again!

Dan is doing well. He's been taking a break from remodeling until he gets his Christmas present and then we'll get to work on the kitchen. I do the taping and mudding and painting and he does everything else! We have to figure out what we're going to do with the heating vent in the wall that we'll be tearing down but at this point I'd rather just tear the wall down and deal with the heat that goes up through the hole for now......I just want to have the major part of the remodel done so we can put the cabinets in and refinish the floors.....oh and a ceiling would be nice too! He did such a great job on the outside though so this break is well deserved!

Anyways, me and Lilly decorated her gingerbread house yesterday. I realized while it was drying that I should have glued it to a plate rather than that ghetto white plastic thing but oh well. She tries to steal the candy off of it but I told her she has to wait until Daddy gets home from his business trip tonight so he can see it and then she can have some. Here's some pics (we did it in the living room since the table is covered in Christmas stuff at the moment!).....

Fall

I love the fall. I love mums. I love the smells outside and hearing the leaves fall off of the trees (though I hate the mess they leave on the ground!) I love going to the pumpkin patch and watching Lilly run around and watching her enjoy her surroundings.....


I love watching her find just the right pumpkin....


I love taking walks with the beautiful fall colors around us...


I love hearing her laugh....


I love fall! In other news we have lots going on here at the Bombria house! Lillian has been doing well in school. Me and Dan are doing well with work. And of course the house is doing well! Currently the valleys in the slate roof are being replaced in the front part of the house. There's a lot of labor involved since he has to remove like 3 or 4 rows of slate to be able to replace the metal and each slate tile has it's own pin holding it in, but thankfully Stanley is really good at what he does and we decided to have him do both valleys even though we were only planning on doing one because he's so quick. He'll also be replacing all of the broken slates and putting some protective stuff on the back valleys until we replace them in a year or two since they don't need to be replaced immediately. At least now I can repaint the spare bedroom and cover up the water damage! Dan has also been very busy and is getting close to done with the outside for the year. As you'll see in the below picture, he replaced all of the decorative moulding on the front of the house since it was rotted out and cleaned up the slate roof (you can still see the spot where he was standing that still needs to be cleaned up but it looks SOOOO much better now!) We also have a brand new storm door that he installed. Right now he's putting in two layers of insulation in the attic so we'll stay nice and toasty this winter and we'll be replacing the front windows in the coming weeks as well. The only thing left to do on the front of the house is the lattice work which he has contructed but just needs to install. Thankfully he agreed that repainting the garage needs to be put off till next year......time to focus on the kitchen!! Anyways, here's a pic of the house......can't wait to do the landscaping next year to complete the look!!!

Just a pic

I'm trying....

really I am! I know that our family blog has really been neglected since business has picked up earlier this year. I'm doing an even worse job with my photography blog which REALLY should be updated more often so people don't think that I'm just sitting around twiddling my thumbs all day long! Anyways, here's another pic of Lillian from the other day.....

Another quick update!

Well today was Lillian's first official day of pre-school and I think that it went rather well. I started to cry while we were walking from the car to the entrance but I pulled myself together before any one caught me.....not that it would matter or anything! There was a sign on the door telling us to just show them where the hook is for their coat and backpack and to make it a quick good-bye. I wanted to stay so bad you don't even know, but I knew that she'd have a good time and I knew that we both needed it so I did just as the sign said and left! Anyways, I said I'd make this quick since I'm getting ready for a session, so here are a couple of pics (which are unedited)....

totally bad pic from right before we left....

and her totally cheestastic smile......I swear this cracks me up......this is why you should never ask a photographer's kid to smile......she'll say cheese (which she's totally hearing from other people) and give you this....


and out in the backyard last night...

Been busy....

just a quick post.....will be back later Sunday/early Monday with updates on Lilly and some pics, but in the meantime this is what I've been busy with lately.....senior sessions!!

It's Official!!!

We have a completely potty trained 3 year old and the timing couldn't be more perfect! She sleeps through the night with her underwear, wears them throughout the day (as compared to running around with nothing on the bottom) and pulls them down when she goes on the potty and pulls them back up. She wears underwear in public as well and even wore them all day yesterday at the fair without having any accidents. She doesn't like being told when to go the bathroom and when I ask her if she has to go, even if she hasn't gone for a long time, I've started to realize that when she tell me she doesn't have to go, she really doesn't have to go! So I no longer ask her (and right now as I'm typing this she just ran to the potty on her own and is going) She'll have accidents I know, but that's life! Yay.......NO MORE PULLUPS!!!!!!!!! Anyways, that's my major news and I'm so happy that I don't have to worry about her for preschool anymore! Here's a photo that I took of her this morning when we went outside.....she was going around smelling all of the flowers along the river.....


Dan is back to painting the front of the house and he should have it all painted sometime this week and then he just needs to replace the woodwork he ripped out and we'll be all done painting (not that I did any of it or anything-he wouldn't let me!!!) The kitchen is at a standstill until the plumbing is done and then once it is we need to get a second opinion on the wall we're going to rip out (it's coming out no matter what.....just a matter of whether we need to put up a microlamb or not for support!) and then we can get that out of the way, measure for the other cabinets and start ordering them.......I just want to have a normal kitchen so that I can one day host a pampered chef party, see the river from the couch and have someplace to eat (we haven't eaten in the dining room in a long time since I tend to be claustrophobic)

Time is starting to slip past me and my little girl is becoming a big girl.

We're still here.....

we're just busy! I've been in the middle of a busy wedding season and now senior portrait sessions are starting to kick in so busy is certainly an understatement. It's a lot of work for sure owning your own business, but the pluses certainly outweigh the negatives! I just need to do a better job with capturing Lillian. She's in Syracuse right now (which is probably why I have a moment to post!) with Grandpa and Grandpa (she can't say grandma!) Dan has the next three days off and we're busy working on the house while she's gone so we don't have to worry about the mess. I was planning on doing more and had a large list, but with me being so busy, my list has grown a lot smaller and I think that some of the things will just end up being cold weather projects when business starts to slow down. I've been thinking about the possibility of renting some studio space within the next two years. I'd love to be able to add a second floor and bathroom above the garage, but I have a feeling we're not zoned for it, but since I'm in no rush I'll wait to find out! Anyways, it's just a thought since it's kinda hard to shoot outdoors (which I love the most) with 2 feet of snow on the ground.....it's a ways down the road at this point, but I think it's good to have goals and I've already surpassed my goals with where I thought I'd be with this business so I'm content at this point. It's just still so strange for me that I own my own business......nothing I ever thought I'd end up doing but I love it!

I've decided to limit the amount of weddings I shoot each year, not only for my sanity, but also from a creativity standpoint. Wedding season is starting to slow down for me for the year and I already have 6 weddings booked for next year which still surprises me (I guess I'm somewhat good at what I do!)

So onto the house and some updates on that! Dan is sanding the front today. He had to rip out a bunch of woodwork since it rotted out. Tonight he'll be ripping out the kitchen sink cabinet and replacing it with our beautiful new cherry cabinets.......they're a really dark stain, almost black and I just love them! We'll also have our new dishwasher installed which will be like heaven since I haven't had one in over a year. Then there's the black granite tile and the granite sink that he'll be doing as well. We decided to invest in the cabinets this year then in a few years we'll do solid surface counters......not sure on the granite or soapstone but we'll see. I'm just so excited for the ball to get rolling on this again and get the darn room done....though we still have a wall to rip out, new plumbing for the upstairs bathroom to replace and sand the wood floors but I'd like to hope maybe we'll be done by the end of the year!

Lillian is doing well! She'll be starting pre-school in a few weeks......so hard for me to believe still! I bought her some new dresses and still need to get her a few more and some new shoes and a backpack but other than that she'll be all set. She'll be going to Cambridge this year and then next year she'll be going to the program at the school so that she'll be with her classmates. She's been doing really well with potty training and is probably 90% there and even sleeps through the night in her underwear. She's been sleeping in the spare room since Dan has to go in and out of her room with the sanding and stuff but once that's done we'll be buying her a full size mattress and she'll officially be a big girl. I'm just really looking forward to her having new buddies and hopefully watching her speech blossom. She's such an amazing little girl and I love her to pieces!

Anyways, that post was way too long and I need to get back to work. Here's a pic of Dan sanding the house....
the only thing left to be replaced on the front of the house is the front door/screen door and the windows and then the house itself will officially be done besides a few repairs to the slate roof!!

Sick

That's what we've been in our household for a little over a week. Dan started feeling sick when he went on his fly-fishing trip and then I started feeling sick when he returned. I wasn't as bad as he was. We figured it was just some sort of bug. Come Tuesday of last week and a notice on our back door from the water board- we had E. Coli in our water from the excessive rain. We're still sick- Dan is very fatigued and I'm just plain sick all over again. Lilly thankfully hasn't shown any signs which I'm thankful for. I thought I was better, but everything started all over again tonight and I'm back at square one. I did some more research when we got home and a lot of what we're reading says to stay away from antibiotics and to just rest and drink......a lot! We picked up some Gatorade so hopefully we'll start feeling better soon. Anyways, I know I've been doing a bad job at keeping up with updates and what not, but I'll be sure to be back later in the week with some new pics and updates on Lilly. In the meantime I'm just going to edit and rest! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.......oh.....and I finally hit the big 3-0.......scary I tell ya!!!

Three Years ago....

Three years ago today, my Lillian Grace was brought into the world. I had spent the two days prior in a hospital bed as they gave me steroid shots in hopes of strengthening Lillian's lungs for her early entry. I've never really thought about it until now, but my OB/GYN basically saved Lillian's life and for that I'll forever be grateful. If she hadn't sent me go to the hospital, the sono tech said we probably would have lost her since my next appointment wasn't scheduled for another two weeks. Scary to think about now for sure.

I didn't sleep much during those two days as you can imagine. The morning she was born though, I was finally able to catch some zzzzz's. I awoke to Betsy grabbing a nurse because Lillian's heartbeat was dropping.......and of course with Betsy being a nurse she wasn't taking no for an answer. The nurses were in the middle of a shift change and they had initially wanted to wait until the next shift came on. Lillian wasn't in the mood though. So off we went.

I had a hard time breathing while I was on the table. Maybe it was my nerves kicking in, I don't know, but I felt sick to my stomach throughout the procedure. They informed me once they were inside that they were going to have to make two incisions, therefore forcing me to have a c-section with the next kid. And then she came.

My sweet Lillian came into this world weighing 3 lbs 1 oz. I was so scared when they showed her to me. I know that there would be babies in the NICU far smaller than she was, but when you're expecting an 8 pound baby, a 3 pound one can come as quite a shocker, especially when you've never seen a baby that small. I saw her briefly and then she was whisked away to be taken care of. After they were done with me, they sent me back to my room. It was then that they told me the worst news ever......I wouldn't be able to see her for 24 hours because of my blood pressure. It was still really high and I was at risk of having a seizure so I had to stay put. I started doubting myself, doubting how I'd be as a parent if I couldn't even carry her full term. For 24 hours, this was all that I had to look at.......



And now here we are three years later. She's happy, she's healthy and she's what I am most proud of in my life. She has the most wonderful laugh......her dimples can bring a smile to anyone that sees them......she makes the best funny faces........she's mine. Someday soon she'll have a sibling to go through life with, but in the meantime, I'm going to treasure these moments with my three year old.......my sweet Lillian Grace.

Great Sale at Pink Ink

I'm soooooo excited to be traveling to St. Louis next week you don't even know!!! I need a break, a mommy break to be exact. I love my job, don't get me wrong. That being said, I've been in mommy mode for 3 years and everyone needs a break from reality every now and then! This will be my first "me time" since Lilly was born. I'm a little nervous about the whole plane ride thing considering I've only flown once and that was from Syracuse to NYC so that almost doesn't even count! I've requested an aisle seat cause I got a little sick to my stomach when I looked out the window the last time. I think I'm just nervous about the unknown......like layovers!!

Anyways, the whole reason for this post is that myself, Amy and Holly are having a great sale to celebrate at Pink Ink. Maybe I'll even spend the extra couple of bucks on a cocktail or two.....something I haven't had in a LOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGGG time! So if you're a photographer and you need some new stuff, now is a great time to stock up! Everything in my store is 50% off and you can buy my whole store for the final price of $50 (will show up as $100 initially until the 50% discount is taken at the checkout!)

You can pick up the Buy My Store options here in the Special Offers section at Pink Ink!

Big Weekend

I'm so busy getting ready for this weekend but wanted to post a couple of pics of Lilly playing in the backyard....

On Saturday I'm shooting a wedding and on Sunday we're having Lillian's birthday party. I usually like to hold things on Saturday cause I consider Sunday a day to spend with your family, but since I'm working and Sunday is her actual birthday, it was the way to go this year! The kids will be making some crafts and I'm hopeful that it won't rain out, otherwise the kids will be in the garage and everyone will be stuffed in my construction zone of a house! Today we're headed to the wedding location so I can check things out and to the grocery store for the rest of the stuff for the party and then back home to clean and do some laundry......which makes me remember that I really need to have Dan put up a laundry line outside......it's been so beautiful outside and I haven't had line dried clothes since I was a kid!!

The house

So it's been awhile since I gave an updated photo of what we've been doing with the house! Dan started working on the outside a few weeks ago and he just finished most of the painting besides a few touch ups for the bottom portion of the front of the house. He still needs to refinish the floor and install the new light fixture and we plan on getting a new storm door cause I think the style that's on there now hides too much of the newly painted maroon door!


As you can see, we're getting closer to a fully painted house! This year we're focusing on finishing all of the painting, fixing the leak in the slate roof as well as cleaning it (it's a slow leak so it's nothing major at this point but still needs to get fixed), repairing the woodwork on the outside of the house that needs to be replaced and painting the garage. He needs to tear out the lattice and replace it but that's nothing too major. We'd also like to re-grade the driveway and put down some crushed stone since it was a complete mess this spring. Dan was a landscaper in college so he knows how to put all of the stuff in so we're going to wait until next year to do that so that we can invest some money into it since we'd like to get some more trees and have some permanent plantings in the front of the house.

So while Dan figures out how he's going to paint the top of the house, we're moving onto the kitchen. We received our new sink base which is lovely and we've changed our plans a little. We were planning on waiting a few years to start the major demo, but I'm at the point now where I don't want to go through this all over again! So, the plan is to tear down the wall, refinish the floor and buy the cabinets piece by piece and then install them. We're still up in the air about the countertops, but we can always do granite tile for now and then upgrade them down the line since the cabinets are going to be a decent chunk of change. We're going to leave the bathroom updates for next year, but in the meantime we'll be installing a fan and new light fixture in the upstairs one which will be great since there is basically no proper lighting in there right now!

It's going to be a busy summer for sure, but I' m ready for it to be over with and I'm glad that Dan feels the same way.

Washable Markers

Thank goodness for the word washable!


I bought some washable markers at the store today to make Lilly's new potty chart for her stickers and she couldn't resist playing with them herself on the back porch.

Then yesterday right after she woke up she took off her pants and pull ups, grabbed a book and sat on the couch for a good morning read (hence the messy hair!)...


Things are going okay here. She had her three year check up the other day and normally I post an update that afternoon or the next day, but I needed some time to digest the news that Lilly most likely needs to see a speech therapist. Even now as I type this I'm crying because I feel like it's my fault. If she weren't born premature, I feel like she'd be caught up......and if I didn't have high blood pressure she wouldn't have been born so early. When we went to the open house for pre-school last week, I could hear the difference between her and the other three year olds so I think I kinda knew this was going to happen, but I think it's just natural for all parents to want the best for their children.

Her doctor said that she noticed that she's a lot more involved in things than other little girls her age. She likes to inspect things and she's really active. She said that most likely she's focusing on her motor skills over her language skills which also plays a role in her potty training which is still a work in progress, but she's getting better every day and I look forward to the day when I don't have to pick up any more pull ups until the next one is born (still awhile for that!)

So at this point we're just waiting to hear back from the school so she can get an evaluation. I'm not going to focus on it though and I'm not going to push her. We'll continue to read throughout the day, learn our ABC's and 123's (she's up to 15) and just play and have a good time together! I'm also going to try to not blame myself, but as most mother's know, it's hard not to blame yourself!

Pre-school

And so it begins! We headed to Lillian's pre-school open house today which I was excited about. I think mostly because I wanted to see how Lillian compared to the other kids. I know that each child is unique and their going to develop on their own terms, but it's hard not to compare to the other kids. Being around other kids, I can see where things are lacking a little bit and I think part of me expected it. Her doctor noticed that she was a teeny bit behind, but assured me that once she got into school and was able to interact with other kids that she'd start to pick up. Her speech has gotten a lot better in the past month and I've seen a lot of progress. She can count to the number 15 on her own and she's learning the alphabet song (still some gibberish in there of course!) She loves to be read too and that was really the only advice that we were given......just keep reading to her and she'll catch up sooner or later. So since that's a part of her daily routine anyways, nothing really needs to be changed on that front. Potty training though is numero uno!! I think she might have been the only one in pull-ups. So I'm determined now to get this accomplished this summer. I'm not going to push her and I'm going to let her make mistakes.

Tonight though she actually pulled down her underwear and sat on the toilet by herself without us telling her which was a first. She also put the little seat on the toilet in the bathroom by herself and went there as well. I know it'll happen when it happens.......just as long as it happens before she starts school!

She did EXTREMELY well with the other kids. She's always been one to just start talking to other kids and going up to them to start playing. She's certainly a little social butterfly and I'm thinking she didn't get that from me.......not that I'm not friendly or anything......just takes me awhile to warm up to people!! Anyways, I'm just so very proud of her and I know that she'll enjoy it there!

We'll hopefully be heading to the field across the street tomorrow since I found out from my next door neighbor that it's okay for me to take photos over their since the town owns it.......a great field and yellow barn......and you know me and my barns......love em!!!

Hello!

So I know I suck at updating this blog! I've been busy though which is a good excuse and I highly doubt that Dan will be updating the blog anytime soon! Anyways, wedding season will be kicking into full gear this weekend. May and June are busy, busy, busy and hopefully getting busier with senior portraits during the week! Designing at Pink Ink has been a blessing in disguise and I absolutely love being able to design stuff again and with it being stuff that I can use for my business. I haven't scrapped in ages though which I really need to do sometime soon! So I'll do some updating on all fronts of my life so here we go!

Business- Business is doing great!! I'm about to purchase another lens within the week and it's a scary purchase, but it's something that I need and I know that it'll pay for itself soon! It's just scary when you make large purchases and when you look at the receipt and think "oh my god.....I could have bought a lot of stuff for that amount of money!"

Dan- Dan is doing well! Still loving his job which is something that I know is hard to come by these days. On days where I think that he might be having a tough day I always ask him if it was a bad day like the last place he worked and it's always a certain no!

Lilly- Lilly is doing well! She'll be turning 3 soon. Still hard to believe that my baby will be 3! I'm about to start planning her birthday party since we didn't have one for her last year since we were in the midst of moving into the house. I just can't decide if I should make the cake or not. The crafty girl in me want to make it again and make it pretty so I'll have something to photograph, but I guess we'll see! She's been doing well with potty training and actually pooped in the potty for the first time today which is super! We've been using a sticker chart which seems to be working well. Only problem is that she only does really well when she doesn't wear anything on the bottom! So next week we're going to move onto underwear and let her have accidents until she learns.......thank goodness for hardwood floors!! It's also hard to imagine that she'll be entering pre-school this year.......I'm still in total denial!

The house- The house is coming along nicely. Dan started scraping the front of the house this past weekend and hopes to have the bottom half done within the next couple of weeks. Then his cousin who is a painter is going to help him do the upper part. He also need to replace some of the woodwork that is rotted out because there's no point painting over something that's just going to fall apart! The kitchen is moving along slowly. I think mostly because of the whole dust issue. I HATE the layers of dust it leaves in my house. And since I'm the one that does the drywall, it's up to me to finish it! We're ordering the kitchen sink cabinet and we're going to get a quote for the rest of the cabinets. We might be able to do the kitchen remodel a little sooner than planned thanks to a wonderful discount we received! We're also going to price solid granite (we were planning on getting tile granite) as well which is exciting.

Another thing we're going to start doing this year is replacing the windows. The kitchen and bathroom are first on the list followed by the front windows. And yet another thing on the list of things to do is the driveway......we won't be able to pave it for a few years since it's not a high priority at this point, but we do need to have some new stone put down so that's it's not such a mess next spring! Like I've said countless times before, it'll be a work in progress for years to come!

Oh and the big news.......Bessy is back from being on vacation. You see......Bessy is my lawnmower. Bessy was my grandpa's riding lawnmower that me and Dan inherited when Grandpa passed away. So she sat in storage waiting to be used. Then when we were ready for her, she wasn't feeling too well so we brought her to the lawn mower doctor in Arlington. Well I guess Bessy really liked it there because she's been there since August. I finally told Dan that I had had enough and that I wanted the mower back so that we could mow the lawn whenever we wanted......otherwise I was going to make him buy one of those eco-friendly push mowers which wouldn't have been fun with 3/4 of an acre of land!! Needless to say, Bessy is back home with us and working well. She'll probably need to be replaced in a few years, but she works and she gets the job done so that's all that matters!

Anyways, here's a pic of Lilly today out on the back porch enjoying the weather and coloring....

The outdoors

I love that we're finally able to enjoy the outdoors again! Lilly has been having lots of fun the past few days in the backyard. We've been playing kickball, dancing and throwing rocks in the river which she loves to do. I was able to catch a couple of her and even managed a smile from her.....


Lilly will be spending tomorrow and tomorrow night with Nana so me and Dan can focus when we go to Curtis Lumber to pick out the cabinetry and try to get an estimate for the all of the cabinets and not just the sink/island cabinet. The only major expense in the kitchen besides the cabinets is moving the heating ducts. It won't happen this year, but maybe we can buy the cabinets one by one to spread out the cost over a year and it can maybe happen next year so we'll see. Dan will be focusing on the front of the house now which will require some more time because the detail trim in the front is peeling really bad. I'll still be stuck inside working on the kitchen, but at least I can have the back door open to let in the breeze from the river! I'll be working on my perennial flower garden too so that'll be something new for me to do as well!! Anyways, I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend wherever you are!!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year! Even amongst all of the chaos of the kitchen/dining room remodel we had a lovely Easter dinner. We started the day by heading out to church. Our local church stopped doing Sunday masses so we thought that we were going to have to go to the next town over, but when we drove by the parking lot was near full so we figured that they were holding mass. So luckily we didn't have to drive to Manchester to go to church. This year we were one of those "holiday attendees" as I liked to call it when we attended mass regularly. We used to go to church every weekend when we were living in Buffalo, but once we moved to Massachusetts and then to Vermont we stopped going. Life got too hectic so church got put on the back burner. So maybe this will make us start going again.....but then again having an almost 3 year old who only wants to run around may make me think differently!

Anyways, once we came back home, we had our first Easter Egg hunt which was so cute. Lilly didn't really understand what she was looking for at first, but she got the hang of it half way through it. This year she only had candy in her eggs, but once she understands money we'll start putting money in the eggs so that she can put it in her bank account. She loved her baskets.....her candy from Grandpa & Grandpa (she still calls Mary Grandpa....although she did call her Grandma once!), her movies and candy from Aunt Betsy, Uncle Justin and Marianna and her sock Monkey from Nana (Lilly loves monkeys!) Then we had a wonderful spiral ham and other yummy stuff for an early dinner!

And here's a couple of pics of Lilly during her egg hunt....

HUGE SALE!!!

You can check out my stuff here at Pink Ink........and be sure to check out all of the other designers participating as well!!

The White Brush

Yesterday was like any other weekday for me and Lilly. We played, I did some work on the computer, I attempted to clean up after the world's messiest toddler (she is seriously soooooo messy) and I made us lunch and put Lilly down for her nap. Shortly after her nap, I got a headache. That headache soon turned into a migraine which is something that I used to get a lot of in high school and college but have been lucky for the most part that they've pretty much been phased out of my life. Typically when I get a migraine, nothing really helps other than lying down and drinking some Pepsi. This migraine though, wanted to stay with me throughout the afternoon and didn't feel like leaving. Later in the evening, I decided to close my eyes and just rest, hoping that it would help (I have a hard time sleeping when I have a migraine.) Lilly, recognizing that something was off, came over to me, sat down beside me and started kissing my head and gently rubbing my hair back and forth. In that moment, I was brought back to my childhood. The sensation of her rubbing my head calmed me and soothed me, and within thirty minutes my migraine was gone.

It's that soothing feeling that my mother must have loved when she had me and my sister brush her hair while she was on the couch. We'd grab the white brush from the bathroom, the white brush that my Grandma Schlie would buy whenever we needed a new one that could only be found in the store in Walton, NY down near camp. I can't even begin to remember how many soft bristled brushes we went through as kids, but it was the only brush we ever used. Countless nights me and my sister would brush our mom's hair for $1 to make her feel better. We always used to ask her why she liked having her hair brushed and we never understood why she liked it so much, but I guess as a young kid getting $1, we probably didn't really care what the reason was. It wasn't until last night, that that feeling came over me. My child, who at two and half years old knew that something was wrong with on her own, soothed me and made me feel better. I don't remember whether my mom had headaches or if it was just when she had a tough day at work (I know I can remember that she didn't like one of her co-workers very much!) but I now know that it soothed her and made her feel better. It's silly memories like those that I hold close to my heart as I'm sure my sister does. My dad still has a white brush, which I'm sure has survived this long because me and my sister don't use it on a daily basis to brush our thick hair. SHHHHHHH.......I have a secret......every now and then when I'm home I brush my hair with his brush just to bring some old memories back!

Anyways, I just type up this stuff to not only get it off my chest, but to remember the little things and I feel a lot better just saying it all out loud!

Running

This was a couple of weeks ago right after a session. She just loved running up and down the road in the snow (don't worry, the road has almost no traffic!)

Her hair is crazy......this I know! I'm letting her bangs grow out so they're usually swept to the side since I'm noticing a curl in them as well! She has such crazy curly hair still.

Not much going on here. I have two sessions this weekend though so it'll be a nice change. I'm looking forward to seeing some green outside and start shooting outdoors more. Hopefully Lillian will be a willing model for me this spring and summer with all of her cute summer clothes that I've gotten her so far! I was thinking about trying to learn how to sew again, but at that point I think that I'll have too much on my hands so I'm just going to stick to my camera and knitting needles for now!

I guess that's it for now, gotta get back to designing since I've been away all day running around!

Chocolate

Chocolate was the first word that Lillian spoke and it's certainly a treat for her to have some! Last week when I gave her a little piece her whole face was covered with it, even around her eyes.....this time she did a little better!

Dan took yesterday and today off to relax and work on the kitchen. It's really nice having him home with us for a couple extra days, especially since Dan isn't one to take days off and he really deserves them. Lilly was super good yesterday when she let us sleep until 9 in the morning, which was a really big treat for the both of us. We took a ride up to Glens Falls and went to the outlets in Lake George so I could get some new jeans and then we ate dinner at Olive Garden since we had a gift certificate. Today we're going to work on the kitchen and then tomorrow we're going to check out some pricing on the kitchen sink cabinet. I'm hoping that we'll be able to find a cabinet that is already painted black so that we don't have to sand and paint something down ourselves, but I guess we'll see. We're going to have the sink cabinet black and the rest will be a dark wood when we do the rest of the kitchen. I want the sink cabinet to look like a separate piece anyways which is why we're going ahead and getting it now. Besides the fact that I'm ready for a bigger sink and a dishwasher! Anyways, I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

She's not my baby anymore

She really is growing up way too fast. She brought the bed out of the dining room as I was setting things up for an engagement shoot last week and sat on the bed. Hard to believe that when she was born she was so small that her whole body would fit in half of that bed.

For Nana.....

A couple photos.....

not too talkative today so just a photo of Lillian and Marianna.....

Our House

So our house is still a work in progress and will be for years to come! We had planned to do the bathroom first, but with a leaky old pipe draining each time we flushed the toilet or took a shower, it became evident that the bathroom would be put on hold. So with the leaky pipe, we needed to remove the wall where it's located since the whole cast iron and rotted pipe needed to be removed. So then came the removal of the rest of the dry wall, which in fact wasn't even dry wall......it was more like cardboard. Then the ceiling came down. And then the removal of layers upon layers of laminate flooring on the floor which was on top of the original hardwood floors. So here we go on the tour of the state of our current kitchen!!!

But first an updated outside photo of the house. We'll be painting the front of the house in the spring since we have to rent a boom to get to the upper portion above the front porch because of the slate roof which you can't walk on. We'll be redoing all of the landscaping as well and putting on all new lattice work, etc to make it perfect!

This is yucky pipe that had to be taken out....note the plastic bag we had to cover it up with until it was repaired!

We'll be replacing all of the windows in the house since they're all original and it'd be nice to have windows that work without propping them up!


This is where there must have been a wood burning stove or something at one time. We're trying to get a hold of the son that lives in Rutland so we can find out some more info about the house. We have a new over the range microwave that we'll be putting up as soon as we have a ceiling!A little surprise when we started lifting up the floor!


This has by far been the worst part of the remodel so far. Thankfully there was only one layer of subfloor, but there were probably 6-7 layers of laminate with some horrible stuff that was placed directly on top of the hardwood. I had to scrape and scrape for hours each day to get it off. Most of it is up now and the rest will be taken off when we sand them down.


The worst part was certainly underneath the stove.......so greasy and smelly. There's virtually no damage to the floor other than the holes from the subfloor so it's a bit odd that they ever covered it up. But we'll bring her back to life like the living room!!


These are the new lights in the kitchen. There's another one in between the windows as well that shines down on the butcher block. This wall will be turning into a half wall soon. I want to open it up and let the breeze from the river flow through the house a little more during the summer time. We're also going to be building a custom island that will house a larger sink and a new dishwasher. I want it to look like a separate piece of cabinetry....more like a piece of furniture. I'm really excited about getting a dishwasher though.....you don't realize how handy are until you don't have one anymore!
The remodel that we're doing right now is just the initial remodel. It was really horrible before and I didn't like being in there. Even though we still have aways to go, I don't mind as much being in there.....even with the studs exposed. So the big remodel in a couple of years will involve us tearing out this entire wall and opening it up to the dining room......like I said....I want it open! All of the cabinets will go on the wall where the stove is and we'll be putting cabinets underneath the windows as well to maximize our storage space. We'll be making the bathroom/laundry downstairs larger and possibly add a stand up shower. With the remodel that we're doing right now, all of the plumbing for the bathroom which is in the kitchen ceiling will be redone since everything is exposed right now. I hate these cabinets, but there's no point replacing them now since they'll all be torn out in a couple of years so we're just going to paint them in the meantime.



And here is the latest project around the fridge. We'll be getting a bigger fridge as well so Dan made the space larger. We're going to add shelves to add even more storage and a custom garbage thingy in the bottom of it. We're just really trying to maximize the space and the closet that was there before was sort of a waste.

So there you have it! Now I'm totally pooped from typing all of that!!!

Been busy

but here's a pic of Lillian!

Now at Pink Ink Studios......

ME!!!!!! Can I just say a big woohoo!!!! I've got some products up in the store now and a lot of ideas for new products! So in the meantime, here's a link to my stuff at Pink Ink and also be sure to check out the retirement sale that's going on right now MY STUFF

and here's a small sampling......