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.