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......

Doing a better job....

at keeping up with posting pics of Lillian is easier said than done! Some days she'll let me take her picture and some days she wants nothing to do with me and my camera. I set up my backdrop stand today and she wasn't in the mood. I was able to get a few decent photos though.....
In other news we picked up our new over the range microwave tonight (thanks Pat!) I'm really excited about the extra counter space since the microwave that we have now is the same size as the new one. It's a good microwave and all, but it'll be nice to have that extra space and a light above the cooktop. Dan didn't want to do recessed lights because he didn't think that it fit with the house so I'll be really happy when it gets installed. This weekend Dan is going to be doing the framing around the fridge where we'll be putting some built in shelves on the side. He's going to be making the spot where the fridge is a little large since we'll be getting a new fridge eventually, but in the meantime we're just going to paint the one we have black. It's a newer fridge, but it's on the smaller side and I really want one with the freezer on the bottom.....but that's last on the list. We're going to wait to refinish the floors until all of the plumbing is done so we don't have to worry about it getting any dings.....even though the impatient me wants to get it done before! Hopefully everything will be done in the kitchen within a couple of months. Then we can slowly start to decide what we're going to do in the bathroom which also needs to be torn down to the studs. An older home can certainly be a lot of work, but I wouldn't have it any other way! It has character and charm and it's all ours......and I don't have to worry about putting holes in the walls!!

My joy

She really is just about the sweetest little gal there is (most of the time!) She found her princess dress that Aunt Betsy and Uncle Justin got her for Christmas and of course when she realized that it's the same dress that Snow White wears she just had to have it on and started stripping down! I told her that she had to go look at herself in the mirror and this was her reaction when she saw herself.

It's really these type of moments that make me ready for another one......I mean I've been ready for another one for some time now. A lot of people have been asking when we plan on having another one and if we're planning on having another one soon and each time I get asked I'll admit that my heart breaks a little bit. I know it's a natural question to be asked so it's not like I'm upset that people are asking or anything. I guess I get upset because I think that people expect you to have your second child within a certain time frame and while we were fully planning on having another a little sooner, we've decided to wait a little longer than planned. So now I'll get to the part that makes me sad.......I feel like for the first time in my life, I need to be a little selfish. My photography business has grown so much and I've finally found the one thing I was meant to do other than being a mother and I feel like I have to let the business itself blossom a little more. I've put so much into it so far and I still have a long way to go. Knowing that there is a chance that I'll be on bed rest with the next one if my blood pressure gets high again (have I mentioned that my blood pressure was normal for the first time in like 10 years at my last appointment!) means that I won't be able to shoot as many sessions or weddings that year. So I'd like to become a little more established before I take that time off. I have some goals that I'd like to reach this year and hopefully I'll be able to reach them. I'm not going to estimate when we'll have our next one, because when we're ready, we'll know it. So for the time being, I'm just going to be happy with the amazing daughter and husband that I have and treasure them while it's just the three of us!

Anyways, I'll be back later in the week with some updated pics of the house!

Her haircut

I have some more photos to share, but thought that I'd finally take some photos of Lilly with her new haircut! I might actually keep it short for awhile since it's so much easier to take care of with all of her curls.
It's snowing here today so we'll be staying inside all day. I'd take Lilly out to play in it, but it's really cold and windy so I think we'll stay warm inside instead! The kitchen floor has been removed and we're down to the hardwood. I'm glad that it's in good shape but at the same time I'm upset that it was covered up with so many layers of horrible crap! I'm glad that we decided to pull it up instead of add to the layers. Now we just need to sand it down, stain and poly it and it'll be as good as new......but with a little bit of character added in! We'll also be putting the drywall up and knocking down the wall between the kitchen and living room and turning it into a half wall. I think that the kitchen will consume my thoughts until it's done. So I'll be back with more pictures of the house, Lilly and Christmas!

Her Christmas Photos

I guess I can share them now since our Christmas cards went out already.....