lately, little things

things have been so good. spending time with this little family of mine seems so small and simple, but it is everything. recently we ventured to a nearby little town just to get away for a while. we hit up every single thrift store in town, visited two different coffee shops and walked along the darling little main street, taking photos and holding hands.

back at home, we took lorelai to visit the milkhouse. the milkhouse was the landmark of my childhood and while it used to sell candy and ice cream, it has recently reopened as a small bakery and coffee shop. such a special moment for me to share my old stomping grounds with my daughter.

we had plans of returning home for a night of movies on demand and homemade pizzas, but our plans were quickly disrupted when brian developed a hemiplegic migraine. this is the second one that he has experienced in his adult life (and the second one that I have been with him for). we think that he may have had some of these as a small child, but it is hard for him to remember. the first time this happened, two years ago, we had no idea what was happening and rushed to the ER. this time, we knew what was happening, and recalled on our discussions with his neurologist, but it was still frightening beyond belief. the migraine starts with an aura, a visual disturbance affecting his right eye. slowly it starts to take over the whole side of his body... arms and legs go numb and he loses all function on that side. eventually, he can no longer speak clearly, both slurring his speech and because of the inability to express his thoughts with words. beyond terrifying! sometimes he will try to tell me something, but what comes out is gibberish. the frustration on his face is devastating. these are signs of a stroke. the difference between a stroke and these migraines are that the blood vessels in the brain return to normal with the migraine, whereas they do not for a stroke. gosh, it is absolutely horrible. thankfully the symptoms usually last only five minutes to an hour before the onset of a terrible headache. brian said that that this time his head felt "foggy" for around 24 hours afterward. I hate that this is something that he has to suffer through, but am grateful that they are infrequent for him (for others they are not) and that we were able to handle this recent episode on our own. but I pray, oh do I pray, that they do not return ever, ever, ever again.

mostly we've been playing in the snow | reading a lot of stories | baking pies | exploring many bookstores | drinking all the coffee | wearing snow boots | visiting the green house and bringing home new little friends | watching daddy shovel a lot | playing the piano loudly | painting everything white | making snow angels | eating nutter butters (lorelai's favorite)

my little eskimo ^^

lorelai went on her first sledding adventure:

 
 
we are still loving winter around here and even though we are excited to welcome spring, we have been having a lot of fun finding different ways to fix our cabin fever right up!

Xxx chelsea