Day 92

Liam's 3 year portrait shoot finally! It was so beautiful today so it was time to do it, but I didn't actually decide this until an hour before we should leave in time to get enough light. The list of things that needed to get done beforehand:

1. wash selected outfits 2. dress 3 yr. old in said outfits 3. have said 3 yr. old sit long enough to wipe nasty visible boogers away. 4. collect props and load car. 5. feed said 3 yr. old dinner. 6. stop by grocery store at rush hour to get balloons. 7. take the actual photographs. All that and then I had to make good on bribe to feed 3 yr. old chocolate ice cream after said photographs were complete and get him to bed at a reasonable hour. It wasn't pretty and I found myself flustered as always to get more than one good shot. But this was the winner for me.

Day 91

In 23 years of playing basketball, I've never had an injury. 23 YEARS. And I don't play soft either. My nickname was "Scrappy" there for a while :) Well, it looks like my luck has finally run out. At ortho this morning. The MRI early next week will tell, but the Doctor suspects Meniscus or ACL tear, possibly both. Keegan will tell you that I've spent the better part of the last 2 weeks moping around this house. He would be right. With warm weather and wedding season approaching, potential scheduling of surgery couldn't happen until fall. That means there is a a possibility that I won't be returning to the courts for at least a year. Urgh. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I already have . . . literally. It's kind of cool/eerie though, the way bones are held together with these crucial ligaments . . . like a couple of pieces of tape or something . . . duct tape strength, of course.

Day 90

Today was the first day in about 1 1/2 years that Liam even LOOKED at a swing, let alone sit on one. He used to just love them when he was a baby, but for whatever reason, has had a strong aversion since he was about 18 months. So he sat on it, but that was about it. He sat there with his head down, a pained look on his face, taking it all in while I was sitting there shooting away and all of a sudden those dark eyes lifted to me, and there it was, photo #90!

Day 89

Always a special moment when Daddy arrives home from a long day of work....especially since the first thing Liam asks me in the morning when he comes and peers over my bed to wake me up is, "Is Daddy here?" When I reply, "No, Buddy," he melts down. But we have fun without him for a while and now with Daylight Savings it's still light when he gets home. That means beers and ball out in the front yard :) Our foliage looks especially nice in this shot. Must be all that rain!!

Day 88

What a crew! Totally fun birthday party for Liam. These are his best buds. The neighborhood contingent :)

Day 87

Today has been all about birthday party preparation. Liam's birthday was on the 11th, but we are having his party tomorrow. He is so excited . . . a little confused as to why it's his birthday again, but excited nonetheless :) Mommy, as always, took on too many projects. I'm tired. My back hurts. You know you are an architect turned stay-at-home mom when you need floor plans for the birthday cake you are baking. It's a doozie folks. I promise to get good pics tomorrow!

Day 86

So nice to be able to contrast the dark, grey, and dreary photos of this past week with something a bit more bright, sunny, and vivid. It was such a great day at this very cool park. Happy Liam = Happy Mommy = Happy Liam etc....

Day 85

A little late, but this was one I managed yesterday amidst the day long torrential downpour :) It has been such a crazy rainy winter. I think our house might be sinking. Today we finally got out after Dr. appt. for knee injury #2 . . . or re-injury of injury #1 rather. Anyway, we went to this huge playspace in Golden Gate Park and Liam just ran around like a madman giggling and smiling the whole time.

Day 84

Guess where I went today?! Clearly, one of the hugest advantages of dropping Liam off at preschool is that I can just shoot over to the local Target, which is less than 5 minutes away!! I remember once recently, Keegan, Liam and I all went to Target on a Sunday . . . 1.5-2 hours later, we packed up the car to drive away and Keegan looks over me and says, "How do you do this everyday with him?!" Exactly. Why do you think I'm so exasperated by the time you come home every night. I mean, he's sweet and he's cute and all, but man....he is hard work even when I'm not setting him loose in Target. Anyway, this has got to be the coolest, nicest, largest Target ever. Palm trees in front (which always makes me think how if there was a Target on Kauai, this would be what it would look like!), cool warehouse building, two stories, escalator AND elevator. Birthday party supplies, new toddler shoes, AND photo of the day complete . . . and all in under 45 minutes. Happy Mommy.

Day 83

Eerie.

Day 82

I have a major crush on my son's hair color. Some days, like today, the sun hits it just so, and I catch myself staring at it. It's not just the orange, it's all of the other shades of strawberry, pumpkin, straw, blond, white that lay tousled amongst all that orange. We had to pay extra for that . . . but oh so worth it.

Day 81

Most days, photo of the day is a challenge, a fun challenge, but a challenge nonetheless, resting on my shoulders for the better part of the day. I can shoot all day sometimes and still not feel like I got "the one." Then there are days like today when as soon as I snap the shutter, I just know I can relax because I got "the one." I went out for a photo drive (drive, not walk, due to the rain rain rain) and drove around for about an hour in this gritty industrial part of Berkeley. The minute I sped by this little nook in between a couple of office buildings, I slammed on the brakes and backed up in the middle of the street. There it was. And the sun came out for just a brief moment for me to create the most fantastic shadow to boot. The End.

Day 80

Don't take my picture Mommy. Don't take my picture Mommy. PEEK!! AWE....you took my picture Mommy!! Don't DO that!!

Day 79

It's so weird how the photo of the day works . . . I'll start the day thinking I might have gotten it (playdate with the twins), then take a few photos later in the day (crying Liam), then go for a walk with Liam thinking for sure I found something different (Liam walking up the shimmering rain covered blacktop), then end up going in a completely different direction with my shooting (neighbor's kitty), only to come home, get it all in my computer and post (as in today) the next to last and last photo I take :) What a process. I can't decide if it's exploratory . . . or just unfocused!

Day 78

A day full of green! Happy St. Patrick's Day and first full day of March Madness. Twas a happy day indeed :)

Day 77

Blowing off some steam after preschool at a nearby park. Pretty day for once this week. He climbed all over this structure . . . so high I couldn't even reach him. His confidence just soars.

Day 76

Rain.

Day 75

Just a typical Monday morning for us . . . on our way to school, "Ni Ni" in cuddly tow, slight resistance due to long weekend spent at home with Mommy and Daddy, but when I picked him up, he said, "Why can't I stay and play?!" Oh yeah . . . and the pants are on backwards. When a three year old goes into their room alone to get dressed for the day, you never know what's gonna come out. It's a fun new source of entertainment for us :) What you can't see is the TWO pairs of undies he has on underneath. When I picked him up from school, I also noticed his pants were on the right way . . . oh what they must've thought about the undies!!

Day 74

Blah day, blah weekend. Three year old is definitely starting to act like a three year old. It's raining. My house is a perpetual mess. My honey works too much. All these things = a bored photographer. Tried to unslump by taking a drive and finding some new things to look at/photograph. Need to sit down and brainstorm some ideas . . . only on day 74 here!!

Day 73

Sometimes the last photo of the day is the best. Phew.

Day 72

On March 11, 2008 this little guy came into our lives and we haven't stopped taking pictures since :) It's been a lightening quick 3 years. Nothing makes you realize how quick the passage of time is like a child. I can't really even put into words what it is to be a parent or how much we adore him . . . especially when he is racing around behind me. He's handsome, he's sweet, he's funny, he's our little Liam. We love you buddy. Happy Birthday. (3 year portrait shoot with drums and balloons and wildflowers . . . or something . . . to follow!!)

Day 71

March brings rain, flowers, babies, and of course, Madness. Possibly my favorite month of all. I still can't believe it's March. I can't believe my baby is turning THREE tomorrow!! This is my ode to Spring.

Day 70

Tried to take full advantage of the 2 hours spent in Urgent Care this afternoon to document Day 70. Don't fret parental units who are reading. . . everything is fine. I just went in to have a basketball knee injury checked out. I went down pretty hard on Tuesday evening . . . the knee just buckled out on me and I laid on the floor with 9 girls surrounding me for about 10 minutes. It was pretty surreal and I thought I was screwed, but everything has turned out to be ok. Just makes me realize that the amount of pain serious knee injuries incur is just beyond imaginable. Liam, as always, was the sweetest little support unit. We had been waiting for about an hour in the waiting room and I told him that we might have to leave before we saw the Dr., at which he protested immensely and when I probed further as to why he was so upset about leaving this terribly boring place, he replied, "But, the Dr. has to fix you, Mommy..." Got some x-rays and a free knee brace out of the deal so all in all, not a horribly wasted trip.

Day 69

Today (or yesterday actually), I went into Liam's totally adorable school to take some new photos for their website www.brightstarschool.com (not up yet obviously). Lots of cute little faces, but I don't have any photo releases yet so this is the image I went with. Isn't it just the cutest little school house you've ever seen?! It was the first time since he started in January that I was able to see him in full action and I could not have been more proud of him. He's still so little and I was hesitant to start him this year, but I didn't want to wait another year either. Every time I set foot inside this building, all my fears just fade away. The teachers are so lovely and gentle and all the materials are so meaningful and engaging. There around 30 kids in his classroom but it was SO quiet . . . it felt like there were 10 kids. Everyone went about their own little activity . . . one little girl had a little tray with a grater, a little bowl, and a hunk of cheese. She happily grated cheese for almost the entire hour I was there. Another little girl happily scrubbed and chopped up a carrot, and Liam artfully arranged rubber bands on a peg board. We feel so blessed to be able to have him attend this lovely and amazing place.

Day 68

Typical afternoon for Liam and me . . . 4 pm rolls around and I gotta figure out something for photo of the day while entertaining the freshly napped child. Some days are easier than others . . . other days I feel panicked. Usually neither of us is up for an outing, but I was recently introduced to geocaching (essentially a "treasure" hunt using a GPS) which Liam totally digs and the cool thing about it is that we can go to locations like this, which quickly completes the task. Had to get comfy in the grass for this one . . . kept imagining a snake right next to my face, but worth it in the end. I'm also scoping out locations for Liam's 3 year portrait shoot coming up this weekend . . . very exciting.

Day 67

I didn't really advertise this due to my comfort level advertising such things online, but Keegan was away for the last week and we finally got to pick him up at the airport this afternoon. Snapped this shot while sitting in the cell phone lot waiting for his call. This heavy bird was taking off, but the bird that we cared about, Daddy's plane, was landing. Good to have the man home!

Day 66

Took Liam bowling today for the first time, randomly and spontaneously. He didn't really know what it was or anything about it, but he was very convinced that it was something he wanted to do. We walked in and for about the first 20 minutes, he just stared wide eyed. I kept asking him if he was ready to try it and he would reply, clearly intimidated, "No, not yet." I showed him an aluminum frame they have where you can just set the ball on top and push it down the incline onto the alley and that apparently alleviated all of his fears as he was ready to try it after that. He was so cute. He totally loved it and thought he was just the coolest thing ever with his little bowling shoes and funky green ball. He was getting the biggest kick out of rolling the ball and then coming to give me a high five.

Day 65

Even when I go to a location to shoot specifically for the purposes of NOT including my son on this blog, he STILL makes the final cut :) What can I say . . . he rocks my world people so you'll just have to deal with it. One of the many great things about staying home with him is that I can just pick up my camera, throw him in the car, go someplace new and exciting, take photographs, AND entertain him all at the same time . . . all he really needs is some sticks and some dirt (or in this case, a really cool, old horse trailer) and he's happy. This is why much of this blog is ode to him. He is such a good sport. This afternoon at sunset, we went to this weird dog park in Berkeley . . . it's right on a sandy beach on the bay and at the foot of a horse racing stadium so there is QUITE the photo op. Took my wide angle out today for a spin as well which was totally fun and eye opening given that I keep my 50mm f/1.4 on my camera about 99% of the time. I actually uploaded six pictures in the running before finally choosing this one. The other photos are images in the making . . . need some tweaking . . . all I will say is that there is a pedicure in my near future . . . you know . . . all in the name of 365 days!

Day 64

March? What?! How did that happen? Spring is around the corner . . . and today felt like it. We took advantage of the warm air with a picnic lunch at the park, a fun game of hopscotch (Liam's first), and a little ladybug viewing. How cool is this moment?! Liam was so sweet and gentle with this little ladybug. He saw it on the sidewalk and invited it to come crawl up onto his hand. He just stood there as still as could be as it crawled right up his arm and took off in flight. Love it.

Day 63

Today, when I picked up Liam, it was raining and we had to be out of the house for lunch so I proposed pancakes and bacon. A huge smile lit up his face at the prospect. So we went to this little local cafe that I've always wanted to go to where they serve breakfast all day....www.jimmybeans.com. They did NOT disappoint. We ordered a short stack, a side of bacon, and a fruit cup. They were silver dollar pancakes and Liam was getting quite the kick out of being able to fit the entire pancake into his little mouth, even though I asked him not to, of course. I'm pretty sure that snapping pics and giggling right along with him didn't do much to deter the behavior . . . but hey, all in the name of 365 days...! We quickly finished short stack number one and had to order a second stack! I think the waitress thought I was crazy, but hey, when my son is shoving pancakes in his mouth at this rate, what do you expect lady?! Definitely the bright spot on an otherwise grey day!

Day 62

This is a follow-up "self portrait" photograph to one I took a week or so ago with the ratty tatty hair. Goodbye awful hair, hello new haircut. Couldn't be happier. And while said self inflicted, do-it-yourself, home improvement projects are all still on my to-do-list, I at least HAVE a to-do-list now and everything is just a little more "in focus" now that my hair isn't so large.