the boys | today is pretty

eight

Posted on January 9, 2011 by sheri

clyde turned eight on thursday, and we’ve been partying down with chocolate desserts, including the cake above, every day since. last party was today with a few of his friends, pizza, TJ’s dutch cocoa and chocolate chip brownies, and vanilla ice cream.

eight years ago i was a new mom with a newborn baby, sobbing every other minute with hormonal shifts. i was flailing, adoring, fragile, and completely completely love struck but totally new to the feelings around all of it. it’s so hard to remember the me i was back then, the me without all that i have experienced and become since then.

sure, it’s crazy to think of your once-newborn baby turning eight, but possibly even more mind boggling to go back in your mind to the person you once were and consider that she didn’t know, not an inkling, all the places she was going to get to go. she didn’t know all the things that baby and later his brother and all the life in between was going to teach her. i didn’t know…

when clyde was new, i remember constantly telling myself it was all going to pass by so quickly and to really try to be present and take it all in. to hold each moment like breath. hold it deep. remember. really really remember. but nonetheless, it just kept on slipping away.

off to go sniff my babies’ heads and hold in the breaths as long as i can.

no one is tired

Posted on January 7, 2011 by sheri

gulls out at the birdplace. funny, there are rarely gulls out there. but then again, just when i think i know something about that place, i get a big surprise. once there were cows out there. just grazing. and smelling like cows. another time a stray trio of eccentric chickens, probably abandoned, emerged from the grass.

here at home tonight, no one is tired. or at least willing to give into sleep. the four of us celebrated clyde’s 8th birthday at our favorite mexican place, probably the one place that pleases the four of us equally. they presented clyde with flan all lit up by a crackling sparkler and sang happy birthday in espanol. more celebrating with family and friends over the weekend.

still struggling a little with how and what to blog. i struggled for at least five minutes about whether or not to even tell you that.

a few sure things:

a polaroid keepsake masterpiece
dying to see the fighter — mark wahlberg + david o. russell on fresh air
this makes me laugh: things i have needed to google…

prepare to dream

Posted on January 5, 2011 by sheri

is there a point in your life when you stop having any kind of real thoughts and your mind just spins on to-do lists? cause it’s boring me to tears. i can even see all the check boxes next to the list, which goes on seemingly forever, and none of them are checked.

strangely, at the same time, i feel like i don’t really have that much to do. not really. nothing earth shattering. but my brain has been reprogrammed into a list churner that makes me feel like i have a million things to do. or keep done.

i think i want my old brain back. it was much better at thinking about less boring things. or at least things i didn’t have to check off (chik-chik) when i was done thinking about them. kids fed and kept alive (chik-chik), husband somewhere in the house (chik-chik), getting sleepy (chik-chik), prepared to dream (chik-chik) — ack! preparing to dream has got to be saddest part yet…

loving:

zipping him up and tucking him in this winter bed, my baby
reading him to sleep, my first baby, his new, already-t00-short jam pants halfway up his calves
a poem: “new year’s day” by kim addonizio
ohhh, jo handbags (via ss)

pretty 2010 (july to december)

Posted on December 31, 2010 by sheri

the second half of my year in review idea from shari. more good times in 2010.

july

ice cream walks

birdplace

swim lessons

L8 SK8 with M

we miss you, celie

grandpa’s 90th in tahoe

august

more birdplace

september

10-year wedding anniversary

october

nyc with mom

favorite season

november

poet’s loft with E, S + T

meet-up with L

december

christmas card

christmas day

if you want to see more, see the first edition: january to june.

wishing everyone a happy 2011!

pretty 2010 (january to june)

Posted on December 29, 2010 by sheri

stealing this year in review idea from shari. this recapping business is fun (although mine’s not half as artful as hers!).

lots of milestones this year, a little travel, a lot of birdwatching, tons of coffee + tea, and so much good food. you may have seen some of these here or on flickr before. others i’m sharing here for the first time.

here’s to a pretty dang pretty 2010!

january

7 + rollerskating