Joshua Tree Homestead

baby video

maya — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:44:01 +0000

today my little boy rolled over from back to front to back again. watching him develop physically and mentally is awe-inspiring. i’m afraid to blink because i know i’ll miss something incredible each time. here’s a little video capturing some of his recent hobbies.

omi, ollie, and home-grown cucumbers

maya — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:37:16 +0000

my mom is here visiting and it’s so great! we are so blessed to have the greatest people in our family on both my side and damians. i’m sad to drive her to the airport tomorrow. not just because her help with baby and household tasks has been invaluable. but also because i know it’s going to be a long time before i get to see her play with her grand-baby again. and they’ll both miss a lot of developmental specific interaction in the mean time. it’s so sweet watching the relationships unfold between my child and his family. there’s so much joy there already, and i know it’s just going to grow over the years as oliver gets more and more interactive. i love knowing that his aunties, uncles, nana honey, omi, old pap, and opa will be filling those roles forever.

more gardening

maya — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:55:17 +0000

autumn

maya — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:55:44 +0000

even though the days are still plenty hot around here, the changing of the earth’s axis cannot be ignored. the october mornings and evenings are long and completely divine. the light, the breeze, everything, is just right for being outside. i’ve been spending my mornings out in the garden with oliver. he’s fond of watching the amaranth blow. he kicks and flaps his arms and samples the taste and texture of any plant i give him. i’m fond of weeding my garden and harvesting the days greens. the beds that damian prepped with our chicken manure (mixed with pine shavings and composted) are going crazy. i can barely keep up with the chard and we’ve been enjoying boc choy, arugula, lettuce, kale and mustard as well.

i’m also having trouble staying on top of the weeds this year. i guess that’s what happens after five years of not weeding. pulling all this grass and clover is reminding me of our eugene garden.

in the evening we often take a walk around the neighborhood and look at which houses should be filled with in-laws (any house in toddling distance). if damian is not at a gig, he’ll get going on an outdoor project. when it gets dark and most people would call it a day, he comes in for the headlamp. the working conditions are just too good to stop.

oak glen

maya — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:53:40 +0000

on a gorgeous sunday in october, nana honey, baby, and i made our annual trek to oak glen, land of apples, pumpkins, and old fashioned themed gift shops. we all enjoyed the grass (living in the desert cultivates an amazing appreciation for grass), as well as the leaves on the trees, the crisp air, the smells of apples, fudge, and doughnuts. it was crowded, but everyone seemed happy and polite. a random young man even carried our 40lb box of apples to the car for us. the picnic (pieced together at vons on the way) was great, but next year i intend to do it right with a basket, thermos of hot chocolate, cloth napkins etc.

building stuff with nana honey

maya — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:00:01 +0000

fall greens

maya — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:00:05 +0000

we’re planning to keep the extended family supplied with kale this winter.

for omi (and oma)

maya — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:34:57 +0000

a rare cool and cloudy day. a chance to dress the little man in knits my oma made so long ago, oatmeal, coffee, and watching the quails puff up and scurry around.

gardening with his papa

maya — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:04:58 +0000

today was: a cool fall breeze, 12 bean chili on the stove, spanish homework, a solitary walk up the mountain.

integral super-mom

maya — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:20:32 +0000

last month i turned 30 and became a mother. looking into the tiny yet rapidly growing face of my precious little boy, i am more motivated than ever to make the most of this life i’ve been given and not squander a single moment. projects for this phase of my life include:

being a present, peaceful attachment parenting mama
going to school and working towards my degree
working as a bookkeeper and not back to school camp staff liaison
maintaining a beautiful, juicy marriage
living joyfully and abundantly within our means -saving for the future too.
getting into fantastic shape -loosing about 35 lbs of baby fat and fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans. also maintaining a pain-free spine and pelvis
eating and feeding my family well
maintaining a clean and organized house
deepening old and new friendships, connecting with other mamas

so yeah, rather ambitious… but i have a plan! it’s the ILP-YNAB-GTD way!
tools:

ILP= Integral Life Practice i’ve posted about it before, and i highly recommend the book for inspiring, applicable, bootcamp for making the most of this life.
YNAB= you need a budget revolutionary budget software
GTD =getting things done -stress free productivity. i use ical to manage my to-do lists and schedule.
speed cleaning an easy read that will change your life. i also just discovered flylady.net baby steps, which i’m pretty excited about.
meal planning; i’ve been planning a weekly menu off and on for years now. i’m always so happy when i do, and don’t have any trouble sticking to it. but it’s the making of the plan that’s hard. so i decided to trade in variety for consistency. i drew up a 14 day meal plan that i’ll repeat it over and over until we are so sick of something that i have to change it.

this all may mean less time on facebook. it certainly means going to bed early. wish me luck!