16 months!

otherwise known as the month we graduated from iphone pictures to a real camera! oh, and the month we got pneumonia, hence the awesome booger shots. enjoy!

month 15!

pardon the expletive

don't get me wrong. i'm all for progress. i love technology. i am a housewife with an iphone. but seriously, what is the fucking deal with bread machines?

it's very possible that i'm just having one of those mornings where i need to find all the ways i'm better than my virtual (far more productive and better lit) peers. maybe i am just reveling in a little spot of self-satisfaction. sue me. sue me and then explain to me how someone who feels compelled to needle felt, hand quilt, make baby clothes out of recycled soda bottles, homeschool, recycle, and bike everywhere while breastfeeding can justify letting a machine make her bread?

now, if you're an astronaut or have lost the use of your upper body, by all means, let modern science take over. but, if you have time to homestead and blog about it, you have time to make your own bread. just sayin'.

14 months and we're all caught up!

this has been one of the best months we've had so far. my sweet little farmer brown and i worked long and hard in our garden. i love spending hours with her outside, watching her explore, getting braver and stronger and brighter every day. i attribute her brilliance to the vast amount of dirt she eats. dirt and breastmilk.

we had several crazy frosts in late march/early april. each time we put sheet tents over our garden beds and wrapped the tomato plants in polar fleece. it worked! here is bea rejoicing:



deadheading the marigolds...


sharing with her friend. (if you didn't follow the mr. grumbles saga on facebook, you don't know that he disappeared for two whole weeks and came back a trim and ruthless bird killer. it's very exciting and gross.)



when she's not outside shoveling compost into her face, bea likes to color. on paper no less!




she is also taking endless pleasure in opening and closing the door to her big girl room (tour coming soon).


easter was a million times better than christmas, thanks mostly to the lack of puke. there's a full easter album on facebook if you need more bunny ears.



fancy dresses all put away and back to the garden. here's bea planting orca while i planted okra.



i can't believe how fast they grow.

13 months!

march was a very, very exciting month. not only did bea become a full time, all by herself walker, she also became a farmer!

it all started with a garage sale. bea was a fantastic salesbaby.


we took all that money she made selling our junk and used to to buy supplies to build our new raised garden beds.



then we filled those beds with an assortment of flowers and vegetable seeds. bea added her own special touch.


she's very dedicated to her work.



we spent a LOT of time outside this month, but on rainy days, bea worked on her art.


bea quickly learned the word "garden" (which comes out "da da" like every other word she says -- it's all about inflection and context) and when we couldn't go outside, she just looked longingly out the window.




she really is a wonderful little farmer. gardening with her is my favorite thing i've ever done in my life.

ONE YEAR OLD!!

on february 25, beatrice june brown turned one year old!




she had an appropriately themed birthday party.


here are her bumble bea brownies. the real bee was a bonus!

i took her out for a super fancy birthday meal at einstein's bagels. she's something of a connoisseur.


it's taken a while, but she's starting to realie that books are good for more than just chewing. i swear, i cannot keep her from eating cardboard to save my life.



this month something finally clicked as far as food goes. we've given her the option of solids since she was about 6 months old, but she was never interested in doing anything with them other than throwing them violently to the floor. nowadays she eats all sorts of things, although never enough to replace a meal. in order for that to happen, green beans and peanut butter would have to flow freely from my breasts.



in other breakthroughs, this month i FINALLY got her to stay asleep when i laid her down. it took a whole year, but we did it!


the month leading up to her birthday was full of sass. i swear, i don't know where she gets it.

eleven months!

this was a really fun month! once bea had recovered from the plague of 2008, she started walking with some help. it started with her walker wagon, and after a couple of weeks, she could go anywhere as long as she held my hand.


i finally gave in and let bea have the old camera. at one point i stopped taking pictures of her because she would FREAK OUT about the damn camera. i have a whole series of her hand and blurs that i think are her face. now that she has her own, we're good.


this month the play ground became a lot more fun! we have a great park around the corner from our house and she loves the swings and slide.




the only down side to this month was the car accident. bea and i were rear ended twice while stopped at a red light on our way into austin. bea was absolutely fine (thank you rear facing car seat), but since i was turned around to check her the second time we were hit, i injured the left side of my back and neck. that started our tri-weekly trip to the chiropractor and physical therapist. some days bea stayed with her aunt sarah, but now she goes with me. we still go twice a week (almost 5 months later).


this month we tried really hard to start wearing bows.

we failed.

ten months!

this is the first in a series of catch-up posts. it's been six months since i've posted, which is a record in the long history of this blog. i blame facebook. if this blog was my job, you would've fired me by now. but you can't! HA! so, sit back, relax, and prepare yourself for the cuteness.

this first catch-up post is brief.

bea's 10 month birthday was on christmas. my mother, brother, step-brother and father all came to visit. it should have been a glorious, overly-documented occasion, but instead we spent the entire holiday week puking. and pooping. and pooping while puking. and stopping up the toilet. and breaking the plunger. puking on the floors, pooping in the chairs. and that was just the grown men. bea puked all over her stocking. and me. about a million times. so, here are the only pictures from christmas that don't include someone soiling themselves or my furniture. all two of them!

she's 9 months old!

it's been a good month. bea is finally bigger than mr. grumbles.



she spends most of her time walking around like this:


she loves to play guitar with her daddy. somehow i don't have a picture of her dancing. she often stands with just one hand on the neck of the guitar and bounces (and shrieks) while he plays. i know... ridiculously cute.

here she is rehearsing with the band...

don't mess with her levels!


or she'll get you with her razor sharp teeth. (she finally grew some! yay!)



come visit us! we'll be here, rocking the double hoodie, being insanely cute, eating paper, you know. the usual.

hey bea! be a zombie!

a what?



you know, a zombie. like...the living dead.






um. nice try, but not quite. think mommy, mid-afternoon, before she eats half a bag of chocolate chips.

try that.



YES!! that's it!!



happy halloween!

2/3 of a year old!

it's been a very busy month. bea's been catching up on her reading...

and awesome present opening.

spending lots and lots and LOTS of time banging on the floor grate. it makes a wonderful booming sound.

enjoying daddo...and spoons.

making cornbread.


visiting nonna.

having pancakes with uncle timo.


making friends with the indian.


being very, very wary of solid food.

reluctantly trying bananas, avocados, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, apples, and pears (not all at the same time...but all with pretty much the same results).


totally dominating the brown family pumpkin carving contest!


and the "baby gate". grumbles and i totally thought this was going to work.


it did not.
not pictured -- the nose dive off the other side.



but most of this month has been spent perfecting this move.


and we are very, VERY excited about it!

i hope heaven is like the house on lone pine

without her i would not know how to make biscuits or read a recipe or make thanksgiving dinner or chicken soup from scratch. i would not make pie crusts or snap green beans or have the best cake recipe in the world seared into my memory. i wouldn't know anything about growing anything. i wouldn't sew buttons back on. i wouldn't love creek beds or the smell of wet pine and red dirt. i wouldn't know how to bait a hook or batter sun fish. i would have a stain on every single article of clothing i own. i would've never known the pleasure of peeing in a chicken coop, crossing a cattle guard in high heels, or taking short cuts that are longer but prettier.

she taught me the work and wonder of womanhood. she made me proud and excited to keep my home and serve my family. i cannot remember a single conversation with her that didn't leave me full of the knowledge that i was brilliant, beautiful, and profoundly loved. and i know that everyone who knew her felt the exact same way.

i love you, my big mama. i'm so glad you're feeling better today.

eta:
A celebration of life service will be held on Wednesday morning, October 8, 2008, 10:00AM, at Woodlawn Baptist Church is Clarksville, AR, officiated by Dr. Todd Steffy, and visitation will be Tuesday evening, October 7 from 6:30 to 8:00PM at Hardwicke Funeral Home in Clarksville, AR.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Arkansas Hospice, 2405 Parkway Dr., Suite 3, Russellville AR, 72801.