A Plethora of Pets*

This is Biscuit.


Biscuit is named after a doggie in a book that Autumn reads on the potty at Mama Lainey and P'd's house. One morning a few weeks ago, Autumn woke up and showed me this little tiger and said, "what's name? Biscuit!" And so it's been Biscuit ever since. Before that, I had called Biscuit the "it's not a tiger it's a kitty cat" because for some reason, whenever I talked about her tiger Autumn would totally say that to me in a "duh, mom," kind of voice.


Yesterday, Mike was making our bed and he found Biscuit. Autumn had napped in there since a neighbor was mowing the grass really loudly near her room. Mike said, "hey, I think you need to look at Biscuit." Turns out Biscuit had a hole and was leaking the little round stuffing bits so I performed some major surgery and now Biscuit is good as new. It's funny...I still have the first doll I ever repaired on my own. I must have been about 7 or 8 and sewed together the neck of a mouse that my grandfather gave me not long before he passed away. It was an odd thing to remember that and to now be repairing my own little one's dolls. :) Anyway, Biscuit is all ready to be dragged and carried and snuggled.


Biscuit is the most recent in a series of dolls that Autumn has started naming on her own. First there was Beebee which was really just the way Autumn pronounced the word baby but it somehow morphed into the doll's name even after she started saying baby mostly correctly. I love watching Autumn feed Beebee and put her to bed. Before school Monday, Autumn tucked Beebee into her baby bed and said, "don't worry, I'll be back."


These guys have been around since before Autumn was born so it was pretty cool to watch her while she decided what she was going to call them. Here we have Baa, Two Baa (who used to be Baa Two but I have been soundly corrected as to the new name), and Bear. I'm not sure how she tells Baa and Two Baa apart but apparently she seems to. Right now Two Baa is in bed with her but Baa is in the car.


This is Mama Sheep. I have no idea why. There aren't any lambs and no papa sheep but apparently Mama Sheep is mama to all the dolls? Maybe Mama Sheep looks like me? I don't know but it cracked me up when she first started talking about needing Mama Sheep.


This is the last of the animals that Autumn has officially named. Mike's parents took Autumn to the store and let her pick out a Valentine stuffed animal. For whatever reason, out of everything she could have gotten, Autumn got a cow. When she came home, Mama Lainey told me to ask Autumn what the cow's name was. Autumn promptly responded, "it's Moo!" And so, Moo became part of the Colley family, too.


I guess names are starting to mean something to Autumn right now. I should get this on tape but she knows all of our names, too. As in, mine, Mike's, and her grandparents. It's pretty cool..."what's mama's name?" "Shawaze!" Haha. Our little miss is such a big girl!


(*a cookie to anyone who gets the warcraft reference, lol.)

Valerie's Baby Shower

But first...this is for Penny and Michael. :D


So, anyway, my side of the family is going to be a little more girly in a couple months because my sister is having an as-yet-unnamed girl in April! One of her friends gave her a shower last weekend.


I had to teach aikido on Saturday so I ended class a touch early so I would be able to get my uniform folded (seriously, it takes longer than one might think) and I could get out of there. I was 20 minutes late anyway. Why? My mom got lost. After two tries of calling her and trying to get her to pull over so I could retrieve her (one time she was all, "I saw some cars turning right and followed them." Wait, what? How do you even know where those cars are going?), I found her and we made to the party. Funny enough, my mom did the exact same thing before one of my showers! Mike's mom had go get her that time. Anyway, technically my mom is already a grandma and I'm already an aunt but we wore these buttons:


It was a very shower-y shower complete with presents,


juice,


and friends. Here's my mom with Mrs. Janis who was our youth pastor in high school. In the background is the super cute diaper cake that Liz's sister made for Valerie.


Autumn and Liz got some quality time...Autumn was showing Liz her booboos and her pretty nails, haha.


The ladies of my family. Even the unborn one. :)


And, now. For my pièce de résistance...Valerie's party shoes:

:D

Of course, I had to make Valerie a few things. Since they aren't choosing a name until after the baby is born, I decided to hold off on any labels or bag tags although Christy and I do have something special planned. :D I gave her some regular gifts but I also included some baby leg warmers. I don't remember how I found the original baby legs but they are so, so awesome. It was great to be able to just throw a onesie and these legwarmers on Autumn. Or to use them instead of pantyhose or as an extra layer, depending on the season. Made for easy diaper changes, for sure. And even better? Autumn can still wear all of her leg warmers, both store bought and mama-made.


I also made her a diaper clutch with this rock star fabric I bought as soon as I found out Valerie was having a baby. I've found that the diaper clutch is nicest for holding diapers, wipes, and the changing pad and I can just put the clutch into whatever big bag I am carrying. So when I need to do a change when we're out, I can leave my big bag with Mike and just carry the clutch. Of course, now that Autumn is potty trained, I use mine to carry a "just in case" pullup and wipes case that I can carry or put in her backpack or into whatever bag I'm carrying. Eventually I'm guessing it'll become just a bag that either I carry or Autumn carries--which is one of the reasons I chose this pattern. It's so versatile.


I've got one order for a houndstooth diaper clutch. :D If anyone's interested in a clutch (which comes with a changing pad and optional matching wipes case), let me know. I'm not selling them on my site yet but if you'd like one for yourself or for a gift, I'd be willing to do a special order for not much more than cost of materials since I am still practicing and I can't guarantee you'll get it in 2 days. This one was my best yet...I solved a couple of problems I've had making past ones (Michelle, I wish I could do yours over!) so I'm guessing it'll only get better from here!


So, that's all! If anyone wants to see all the photos from the shower, click here!