Welcome Autumn!

Autumn is my favorite season (along with spring and summer!) I love the cooler weather, the warm colors, pumpkin and cinnamon scented EVERYTHING, my birthday, Halloween and Thanksgiving, so many great things to look forward to in the fall!
Last year I really wanted to make a fall onesie for Tessa. I never got around to it, so that was one of the first projects on my autumn to-craft list this year!

I love how this shirt turned out! I just sewed on a few silk leaves along the veins so most of the leaf is loose. The buttons are added just for extra cuteness! My favorite part is the plaid ruffle along the bottom! My mom found this adorable ribbon at JoAnn's. I just pulled out the wires, sewed it into a ruffle, and sewed it onto the tee! I can't wait for it to fit Tessa! Hopefully it will fit before we go to the pumpkin patch for pictures!

I'm linking up to Craftaholics Anonymous' Fall Frenzy Link Party!

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First Sale!

I just completed my first Etsy sale! Of course when I opened my store, I had these big dreams of items flying off the shelf, but as it turns out, almost a year and a half have gone by and I've just now sold my first item! I think it is really cute! It's a personalized diaper wipes case with a ruffled pocket on the front for diapers. My customer wanted something bright, sophisticated, yet still girlie. I think she's going to love this! I sure do!

Seventeen Months!

Tessa, this has been such a big month for you! I think you learn something new every single day!

• You are constantly signing “cracker.” I almost regret teaching you that sign! You really love to eat crackers! You are a really good eater, actually. You prefer fruit, but on most days, you’ll eat almost anything we give you!
• You are now singing, or doing the motions to “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Mr. Sun,” Patty Cake,” “Riding in the Car,” "Where is Thumbkin," “Five Little Monkeys,” “Butterfly Floating By,” and you do the “Hokey Pokey!” I really need to get you on video! You are just too cute!

• You love to point at people as they come through the door. Anytime someone leaves, you have to run and wave bye-bye and blow kisses!

• You have two new teeth! Your front teeth have finally popped through! And the two next to them are working their way in!
• We had you dedicated to the church this month. It was a very special ceremony and a great time to celebrate with family and friends!

• You are still a great sleeper and take really good naps pretty much every day! We are sooooo lucky!
• You HATE the car almost always. I can’t wait to turn your car seat around. I know you’ll be so much happier!

• You are so social! You love going to Sunday School to play with the other kids. You love to play with other kids at the park. When we go out to restaurants, you love to look around and talk to other tables.
• Your favorite word is “Hey!” You use that expression all the time, when something unexpected has happened, when you want us to turn the TV on, when trying to get somebody’s attention. It is so cute, and you always get a laugh when you say “hey” to a stranger in public!

• You had a photo shoot for a Halloween Costume company. You were the cutest little ladybug and bumble bee! Unfortunately, the pictures won’t be published until next Halloween, so we have a long time to wait before we get to see the final product. But you were awfully cute in the digital images I got to preview!
• You love the water! We put you in your pool all the time. We went to the water park a couple of times, and even though you are too small for the water slides, you love wading around in the kids’ lagoon and floating in the lazy river!

• You love to laugh and are absolutely delightful! Tessa, every day I am more and more amazed with you and cannot believe how blessed I am to be your mom. I look forward to each new experience with you and miss you so much when you are napping or sleeping! I love you more and more every day!

This is Tessa last year at this time:

I can't believe how much you've grown!

Tessa's One Year Photo Book

I finally got around to putting together a photo book for Tessa's first year. I wish I had started earlier. I know I could have made it even better, but Shutterfly had a free offer that ends tonight, so here's what I made! Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Sixteen Months!

My amazingly spectacular little girl is sixteen months old already! I got an e-mail toady that started off "Oh where, oh where has your baby gone?" and it rings so true to me! Tessa is heading into toddlerhood way too quickly for me! Here's what she's up to now-a-days:

~ You are trying really hard to jump. You crouch down and then pop up onto your toes and squeal with laughter!

~You have started doing chores! You love to help me load and turn on the dishwasher, do the laundry, and feed the dog!


~ You are a book worm! Your current favorite is the Peek-A-Boo Halloween book Grammie bought you last year at Target's dollar spot!

~ I just got out your nesting blocks and shape sorting ball and you have gotten really good at both! You love to stack the blocks as high as you can reach on your toes! You now point at the correct shape in the ball and then work your hardest to put the shape in. You get it right almost all of the time!

~ You are also getting really good at puzzles! You can now match the pieces to their correct spot and sometime get them in correctly with no help at all!

~ You have two new signs: cracker and please! You have become a cracker fiend since I taught you how to sign it. That is all you ever want to eat!

~ You figured out how to use your fork all by yourself! I left you with some watermelon and your baby fork, and when I looked over from the kitchen, you had a big piece of watermelon on your fork and were chomping away at it! You are too smart, little girl!

~ You love the beach, especially the ocean! Our little Southern California girl!


~ You are now running as often as you are walking. You spend most of your day running from one room to the other around the house!

~ You love to dance! Anytime you hear music, whether we are at home, in the car, or at a store, you have to stop and dance!

~ You said "Robbie" this month! Or at least something that sounded a lot like Robbie!

~ You want to do everything Mommy does. You like to put things in the trash can, climb on the step stool to look in the cupboard, brush and comb your hair and teeth, put toilet paper in the toilet! I swear you are doing new things every day!

~ You love to play Hide and Seek. You hide behind the coffee table or Baba's chair and bounce up with joyful squeals!



You really are such a lovely little girl! I am reminded every day how lucky your dad and I are to have you in our lives

Handmade Gift Exchange!

Last month I participated in a handmade gift exchange with Craftaholics Anonymous. She is the same blogger who does the winter craft exchange that I participated in last year! I love these swaps! They are so fun and I love trying new projects for them!

My exchange partner was a girl who lives in Wyoming. She has a 6 year old daughter, so I decided to make Mommy & Me aprons! It was my first time making an apron without a pattern, but I just perused a couple of tutorials online and made these cute ruffly aprons!


Speaking of things I made last month, I tried my hand a freezer paper stenciling finally! I painted and embellished this little onesie for Tessa. I LOVE how it turned out! Sweet and whimsical!

One Year Photo Shoot

I finally got Tessa's one year photos taken (only 3 months late), and the images came in the mail today! Last year I bought a photo package off of Group On. It was like $59 for the shoot and CD of images. I am so glad I bought that! The CD has 459 images on it, which is A LOT, but they are all mine! So you don't have to look through all 459 images, I created colleges of my favorites from each setting. We went to breathtaking Balboa Park, where I doubt there has ever been a bad picture taken! It took Tessa awhile to warm up to the photographer, so the first setting didn't have many great shots. Plus, we did a lot of impromptu Mommy & Me pics. I wasn't planning on being in any of the shots, so I am not wearing make-up, but at least I curled my hair!






All photos taken by Robert Goold Photography