A dog called Blaze

So my step-father, Don, came by the house the other day for the house's 10th birthday party, and brought a wonderful present for Rachel Claire...a huge stuffed Old English Sheepdog! Just like we had when we were kids. Our dog was named Blaze (after a horse called Blaze in a book) and when I told Rachel Claire that story she decided to name the stuffed dog Blaze too. It is adorable if not really huge compared to RC. She has used it for a blanket during a nap and has taken it to bed with her since she got it. It is a new favorite, hopefully won't nudge out puppy from her prime cuddle position.

Of course Blaze is a girl because my dog as a kid was a girl and also because I try to make as many of our stuffed animals girls because there are too many boy stuffed animals in this world (by default, almost all stuffed animals are boys and we're out to change that! Not in an antagonistic way, but in a subtle way, so that people don't always assume stuffed animals are boys....).

Here's a random photo of Rachel Claire, playing dress up with this adorable dress that Becky's mom got her -- it is precious and fits just perfectly right now -- if we could just figure out what kind of event we should wear it to! :-)