Life with Skylar

If I had to describe Skylar in one word it would be “joyful”…she is always smiling. Well…unless you are in her “bubble” then she will express her displeasure with you.

Some of her favorite things to do:

* Play with babies. She LOVES her American Girl Bitty Baby twins. She loves the girl the most these days. Her name is “Charlie” from Disney Channel’s “Good Luck Charlie.” She will very proudly tell you her baby’s name is “Carly” which is Skylar speak for Charlie. She would spend all day pushing Charlie in her stroller or pulling her in her wagon. She is starting to enjoy dress up, and almost always needs a purse to take care of her baby.

* Reading books has also become a favorite. She asks Sami to read to her, but she is a tad slow for her interest level. It is still sweet to watch. Instead of saying “book” she says “please” as in “please read this to me…” Very sweet!

* “I helping Momma” has become a favorite sentence of hers! She loves to help with the laundry. It of course makes it take a lot longer, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

* Another favorite is anything her sister is doing. Much to Sami’s dismay. She just loves her, and wants to do anything Sami is doing…even if it is too hard for her.

Sami is usually very sweet with her, and tries to include her in most things. She will get her snacks, and help her climb up on the couch. She really looks out for her, and protects her.

Currently Skylar’s favorite thing to talk about, play with, or see is….cows! I am not sure where this (borderline) obsession came from, but it seems to be here to stay! She has a stuffed cow that Sami gave her that she takes almost everywhere, and sleeps with every night. There is a farm we pass as we go north…as soon as we cross over the river she starts asking…”my cows???” As we pass them she waves furiously yelling “Hi cows!!!!!” I want to take her back to Fair Oaks Dairy Adventure soon while she still loves cows!

As you can see from the photos she has let her hair grow back in!!!! She had her tubes put in in January, and has been ear infection free ever since! Her language development has also taken off as a result of being healthy, and finally not having fluid clouding her hearing. We went back to the ENT a few weeks ago. The tubes are still both perfectly in place, and he is hopeful they will last her through the winter. Hopefully by that time her own little tubes will have gotten longer, and she can stay her happy joyful little self.

She also had her two year old check up recently. She had lost a little weight since the last time she had been seen. After checking, and re-checking it was determined she weighs 22 lbs. I can not remember how tall she is. I will have to measure her again myself. She is on the “little side” but she is perfect for her.

The most fabulous thing to come out of the appointment- we got to check and see if she had grown out of her milk allergy! Rather than put her through blood work I gave her a little yogurt at home. I was interested to see how she would do. Before if she would eat something with milk in it she would cry and spit it out. She ate the yogurt right up. I was so nervous that she was going to get sick…but praise God…she didn’t!!!! A few days later I gave her some goldfish crackers. She LOVED them, and again…no break out…no tummy aches….she was fine!!! We are holding off giving her actual straight milk for now so we don’t shock her little tummy.

She is still a fabulous sleeper! She takes one nap a day (in the afternoon), and she sleeps 12-14 hours at night. She is still in a crib. I think she would be fine if I moved her to a toddler bed. However we moved Sami too soon, and it was a nightmare. I don’t want a repeat of that, so for now she will stay in the crib.

As I’ve mentioned her speech has really taken off. It would be boring to list all of her “words”, but I will share a conversation we have MANY times throughout the day….

“What doooooooing Mommy??”

“Oh I am cooking Skylar….”

“WHY Mommy???”

“So we can have dinner!”

“WHY Mommy???”

“Because everyone is hungry”

“Oh…..”

Two minutes later….

“What dooooooooing Mommy?????”

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

That is our precious Skylar…such a joy!

(These photos were taken by Little Lady Photography a family member who has started an amazing photography business! It you are in need of family photos, milestone photos, etc. I encourage you to check her out on Facebook! We were thrilled with these fun shots that totally captured Skylar’s personality! http://www.facebook.com/LittleLadyPhoto)

First Day of First Grade

Sami started First Grade today. When I went in to wake her up she stretched a bit then hopped up to get ready. Most people know she isn’t really a morning person, so she must have been really excited!

She had decided the night before that she wanted cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They were just about ready so we woke up Matt (who is working nights) to have breakfast with her for her first day. If he doesn’t get up with her for a bit in the morning he will not see her at all during the week because school gets out after he has already left.

After breakfast she cleaned up and brushed her teeth. I think she cleaned up pretty nicely…

When I asked her what kind of backpack she wanted this year she had told me “A big girl one!” I had no idea what THAT meant, but upon further investigation she meant a non-character one. I love my L.L. Bean backpack. I have had it for almost 10 years, and it looks the same as the day I got it…well…perhaps a bit dirtier. I asked Matt if it would be silly to get her a “good” backpack and he thought it was a great idea. (He also wanted to buy her a Coach backpack last year! ) So I showed her the catalog, and this is what she chose….

So a new backpack with matching lunch box! It is hard to tell in the picture, but her name is also on it.

We had all of her school supplies in it and ready for the first day…boy was it heavy!

There have been some changes and growth within our school corporation, so the bus routes changed a bit. Sami’s new stop is right in front of our house! That was a-ok with me! Especially since she is the only one there! She asked Matt to wait with her for the first day. They were so cute chatting with each other!

And just like that…she was off! I only cried a little bit knowing this is going to be a great year for her!

She came running in the door after school. Super excited about the welcome to school items from her teacher! She gave me no problems going to bed tonight-she was exhausted!

I think 1st grade is going to be fabulous for her!

Indianapolis Children’s Museum

It was the last weekend before school was starting…Matt was going to be off, so we decided we MUST do something! The plan was to go to Indiana Beach, but we woke up to rain.

I tossed around the idea of going to Indianapolis to the Children’s Museum. I had let Matt sleep a bit, and with the time difference and two hour drive we were cutting it close to get there….but we made it work.

As soon as we pulled in Sami saw the dinosaur they have on the outside of the building, and she was SO excited!!! “Mom….do you think they have paleontology stuff?!?!”

Much to her delight they did!!!! It was pretty dark in there, so I didn’t get any pictures. She loved reading all of the information they had at each display. She most definitely gets that from Matt! I personally found it to be a snooze fest as did Sky…so she and I just walked around while they learned about meteorites, bones, and uh…other stuff!

Sami spotted the archeology exhibit, and she made a bee line. She was listening intently to everything the little videos had to say! “Mom they found all of this in the Dominican Republic!!! Did you find stuff when you were there?” No…I left my excavating tools at home…all 4 trips!

By this point Skylar was seriously bored! I spotted the train room next door, so she and I popped over there. As much as I hate splitting up I hate seeing her miserable and bored even more. Shortly after Sami joined us. The girls had fun checking out all of the train fun!

They have a caboose you can walk through, and it seems like you’re really on a moving train. Skylar loved it! My mom told me it was one of my favorite things when I went there as a little girl as well!

Our next stop was the Barbie room! I had heard about it from other friends who have visited the museum, so I was excited to check it out with Sami!

She had a lot of fun being a “Barbie designer”…

They had some Barbie history which she really didn’t care about, but she thought the outfits were pretty neat.

They also had a dress up area where the kids could put on some Barbie fashions, and walk on the runway! Sami of course thought that was pretty fun!

I could hear Skylar screaming and protesting the Barbie area from across the room! Poor Matt…and poor everyone else within ear shot! So once again…we split up. I took Skylar to get a snack, and Matt and Sami went to “Egypt”. When we met up with them the girls got to participate in an Egyptian ceremony similar to a baby shower. It was very interactive and fun!

Sami found this display with Kit…one of her American Girl dolls. We both thought that was pretty fun!

We ended the day in the science area…well…after the science area we ended in the gift shop! Skylar chose a cow, and Sami chose a Barbie fashion designer art set. It was a fun day.

I wish there had been more things for Skylar’s age, but Sami really enjoyed herself!

Wendy Moira Angela Darling

I finished Sami’s Wendy costume last night. I made the casing around the neck a little small for the ribbon. I was afraid I was going to have to pull it all out and start over, but Matt worked it through. He has the patience of a saint! Me…not so much!

I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and more importantly Sami was happy with it!

It is a little difficult to tell from the picture, but the sleeves don’t actually stick out like that. They will lay and flow nicely when not on an adult sized hanger.

I ordered the tickets for the party today! Things are really starting to come together! Everyone is getting excited…even Matt!!!

More Prep to Visit the Mouse

Most of my posts have been about Disney prep, but to be honest that is all we really have going on over here lately! Matt is working tons, and a very weird shift. I am beginning to forget what his face looks like! But knowing we will all be on vacation together for 10 magical days is keeping me going.

We were supposed to go to a wedding today, however, Skylar is sick with a yucky virus. I was really sad and disappointed to miss it. She went to bed pretty early, so I decided to use the night to sew.

I will be the first to admit I was never a huge Winnie the Pooh fan. There was no REAL reason…I just wasn’t that into it. In fact when Sami was a baby I wouldn’t buy her Huggies diapers because they had him on them! Yikes! Last year Skylar fell in love with Pooh and all of his friends which has made me appreciate them all a lot more.

We will be eating at Crystal Palace again this year to visit with Pooh and his friends from The Hundred Acre Wood, so I made the girls dresses to wear while we are there.

I really like the classic storybook look of the fabric! In all of my past pillowcase dresses I have used ribbon to make the straps, but this fabric had a cute border that I wanted to use for the straps. I think I like the dresses a lot more with fabric straps.

(Isn’t this cute?)

I have Sami’s “Wendy” costume material cut-I just need to sew it all together. I also ordered Matt’s “Captain Hook” costume for the party…it is all coming together!!!

Sami’s Autograph Book

The Cricut was hard at work again last night. This time it was Sami using it! She helped me make her autograph for our upcoming Disney trip!

The front cover….

The back cover….

The inside has white pages that are shaped like tickets. Not super fancy, but we think it is super fun!