Family Weekend

This weekend was a very busy one, but super fun. It was definitely an all family weekend. On Saturday we headed out right after breakfast and went to Louden to visit Aunt Melissa, Uncle Kurt & Skylar's new little cousin Colte. Colte was born on July 17, 2010. He was born at 8:02am and he weighed 8 lbs and 2 oz, 18 inches long. He and Skylar are exactly 20 months apart. We cooked dinner & visited until bedtime, then packed up and headed home. Skylar liked baby Colte (she calls him Baby Coke), but she really liked playing with Aunt Melissa's doggies. Skylar was great on the car ride; a little fussy on the way up but on the way home we put in "The Princess & the Frog" and she fell asleep after the movie. Hopefully our trip to NC in August will be just as successful.

Sunday we headed to Stafford to spend the day at my grandparent's. We have a lot of July birthdays so we celebrated Grammy's, Uncle Ray's, Jon-Jon's (my little brother), & Izaiah's (my nephew) birthdays. Cousin Sammy is the baker & artist of the family so she made gourmet cupcakes for the kids, and Aunt Sarah & Bella drove from NC to surprise Grammy for her birthday.

It isn't often that the family gets together like that so we took a lot of family pictures. A good time was had by all. These are all of my siblings

Skylar is doing great. Not only are we having a blast, but she is learning SO much! She can count to 10 on her own, she knows all of her animals and their sounds, and her vocabulary increases everyday. This week we are working on shapes and colors. At this rate she will be more than ready for preschool when the time comes.

Kings Dominion & Sleep Strike

Last week we took Skylar to Kings Dominion for the first time. It was also our first family trip to an amusement park. I am not sure who had more fun, Skylar or Daddy.

Phil and I had a blast taking her on rides and watching her reaction. She was excited to be there and even enjoyed watching the rides she couldn't ride yet, making plans for next year no doubt.

There are only a few things she can ride right now, but she really enjoys them.

She really liked the Carousel and the Pirate Treasure Cave (Yogi's Cave). She also enjoyed the Boo Blasters where she rode in a car and shot at ghosts with a laser.

I recently had an old friend who is expecting his first baby ask "So, does she let you sleep", he likes his sleep because he works hard and long hours. I laughed! At this point you would think that you are gaining your sleep time back, however, if you are mommy there seems to be no such thing. Fortunately for him, he isn't.

Lately Skylar is on sleep strike. At first I thought it was her teeth, but now I am thinking it has more to do with separation anxiety because she will sleep if I hold her, and I am not trying to get into that habit. We have had to start sleep training all over again. She used to love laying in her bed. She would turn her little rain forest on and talk herself right to sleep. For the last week and a half sleep is a battle, especially at nap time. She has not had a nap for two days even though I let her cry. She eventually starts talking and playing, but continues to do so until about 3:30pm. At that point I want her to sleep at night so I get her up. She is back there yelling "YO GABBA- MOMMY" as I type. It can't last forever, right? I HOPE! I have ordered "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Robert Ferber in hopes that it sheds a little light on our situation.

Busy Bees

The Markwith hive has been a busy one lately. Phil got a new proposal at work and has been working very long hours and weekends, which means I have been doing the same. My last day of school was June 18th and Skylar and I have been occupying ourselves while Daddy has been working. She has discovered that she really loves the pool, dress up, and cooking with mommy. She continues to fine tune her building skills with her blocks. Every day we play hard all day long.






June 26th Skylar was the flower girl in Uncle Chris & Aunt Janet's wedding. Although her dress was adorable and she was very well behaved, she went down the aisle in cousin Paige's arms with an easter egg from the Sunday school room instead of walking down with her flowers. It was cute all the same, and she counted to 10 all by herself during the ceremony. She counted the polka dots on mommy's purse while Chris and Janet said their vows. She actually went down the aisle during the rehearsal. She also met little Rob Townsend who was a ringbearer and absolutely adored her. For such a little man he had big pick up lines "Hey little girl" as he pinched her cheek, lol. It was cute. At the reception she kicked back and relaxed with Uncle Kurt and Aunt Melissa.






Last week we visited the Children's Museum of Richmond in Glen Allen with Aunt Sheri and cousin Audrey. The girls had a blast. I believe they could have played all day, but at some point they needed to eat and then an inevitable nap prevented further play. Sheri and I walked the girls to Kona Grill before driving home, where I made yet another detour before getting us home. Sorry Sheri, next time will be better... I promise. I was very impressed with the museum. There were so many neat things for the girls to do and it was so clean. People were cleaning and sanitizing while we were there. That always makes a mommy feel better. Skylar enjoyed the sandbox the most, with the exception of the screaming 4 year old bully who threw sand at everyone. He and his mother should have been removed, but instead we removed the girls and took them elsewhere. Skylar ended up back in the sand, so we are getting her a sandbox for the house. We hope to make another trip to the museum before the summer is over.





This weekend Aunt Sarah and Bella were in town so we got to visit with them for a couple of hours today. Bella was very happy to see Skylar and kissed her as soon as she came in. Skylar, Audrey, and Bella were very happy to play together and spent a lot of time in Aunt Cathy and Uncle Tim's pool. We are planning to make a trip out to South Carolina before the summer is over to see Sarah and Bella. We weren't going to, but I don't think the girls will make it until Christmas without seeing each other...all the girls (mostly me and Sarah, lol).

This week we are planning to go to the pool with my friend Devon and her two kids Bianca and Logan, whom Skylar adores. Next week, Phil and I are planning to take Skylar on her 1st trip to Kings Dominion. We can't wait!