Bye Bye Baby...

After Skylar's 1st birthday, in June, it became very apparent that it was time to put away all of her baby toys, bumbos, boppys, play mats swings, etc. Physically she was too big to use them any longer. She was walking at 8 months old. Although I keep my nephew who is 2 months younger it became more of a safety issue because my daughter is a dare devil of sorts and will clime, scale and maneuver herself into things that no longer fit her. I was so sad when we had to wrap everything up to put it in the attic. So many memories made and of course the thought that my little girl is growing up too fast!

Skylar 4mo & Bryan 2mo


About 2 months ago I began watching my neighbors 4 month old little girl, Kylie, through the holidays. This meant I would have a 16, 14 and 4 month old all day, every day. I was excited and nervous but was trying to do my part to bring income into our family. My sweet husband works so hard for our family and I thought it would be a great help, especially to have the extra cash during the holiday season. My second reason was more tactical. My brother and his wife are expecting triplets next June and like their older brother Bryan I will be watching them as well. I figured this would be a great trial period to see how the kids as well as myself will adjust to having a baby around.

Obviously this meant that we needed to bring down all of Skylar's baby items so that Kylie would have things to play with. I was like a kid on Christmas day as my husband unwrapped each item. Each item held its own memores of Skylar and Bryan's "babyhood." While wrapped up in the excitement/nervousness of watching a baby again I all to quickly didn't consider Skylar and Bryans activeness now that they are toddlers. It became a constant battle to keep them out of the swings and chairs in fear of them falling out or pinching their fingers. They were like kids in a candy store. To them these toys were brand new and they couldn't understand why I would set them out just tell them they couldn't play with them. It quickly became a game to see how many times they could get me to say," Get down, out, no ma'am, no sir, take turns." etc.

Skylar 17 mo in the baby swing


My "trial" ended last week and I find myself saddened again at the thought of wrapping everything back up and putting in the attic. I try to remind myself that memories are just that....memories. They are not the toys, swings, etc. They are the forever thoughts I hold in my heart of my precious little girl now 18 months old going on 21.