She Grows so Fast.

Being a mommy is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
My 2 year old daughter is just amazing. Yes a hand full and more, but amazing non the less.

She went from being a cute little ball, that needed me for everything. 

To a big girl who thinks she can do it all on her own. 

I feel bad sometimes when I look at her. 

I feel bad for not taking more pictures. 

for not spending more time with her.

for not holding onto every moment with her. 

She has turned into this whole person. 

She has her own opinions, talks more words than I thought I ever taught her. 

She knows right from wrong, even if she doesn't always choose right. 

She says thanks yous and pleases. 

She is scared of the dark and being left behind. 

She love to eat cereal and cookie. She would eat nothing but if she had her way. 

She's my " boo boo baby" and she's tell you that. 

What is in a Name?

I named my daughter Skylee for many reasons.
One I didn't hear it everywhere. Like Ashley and Brittney. Sorry if one of those is your name. You're awesome though.
Two I did hear it in a blink-182 song on their live album. Yep that's me super dork!
I spelled it the way I did because I hate word that aren't spelled the way they sound, like "laugh" really? I would spell it "laf".
But now my baby is the only Skylee I know.
Now there is:
Skylee Purple.

Meet Skylee Purple, also comes in green.
I kinda wanna buy this for my daughter because they have the same name. Also kinda mad they stole my shit. That name was mine.
Find out more about Skylee Purple here at Target.

Why did you choose the name you did for your child?

We have Mater

Bad picture I know. It was from my phone and at night. But you get the idea.
So yep, last night we went out and got Skylee' birthday gift while we had the money. We stood in the ride on toy aisle for forever trying to pick something out. We just could not make up our mind on which one to get her.
They had the pretty pink and purple ones and they had a on sale Handy Mandy. They had the cool look Spider Man and then they had the awesome Tow Mater!
Yup as you see we got her Tow Mater!!!!!
It's so darn cute. I love it. I just hope she loves it.
I hope it's not like she gets on it and cries or something.  That would be our luck.
But yup we have everything coming together for her birthday.
Invites are mailed and I'm making decorations whenever I get the time. Persent is bought, by us and the grandparents.
This year is going to be the best birthday party ever!

Sticky Toddler Drama

We went to the good ol' dollar store yesterday to pick up somethings I needed to start working on Skylee's birthday party coming up.
We got up to the check out and skylee was picking things up out the the cart and putting them on the belt. She was also helping the cashier move them forward. It was really cute.
When I am putting the bags into the cart and getting ready to go, the cashier gives skylee one of those really big lolly pops for helping her. How sweet was she?!
Skylee of course liked it. Not so much me. I mean yea I like my kid getting free stuff, who wouldn't? But it was already 7:30pm, skylee's bed time is at 8pm. I had to fight with a screaming, sticky toddler who throw herself into the floor, to get this thing away from her. Not cool.
It would have been okay if it was earlier in the day or if the lady would have given it to me so I could give it to her at a earlier time.
But look how cute she is with that big ol' lolly pop.

Oh Yes Winnie the Pooh

Sunday Skylee had a play date with Savannah ( a friend of mine from high school's little girl). We all went to Target then ate at Panda Express. We also got to go see the new Winnie the Pooh.
The girls did so good in the theater. They did awesome for a almost two year old and a 9 month old. I am one proud momma. Skylee sat there and watched the movie only moving seats when she got bored, which didn't happen until about the middle of the movie. And for a hour and half long movie that's awesome!

These two are so cute!
Winnie the Pooh was awesome too. I was a fan of winnie the pooh when I was a kid so seeing this took me back. It was just a good as the old ones. I loved it.

She's the cutest!

During the day she just does some of the cutest stuff. Yesterday we were playing with a ball and I put it under my shirt. We played like forever with the ball under my shirt. Then I said no more. So she started wanting the ball under her dress. She had some much fun with that ball under her dress.
Even if she is a monster. She still has a cute moments.

The Warnings

The hubs got off early today. He came in and told me that his boss asked about our daughter today. He asked how old she was now and the hubs reply's with "almost two". The boss reply's with " ooooooooo." 
It's like every time someone hears how old she is, we get some kind of warning. We have heard it all. The terrible twos are among us. We hear how she's just going to be a complete monster. How she's going to just stop listening.
And we see it. We don't need the warnings. We need someone to help us. Someone to keep her for the next year or so until she turns back into the sweet loving thing we used to know. We don't need your laughs and comments. We don't need a baby who throw fits because sponge bob didn't say hey to her when she waved at the TV. We don't need a baby who only after being out of bed 30 minutes is already standing in the corner for something or another.
I don't understand this change. And I hate even more the comments about how the next year is going to complete hell. I would like to just go through this year in a ignorant haze. I wanna to blame all her acting up on her teeth.
(I just had to get open from the computer to put her back in the corner for doing the same thing she did earlier. It's only 10:45am and this is the second time she has been in the corner this morning.)
Back to what I was saying. I wanna blame it all on her teeth. She has back ones coming in, they hurt, that's why she's acting up. Is it too much to ask to just let me think that? So when I look back on this year I don't have to think of all the bad things she did and all the hair I lost.
Has anyone gone grey by the 3rd year of their child's life? I think I might and yes I'm only 21.

The Terrible Two Hit Early

It came out of no where like a freak summer storm. The terrible tantrums, yelling, throwing herself on the floor and acting like we're killing her.
My daughter is 21 months old and is terrible twoing in the worst ways.
She throws things and hits people. She'll throw herself on the floor and screaming like a mad woman. She'll do it any where too. She doesn't care if people are watching or if where in a quit dinning area.
Are you eating without her? Oh no you didn't. Now she must throw a fit and try to grab your plate or whatever out of your hands.
We try everything to get her behave. We do the time outs in the corner. We take toys away. We say " NO NO if you do that the monster will eat you." Don't judge some fear is good for a child.
I'm running on a short leash and my nervous are shot. Some days I'm drinking a glass of wine at noon.
Sometimes she is the sweetest thing in the world. She'll give you hugs and kisses and laugh and lay on you. They next she's yelling in your face and hitting you.
I want my little sweet baby back. This monster that took of her body is driving me up the crazy tree. And this crazy tree is the fun kind.
How do you handle this crazy tantrums?

Wordless Wednesday Video Edition.

Revamping the Flip Flop

I found this great flip flop craft tutorial yesterday. And to my luck I had a blow out pair of flips that needed come fixing up. I found the tutorial here at The Mother Huddle.com.
I really like this and I'm thinking or revamping all my flops this summer all in different ways. And of course pictures will be added here because I love y'all.

In other news I'm be out this weekend. We are going on another family camping trip and this time we're taking Skylee. It will be her 1st camping trip. I'm a little nervous. She is great out doors and easy to entertain, but when night time comes I'm scared she'll be scared. One she will be sleeping in a tent. I was kinda scared my 1st time too. She isn't good at sleeping anywhere other than her bed and car seat. It could be a long night. Wish us luck! and like I said before I love y'all so pictures and the story will be up.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

XOXO
Darkin' Mama

Skylee's 1st Fishing Trip : WW

Nothing like a sunny day by the lake.

She loves water. But She didn't want her feet in it. LOL

Skylee's 1st fishing Trip 2011.

The Warm Weather is Here in the Darlin' Country

As you can see, we are wearing our short sleeves and skirts in Georgia. OMG she looks so cute setting on our front steps like a young lady. It's super warm here now. It was in the high 80s yesterday and has been like that all weekend. So we took advantage of the weather and had some awesome outdoor time. Even went fishing ( that story coming tomorrow ).

We are thrilled about this weather. It maybe getting hot fast, but I'm welcoming it. After the winter we had and the ice storms, this is awesome. I love wearing shorts and flip flops. Oh the flip flops. I have 5 pair last year, but somehow lost all but 2 pair during the winter. So as soon as Wal-Mart puts their flip flops out I'm getting a pair in every color.

Along with the warm weather, Skylee got a play set. My mom bought it for her and it's now in our small front yard. I don't think I'm going to get my dream backyard anytime soon. But she loves this thing. She goes in the little door on one side and climbs up to the slide and goes "weeeeeee" as she's sliding down. It's so cute how much fun she has playing on it.
Hope everyone is enjoying this nice weather. There's is some bad weather and coming this way tonight. And with it it's bring back some cold temps, which sucks.
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and hope this Monday isn't so bad.

XOXO
Darlin' Mama

No Go to the Going in the Potty

Well I just hate to report this, but it feels like a must. We are taking a break from potty training. After 3 weeks of nothing happening, I give in. I don't give up, just in, for now.
I think I was training her before she was ready. I believe I was more ready than she was. She loved setting on the potty and reading books and playing potty games. She loved naked time and wearing big girl panties. But she just didn't seem to care if she wet herself or pooped in her panties. So here it was more that she liked the idea of potty, but didn't really care if she used the potty or not.
So here we are back to square one. I have all this potty stuff, cloth panties, and pull ups, and books, and travel potty seats, ect. But I come to feel okay with being back to square one. She is only 20 months old. She is still a baby. I understand some kids potty train early and some are a little later. I just have a late bloomer.  But she is still my baby flower and she will bloom when she feels she wants to.
So lesson learned. You can't rush growing up. You can't always be the ruler of your child life. Yea we get to tell them when to go to bed and when to take a bath and what not. But when it comes to growing and developing, we have no control of that at all. Only your child and God know when they are ready to bloom into beautiful roses.
I'm okay will Skylee being a baby a bit longer. She is my one and probably only. I want to keep her a small baby as long as possible.  Yea I might hate this stinky diapers that her daddy always seem to pawn off on me. But I love to see her run around in nothing but I diaper. And it getting summer time, that will be happening a lot. LOL.
So until she is ready, I can wait. She is only young once.

Potty Training Ups and Downs

1st Off I wanna start this post by saying, I know all children will potty train when their ready and all kids are different. I know this.

2nd I would like to say, this potty training thing is super hard.

We have been going full potty training mode for a week now. We are cloth training at home and using pull-ups ( meaning disposables ) when we're out. We tryed doing cloth while we went out, but Skylee is so small that the 2T water proff pants I bought ( 2T being the smallest size I could find) are too big. So they didn't hold in leaks well at all.
We were doing good the 1st few days at home. We had plenty of "naked-time". We pee peed in the potty 2 times the 1st day. We were so proud. And I was giving her cookies for a reward.( I know I know, not the best thing to do. But she doesn't get sweets often and this made her happy. I can't help but I want to make her happy.) The next few days weren't as successful. We went through all 6 pairs of cloth panties in like 7mins. I so not lying. It was kinda fun now that I think about it.
The pull-ups aren't helping at all. We bought some with Dora on them, being that is her favorite person right now. I told her, "Don't pee pee on Dora." She was so happy to be wearing Dora, but that didn't stop her from peeing on her. A wet pull-up didn't seem to bother her at her. At least a wet cloth panties made her cry.
We are just starting off. And I am keeping my cool.
Wish us luck.

Perparing to Cloth Potty Train.

We have been taking a break from potty training to regroup. I needed to find another way to train that was right for us. I just couldn't see paying $10 for pull-ups when we were just going to throw them away. I didn't wanna pay a lot of money for something we could be using for a while. And the cost of pull-ups adds up quick. And I just couldn't see Skylee seeing them as anything other than a pretty diaper.

So I did some looking around and found these Gerber cloth training pants. Gerber is a good company I trust so I order this pack of three and I plan on ordering more soon. I also plan on order some of Gerber's waterproof pants too.

Along with ordering those I order a travel potty seat. It's called Mommy's Helper. I just hated the idea of putting my little baby on a big ol' dirty public potty. So I was so happy I found this. I can't wait until I get it. It even founds up to fit into the diaper bag.
So once I have all these thing ordered and in, we'll start training again. Looking forward to it.
Has anyone else ever cloth potty trained? How did it go?

Bye - Bye High Chair

Seems like yesterday I was setting her in her high chair to feed her baby cereal for the 1st time. But in reality, just yesterday we said bye-bye to the high chair.

And said Hello to the booster set.

She is so excited about this one. The past couple of weeks has been hard. She wouldn't set in the high chair to eat with throwing the biggest fit. Yesterday was just one of those days where you go out and see things you didn't even know you needed. We were out at one of my favorite stores, The Value Village thrift store. Don't judge those places are awesome.
I see this booster and set turned to my hubs and asked if he thought Skylee would enjoy setting at the table with us. Of course like most things kid related, he said he didn't know. The booster set was only $2 and some change so I said what the hell why not.
Boy did I make a good choice. One point Mom. She loves this thing. When I set her in it she claps and cheers and gets so happy. I'm at the point of having to fight to, not get her in it, but keep her out of it. It's crazy, but oh so funny too. My little girl is just growing up so fast. It's hurting my heart to see her grow this fast. Why would God make kids grow this fast. I want my baby back. Ok I don't want the bottles or long nights again, so I'm trying to be ok with this. It's all just going by way too fast.

Learning to Potty Train

I'll be the 1st to say, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to potty training. Skylee just turned 18 months today and we have been learning about the potty for about a week now. We bought her a potty chair last wal-mart trip. She seemed happy about it. She mostly likes to take it apart and put her face to the pot part. I had a potty seat that goes on the big potty ( as seen in picture ) put up in the closet that my mom bought a while back. Skylee seems to like it more. Which I understand, it's super softer than that hard ol' potty chair.
She seems to be really into the potty right now. She loves setting on it and playing with the TP roller ( as seen in picture above).
I have a plan going,
We go to the potty every hour if we can.
I have ordered some potty books for her and we are going to buy some pull ups this weekend.
I know I might be starting early, but I'm ready for the long haul. We did have a step forward Sunday night. We had just got home and I was going to change her diaper and get ready for bed. I put her on the potty and turned on the sink to help things "get going" and she peed in the potty. I was soooo excited I jumped up and clapped and starting yelling for daddy to come and see. Skylee thought it was the best thing ever. I'm hoping for more of those times.
Any advise is welcome!

Motherhood is a War

Skylee is growing up so fast. In a few weeks she'll be 18months. We are in full swing terrible twos. These is when I realized that motherhood is like a war. There's small battle like, bed time, dinner, and brushing hair. But the over all war is only won when they are grown and you see that you make a good person to send out into the world.
Speaking of battles, I won one last night when I put locks on the cabinets. From a past post you read that I couldn't keep my mess out of the cabinets. Well last night we made a trip to Wal-mart just for cabinet locks. We got home and the 1st thing I did was install them. I knew the battle was won when right after I got done installing them Skylee came in and tried to get into the cabinet. Haha mommy won!!!!
On a cute note. We went to Ci-Ci's a few nights ago. We love that place. Not the best for my new "healthy lifestyle", but still good. Skylee usually doesn't eat much when we go there, but this time was different.

She ate a piece of pizza all by herself. It was the Mac and Cheese pizza and she loved it.

XOXO
Nikki Darlin'

Where's the Wine???

The name for this wine could not be more perfect.

The pass couple of days have been driving me crazy. Skylee is now almost 18months and is in full blown TERRIBLE TWO'S.
On a daily basic I say: NO, stop that, get out of the trash, shut that door, open that door, don't throw that, come here, put that down, don't bite, don't bite the puppy, stop, stop, stop, close the cabinet, get out of the cabinet, not yours, set down, stop whining, why are you crying, get up, NO NO NO NO NO!!!! like 10000000000005 times.
This kid is going to have me hiding in the corner, pulling out my hair here soon. I have now planned a trip to Wal-mart to buy some more cabinet locks. And I need somewhere to hide the trash can. Her and the puppy have some secret plan to drive me crazy by pulling out trash all day long.
I haven't even got to the car rides yet. She used to love getting in the car and riding. Not so much anymore. She loves to go Bye-Bye buy isn't big on riding in the car. This kid wants us to teleport or something. She will; crying and kick her legs and throw things you give her all the way the road. It makes the simplest things sooo hard to do.
I so see myself become a wine drinker. By nap time I'm so at my wits end I need a glass or a good cocktail.
HELP ME!!!!

XOXO
Nikki Darlin'

3 Times Not a Charm

Yesterday was a battle. A battle to the breaking point. Skylee went to the corner three times. Yes count them 1...2...3.
I started putting her in the corner when she did something bad. I will tell her why she is going to the corner and for how long. I would make her set in the corner for one minute. I'm going by her age for the time limit. It seemed to work.
But yesterday was a different story. She just isn't listening, at all. She was messing with the dog's bowl, I tell her no no and she just looks at me and keeps going. She would open a cabinet, I would tell her no no shut it, she just looks at me again and keeping doing it. I think she inherited her daddy's selective hearing.
I'm so scared she might have hit her terrible two's at 17 months. Lord help me.
I don't know what else to do to show her that she's doing something wrong. I pop her hand and put her in the corner. Okay and before you start jumping down my throat for popping her hand, I don't do it hard, she doesn't even cry when I do it.
Is 17 months old too young to start taking things away, like her favorite toy? I'm running a little low on ideas.