Pacifier Free

This weekend, after multiple previous attempts, we successfully got rid of Anna's pacifier!  Sam has been pacifier free for months now (since our first attempt), but Anna just wouldn't budge.  Rather than suffering though days of waking up every hour at night without the pacifier, we'd give up and give it back to her in the past.  I was convinced that, like the swaddle, she would be stubborn and hold onto it as long as she wanted to.  Then, like the swaddle, one day, she'd just finally be okay without it.  And so that's the way it was.

We've never been huge pacifier addicts around here (we call it a Nuk, even though we used Mam pacifiers), and have only used them during sleep for over a year- starting probably sometime around 6 months.  I can't really remember when we stopped using them while they were awake.  We never brought pacifiers to daycare once they started going around 6 months old, so we knew they could nap without pacifiers outside of our house.  Our original goal was to completely eliminate Nuk usage by one year old.  Anna gave hers up for good the weekend before she became 17 months old. 

Sam never seemed bothered by not having a pacifier himself anymore but seeing one in Anna's mouth.  He liked to play the "I took it from you" game, but only because he thought it was fun, not because he actually wanted her pacifier.  He'd always shove it back at her once he got it out of her mouth anyway.  In fact, at some point he understood that the "Nuks" were Anna's, and would often give them to her or shove them in her mouth at the beginning of nap time too.  If they were especially chatty before going to sleep, sometimes one would end up in Sam's crib by morning (by Anna passing one over the crib side to him), but once we took it away from him, he never tried to really suck on a pacifier anymore, even though they were around.

So back to our final attempt.  Since Sam and Anna were at daycare last Monday through Wednesday and didn't nap with pacifiers there, we thought it would be a great chance to try again without Anna's Nuk at home.  First, we did naps without Anna's Nuk on Thursday, but let her have it that night.  The nap went fine.  Then Friday after no Nuk at nap, we tried a Nuk-less bedtime.  It did take Anna a little longer to fall asleep, but over all not too shabby.  She had no overnight wake ups, and just woke up pretty early for her the following morning.  She woke around 5:30 am, but was able to fall back asleep for a little while.  While the before-7-am wake up was not her typical 8 am lately, I was pretty thrilled that it went as well as it did.  Saturday night was similar: a little longer to fall asleep than normal and no overnight wake ups.  BUT she woke up at 5:30 am Sunday morning and would not go back to sleep. 

The early wake up was not completely lack-of-pacifier related... we discovered later than day that we had the unfortunate timing of getting rid of her pacifier right before her next molar is cutting.  Poor Sweet Pea is teething worse than she ever has before.   She was cranky all morning, slept badly at nap, and continued throughout Sunday as one big hot teething and overtired mess.  I do think she probably would have woken up at 5:30 am even if she had her pacifier, but I'm guessing she would have been able to go back to sleep with it.  She is still wearing her amber teething necklace while awake, and I do believe it helps- but molars are just in a difference category of teething.  Can you just imagine how it feels to have that flat side of tooth trying to push through solid gums, tearing the gums as they move?  Poor babies.

This morning, the same thing happened- she woke at 5:30 am a crying teething mess and she was cranky and overtired all day.  I am wistful for those 9 am wake ups that we had earlier this summer!  I'd even love the 8 am ones!  Heck, at this point, I'd feel pretty good if she made it to 7 am.

I still think our pacifier removal was successful, because she is sleeping through the night.  I do think if she still had it, it would help her through those early morning hours, but at this point- they are all in the trash and I'm not getting new ones.  Hopefully this teething episode will be over quickly.  Waking up at 5:30 am is really destroying our routine.  I cannot bear waking Sam up when she gets up that early because he's always needed more sleep than she does.  She cannot make it from 5:30 am to noon with no nap, but really struggles to take a second nap in the afternoon if she takes one in the morning.  I'm crossing my fingers for later than 5:30 am tomorrow! 

Molars Stink

Molars are much worse than I thought they'd be.  We never really had issues with the first 14 teeth that erupted around here, but that first molar is causing quite a ruckus.  Sam is miserable.  He won't nap for longer than an hour.  He is waking up off and on all night, and was awake (miserable) from about 2-4 am last night.  And all that is with generic Tylenol.  Combine that tooth discomfort with the lack of normal sleep and we've got one cranky little boy around here who won't let me set him down (sorry Anna) and doesn't go more than 30 second without fussing when he's awake.  I really hope we don't have to go through this for all the other molars to come.

In other more happy news, it's our 8th anniversary today.  We celebrated this weekend when my Mother in Law came to visit and babysat so we could go out.  We went out to dinner and a movie.  the last time we were able to go to both dinner and a movie was the month before Sam and Anna were born.  (We saw Avatar that time and I was so proud of my 8-month-pregnant-with-twins-self for only one bathroom break during the extra long movie!)  Tonight we'll just have a special dinner at home.

Other latest happy things: Anna's newest thing to say is "good girl" to our dog Bella.  Most of the time, she'll start petting her too.  I told Sam "good job" yesterday afternoon, and Anna then said "good girl" to him.  Adorable.  She's also started to say "thank you" after I say thank you to her.  My husband also got Sam to say "I love mom" last night- punctuated with a hug.  Heart bursting, tears forming all sorts of ridiculous cuteness to hear that for the first time in his little voice. They are growing up at lightning speed.  Where did my babies go???

Teeth!

In just about a week (at 10 1/2 months old), Sam went from 3 teeth to 6 teeth total- 2 on the bottom and 4 on the top! Anna's sitting at 3 teeth- two on the bottom and one on top. Now that they have them on both sides, the biting has started! Ouch! I think Anna's going to be a big-time biter... she already seems to be biting Sam and he takes a toy from her or gets in her way.

Before Sam's top 4 broke through

Anna's toothy grin

Tuesday Tidbits

Did you get the invite for the party in Anna's crib at 2 am last night? Us either. Sounded like she had a great time though (jabbering away for two hours). I swear, that girl knows when I have to get up at 5 am for work, because she typically sleeps her usual awesomeness on the weekends (12 hours just like Sam does pretty much 7 days a week), on the days I could take a nap if I needed one. Sam slept through the whole thing, although my husband and I couldn't. Let's just say I tripled my typical coffee intake this morning!

*****

Sam and Ann tried fish the other day, and my usual meat-hater Anna loved it. She couldn't shove it in her face fast enough. On the other hand, since being too "grown up" for baby food, Sam has turned into one big picky eater. He wrinkles his nose at most veggies, and sometimes will eat a little finger food only if it is given to him on our fork. I think he thinks he's eating "just like us" then. If we are eating anything he can't (like a salad), then he'll stare at that and reject everything else. Except yogurt. If it is true that you are what you eat, then my son is made out of yogurt!

*****

Current tooth tally is Anna: 3, Sam: 3. Both bottom teeth are in, and both have one top tooth. One of Sam's canines isn't far behind. Anna's smile is so gummy, that you can clearly see the teeth when she smiles. Toofer smiles are adorable, although I miss the completely gummy mouth smiles that I know I'll never see in person again. Sam's teeth don't show as much when he smiles, so we really have to work at it (or trick him) to get a glimpse.

*****

Sam's hair is growing like a weed. I am amazed at the difference in length between photos taken at Christmas and now. Not a day goes by without my husband talking about a haircut for him! I just don't think I can do it before 1 year old though. Especially since Anna has such little hair. My little girl had more hair when she was born. It's growing, just at a snail's pace. It's growing in much lighter now as well, so we're starting to think we'll have two blondies toddling around...