Again, a large amount of time has passed since my last entry. Such is my life. No apologies this time.
I keep a mental running list of what I want to post about and this one has been rolling around in my cluttered mind for a while, so might as well send it out into cyber space while I am highly caffeinated and Ryan has the kids for 'mommy's morning off' (have I mentioned what a great dad/husband he is?)
Pacifiers have been an integral part of the twins life from day one when the NICU nurse unwrapped the vanilla scented green pacifier from its plastic wrapper and placed it in their mouths when they were mere hours, maybe even minutes old (pacifiers are an important NICU tool, I know from experience). They took to them like a duck to water. As parents of newborn twins the pacis were like gold to us. They easily soothed our little bundles and helped keep peace in our household. When they would cry at night we would stumble into their room and feel around in the dark for the oh so familiar rubber texture of the pacifier, return it to the crying mouth and then peace would surely be restored. We accrued quite a collection and were sure to always have one within reach. I am still finding them in the pockets of my jackets. When they became mobile we tried to attach them with string and safety pins so that they were never more than 12 inches away from a waiting mouth. We had paci buckets and paci baskets. We had pink and green ones (Lydia only wanted green, Grace would change it up). They started chewing on them so some developed holes, this meant that every night we would hand them pacifiers one by one to 'test' the paci and let us know, if it 'was good' (kind of like what they do when you order a bottle of wine in a restaurant) When they turned two we limited pacifier use to the bed only. (Lydia would go into her room, sit on her bed and 'take a hit' on her pacifier at various times throughout the day) but it wasn't until their third birthday that we decided to ditch them completely. All 4 of us started to have apprehension about this transition about 2 months prior to their third birthday. We discussed it with the twins nearly every day, explaining that they are 'big girls' now and they don't need a paci. We bought them paci gifts and everything. So, the night of their third birthday we had a big pep talk, Ryan loaded a brand new bag into the trash can (we weren't going to actually pitch all those great pacifiers!) and they 'threw away' their pacifiers. They were totally on board with it, and loved their paci gifts. However, when they climbed into bed, the lights were turned off and goodnights were said, reality set in and the tears started. I am a tough skinned parent, but I nearly broke down and brought back the pilfered collection of pacifiers . . . but I stayed strong, and they did surprisingly well over the next several days. So, now we are paci free, but as with any transition, it was a tiny bit sad to see the pacifier days end, so this is a tribute to our pacifiers, complete with pics.
Oh, and guess what? Benson won't take one to safe his life. Ironic, isn't it?
I keep a mental running list of what I want to post about and this one has been rolling around in my cluttered mind for a while, so might as well send it out into cyber space while I am highly caffeinated and Ryan has the kids for 'mommy's morning off' (have I mentioned what a great dad/husband he is?)
Pacifiers have been an integral part of the twins life from day one when the NICU nurse unwrapped the vanilla scented green pacifier from its plastic wrapper and placed it in their mouths when they were mere hours, maybe even minutes old (pacifiers are an important NICU tool, I know from experience). They took to them like a duck to water. As parents of newborn twins the pacis were like gold to us. They easily soothed our little bundles and helped keep peace in our household. When they would cry at night we would stumble into their room and feel around in the dark for the oh so familiar rubber texture of the pacifier, return it to the crying mouth and then peace would surely be restored. We accrued quite a collection and were sure to always have one within reach. I am still finding them in the pockets of my jackets. When they became mobile we tried to attach them with string and safety pins so that they were never more than 12 inches away from a waiting mouth. We had paci buckets and paci baskets. We had pink and green ones (Lydia only wanted green, Grace would change it up). They started chewing on them so some developed holes, this meant that every night we would hand them pacifiers one by one to 'test' the paci and let us know, if it 'was good' (kind of like what they do when you order a bottle of wine in a restaurant) When they turned two we limited pacifier use to the bed only. (Lydia would go into her room, sit on her bed and 'take a hit' on her pacifier at various times throughout the day) but it wasn't until their third birthday that we decided to ditch them completely. All 4 of us started to have apprehension about this transition about 2 months prior to their third birthday. We discussed it with the twins nearly every day, explaining that they are 'big girls' now and they don't need a paci. We bought them paci gifts and everything. So, the night of their third birthday we had a big pep talk, Ryan loaded a brand new bag into the trash can (we weren't going to actually pitch all those great pacifiers!) and they 'threw away' their pacifiers. They were totally on board with it, and loved their paci gifts. However, when they climbed into bed, the lights were turned off and goodnights were said, reality set in and the tears started. I am a tough skinned parent, but I nearly broke down and brought back the pilfered collection of pacifiers . . . but I stayed strong, and they did surprisingly well over the next several days. So, now we are paci free, but as with any transition, it was a tiny bit sad to see the pacifier days end, so this is a tribute to our pacifiers, complete with pics.
Oh, and guess what? Benson won't take one to safe his life. Ironic, isn't it?
This is their first picture ever together as sisters, taken by the NICU nurses.
Lydia double dipping. She is truly our pacifier queen!
If you look closely you can see the string attached to Lydia's pacifier
Gathering up the pacifiers to throw away
Throwing them away!
Pacifier gift for Lydia!
Pacifier gift for Grace!
