It's GONE!!

Well....it only took me 2 1/2 years but I have FINALLY gotten rid of the paci! I have no one to blame but myself. It was really more of a pacifier for myself that it ever was for Brody. From the day he was born I depended on that pacifier for every measly wink of sleep I could get!! In fact, I never let him have the dumb thing outside of his crib/bed because that was it's sole purpose...to give me sleep. I hadn't really realized how pivotal the paci has been in the past 2 1/2 years until I came to the realization that it was time for it to go. After all...my most treasured memories with my firstborn son revolve around his pacifier. There were those first rocky months when he wanted to eat every hour and the only way I could get him to sleep through the night without eating was to plug him with his pacifier at 15 minute intervals. Then there was the glorious night that he was able to grab his pacifier and put it in his mouth all by himself. And I can't forget the rare occasion when I would rock him with his paci during the day because he was at the doctor for his shots. Or how about those nights filled with the smell of vapor-rub that I spent rocking him because he had to make the tearful choice between breathing or his pacifier? I won't even go into the joys of potty training in the middle of the night with a drooping pacifier in a half-asleep mouth. But I think what I am going to miss the most is walking past two closed doors after a long, exhausting day and hearing the sound of sleeping babies happily sucking on their pacifiers. Thank you pacifier for all you have done...for both of us!!