Paci-Free - Day 4

Peyton was put to the true test yesterday by having to go to school, but napped without her paci at daycare. We secretly brought one in just in case and gave it to her teacher, but she did not ask for it. My mom picked her up and she said Peyton did go to her cubby out of habit and say they needed to get her paci, but Mom reminded her that it was broken and P said "Oh, yeah". Bedtime went a little more quickly last night. She also has not increased the swiping of Ashlyn and Braden's pacis. We're so proud of her!

Bye bye Paci???

Well, I don't want to jinx it but I think we may be paci free - as far as Peyton goes, anyway. Peyton has been down to two pacis for months now for naps and bedtime. Lately she seems to be transitioning her soothers from the paci to her baby dolls and blanket. Last week she said something was wrong with one of the pacis. Greg checked and saw it was cracked / wore down. He explained that it was dangerous and she couldn't use it anymore. She acted like she understood and he took it away. The next morning she asked about it again and he took her to the trash can and she proceeded to say "bye" to her paci. She talked about how she had to throw it away the next few nights and seemed a bit sad but relatively okay.

Fast forward to last night. I was cleaning it off and getting ready to give it to her and felt a bunch of ridges on it. Greg deemed that paci unsuitable as well and told her it too was too dangerous to have. She asked if he could fix it and he said he'd try in the morning. She kept repeating that it was very dangerous. Her face was so sad that I almost teared up, but she didn't cry. While we read books before bed she asked to hold it but never once tried to put it in her mouth. She gave it up before she layed down. Greg stayed in there for a little while with the lights off. Of course it lightninged and thundered all night and she did stir from time to time but never once asked for her paci. We had been worried she would question why Ashlyn and Braden still had one, but she went to bed again tonight and didn't ask for it.

We are very proud of her and hope it continues (but do have a spare just in case - just don't tell her that!).
Turns out this transition may have been harder on the parents than the child! knock on wood

Three Months Old!

Ashlyn and Braden turned three months old today! This summer has really flown by. They have gotten to be so big! Not so long ago they were still in their preemie clothes and now they have outgrown some of their 0-3 month-ers! They can hold their heads up really well now and can sit propped up on the couch. Ashlyn has been smiling for a while and Braden just started a week or so ago. He really gets going when you sing the ABCs. They are both starting to "talk" - make oohing noises. Braden is the more vocal one. Ashlyn is more serious. They have been going back and forth as far as sleeping goes. Some nights they will go up to eight hours while others they wake up after four hours to eat. I have yet to figure out what causes the differences.

We have transitioned both of them to their cribs and they do a pretty good job of going to sleep on their own (with the help of a swaddle and a paci - A likes more than B) but sometimes wake up too early. Braden is my good sleeper overall and will go to bed right after the last feeding of the evening. Ashlyn is my party animal and likes to stay up watching baseball and then sleep the morning away. Seriously, a lot of nights she takes an hour or two to get settled but then she would sleep most of the night if we didn't wake her when Braden gets up.

Overall they are such good babies and we are enjoying the fact that they are staying up to play longer and longer as the weeks go by and are becoming more interactive. It's hard to believe that just three short months ago we were in such a different situation and now we have two healthy and quickly growing babies. We are definitely blessed!

Story Time

We celebrated my Uncle Jerry's b-day at my cousin, Nika's house. She has a son, Thomas, who is four months older than Peyton and they have a great time playing together. She also has twin boys that are a year older than Ashlyn and Braden, so she has lots of great advice and also great hand-me-downs! Greg read to some of the kiddos after they took their bath (which was also too cute). Here's four generations (if you count Greg as being me!).