Paci Free!!

This is my big girl! Not a baby anymore. I have mixed feelings about it, but definitely the happy ones outweigh the sad ones! We've been trying to figure out when we were going to take it away from her. Luke is the only other one of our kids that had one. And being a first time mom, I was pretty anal about his paci! ha! I took it away from him at 12 months except for nap time and bedtime. Then at 18 months, we took it totally away. He was our only one, so I could handle the crying for 3 nights. But with Emma, number 4, it was a lot harder!

So we've let her keep it. I've been wanting to take it away, but haven't had the guts to do it! :) But this morning, when I went to get her up, and took her paci, I noticed that she had chewed a huge hole in it. That meant bye bye paci! I told her we had to throw it away because it wasn't safe for her.

I warned her on the way home that she wasn't going to have her paci for nap time, and she started crying, "My sassy! My sassy! Hope, I broke my sassy!" It was so cute!

When we got home, I told her that if she went to sleep without crying, she could pick out a piece of candy when she woke up. I hugged her and closed the door. She started WAILING! "My SASSY!!!!" I walked back in her room and told her no candy if she cried and she stopped immediately! Didn't hear another peep! Ha!

And tonight, as I put her down, she whimpered for a second, "My sassy." I told her it was gone and if she didn't cry, she could have some more candy when she woke up in the morning. Not another peep from her!

Proud of my girl! So the mixed feelings. Lance and I were talking tonight. We're not sad that we don't have anymore babies, but sad that she's not a baby anymore. I don't know if that makes sense. She's growing up and that means not much longer til we can't hold her, can't pick her up and tickle her, can't throw her up in the air, and can't fly her on our feet in the living room. :( But! On our way to no more pull ups, more independence, carrying on conversations, hiking without carrying, no strollers. Woo Hoo! It's so hard to see my babies grow up, but with each age, they are so much fun. So Emma is growing up. Sad, but exciting. She is so much fun right now. She has the funnest personality! I can't wait to see how her personality develops!