Mo Pacifier, Mo Problems

We accomplished an amazing feat. We weaned Harrison off the pacifier.

Ok, so this wasn't as incredibile as I'm making it out to be. Harrison always slept with his pacifier, but he has never really seemed that attached to it. Sometimes when he's fussing and whining during the day, and I can't stand another second of hearing that dreadful, disgusting noise, I'll stick the thing in his mouth to shut him up. However, he has never been one of those babies that uses a pacifier every single second of the day.

Our pediatrician recommended we wean him early from the pacifier at his 6 month checkup, to see if that will help with his millions of night wakings. We wanted to wait until after tax season to implement this though, for the sake of Dave's sleeping.

We will get all the sleep we want while mommy suffers!

My sleeping is never a consideration. That right there is the life of a mommy, everyone.

This weekend was the first one since the end of tax season, so I was determined that this would be it. Sorry you are only 8 and a half months old kid, hardship starts now. Leading up to Friday, the night of consequence, I was extremely nervous. From what I've heard about pacifier-weaning, it sounds like a horrible, exhausting process. Everyone had told me that it is rough beyond belief for a few days, and then magically after no more than 3 days, the kid simply forgets what a pacifier even is, and sleeps through the night like a pro. As you know, Harrison never follows baby trends, so I had no idea what to expect, but obviously, because it's my kid, was expecting the worst.

This, pretty much.

The first night had mixed results. The success was that he hardly fussed when we put him down, and within 15 minutes, was asleep like nothing was different. The calm before the storm. Then 9 o'clock rolled around, and the series of wakings begun. I am used to it by this point, at least... right?

Saturday night progressed, and he only woke up three times (I think). Yes, three wakings a night is a good night. Last night, he slept from 7-3 without waking once, and since by this point, theres usually an average of four wakings already, I was overjoyed.

If there's anything I've learned from babies, it's that their behaviors are not to be counted on until they have been doing them for at least a month. So, although it's only been three days since we took the pacifier away, and he seems to be improving, I know I cannot count on anything. Nor do I want to jinx it, so that is all I will say. We are winning the battle- but the war I'm not so sure about.

You just wait...

I realize I just spent about 11 paragraphs discussing the topic of pacifier-weaning, and that is in no way interesting for anyone, even mommies. I apologize.

A funny update about my pain-in-the-ass neighbor: Lately, he has taken to pounding on his ceiling in the mornings when Dave is getting ready for work. I can't imagine what is so loud about brushing your teeth and maybe a baby bum crash or two. We are such inconsiderate people.

This morning was hilarious to me, because he got into a feud with an 8-month old. Harrison now loves to pound on any surface as hard as he can, so right as he started slapping the table like it had crossed him, we heard the thumping coming from down below. I realize how dirty that sounded- but quite literally, he was thumping on his ceiling to tell Harrison to stfu. Wrong move, Gare-bear.

You are going down, bitch

Harrison then took that to be a game, so he keeps pounding on the table, and Gary keeps pounding his ceiling. What I gathered from this is that my neighbor has the maturity of an 8-month old himself, and I'm ok with that.