Saying goodbye to Wawa

Despite me having the stomach flu, Justin and I realized that there probably wouldn't be a better time (4 days off in a row) than Thanksgiving weekend, to try and break Kaelynn of her bedtime pacifier.  It's a task that we have been dreading for a while, and we will admit we've let her have it longer than Morganne had hers.  Since the girls share a room, anytime one of them doesn't sleep well it usually means the whole family doesn't sleep well since the other one is awaken and is usually unhappy about it.  Many months ago, Kaelynn coined her pacifier, her "wawa".  Not sure where that came from but it nonetheless it's a cute memory.
We once again used the "broken pacifier" routine, as we did with Morganne.  And, very happy to say, it once again it worked great.  For those of you out there that are about to also go through this life change, I highly recommend it.  Basically you cut the tip of the pacifier off.  Then when they go to put it into their mouth, it doesn't "feel" right and so they don't want it. Kaelynn knows that her wawa is "broken".  Morganne took to it immediately and I don't even really remember her crying at all.  Kaelynn, genuinely, let out about a 10 second heartfelt cry at the realization that something so close to her that provided comfort, wasn't how it should be and she couldn't use it anymore.  And, for about the last 5 seconds of that cry, my heart was breaking at the thought of bringing anguish to my baby and I was about to yell "I'll get a new pacifier!"  Thankfully, Kaelynn is stronger than me and once the 10 seconds was up she seemed ok with the idea.  Still not thrilled, but ok, and went to sleep the whole night with no issues.   She has woken up a couple times whimpering and looking through her blankets as she often did to find her Wawa but, once we reminded her that it was broken, she would repeat "Wawa broken" and go back to sleep. 
I truly believe this whole ordeal, in both instances with Morganne and now with Kaelynn, is harder on Mommy than it was on them.  At each new life change it's such a shocking reminder that they are getting older and are no longer my little babies.  The first time they roll over, stopping the bottle, stopping nursing (a huge one for me!) and also stopping the pacifier, they are all quite emotional.  They just change so fast, and I never in a million years thought I could ever love someone or better yet, "someones" so much. 

As for Thanksgiving pictures, I don't have many.  As I mentioned, I was sick this past week and didn't feel like moving much.  Luckily, being with family, the girls had plenty of people to occupy them and I was able to mope and groan on the couch, despising stomach issues during the best food holiday of the year.  Hopefully Thanksgiving this year was much more pleasant for you! 

Last few weeks in pictures

Last week we had Papo's 80th birthday celebration with the McCormack side of the family!  It was a great afternoon celebrating Papo and Phyllis with 33 members of our family, before they left for Florida for the winter.  We always miss them while they are south and look forward to their return in the spring.  My parent's realized that their house can't hold many more people and if the other "half" of our family would have been able to attend we would have had to rent somewhere bigger!  It was a great afternoon for Papo having all five kids there for the day.  We are blessed with a large family with lots of grandkids and great-grandkids.  Congrats to Ashley and Josh as they are expecting the newest great-grandkid!!! 

I set up Morganne and Kaelynn's tent for them last week as something "new" to do inside.  They piled pillows and blankets in there and Ripken thought it looked like a great place to take a nap.  He is such a goof.

Kaelynn has developed a love for hats recently.  She will find one and wear it through the house.  It's not uncommon to find her wearing one of her fishing hats when we go in to get her out of her crib in the morning.  She has two of them on her dresser that she can reach.  It's so funny and too cute.  Sometimes she will even sport the layered look, wearing two at once! :cP

In the last month Morganne has really begun to be able to write her name quite well.  It's definitely legible and she is very proud (as are we) when she does it well.  It's so fun to watch her grow and learn. 

Lastly, since I failed to post any Halloween pics, here are some from the evening.  We had Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my!  It was a wild night!

Seeing Grandad at Papo and Phyllis'.  I love this pic!

Meeting up with some super-hero best buds, Curtis and Lucas!

Seeing Cousin Maci at Papo and Phyllis'.  Kaelynn was not liking Halloween much at this moment. :c) 

Making a stop to see one of their favorite people, their daycare lady, Miss Amanda.  The girls love her!

Kind of a funny picture, but I realized when we got home that though Nana had been with us all night I failed to get a pic with her and the girls!!!  oops!

Sorry, I haven't posted in while.  I will try to be better for the next couple weeks.  God bless!