Case Closed

So pacifiers have always been a topic of controversy in our house. Brendan felt very strongly from the very beginning that pacifiers were grotesque and demeaning devices that did not belong in the mouths of our little ones. I agreed to respect his position, having no strong feelings on the matter myself, and so we brought the twins home to a pacifier free household.

Then the nursing began, and it continued, and continued, and continued and it NEVER seemed to end....ever.
It soon became quite clear that aside from using me as their wonderful and sole source of nutrition, our babies were also relying on me to be their 'pacifier'. Well into the second week I made my declaration of "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" and marched into Target to buy every pacifier I could lay my sleep deprived hands on. Even then Brendan stubbornly refused to change his mind, and I began finding pacifiers in rather strange places throughout the house, hidden perhaps?

I will never forget the first time Brendan intentionally used a pacifier to help calm a ridiculously-fussy-at-3am baby.

NUALA.

Oh was she ever hard in the beginning, needing and wanting to be held all the time,

 

desperate for constant skin to skin contact, screaming and fussing for long periods each and every night, you know, basically acting like a newborn, which is quite frankly hard enough when you have one baby.....Finally on one of those sleepless Nuala nights he gave in to the temptation and gave her a pacifier.
She slept until morning.

I didn't make a big deal out of it, but I enjoyed my share of private, and perhaps somewhat smug, satisfaction. Mostly though, I was just proud of him for allowing himself some flexibility, especially since he had such strong convictions originally.

The fact that Brendan eventually became more accepting of the pacifiers, does not change the fact that they have remained a source of debate between us..... where they are appropriate for use, how long we plan to let the babies rely upon them, even whether or not our June baby will ever use one (Brendan is back to his original stand, and says that the twins were an exception to the rule given that there were 2 of them).

Currently, pacifiers are strictly for crib use only, although Nuala is a trickster when it comes to this, as she can produce a pacifier from thin air and is always turning up with one at the oddest times. This has always seemed a mystery to us, and we jokingly take turns badgering her about the source of her supply during tense inquisitions. She always pleads the fifth.

Today, however, we seem to have cracked the case wide open, and it appears that Nuala has had some accomplices to her crimes.......



Soon the pacifiers will be gone completely, as we have set a date in January for their farewell, I'm not sure who will take it harder....me or the twins (It's just sooooo easy to hush them in the middle of the night) but I hope we all adjust fairly quickly!