Bonny and Blithe

Let me begin by saying I love birthdays. Every single thing about them. I love getting older and reflecting on everywhere I've been, everything I've seen, everyone I've met along the way. It's a fabulous life I've got going here and I can't wait to see what another year will bring. Yep, it's my birthday today, February 25. I'm 32. My typically stagnant Facebook page is blowing up. Here's a few things about my birth that you may not know...

**Disclaimer: These facts might in all actuality be total fabrications from a guilt ridden mother of a THIRD baby (two other kids ages 2 and 6.) You see, my baby book has nada in it with the exception of my name and date. I do know the date is correct because I found my crumbled up, yellow (which did not start yellow--my fave color-- if you know what I mean) birth certificate under a pile of books in the garage. Totally kidding about most of that description. I'm pretty sure it was in a file somewhere. Anywho, it's funnier when I think of it that way. You see, my bro (the eldest, golden Clairain child) had a baby book filled to the brim. Literally, bursting at the seams, you can follow when each tooth burst through his golden, perfect gums. Every single burp is documented. It's quite amazing. My sister's (middle, silver child) book has all the blanks filled in. You can quickly appreciate when she walked for the first time and other major milestones. My baby book (the bronze child?) Not so much.
Maybe for my third child (God--and Wade--willing), I just won't buy a baby book. When they grow up and ask about it, I'll make a big fuss looking everywhere for that darn scrapbook. I'll overturn pillows and pull drawers out and at the end of the day, I'll sink down on the couch despondently, sigh, and start crying that "I can't BELIEVE I would lose my child's scrapbook! It was so THOROUGH and took years to compile. Years, I tell you!" Then, I'll hug said third child and take them out for ice cream in which they will say, "Mom, it's fine. I think I remember seeing it when I was five or so and it WAS, indeed, thorough." (I'll totally show them Everett's book alot when they're little.)
Now, before you go off calling DHS or referring me to some psychologist, I had a completely FAB childhood. My Mom thrust upon us copious amounts of snuggling, hugs, kisses, and the value of healthy eating (just throwing that in there because it is VERY important but I sure didn't think that when I was a kid. No Fruit Loop ever crossed the Clairain threshold. I went to other people's houses and seriously thought white bread was a dessert until I was about 10. Appreciated habits now, terrible then.) Wow, longest disclaimer ever.**

I was born on a Sunday.
"...And the Child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, and good and happy." I would have to agree.
I was born right around my due date at noon(ish). Mom had always told me I was born around noon. I eventually came across a pic of the delivery room clock. Aww, how sweet. Dad was snapping away and even thought to get a photo of the time I was born. However, upon further inspection, the clock showed sometime around 5. Hold. up. Mom swears the clock was broken. What.Ever.
I was 9 pounds, 8(ish) ounces.
I was between 18 and 22 inches long.
I am a girl, though they didn't know before I came out.
I got teeth, walked, and grew up.

I always thought it was funny that I was celebrated on my birthday. Especially after having a child, I must say that shouldn't my Mom and Dad be celebrated on my birthday? Mom's the one who did all the work to get me here. They're the ones who raised me right. However, it involves cake eating so who am I to argue?

With most of my undocumented growth, it made me a tad crazy about getting all of our memories down on paper. Like ALL memories. Mom says, "Just wait until you have to chase a toddler around and have a baby. Then we'll see how much scrapbookin' you get to do." (That's why I already have a plan for my "third child's scrapbook." Bwahahaha.)
I even have a room in my house devoted to all things "crafty" (and not in the Beastie Boys Crafty sort of way.) Notice Rhett's little table on the left. I can only dream that he likes to be crafty too.


Just a couple of our scrapbooks from the last 9 years or so.


Now, some nuggets from the past.
This pic nearly brings me to tears. Mom and Dad swear it's me and not Jay or Lindsay. I think I'll believe them on this one as I'm assuming Dad's shooting the pics and Dad's weren't allowed in the delivery room for my sibs. Crazy, huh?! Look how fat my head was! Guess that explains Ev's 95 percentile noggin!


A totally happy childhood...Oops! How'd that one get in there.

Oh, wait. None of us are smiling here either. I think Fritz, the dog, is even frowning. Merry Christmas from The Clairains. Whomp, whomp.

That's more like it. Dang, that fat head again! But it was a happy fat head, no?

Now, we're happy! Cake's involved! Holla. Look at Lindsay. Acting like she's actually going to eat a sweet.

Hope everyone has as Happy a Birthday as I always have! Thanks, Mom and Dad for choosing to have me (unless I was an accident and in that case, SUCKA!)

Sigh

Shoog has bilateral ear infections and RSV. He doesn't even go to daycare. He's not around any kids. Poor fella. He had to get a Rocephin shot and is now on breathing treatments. Here's praying that after his nap, he wakes up happy and refreshed...

I do NOT like to read mopey blogs with poor me, poor me so I will not elaborate on the two hours of sleep Hom and I got last night, most of which I had one eye closed, one open, one hand on Shoog's wheezy, crackly-filled chest counting respirations and contemplating if his exhalation was truly twice the time of his inhalation. Let me tell you, it is not easy for a Pediatric ICU nurse mom to treat her baby without a blood gas machine, IV, and a monitor. Maybe a ventilator and breathing tube on the standby just for safety sake. And a feeding pump with NG tube (he didn't get those thighs from fasting all day. Boy's gotta eat.) Would def need some Fentanyl and Versed for sedation as our boy isn't fond of sitting still either. Anywho.

Here's to praying for a well-napped, well baby. Gotta go now. I've got a few pulses to palpate and breath sounds to evaluate.

Make love, not war

I was listening to a radio talk show on Valentine's Day and they were discussing wonderful love stories, new love, etc. Someone posed a question to the host that went something like this: "If you could give someone one piece of advice that is starting a new relationship, what would it be?" It really got me thinking. What would I advise them?

When Hom and I got married, his uncle and aunt were celebrating somewhere around 50 years of marital bliss. We were at the rehearsal dinner when Uncle J. O. walked up to his nephew. He was usually fairly light-hearted. However, at this moment, he got very serious and told Hom, "No matter what's going on, no matter what cross words you've spoken to each other, no matter what grudges you are carrying, when your eyes open in the morning and before they close every night, tell her you love her. Then, you'll last a lifetime." Homet and I have taken that advice to heart and hope to live long enough to celebrate another 45 years.

When Homet got home Valentine's Day, arms full of flowers and steaks, I offered him that question, "What would you advise new couples that want their relationship to last?"
I followed it with my already prepared answer, "I would tell them to 'not sweat the small stuff.' Most things are really not worth fighting over. "
"Huh," Hom said nodding.
"So. What would your advice be?" I pressed.
Homet, with little hesitation, smiled and stated, "Marry your best friend."
I didn't know whether to hug him or cower in shame. Here I am talking about how to fight properly and my hubs is talking about how to love properly.

Umm. That was definitely my second piece of advice.


The Home Team
11/15/2005
3 days old
Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI

Essentials 1/10

Drum roll please...

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

1. PumpEase. If there is one sole thing that totally changed my life during that first year, it would probably be this. If you are planning on nursing or are in the process of nursing (and pumping), run out immediately and buy one. Actually, you have to order it because mine came from the Ukraine or something but….if you live in the Ukraine, run out immediately and buy one. If not, order it STAT. I used to pump while holding the little sucker things onto me. I remember our fan was on and my hair was blowing softly across my face. It tickled so much but if I let go to ITCH MY FACE, the pumping would stop. That was the final straw. Wade and I thought we were doing something wrong. Surely people don’t just stop every time they have to scratch, sneeze, etc. One of my friends informed me of this jewel after about a month of pumping. I bought one that day thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to try. I strapped it on and my life was never the same. I got the T-bird red color because I figured if I was going to do this, I was going all out. I could pump and….change Shoog, read a book, change the TV channels. The possibilities were endless. Lindsay said that if there were an Olympic sport for pumping and multitasking, I’d have won gold. I ended up giving many as gifts and they were all first time moms. Each one looked at me and said, “Umm, thanks.” (With shoulders shrugged.) It didn’t hurt my feelings though because I was smiling on the inside thinking, “Oh, Girlfriend. You. Just. Wait.” Sure enough, each recipient thanked me profusely when they got to utilize that bad boy. I even had one tell me that, with her Medela backpack pump, she’d strap on that thing, plug the battery pack in, and unload the dishwasher, vacuum, etc. That, my friends, is gold medal material if I ever heard it.

Essentials 2/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

2. Baby Cubes. Many people told me that you could just use ice cube trays to store the baby food but I was confused about “popping them in a Ziploc if you want to go somewhere.” I kept thinking, “But once you’re there, you have to try to get thawed, gooey baby food out of the baggie and into a receptacle to feed babe.” I Googled baby food storage and a million things popped up. You know new moms will buy anything. I spotted these “Baby Cubes” on Amazon and thought they looked easy and reasonable priced (I’m going to stop saying I’m cheap. People will start to believe me.) The reviews were mostly positive. I remember the only negative was that they “popped open on occasion.” The only time mine popped open was if the food was too hot or the cube was too full. I got the 2 oz. 8 packs and, as I made more food (see Essential 7 & 9), ended up with about 8 trays. I tried mini Tupperwares and they just didn’t stack as tightly as I wanted. With the BC, I would stick a couple frozen ones in his diaper bag and, when we got to the restaurant, ask the waiter for a mug of hot water. I’d stick the cubes in and they’d be thawed and hot within minutes and ready to be eaten. The main thing I liked was that you could pack 1-2 if you were just going to be away for a little while but when we went to Florida, I just popped a few of the 8-pack trays in a cooler and he was fed for the week. Anyway, the Baby Cubes worked great. Also, I now use them for his snacks. I fill three up with raisins, blueberries, yogurt puffs, etc. and stick them in his diaper bag. I sometimes even pack them in my lunch for salad dressing or M & M’s (salad dressing and M & M’s??? What a bipolar choice of an example. Am I healthy or no? Keeps you on your feet.)

Essentials 3/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!


3. “The Pink Bucket”—When I asked the hubs what he thought was the most valuable asset to him in E’s first year, he quickly replied, “The Pink Bucket.” I’m going to include this as one item while in all actuality it included a plethora of goodies. It was our portable diaper changing station. At the hospital, we’ve all seen those plastic, flimsy pink tubs. Everyone gets one (or ten) when you are admitted into the hospital. Well, when we were being discharged, we were packing up our room, sorting, throwing things away, etc. We came across two pink buckets (I’m pretty sure they were given to me because I thought I was going to hurl when I reached 9-10 cm but I never did. I promise we didn’t take home a used puke bucket.) Anyway, I was about to toss it when Wade said to just pack the extra diapers and wipes they had given us in it so that we’d have some way to carry a bit of the extra stuff. When we got settled in, it ended up finding a little home with the Watts. We filled it with about 7-10 diapers, a box of wipes, some A & D ointment/ Boudreaux’s, and a changing pad. We would keep it in the living room or our room and would tuck it away when guests came. It was easy to just whip out the changing pad and do our stuff wherever the need arose instead of having to run back to his nursery changing table. We also used it when he got out of the bath because he always bathed and got ready for bed in our room and bathroom. I’m sure they have cute portable diaper caddies but seriously that pink bucket worked like a dream and was the perfect size.

Essentials 4/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

4. Cheap-o burp clothes- Don’t worry, our child didn’t go without the monogrammed, adorably cuddly burp clothes. However, the child spit up several (hundred) times a day. It never really phased him. He would eat, play, smile, play, bleccckkk, play, smile. You just never knew when it was coming. When in public, I always packed the cutesy ones and dabbed at my golden child’s mouth so daintily. However, at home, we went through some serious rags. Finally, when solids were introduced and he really started eating food, he slowed down on the reflux. Now, we use them for wash/dust rags. They are fab for everything. If you are going through burp clothes as quickly as we were, good luck keeping the cute ones. Another little tidbit: the cheap-o ones absorbed WAY better than cute. Trust me on this one.

Essentials 5/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

10. Co-sleeper. As most of you know, I am a Pediatric Intensive Care nurse. I see a lot of really sad, tragic stuff on a daily basis. It’s a wonder I don’t make Everett wear a helmet for his daily risky behaviors (such as walking, bathing, and eating.) I vowed to never, ever let my infant sleep in our bed. I’m not going into detail because we’ve all heard the horror stories but, guys, I will say it happens all the time to good parents. When Ev was still waking every 3 hours throughout the night to nurse, he was in the pack-n-play beside my bed. Around 10 weeks, he started sleeping through the night. I remember him getting a set of shots that made him run a fever. I was too nervous to put him ALL THE WAY IN HIS NURSERY (ummm. about 19 steps away.) We put this co-sleeper in the bed between us and he was protected. Also, I was able to wake up throughout the night and check on him. He got three ear infections between 6 and 11 months causing high fevers and we did the same thing. Another way we used it was when we’d travel. Instead of taking the whole pack-n-play, we’d just make sure the hotel was giving us a king size bed and put him between us. I’m not real sure why we were so picky about it in the hotel as we only have queen size at home. Anyway, with this, I felt like he was always protected from us while still allowing him to sleep in our bed on occasion. It has rigid, padded sides about halfway down. You cannot roll over this unless you are comatose (and if you are comatose and rolling you need to be in a medical study.) The only negative is that it's only about 24 inches long and has a rigid, padded foot rest. After only a couple months, our boy was propping his feet on top of the foot rest because he was too long. We finally just gut a slit in the side of the foot thing and pulled out the rigid piece, allowing the bottom to just lie flat.

Our model at a few months old:

Essentials 6/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

6. Humor/Laughter. Oh, my hubs and I. We love to laugh. I must say we went into the parenting thing with a really good relationship. Parenting a newborn is NOT for sissies. If you are tumultuous prior to baby, just wait for the fireworks to begin after! Wade and I agree that when Shoog starts screaming or crying (which even perfect babies do), the tension in the room goes up ten-fold. Even if there was not a blip of tension before the fit, there will be during and after. It goes up twenty-fold if you are in a car. Just ask my Mom and Sis about our Oxford trip. Oh, Lawsy, was that a doozy. Definitely the lowest point of my Mom’s cancer battle by far. Anyway, Wade and I decided early on that when we are tested the most, we might as well laugh or else we’d cry. Going into parenthood with a light heart is ESSENTIAL. Every family is different but with ours…nothing was set in stone, we had no rigid rules to go by, etc. It worked for us. I was thinking of some times when we were really challenged in that first year. I kept thinking of little episodes such as peeing on our bed (Ev, not us), spitting up on the carpet of a house we were looking to buy (and didn’t. Shhh), or the growth spurts that required every hour nursing. None of them really compared to the poop/Halloween/white costume instance. It’s the best occasion I can think of where “Laughter (truly) was the best medicine.”

Here goes: It was the week before Halloween and we decided to do the Halloween activities in our community instead of trick-or-treating with a 1 year old (also I was working Halloween anyway). That left us with our church fall carnival and our community’s trunk-or-treat. Well, both grandmothers and my sister decided to go with us to the community party as it was E’s first experience with dressing up. You see, as I imagine a lot of mothers do (I am not a freak on this, right?), I bought E’s costume oh…about….August. I was so excited. It was a stark white (my first mistake but I actually did think that if he spits up milk, it will totally blend.) He looked adorable and so angelic in his little astronaut suit. It was even personalized with ‘Watts’ (cheapness rears it’s ugly head again-I wouldn’t put Everett so that I could use it with a second child. Hehehe.) Anyway, we get to the event and it was windy and cold. The dirt lot was jam-packed. Wade had said in route that he “smelled something.” Well, we decided to just change him in the lot before taking him onto the fun. OH. MY. GOSH. Wade went to get him out of the carseat and stuck his hand in a whole mess of junk. He, quickly, retracted his hand and we knew we were in for it. Luckily, I had thought to just put him in the white onesie so that we could dress him when we got there. I mean, I wouldn’t have wanted to ride in a carseat in an astronaut costume. His “dinner deposit” was EVERYWHERE. It was all over the onesie, the entire carseat was covered at the bottom, up his back almost in his hair, you get the idea. Wade took him out and put him in the back of our SUV to start cleaning (we were at a park, no bathrooms). Well, God forbid, I only packed about 100 wipes b/c this was a 300 wipe mess. We ran out about ¾ of the way through with cleaning him. I decided at that moment that if I was a single mom, we would have bolted in our poop mess, gone home, gotten in the tub, and called it a night. However, his gmoms and aunt had come for the big event (and were rolling on the dirt lot laughing at us. I’m pretty sure there were some pee-pants in that crowd. Just sayin.) so we didn’t want to disappoint. Long story short (well, this isn’t exactly short) but we finally got him presentable and had a grand old time. Got back to the car, still freezing, and, yep, stuck him right in the carseat with the poop that we had no wipes to clean…in his angelic white suit. Ugh. We just laughed and wouldn’t touch anything the entire ride home (or let E touch a thing.) There was NO candy swapping/eating in our car that ride. Anyway, the moral is: it does zero good to dramatize or weep in a situation because it’s making a memory, making a story to tell at his wedding. It’s just life. Laugh through it or else you’ll cry…and nobody wants to be around a crybaby.

Essentials 7/10 addendum

One of my faithful readers and friends, M Buff, just sent me this pic. I guess she felt sorry for the black tinted wine glass pic. This was probably taken sometime in July of last year on one of my marathon baby food days. Goes to show how much I loved my stacked steamer. I was even giving her a little squeeze!

Essentials 7/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

7. Stacked steamer. Not much to say about this other than the fact that it goes along with the 11-cup Cusinart when I say it made baby food making much easier. Most fruits and veggies have to be steamed prior to food processing them. When I wanted to do a few batches. I could load this bad boy up, put a couple other things on the stove, and really whip out some food. My sister gave it to me years before because I’m a steamed broccoli-haulic. I used it a few times but always found it rather cumbersome for ‘just broccoli.’ Oh, man, it has found it’s identity now. That thing can steam some stuff. Also, if the steaming times are different, I would just take that rack out to start food processing it and load another food in it to start steaming. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about a steamer so much in my life. I’m done now. It’s fab though. Okay, now I’m really done.

Obviously, this is not a pic of my actual steamer but it is the same kind I have. I've never tried to steam fish, broccoli, corn, carrots, and potatoes at the same time. I guess the wine is placed in the pic to really show how entertaining steaming can be. "You just put your colorful, fay-ncy food in there, pour you a glass of ummm red wine in a black tinted glass and Voila! Dinner!" I would think it would drip fish juices down on your corn and broccoli and really be a buzz kill but....

Are you ready for some football?!?!

This guy is...


Happy Super Bowl Sunday! It's a holiday around this house!

Essentials 8/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

8. MMO. Ev started Mother’s Morning Out when he was almost ten months old. I only work two days a week. When I’m working, my MIL, Mom, sister, or friend Mollie stay with him. I was starting to feel like he had no interaction with other kids. Also, let’s be perfectly honest…he was starting to get around, not sleeping quite as much, and I couldn’t get ANYthing done around the house. MMO is 3 hours, twice a week. He has 3 other kids in his class. He has 2 fabulous teachers. The first time I dropped him off, I was in shock that I could just go to the grocery, shower, or even get my nails done on occasion. Let me tell you, though, that 3 hours flies by!

Essentials 9/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

9. Cuisinart. I was a baby food making junkie. I never bought jarred food and really enjoyed cooking for my boy. However, I started the process with a mini Cuisinart and it would take me all day to make one weeks worth of food. You have to steam most foods before you food process them so the entire process of steaming/broiling, peeling, food processing a cup at a time, labeling and storing food, then cleaning out mini Cuisinart for next food was taking forever. We purchased an 11-cup Cuisinart and I was able to do the entire batch of apples, squash, etc. in one push of the button. It was SO incredibly easy. The hardest part of the whole process was finding a few straight hours to devote to it a month. I had a few good friends that would come over and entertain our boy while I cooked. I could spend about 3 hours in the kitchen and make/store enough food for Ev for over a month. I really liked knowing exactly what he was eating. Also, on a side note, I’m a complete cheapskate and those baby food jars are EXPENSIVE! One month I totaled up what I purchased and prepared and it came to $22 for over a month of baby food. Holla!

My trusty mini: (on another side note: I LOVE kitchen gadgets and such. I actually begged for this little guy for our first Valentine's as a married couple. Wade tried to refuse saying it wasn't very "Valentinsey" but I told him, "If you want to make your Valentine happy, get the adorable mini. Please and Thank You.")


Mini's big brother. Though I don't make much of E's food anymore as he now eats most of what we eat, I still use this bad boy at least once a week. It can grate a 16 oz block of cheese in 30 seconds flat. No lie. Super handy with the pimento cheese making. I don't remember how much we paid for this but I do remember we got a great deal on it from Kohl's. Man, I am really revealing my cheapness in this post.


This was one of my first times to make his food. We bought a deep freezer for times such as this with the hypothetical second child. If anyone has any better ideas to store breast milk, throw those hints in here for me too. I would freeze 3 oz in each bag, lie them flat to take up less space, then stack in Coke cases in chronological order.

Essentials 10/10

I remember reading a list such as this when I was pregnant. It helped me a bit and also made me conscientious, during Ev’s first year, of our needs. Without further ado (since it’s 3 months late anyway. Who am I to make my readers wait?)… I present the ten things we could NOT live without for our first year of parenthood. I’ll post them one at a time because they’ve turned into quite lengthy little guys!

10. Pacifiers. I tried to follow all the rulebooks on when the best time to introduce the ole nuk into our boy’s life. If I recall correctly, you aren’t supposed to introduce the paci to breast fed babies for at least 2 weeks. Something about nipple confusion. I could’ve recited you the entire article a year ago, with references. Oh, how things change. I lectured Wade and anyone else within earshot about NOT giving my baby a paci. Well, we did fine the first week and he was pretty good at self-pacification with the hand or fist. Then, week two began and our boy had his first growth spurt. By the third day, I was nursing every 30 minutes. I remember meeting Wade at the door when he got home from work. I was exhausted. Five o’clock could not have come fast enough. Ev had a paci in his mouth and was just as quiet and angelic as ever. “I give up,” was all I had to say. He was happy and so was I. Turns out he just needed SOMETHING to suck on, regardless of what it was. A monster was created that day, as our boy is now a big fan of the “noonie”. In fact, we are working on weaning it and this SUCKS. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.