Sunday, December 9, 2007

Prettiness, pacifiers, and paleontology

I've said before that I don't care for the little baby headbands that are thin and dig into their poor little heads. And I still don't. But I found a baby headband that I don't just like--I love it. And it comes with interchangeable bows. Listen to me! I'm so girly now! :) I've always thought babies don't need decoration, and I still don't think they need it. But she looks so cute with a little bit of it, I couldn't resist. So here's a picture of Savvy with the new headband, which I have put on her almost every day since I got it. She was really posey in this picture! It was cute/funny.So not only do I love certain kinds of baby headbands, but guess what? For the first time (except for four months of Reed's life when he was addicted to a little 2-ounce bottle), one of my kids has a comfort object. And it's a very convenient one. None of our kids have taken a pacifier. I'd put it in their mouths, and they'd just look at me like they were just humoring me, and then spit it out right away. I counted myself lucky that there wasn't something I couldn't go anywhere without, but it was also difficult when I was the one thing that would comfort them. So one night a few days ago, I was editing some photos and needed to just keep plugging along until the last one was finished. Phill was holding Savvy, who was fussy. After about ten minutes, I looked back, and he pointed down at her. There in her mouth was the very pacifier she had snubbed her nose at only two months ago. And she was fast asleep! I silently rejoiced and went back to my editing. And about ten minutes after that, I looked back, and this is what I saw:

This awesome little piece of plastic and rubber saved me two of my usual three trips to the nursing lounge today--yes, three--and buys me an hour or two here and there throughout the day--and my poor nursing appendages are much less sore! :) (She was nursing about every 45 minutes for 20 minutes minimum. All the time. Not growth spurt-ish. All....the....time.) And this odd little piece of semi-ingenuity has bought me a couple more hours of sleep at night. Happy mama? Oh, yes. I'm not worried about weaning her from it--we'll deal with that later. For now, it's heaven-sent.

Yesterday we had the best family-centered day! After having been told a few times by a few different people how wonderful it was, we finally decided to go see the dinosaur tracks museum in St.George. I love stuff like this! I dreamed about being a paleontologist and archaeologist when I was littler, and it was just insanely cool to see actual tracks and marks and skin impressions--*YES, REALLY!*--from something that lived on the earth so long ago. Reed and Jax loved it, too, and Jax kept saying, "Mama! Scary!" in this awe-filled voice, and all Reed could do was stare huge-eyed and say, "WHOA....that is SO cool!" We were especially intrigued by the track of a tyrannosaurus rex, in which Savvy could have stood up. (That is, if she could stand on her own, and if we were allowed to touch it.)
Afterwards, we spent some time in the little souvenir shop section. Phill and I like to make up for the fact that we were not often afforded the luxury of cool tourist souvenirs or neat road trip buys growing up. :) (Don't worry, Mom. I understand that you couldn't buy the twenty-dollar stuffed animal for each of your seven children! Those Clearly Canadian drinks were just fine.) Anyway, we tend to budget for those fun (and most often overpriced) souvenirs when we do these family outings. The prices at this shop were actually quite moderate, so we were pleased. We also saw some great stocking stuffers, which we will inform Santa's elves about as soon as possible. Reed got a small stuffed teradactyl. Did you know they could be small and soft and cuddly? Well, apparently they can for seven dollars in St.George. After about twenty minutes of deep thought and ongoing discussion, Reed finally had a name for his teradactyl--Mike Dinosaur DeVault. Mike came with us for the rest of the day to Phill's company Christmas party, to our friends' houses, and even to church today, on the condition that he be very silent in Reed's backpack. (He was.)

6 comments:

Abby said...

Very cool! I love Savvy's bow. And the pictures of her sleeping are priceless. Such a doll. And yay for a pacifier that satisfies her need to suck and gives you the sleep you need! We're 3 for 3 on babies spitting out the pacifiers so have never dealt with weaning them from pacis, but I thought this was really interesting. http://www.babycenter.com/400_how-do-i-wean-my-baby-from-her-pacifier_500325_1000.bc
They say 3-4 years old in this article but Grandpa (our family's only dentist) said 5 years old. I don't know if his information is dated.

Anyway, this makes me rethink pacifiers a little. I wonder if I mightn't try harder with a fourth kid to give them one. Autumn finally doesn't suck her finger (at age 6). I'm really concerned about how it will go down with Heidi. She's so attached. Two fingers in the mouth and the other hand twirling her hair. Argh. And she's already 4, so by the standards of this article, we should already be finding a way to help her stop. You know Heidi...any ideas?

What is that a picture of at the bottom?

Pam from Over the Big Moon said...

I love those little headbands too. They are made out of tights/nylons right?!? My niece wears them! They are great!

I cross my fingers that my baby will take a pacifier. It just seems to make things to much easier. The two newest babies in me and my husbands families haven't wanted to take paci's and it makes them out to be a lot more work. I just pray my baby will take one!

Anna said...

Very cute headbands! I had the same thing happen with Emma and a pacifier, for the first couple of months she didn't want anything to do with it, and then we got lucky. It made it very nice for those times when she just needed a little something to soothe her. I never gave it to her at night, so we never had the issue of her spitting it out and waking up. Now that she is older I can give it to her when I want, hide it when I don't want her to have it, and then throw it away in the next little bit. Wow, sorry to go off about that.
As always, I love the pics. You have such a cute family.

Crystal said...

Lincoln didn't want anything to do with a paci either. And then he discovered his thumb.

I want to go to SG :( I've never been to that museum, but for my big final project in school I designed a dinosaur museum. Pretty fun.

MariePhotographie said...

I happen to love baby bows! Where did you get that one? Savvy (I love how you call her that--how do you pronounce it--like the word savvy? Isn't that a word?) looks like a little baby model all posed out!

Unknown said...

I think the consensus is that bows are HOT!