We did it!

Forget catching up on the last month, it's too overwhelming . . . so here's our good news for the day! Amy's off the bottle. I took her to the dentist a few weeks ago, and he warned me that her bottle habit, regardless of whether she just used it as a pacifier (I was quick to tell him there wasn't anything in the bottle she just needed to suck on something to fall asleep) would cause a skeletal issue if we didn't break her of it. I knew I wasn't a good mom by letting her have the bottle for so long, but it just made life so easy I couldn't bring myself to change it! So, I have been slowly working on ridding her of the bottle. We began removing it from her mouth and hiding it as soon as she fell asleep. She would wake up in the middle of the night and come into our bed. We'd put her back in her own room and give her the bottle again to help her fall asleep and then quickly remove it. After a week or so of that she began sleeping through the night without needing her bottle to get back to sleep. Oh, and the bottle we gave her had the top of the bottle's nipple cut off (that didn't deter her any!). But, she still needed it to calm her down enough to get to sleep initially. Well, last night Kenny made the final call. No more bottle! She was hysterical for over an hour but finally her tiredness won and she fell asleep on her own in my lap (11:30 pm). I thought I'd have a big fight with her this afternoon when it was her naptime . . . it wasn't ideal but she fell asleep on her own on my bed reading the children's song book, and tonight, she did it again, this time in Kenny's arms but at least she was asleep by 9:30!! So, instead of the bottle now she needs us but at least she won't have any skeletal issues. Lesson learned: Ian does not get a bottle (or a pacifier) in bed!!

(Here's how I found Amy for her nap time. I thought she might be getting into trouble because she had been quiet for a little too long (like 5 minutes). (Notice my bed is made . . . impressive!)