pacifier woes

I have a strong love/hate relationship with Griffin's most prized possession. 

The Nuk pacifier. 

I remember getting so frustrated when Grayson was a baby because he refused any & all pacifiers.  I was pretty excited when Griffin took a paci right away in the hospital because I thought it would work wonders for self soothing. 

See? It all started with the Soothie that the nurses gave him in the hospital. We used it for about 2 weeks but he had a hard time keeping it in his mouth. That is when we spent a huge chunk of change buying every.single.brand. of pacifier out there.

Well, the Nuk won Griffin over & it quickly became his favorite thing in the world.

Here is the issue: during the day, I absolutely LOVE the paci. It helps in the car. It helps me get ready for the day. It helps Griff fall asleep. Overall, it just makes my littlest guy happy. And when the baby is happy? EVERYONE is happy. trust me. 

However, at night? That love quickly turns to hate when I have to go into the nursery about 6-7 times a night just to put the darn thing back in his mouth. Seriously.  He has become so attached to it that he screams when he realizes it has fallen out of his mouth.   The more he screams, the wider awake he becomes. {Trust me, I know.} Basically, even though I am only feeding Griffin once at night now, it feels like I have a newborn again. The constant interrupted sleep is driving me a little crazy & makes me need an IV drip of coffee. 

I've gotten so desperate that 2 nights ago I set the Pack 'n Play back up in our room so that I can just reach over & re-paci the baby instead of walking across the house to his room. You may call that taking a step backwards; I call that survival mode. 

Mamas of paci babies: does this get better anytime soon? I can handle waking up to feed Griffin at 4. That isn't so bad. It's the 5-6 other times that are turning me into a crazy person.

On the bright side, at least they come in a variety of patterns, no?