One Nap Two Naps Long Naps Short Naps

I have been a very lucky mommy because up until this past week, Jenna (at 15+ months) was still consistently taking two naps a day - morning (the typical 2+ hours after wake up time) and afternoon (usually around 1:00).  Last week, morning nap went away.
Suddenly.
Without warning.
I've been expecting this day to come...I mean most of my friends with kids the same age said goodbbye to the morning nap a few months ago.  But it kinda kicked me in the ass.
My usually wonderful napper literally started refusing the morning nap.  She would do all her typical before nap things, like rub her eyes, tug at her ear, get a little clumsy. She would even walk over to her crib and reach up.  I would put her in, she'd have her pacifier (seriously, we need  to get rid of that shit soon) and she would chill out for a little while. But no nap.
Okay, so she's ready for one nap - no problem - it's time - she's old enough. I just didn't realize that this would be another one of those "transitions" which take some time.
So I did what I'm sure most moms do - I read up on it - I looked in books, online, asked friends to see how I can make this transition as smoothe as possible.
On the days when I was still trying the morning nap, but not getting one, I made a point of getting out of the house immediately. I figure if she's not going to nap, then we may as well have some fun. We went to the park, we took walks, we went to the pool. Basically I took her places where napping was not even an option.  Then I gave her an early lunch (between 11 and 11:30) and put her down for a nap after.  This seems to be working - she goes right down in her crib and falls asleep. 
The only thing we need to work on now is getting her to sleep just a little longer during this nap.  She's never been much of a long napper - has always been pretty good at taking them, but not necessarily for any length of time. I think she needs about an hour and a half to be well rested for the rest of the day, but right now it seems that after an hour she's up.  We haven't had much crankiness, but we have had slightly earlier bedtimes...

The one thing I've been really trying to do is be home for her naptime.  She's always napped best i nher crib and I feel like until we get this consistent, I'd rather her be in the most comfortable place.  And quite honestly, with the heat being so bad, it's nice to be "forced" inside from 12-1:00ish everyday.

So I'm reaching out for some help...Any suggestions on how to make the transition easy?? How can I get her to stay sleeping just a little longer??

Pacifier Update

I have given in to the paci!

Pacifier - 1 / Mommy - 0

I tried (well not sure that you can call it a real attempt) to stop using the pacifier with Jenna. She only uses it for naps and night sleep - so you will only see it in her mouth in her stroller or crib.  She also did away with the bottle so easily - I'm talking one day she had 4 bottles, the next day only straw cups - didn't even notice they were missing. Anyway, I thought it was the perfect day to try - she had two great naps, but on the early side, so by the time I was ready to put her in to bed I knew she was super tired.  So I figured why not take it away tonight.  I kissed her good night and put on her sleep sack and placed her gently in the crib and then...she WAILED...and then I shoved the paci in her mouth, she turned over and went to sleep.  I kid you not - right to sleep - see you in the morning!

My husband and I go back and forth - well I go back and forth - he thinks if it's not broke than why fix it.  I am now on his team.  We are fortunate enough to have a pretty good sleeper.  It is definitely an exception when she gets up in the middle of the night.  For the most part she sleeps from around 7pm to 6am give or take a 1/2 hour on either end.  Why would we mess with this?  As Mike says, she's only 13 months....So I am officially done talking...err...complaining about the paciier.  For now it's going to be our friend. In fact, I think I'm going to buy some more so I don't have to look all over the place when she tosses them from the crib...

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Pacifier

Okay so here it goes the great pacifier debate - one side says to get rid of it ASAP the other side says why mess with a good thing?  I get it...I get both sides of this - Jenna happens to be a good sleeper and one nights when she stirs (that's our word for a little whimper but not fully awake) that pacifier is literally a god send - stick it in and nighty night she goes...

But there's a much darker side to the pacifier...we have 3 in our rotation at the moment - she keeps one in her mouth and likes to hold onto others in her sleep.  I am obsessed with knowing where all 3 are at all times. They are different colors so we refer to them by color...I can't tell you how often our conversations go something like this:

Honey, where's the purple one?
I think it's in her crib
It's not - where is it???
Did you check the diaper bag or the floor or the stroller??

At this point I am frantically looking for a f**ing plastic thing all over my house.  RIDICULOUS!!
And Jenna likes to throw them - tosses them out of the crib (to which I am on my hands and knees searching for them) or out of the stroller (I have been known to backtrack a couple of blocks hoping to find this piece of plastic!) or out of the carseat (I have had to pull over to retrieve them from the floor)

I know there are many reasons to get rid of them - teeth, attachment...blah blah blah - I need to cut my attachment to these damn things and I am just tired of depending on a little thing to get my kid to sleep.

So Jenna's world and my world is about to be ROCKED because one of these days (soon) I am going to have the balls to throw them out and not look back.  My husband response "what do we do when she wakes up? How is she going to fall asleep?" Well...I guess we're just going to have to find out...god help us!

1st Year Dr. Appointment

I went today for Jenna's 1 year appointment at the dr...didn't do the MMR and the Chicken Pox vaccines since she was sick, but had the basic checkup - some interesting things...

1. Told me to drop the pacifier and the bottles cold turkey and together - definitely nervous about this and would love some advice!
hubby's response: "how is she going to sleep without the pacifier"
my response "do you sleep with a pacifier in your mouth?"

2. Start thinking about potty training...WHAT?!?! She said girls are easier and why not start? I mean don't get me wrong I would love to be done with diapers, but not sure about potty training just yet - but maybe...no clue how to even start this process!

3. Baby Food be gone! Teach good eating habits - no more purees! This actually sounds good to me - I'd much rather watch her chomp on a banana than have to feed her from a jar.