Visit from the Paci fairy

We have been "talking about" saying bye bye to Paci for several months now. Emma Grace has LOVED her paci since birth. We have never tried really hard to do away with it, because it brought so much comfort and security to her. I have heard ALL the stories about "how to get rid of the Pacifier." We have been talking about how "babies" use pacis - not "big girls". We finally decided to tell Emma Grace about the Paci fairy. This became a family project. The boys have been so worried about Emma giving up something that she dearly loves. They have helped us prepare her for this big day for a few weeks now. Yesterday the big day arrived. We all decorated a tree in our back yard with all of her pacifiers that we could find in the house & cars. (about 20 something). We tied them with pink ribbons all over the branches and even found a "pretend fairy" that she role played with - what was about to take place. I had her explain to each one of us what was going to happen at night, so I could be sure that she understood what was going to happen. She explained 4 times, that "at night time the Paci fairy was going to come and take all her pacis and give them to the little babies. She was going to bring her a Tinkerbell dress ." She has been wanting a Tinkerbell dress for a long time. When the sun was about to set I asked her if she wanted to go say Bye to her pacis one last time. She did - so we went out there one last time - just the 2 of us. She didn't say anything at first . we just stood there and looked at the last pieces of her BABYHOOD hanging there on that little tree. She then started kissing everyone of them as they were hanging on the branches. I bent down beside her and she started to whisper. Not to me, but just quietly to herself. I got closer to see if I could hear what she was saying. I said "what are you saying?" With her little eyes closed, she whispered..., "I 'm just telling the fairy to take good care of them because i luv em' ". It broke my heart, even though I know it is time for them to go.
She did great at bedtime and went to sleep for the 1st time in her life without a paci. She woke up at 5 am crying for it, but went back to sleep. When we all woke up this morning we went outside to see the beautiful tinkerbell dress that the Paci fairy left. I have been weepy all day. I think this has been the hardest on me.