It Takes An Army...

OF STUFF!!! This is what it looks like when we put Andrew to bed at night:

This may be part of why we had to take TWO vehicles on vacation (ok lets face it - there are SIX of us - that is a lot of STUFF!)

A. This used to be inside of a teddy bear. It makes womb sounds. It was not loud enough IN the teddy bear (not to mention the teddy bear was kind of bulky!) so we took it out! Now it can be placed next to him WHEREVER he is napping (including the car at times!).
B. This is one of my pillows. This will only work until he starts rolling over, then the pillow's gotta go! I put it behind his back because he LOVES to fall asleep while laying on his back on our chest while we are watching tv. It makes him feel like he is still with someone.
C. A soft blanket - has to be partially over his face. Don't know - but it works!
D. Teddy Bear/blankie thing has to be between his arms for him to hold or he flails around. He also likes to talk to him and play with him when he wakes up.
E. The pacifier the teddy bear thingy is helping hold in his mouth.
F. This is F - didn't get it in the above shot:

This is a vibrator. It has a low and high setting. We have to have it on high.
G. He has to be on his side!

Sometimes if this doesn't work, we have to use that brown "thing" in the bottom left hand side of the picture. It has sounds and music, but we have to use the light that is on it. Luckily, all of these electronic things are on timers, so they go off after a little while and he has always been asleep by the time they go off. Batteries are expensive (especially with five boys)!

I know that it seems insane, but it took us over two months WITHOUT sleep to figure out what works with him! If it means he sleeps all night - which he has been when we use all of these - it is worth it!! Hopefully we can start gradually weaning him off some of these. But doesn't he look cute:
(Good thing this thing saves itself every minute or two - our electricity just went out!!)


This is his spot for his grumpy late afternoon nap. I wish I could still do audio easily on this thing. His swing has a box with sounds and music too. We have to put the nature sounds (there are like 5 different sounds and there is a certain one that he has to have - so you have to stand there and push the button until the right sound appears!) FULL BLAST - and it is LOUD!!!!