What's in your toolbox?

Ok so when the Tank first came home I was armed with various things that would soothe him when he was tired, grumpy, bored, or hungry. I had my super swaddle technique, I had the soother, I had my boob, a vibrating bassinet, I had a swing, a bouncy seat, and a warm pack for his tummy. Then it all changed.

I now have a boob and an aquarium entertainer el crappo on the side of his crib. Several weeks ago Tank decided to get sick. I knew it was inevitable that he would get sick but MAN... he got so sick he couldn't breathe and suck at the same time no matter how much saline we squirted, how elevated his crib was, how moist his room was, and how much we slathered him with baby vaporub. He could not breathe. At all. So the first night he slept in bed with me, while Superdad slept in the office. I think I saw every 20min from 11pm-9am to replace that lovely peice of plastic to his mouth. Night number 2 of this ebola virus I said enough of that crap and we stole his soother from him and MY tool box. On that very same night we said well if he's gonna lose his soother we might as well unswaddle him....

A few nights of some tears and he was broken of his soother and swaddle addiction, however, that left us with NOTHING to help him calm down except boob. So my smart little genius learned very quickly to fall asleep every time I nursed him for naps and bedtime. I didn't clue in til a few weeks ago that he was totally using ME as a soother... So here we are today teaching the guy to fall asleep on his own.

Did you know this is not an easy feat? Seriously... I think it may be easier to train a dog to do their business outside. All I can say is that after a few failed nap attempts today I am exhausted and of course he fell asleep while nursing away tonight before bed. With his eyes open I might add.

So here we are parenting without any tools in our toolbox! I must say you can't be lazy when you have no tools. Soothers and swaddles made life so much easier.