"The Company" made their big announcement this week. The stock dropped 7%. Probably not related.

We're in limbo waiting for the company's offer. I have a contact working on my wife's resume but she seems to be overloaded with rewrites right now. Touching base with her to see what we could/should do.

The household turmoil this has caused is starting to settle down. We have a broken (and recalled) dishwasher right now that's awaiting replacement. Just need to rub some more nickels together.

We preferred to get the babies out of our room as soon as possible. I sleep pretty deeply but my wife would wake up with every little fidget that our little guys would make. Even with a baby monitor, she'd spend all night listening for breathes. So for our sanity, the boys moved as soon as possible. Our first didn't spend a single night in our room. his brother stayed in a bassinet in our room until he was able to move out of the crib.

I think that if you set the expectation that the kid will always get instant response from you at any time, you're going to have trouble dealing with the feelings as you move them into their own room and several other points along the way.

Now, I think Nik's got TheBoy(tm) in his room because of space issues more than anything. But I hear my wife start ranting on almost a weekly basis about how certain baby dominant parent-child relationships are simply the result of parents trying to take the easy route on either a physical (don't want to get up at night) or emotional (can't stand to hear a baby cry) level. I'm nowhere near as vindictive, but I certainly see her point. At some point, they'll have to leave your room, be they 3 months or 25 years. I think it's an easier process earlier on, whether or not you find the crying irritating or heart wrenching. I think it's better for them in the long run and it's better for your relationship.

Plus, you put all that work into the nursery. You want to use it!

Well, I've got to say that I relish the chance to "ditch the boys". Taking my 2 year old to preschool two weeks ago provided a feeling of euphoria, even though I still had the baby in tow.

Of course, that's no help.

We have the same rush to do things when my wife gets home. She seems to mitigate that by having an early work schedule so she's home an hour before dinner. She spends time with the boys while I get dinner ready most days. She also does the whole bedtime routine with them, one at a a time. This seems to provide some of that intimate time she craves. Every six months or so, I get a guilt trip about not doing it. Then I take over a night or two and she bumps me out of the routine again. She loves it, no matter how much work she says it is.

I don't know what will work for you. I'd suspect more than just the end of maternity leave is coming into play. Going back to work is difficult, especially after a year. Adding the whole daycare drop-off drama could make for some strong emotions. Plus she's leaving two now.

I'd look for help with the drop off routine. Maybe she can spend an hour watching your kids interact with the staff to help alleviate her worries.

Hey RobinsHero,

Welcome to Dadlabs!

I think schooled and unschooled families alike have a lot to learn from the discussions coming out of the unschool movement. In some way I think it has the potential to influence education reform.

Looking to have many more conversations with you about it.

While Austin has a core group talking about it, I think Portland has an even more active community around it.

Don't let my wife see these photos. congrats!

Sounds like we are fairly similar in terms of the tech and the music. I don't follow college or pro sports. And I feel as if I should have my boy and girl doing sports for a few reasons. I do not want to hold them back from something just because I did not do it, especially if there are long term health benefits from exercising.

Having said that, it seems to me that even youth sports are wound up so tight, in part because the parents are into sports, and there is an extremely competitive nature to them beyond just the game. Which kid will get to play on which club team?

So what starts out as no score soccer in kindergarten becomes pretty cutthroat by high school.

By the time kids are in high school it seems as if they are self separating into those that play and those that watch or are in the band. So I wonder if the pressure I put on myself to have the kids in sports is unwarranted.

In order to simplify our lives we have thought about taking both kids out of sports this fall and spend this crucial time with them (age 7 and 5) hiking or swimming or exploring, time we will never get back, rather than watching them on the field. I know that there are benefits to them playing a team sport, and I respect other parents who do it, but for our family we are thinking about going the other way.

One high school I visited while I was teaching (it was a private school so they could do this) had put most of its athletic money into a fitness center with the idea that we would probably not play sports the rest of our life but would be more apt to swim or run or work out. Another school I visited last year had no football team at all. Needless to say it was not in Texas.

So, my son is taking tennis lessons. Low key, no country club, just the cracked courts next to our elementary school in the city park. We hired a coach to come and work with the second graders and it came out to be fairly cheap. The key here is that a group of parents got together and went outside the athletic establishment.

Our elementary school also has an ultimate frisbee team for third grade and up. I think the lack of any pro or well known college frisbee teams makes this sport a little more inclusive even at the competitive level. We plan on making this sound awesome so that our kids will want to join it.

There is a climbing gym near our house, and kids cannot get enough of it.

And finally, I get my kid to go biking with me while I run. Thinking about doing and extended biking trip with my kids

Very sorry to hear about this.

Top 5 movies of all time -- please understand I'm addicted to science fiction -- and I'm seeing almost all my titles reflect that:
1. Gattaca (yay Daddy Troy)
2. Serenity (arguably this generation's Star Wars)
3. Metropolis (can't sit through the original 1917 film? Get the anime. Kids will love it.)
4. Kubrick films.
5 Any movie with music by Irving Berlin. They just don't make them like they use to. Class act movies.

----
Top 5 tv shows of all time.
1. Doctor Who -- check it out folks, very family friendly, different every week, time travel, aliens.
2. Star Trek (yeah yeah. I told you.)
3. Buffy the Vampyre Slayer -- say what you want, but Whedon's take on adolescence is a great show for any teen who is an outcast, or anyone looking for a strong female protaganist.
4. Nova.
5. The Simpsons. The great equalizer.

Hey guys,

I'm not really into sports. I don't know my football or hockey players, I don't play fantasy anything, and football games just mean free food and drink to me. Computers, tech, or music? I'm there.

Given that, I have this feeling that I"m missing out on a lot of guy-comraderie with my lack of knowledge, excitement with sports.

I played soccer growing up, etc, and have a casual interest in ice hockey, but that's about it.

Looking for suggestions on good "starter" material -- for both me and my son -- to join the big sports party we are both missing out on, without getting overwhelmed.


Chris

My wife ,after trying the part time work thing, finally found out the best option: Open your at-home daycare. Getting certified with your state is a straightforward process, and if you have the room to accommodate a few of other people's kids, you have the benfit of always being at home with your kid AND bringing in money.

The side effect, though, is the jealousy that comes with other kids in the house as well as not having as much time to dedicate to your own child.

Highly recommended solution, though.

Hi there,

Because my wife is with my son all week, I tend to spend time with him on the weekends, alone, while she does the errands that didn't get accomplished all week.

As a result, there are very few pictures (profile picture aside) of my son with me. The only way I manage to take a picture with him is by using Photo Booth on my Mac. I don't have a fancy camera, just my iPhone, which I don't think does the beep beep click thing. And you know kids, they move instantly when you want them to hold still for a picture -- I don't know if I could get my kid to hold still for a delayed shot.

Any ideas on how to film us together when it's just us?

Chris

Fantastic. Job well done! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

We are all saddened by your situation. Our thoughts are with your family.

Welcome RobinsHero.

I am intensely interested in your choices and approaches to parenting. Sounds like you guys are being incredibly thoughtful about the process. Everybody around here will certainly benefit from your experiences.

I'm not sure how many attachment parenting or unschooling proponents we have on the site, but we have plenty of happy SAHDs, so there are lots of guys familiar with challenging traditional roles and assumptions about how to raise kids.

We would be very interested in hearing how it has gone for you.

Maybe we should start threads for both attachment parenting and unschooling.

Starting weight:209.5
Todays weight: 198.8

Below 2 bills! First time in a loooong time that I've been able to say that. This despite a Groupon subsidized feast at the Melting Pot in celebration of my daughter's birthday over the weekend.

Actually fondue isn't a bad way to go as far as dieting is concerned. You have to individually prepare every morsel of food, so you tend to slow down. You don't have to fry everything -- they also offer a poaching style in a broth. It's easier not to overeat if your plate doesn't arrive with a giant portion weighing it down. I even indulged in some chocolate dipped strawberries and angel food cake for dessert.

I'm considering joining a "boot camp" style training session being held just outside my back door a couple mornings a week. It's being offered by the strength coach at my son's school, and I know several of the guys that are participating. Right now 90% of my exercise is running. Might be good to throw in a little strength training as well.

Sugar-Free Gum.

Much to the chagrin of Daddy Troy, I chomp away on this stuff for a good part of the day. I find that it is a good appetite suppressant (the strong mint flavors of my Eclipse makes other stuff taste bad), and it covers for one of my many other vices -- immoderate coffee consumption.

Is chewing sugar-free gum during the day a good thing for your diet? There seems to be a lot of mixed messages out there.

Some people lose weight by chewing gum, but that seems to often be the result of the artificial sweeteners giving them diarrhea. Awesome.

I've also heard people say that the sugar alcohols (sweeteners) can cause bloat, but I have a hard time believing that water retention is a problem, given my propensity to sweat like a Raindance sprinkler hooked up to the bottom of the Hoover dam.

Anybody have a take on chewing gum?