Flibbs.com

Hey there — did y’all read our last two posts? Alec found time for some reflections and I gave an update on our “Operation Share a Room” but we didn’t notify our beloved readers. And all the pics from our July adventures out East are up. Check ‘em out if you’re interested.

I’m here to report that we’re in a state of transition.

Holden just finished up with his nanny of about 2 years, his girlfriend of about 18 months, and his music teacher of about a year ALL IN THE SAME WEEKEND. And the diggers and tractors that have been renovating our park all summer finished too.

How do you explain that to a two-year old without over explaining? That’s what we’re working on.

School starts for him next week. And in the interim, I’m trying my hand at juggling two. It’s putting a little damper on my job search, but I plan to kick that back into gear next week.

And as for answering all his questions, we just take it one at a time.
“Where’d the diggers go?” — “They’re resting?”
“Where’d Olivia go?” — “She’s at school.”
“I want to go to school” — “Next week you can.”
“Where’d Kamala go?” — “She’s on vacation.”

…and so on.

It’s been a long time since I did an update here, so I thought I’d give a dad’s eye view of the last month or so.

But before I forget: We’ve got some new pictures up, including Chad and Leah’s Wedding and a visit to the Family in Washington, DC.

Milo turns 6 months tomorrow, and that means we’re crossing a big milestone.. or maybe we’ve just passed it.
(more…)

It’s a no go.

Not forever, but for now.

The month leading up to vacation, we tried it a few different ways.

1 — left the boys together in the same room all night: caused us to be hyper-vigilant about putting the paci in Milo’s mouth and we got no sleep. Also kept Holden up for 45 to 90 minutes later each night.

2 — left the boys together to fall asleep but then moved Milo out back to the office to remedy the “us not sleeping” part of the problem. It seemed to be a good hybrid interim solution. But Holden still didn’t fall asleep easily.

While on vacation, this training seemed to be effective because they slept together rather well in many different room and crib configurations. But the nighttime was still rife with Alec popping out of bed to give Milo the paci. Not ideal.

Once we returned home, we abandoned the “brother’s room” concept for the short-term so we could do a little sleep training with the little guy. And that’s where we are now.

What’s sleep training Flibbs-style?
This time around, it consists of putting Milo to be drowsy in the office pack n play and letting him fuss until he falls asleep (unless I can’t handle it, at which point, I give him a paci or dose of Tylenol for teething pain).

In the middle of the night, if Milo cries out, I head immediately into the living room with earplugs, turn on some 80’s glam rock for background music, and bury my head under the pillows while Alec executes our predetermined action plan.

I’m not sure I’ll know when we’ve succeeded.