fatherhood blog

Quick Reflections on the First Six Months of Fatherhood

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Saturday December 21, 2019 // Morning Nap

My wife is out running errands and the little guy just fell asleep. A shot of espresso is in my system and the dog is content with a bone. As long as the nap holds, there’s no better time to attempt to write than this very second.

My son will soon be six months old. Wow. They’re right. Time flies once you become a parent. The first ~two months are kinda slow because it’s all so new and you’re exhausted. Since then though, it’s gone by faster than I could have ever imagined.

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Groundhog Day Parenting

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Monday December 9, 2019 // Bedtime

It’s been awhile since I’ve checked in. I haven’t forgotten about you. I’ve been buried under a mountain of work and emails and bottles and laundry. Too far buried to think about sticking my head out for even as long as Punxsutawney Phil would.

Being a working parent is rough. I knew it going into this whole thing. I wouldn’t trade it for the world (well, maybe working part and the dishes part). But I sure do wish it wasn’t 9:30 PM every night and I’m looking around thinking, “where did the day go?”. Every night. Tonight is no different.

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Blank Canvas

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Saturday October 19, 2019 // Evening Nap

I came across something the other day that’s stuck with me from one of those inspirational tweets or Instagram posts that magically appears in your feed without you asking for it. The exact quote escapes me but the gist of it was this:

Imagine your to-do list is blank. Literally nothing on it; like it never existed to begin with. Nothing from the past matters. Nothing you told yourself that you’d get done at some point matters. You can choose anything you’d like to work on. What is it?

This idea has been sitting with me, fermenting in the back of my brain over the past few days.

What would I work on if there was a blank canvas in front of me?

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Bitten Again // The Travel Bug

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Thursday October 10, 2019 // Evening Nap

Ouch! What was that? I slapped my neck and see a smashed mosquito. Ugh, that’s going to itch for two days, isn’t it?

I step inside the house and unhook my dog from her leash. The steamy summer evening walks at sunset have turned into crisp autumn walks in the dark. Our summer trip to Asheville, North Carolina feels like a fading memory. Yeah, I never got around to finishing that blog post on it did I?

I head upstairs. Warm up my kid’s bottle and start the nighttime routine. The days are blurring together. Wake up, work, pick up kid from daycare, hang out with kid until he needs to nap, eat dinner with wife, wash dishes, do nighttime routine, go to sleep, repeat. Each day is wonderful. Each day I see my child grow and laugh and learn. Work treats me well. The Nats are winning baseball games. All is right. Until the itch sets in…

That was no mosquito that bit me. It was the Travel Bug. It’s two-inch fangs were dripping venom when it sank its teeth into my flesh.

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Memories from the First 14 Weeks of Fatherhood

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Thursday September 26th, 2019 // After Bedtime

My kid turns 14 weeks in a few days. For those unaccustomed to counting in weeks instead of months like I was a short time ago, that’s a little north of 3 months old.

The days and weeks are whizzing by. I feel like I’m running alongside a highway and the cars and trucks passing me are time itself.

Before I blink and 14 weeks is 14 years, I want to jot down some memories from my time with my little guy up to this point so they don’t get lost on the side of my time road.

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First Day of Daycare

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Monday September 23rd, 2019 // Mid-Afternoon

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. The days leading up to our Asheville road trip were hectic. We had a successful trip which included numerous stops on highway exits in the middle of nowhere to change diapers. And once we made it back home it was like work and life wanted 110% of every waking second from me.

Today, weeks after our trip, is the first real breath of air I’ve been able to come up for. I took the day off from work. Might I suggest that more Mondays and just random workdays get taken off more often. I took today off because today was the first day of our little guy going to daycare.

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Playing Catch With My Son // A Father’s Dream

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Monday August 26th, 2019 // Just After Bedtime

I just put my little guy down for the night. He’s laying in the pack ‘n play in our room. Tossing and turning every 30-60 seconds. He’ll eventually stop and fall asleep in the next ten minutes. At least that’s how it normally goes.

We’re over nine weeks into him being with us. It’s flown. The time goes by so damn fast.

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Future Travel Adventures With My Family

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Friday August 23rd, 2019 // Past Bedtime

During my lunch break at work today I was feeling pretty down about the recent hamster wheel it’s felt like I’ve been on. It goes a little like this: 4:00 AM diaper change. 5:30 AM alarm clock. Hour drive to work. Eight hour day. Hour+ drive home. Then fun with my son for the next four or so hours. Pass out. Repeat the next day.

I needed to feel better and since we’re not too far off from our upcoming Asheville trip it got me thinking… What other travel adventures do I want to go on with my wife and kid?

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Non-Essential Life Projects & Being a Working Parent

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Tuesday August 20th, 2019 // Late Afternoon Nap

Lately I’ve been feeling the grind of being a working parent. Our son has been with us for a bit more than eight weeks and I’ve been back at work for the past six weeks. And the day-to-day grind is beginning to wear on me.

That ever elusive “time” for stuff has always haunted me, even before becoming a parent. I’ve always been searching for time to blog more. Or time to run. Or time to learn Vietnamese. I’m probably no different than you.

All these “non-essential life projects” require time and there just never seems to be enough of it, especially as a working parent. Especially as a working parent who freelances on the side and wants to maintain a somewhat social life.

Time.

Between commuting, working, walking the pup, and trying to spend as much time as possible in the evening with my kiddo I’m flat out exhausted by the time he goes down around 9:00 PM. When am I supposed to [insert non-essential life project here]???!?

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Let’s Take a Trip to Asheville with a Baby — Part 2: Babyproofing the Itinerary

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This post details babyproofing our itinerary for our trip with our baby to Asheville, North Carolina.