Showing posts with label Best of. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best of. Show all posts

5 Years of Creative-Type Dad!


It’s been 5 years since this blog was created. As I write this everything around me is reminiscent of those first days: I’m up late at night right as my now nearly 3-month-old son won’t fall asleep and wondering if he’ll ever understand that nighttime is for sleeping. I’ve seen some pretty scary diapers tonight that would make any grown-man cry and I’m now beginning to wonder if he’s been sneaking in chilidogs and beers between breast feedings.
Unlike those earlier days, this time around I do feel a little wiser, confidant, and more experienced with some idea of the road ahead.

When I began this blog it was filled with random thoughts of things I ran into on the Internet, but it quickly evolved as my now 5-year-old daughter began to grow. Then it turned into tidbits of my excursion through parenthood. Now that my daughter is starting to read and seems to be picking it up pretty quick, I’m now faced with that question that other fellow parent bloggers have contemplated over the years, “how long do I keep this up?”

I don’t know.

Since Twitter and Facebook updates seem to have now taken over with their quirky sometimes-impersonal one-liners blogs overall seem to be on a downward trend. I’ve considered moving this blog to those formats but overwhelming still prefer my anonymous presence on those things instead. I do enjoy Facebook games; I don’t enjoy the drama of old acquaintances contacting me, knowing about the personal lives of co-workers and family, and especially using broad “status updates” instead of one-on-one interactions as a legitimate replacement for building friendships.
I still have a feeling Twitter and Facebook will lose their novelty within another few years and something else will eventually replace them.
I know things aren’t the same as they once were when I started or even two years ago, but I do feel an obligation to write something about my son’s journey as I did my daughters. If anything, a blog is still a good way to journal those experiences.

Some favorite posts throughout the years:

3rd Blogiversary!


It seems like it was only yesterday when this blog was created, with a 3-week old baby who had absolutely no concept of what 3am or sleeping meant, was in my arms.

Back then I wasn’t sure about what I was going to “blog” about. Maybe about art, or design, or post my sketches. Or maybe about monkeys with handguns, mustaches and top hats or something like that.
But whatever it was, it was going to be temporary because I had other things to do like write a novel, a movie script, illustrate 10 books, and learn to speak French & Japanese while taking flying lessons.

But then I got sidetracked…

I started writing about family life, my KFC obsession, strange men’s facials, parenting, Ohio, breast milk (*shivers*), among countless of other weird things I thought nobody (except my wife or that angry in-law in Ohio because I'd never heard of a "buck-eye" before) would ever read.
Now that my daughter is 3 I keep wondering how long I'll keep this up. Maybe it's when the wife doesn’t pay attention to my gift suggestions about Christmas and Father’s day gifts anymore? Maybe it's when I finally own an island in the South Pacific? Or maybe it could be when my daughter is old enough to Google and finds out I’ve been writing about her for years and cries at me to STOP because I’m embarrassing her in kindergarten …?

I just don’t know. Although the wife ignoring gift suggestions definitely justifies an end.

CTD Highlights
Favorite posts over this past year:
And some favorites over the last 3 years:
1st year links
2nd year links

The post that started it all...
Confessions of bunny killer

The Good, The Bad, And The Weird – 2007 Year in Review


I can’t believe how fast 2007 flew by. This time last year my daughter was barely 18 months. Now she seems like an entirely different kid.
I can’t even imagine what she’s going to be like next year when she’s 3 (God, I hope she’s potty trained by then!)

Here’s a look at 2007:

The softer side of CTD:

Parental predicaments and rants:

What happens when Dad (me) didn’t read the “What to expect” books:

Colonel Sanders, I like my chicken spicy:

Weird stuff. And I don’t eve have a mustache!

If lost, please return here:

Have a safe and happy new year!

2nd Blogaversary!


I can’t believe it's been two years since I started this here “blog” – where’d the time go? Back then my daughter was 3 weeks old and I was still getting used to being “a parent”, “someone’s dad”, “old?”
It’s funny how things work; I originally had no intention of starting a blog, I read a few but that’s about it. I set up a blogger account to help a writer friend set up his and just started writing random stuff - I posted here and there, but nothing I thought anybody would actually read.
Somehow it evolved as I wrote more about my life as a dad, started reading other parents, people reacted, and my original 10 visitors a day grew (to 20…!)

I think I found “my blog voice” when I hit a bunny on the road with my daughter in the car (you can read that here.)

I’m not sure how many of you have thought about this-- but when do you stop? How long do you blog? Do we stop when our kids find out we write about them, their friends find out, and they’re embarrassed? Or maybe when they leave for college? Or when grandkids show up?
I'm not entirely sure... maybe it stops when it ceases to be fun.

A few highlights over the year: