Strangely Looking for The Rookie Dad
Lately, I have seen more and more emails telling me that people have subscribed to The Rookie Dad. I welcomed this at first, then I realized there was a problem. I never told the readers of this site about my new site. OK well it isn’t so much new as I just transferred to a self-hosted site which allows me to offer you, the reader, more content with more bells and whistles.
I can hear you now, you are wondering what that site is. Well just take a look at the URL of the site you are at now, and take out the wordpress.com portion and you’ll get it.
There you can sign up to follow me again (you can sign up for my newsletter to make sure you do not miss anything), because quite frankly, it is too dang difficult to handle two sites that are basically two in the same.
I look forward to seeing you there!
Being Superdad
I tend to shy away from writing about my family. It has gotten me into hot water before and I since then, I try to not muddy the waters. But this past weekend I saw something from a family member that was worth writing because I was blown away.
My brother-in-law amazes me. Simply put, I don’t know how he does what he does. Not only do I see this, but many people on the Mrs. Rookie Dad’s side of the family sees it as well. It was no more evident than this weekend.
He was a Superdad!
The Rookie has three cousins on the Mrs. Rookie Dad side of the family. All of which belong to her sister and husband. This past weekend we attended what could be the last wedding on her side of the family. One of the cousins was the flower girl and the other cousin was a co-ring bearer with the Rookie. If you are counting you may realize that there are only 2 cousins, well one of his other cousins is 9 months old and not able to take part fully in the wedding ceremony.
The Rookie wondering why the heck he has to wear this outfit.
On top of this, Mrs. Rookie Dad and her sister were both bridesmaids in the wedding. This meant that the Rookie would be spending nearly the entire day with his cousins as the girls got ready. The dads, in charge of taking care of the children. For many that can be a scary thought.
What The Future Holds
Image Courtesy of Tiny Buddha
I sit here writing this wondering, what does the future hold. No, not about my family, or if the Kansas City Royals will win the World Series or not. I wonder what the future holds for The Rookie Dad.
In the 4 years that I have been writing The Rookie Dad, it has transitioned from the The Father In Me to what it is today, The Rookie Dad. Readers have seen me featured on Freshly Pressed as I wrote about the day my son was born. They have seen me go through being laid off, being a stay at home dad, to going back to work.
I went through a dry spell of writing for The Rookie Dad, to only have the inspiration come back after being featured on the Today Show. That inspiration has brought new ideas and renewed sense of motivation to keep The Rookie Dad up and running.
Fitting in Exercise as a Parent
Being a parent we live busy lives. Many of us are trying to juggle our own schedules and also the schedule of our children, which seem to be about as busy as ours. Finding an extra minute is nearly impossible. When the doctor told me that I needed to lose 15 pounds and lower my cholesterol, I nearly laughed. Did this guy really think that I would find time to go to the gym?
I began to look into my schedule, wondering, where I could find it. I did not want to come home from work, turn around, and go for a run. That would cut into the time that I would get to play with the Rookie. After the Rookie would be in bed is also my opportunity to catch up on the DVR, my time to decompress.
There was one block of time that I had available. It wouldn’t be easy and it would require some sacrifices.
The morning.
Image Courtesy of Outdoor Online
Why I Choose To Be A Healthy Dad
Four years ago the doctors were wondering how I was even able to walk into their office. They had never seen someone with numbers as high as mine. They wondered how I was even able to function. I asked myself the same question. I was also asking myself, how I wasn’t being a healthy dad.
A diet of gas station and fast food just wasn’t cutting it. It was all I had access too. Not because my family wasn’t eating healthy at home, but because it was the lifestyle that I was living at the time. It was my career.
I was a news photojournalist. I was running from story to story grabbing a bite to eat when I could. Taquitos and flaming hot Cheetos from gas station and I had a very intimate relationship. One that I am sure Mrs. Rookie Dad was jealous about at the time but didn’t tell me.
It was at that moment four years ago that things began to change. I started realizing the effect that the constant diet of chips and soft drinks were having on my life. It showed too. I was the heaviest I had ever been. I could feel my belly spilling over my seat belt every time I got in the news van to drive off to the next news story. There was no way that I would win a back alley news fight with the Channel 9 news team. There would be no throwing tridents or setting people on fire. I would be out of breath within 2 minutes and you would see me curled up gasping for breath being set on fire and stabbed with a trident.
That wasn’t who I wanted to be. That wasn’t the same person who played 3 sports cross-country, basketball, and baseball in high school. I didn’t want to be that person. I was making my career and excuse for healthy habits. I tried to work out on my crazy news schedule but it just, for the lack of a better term, wasn’t working out.
The Rookie Dad 