Fitness & Fatherhood Part 9: A Year of Fatherhood

Well, we did it.  We made it through a whole year of parenthood.  We had our fair share of ups and downs, but overall it was pretty smooth sailing.  We were blessed that Evelyn was healthy and happy. It’s funny to think back about the anticipation we had about being a parents before she was born.  In this last year we went from complete novices to seasoned veterans, at least with respect to infants. It’s also pretty amazing to see how much your baby changes.  The changes come so quick and that newborn phase is over before you know it.

One thing that was important to me was to maintain my lifestyle.  I can’t tell you how many times I would ask Roxanne when she was pregnant: “Do you think we’ll still be able to workout when we have the baby?”.  She would always answer yes, and she was right. In fact, I still do all the things I want to do. I just have to prioritize the things that are important, and waste less time doing things like watching tv, or messing around on the phone. 

I take a lot of pride in the fact that we’re able to be good parents and still make time for ourselves doing the things we enjoy.  There were people that said or at least insinuated we’d have to give up the things we enjoy because we would be to busy with the baby.  And that’s just not true. Maybe it’s true when you add in a couple more kiddos to the equation, but with only one child we’ve been just fine.  That’s not to say we haven’t had to make sacrifices, we definitely have, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t overcome.  I think it’s important to do the things you enjoy or else you’ll just go nuts.  Let me rephrase that: I’ll just go nuts. I’ve never understood the mentality that you should just give up on life once you have a kid because that is your life.  Particularly with respect to living a healthy lifestyle, working out etc… My thought is how can I take care of a baby if I can’t even take care of myself? So working out and eating healthy isn’t just a hobby or whatever, it’s a way of life. 

All things considered it’s gone about as good as we could’ve of hoped. We’ve been able to maintain our lifestyle and raise a child, and if that wasn’t enough we bought a puppy. So it’s been a bit of a landmark year.  I turned forty and our daughter turned one, both of which is really weird to think about.  Honestly, I don’t feel forty and I can’t believe she’s a year old already. So here we go, one year down and a lifetime left to go!

Thanks for reading.  Take care,