Finances & Family
Stay at home dad
I just past the three-month mark of being a stay-at-home dad. To commemorate this, I thought I would steal a page from my old world and write my version of a Quarterly Business Review or Quarterly Dad Review (QDR) in this case. I’ll run through what went well, what needs to be improved upon, and what my plan is for the next couple of months.
In the Story of Bessie, part of my new found motivation is going to be used to start running. Last week I started that journey! Exactly one week removed from the Emergency Room, still jacked on 40 mg of prednisone, I went for my first run while pushing the twins.
For the majority of my adult life, I had been incredibly healthy. I rarely got the flu or even a cold, and I hadn’t gained a single pound since college. My asthma, which was a chronic issue when I was younger, had all but disappeared and I hadn’t needed to see or even had a primary care doctor since I was 18. Aren’t your 20’s and early 30’s awesome.
Whether it was some sort of signal from my body telling me not to be a SAHD or the fact that I’m getting older (36 in October…), the healthy streak came to an abrupt end. I’ve referred to my mystery illness a couple of times now, so I figured its time to jump into the details and share how it has affected my physical and more importantly, mental health.
Since “mystery illness” doesn’t really roll off the tongue, I think a proper name is in order. From here on out, I’ll call her Bessie.
4 readers of the blog have asked what a typical day looks for me as a stay-at-home Dad. Since my reader base current stands at 13 subscribers, this is a significant portion of my readers. So by popular demand, here’s a “typical” day in the life of this SAHD.
And we’re back folks. Sorry for the two-month delay. It’s been a crazy eight weeks, and blogging had to take a back seat. So what’s been going on?
I just crossed the one month mark until full-time stay-at-home dad life begins. Since officially making the decision to be a SAHD and giving notice to my job, I have approached the situation like I handle most decisions I’m faced with, an endless amount of research. Below are some of the resources I’ve found and a
Mommy and me classes. Mom huddles at the playground after school. Mom Facebook groups. The world, and especially our little suburb, is designed for stay at home moms, not dads. I am slightly terrified to have my husband be a stay at home dad. He’ll have to swim upstream in this society that’s not quite designed for him – then again – he’s 6’6’’ and airplanes aren’t designed for him either, but he’s somehow managed to get gold status on Delta…
For the 4th time in my 13 years in the corporate world, I broke up with my employer. Yikes, this is REAL. I told my boss this week that I am leaving my company (an organization consistently rated as one of the top employers), walk away from my 6 figure salary, and jump into the world of the stay at home dads.
For me, this moment happened with a few simple words “There are two heartbeats,” spoken by the ultrasound tech at the doctor’s office. Before this moment, my wife and I had a plan; life made sense; we had one child who for the most part fell into our life’s rhythm.
