It's Official

Well today is the start of my new life as a stay at home dad. For now I plan on keeping the boys on a tight schedule, up at 6:30, breakfast and then off to the Sports plex.  I'm buying a Family Recreation pass at the local municipal Sports plex.  It’s the country’s largest with 2 hockey rinks, an Olympic size pool, a kids indoor water park, and huge gym/ running track, etc.  I figured $75 a month is cheap for family fun and to help keep my sanity they also have 2 hours of free daycare. I kids get a chance to socialize and I can work out in the morning to help get rid of the 25 lbs.  of sympathy weight I put on with each of my wife’s pregnancy’s. Finally I have a reason to get back in the gym.  Here’s to the start of a good summer.

1st post as a Stay at home Dad

Welcome to my first blog.

            In my 39 years of existence one thing I can say with certainty is that life throws some serious curveballs and you either learn how to hit them or you find another sport. Luckily I can adapt fairly well and thrive in unknown situations. I have done it all my life. I had gone from being a rebellious teenager to a responsible Reconnaissance Marine, back to a wild sided carpenter, finally a settled down husband / military spouse, and a father to 2 spirited young boys. Throughout it all I’ve had allot of ups and downs, but my saving grace and the one constant was I always had a job. Recently I was pitched another curveball and almost struck out! Due to my wife’s military career and unexpected pregnancy I had to give up a lucrative government job in order to follow my family and found myself for the first time without a job. After 3 months of a failed job search and daycare bills mounting up, the decision was made that I would be a “stay at home dad” and at that time I was scared as hell.

            Although the decision to be a stay-at-home dad makes perfect economic sense, it was and still is a difficult decision to make. Not because I don’t love and enjoy being around my boys, on the contrary, I was just raised to be a “MAN”.  That meant always having a job and supporting my family. That concept has been so entrenched in my being, that at times in the past; I’ve actually made less money a week than we paid out for daycare. Pretty stupid I admit but I don’t feel like a “man” unless I’m working. I’m a blue collar worker and conservative by nature so I always thought of stay at home fathers as lazy guys that rode on the shirttails of their wives and / or girlfriends. I’m a proud “MAN” so that lifestyle was just something that I could never understand. More than a few times out of ignorance those “lazy guys” were the subject of my ridicule when I’d drive by in my work vehicle. For some unknown reason I had a deep seeded hatred for guys that didn’t work and now I’m about to become one of those “lazy guys!”

            Two weeks ago when we made the decision to pull the kids from daycare I was dreading the day that I officially stopped looking for work and accepted the fact that my new life would be doing chores, cooking, and taking care of the boys full time. But something changed in me. I stopped worrying about finding work and started to concentrate on being a better dad and husband. Last week it finally hit me “I’d be able to spend quality time with my boys this summer,” something that I never got as a child. I found I started keeping the boy’s home with me more and more even though we were still paying for Daycare. Although it is hard work keeping up with a 2 and 5 year old (strike “the Lazy guy” comment) we’ve had a blast and the last two weeks has flown by, all apprehension is gone, and in 48 hours I will officially become a Stay at Home Dad.  

I can’t wait for Monday when I knock that curveball out of the park