11/14
Time is a trip. When a homie has a baby on the way. It goes from pregnant to baby to kid. Your so on the outsides of it. It's like "whoah -- your baby is a fucking kid". The pregnancy phase seems like a moment. Then you're in it. And the pregnancy thing just seems to be a forever process. Time suddenly shifts and it's so slow. Day by day. It's the routine and default topic of conversation. Julias belly gets bigger one day at a time. And its hard to notice progress when your living it every day. I thought about this when thinking about the terrible twos. It's one year. That seems impossibly long. It's been 6 months with Julia and I and it's felt like a decade. I don't think it's good or bad. It's just weird.
10/24
While hanging with a local entrepreneur who had an event marketplace startup, I asked how he manages having three kids, building a startup, and adopting “the face of networking” in San Diego. He replied with “non negotiables”. A weekly solo hangout with his wife. Dedicated time each week with each kid. Those blocks within the week become his top priority. Work comes second to those things.
Made me think of my Tuesdays at 3:30 blog post. I’m doing that for myself already — but expanding that out with intention, knowing that my life is going to become increasingly harder to manage. Weekly solo time with Julia. Scheduled. Ritual. Weekly solo time with baby. Scheduled. Ritual.
Easy to apply. And also easy to miss.
Intention is the key to life. If you’re not proactive, you’re reactive. If you don’t say “this is what my life is”, the world will say “this is what your life is”.
10/20
Found this online today.
Parents are the ultimate entrepreneurs. One who takes great financial and emotional risk in order to create something beautiful that makes the world a better place, with no guarantee of success. They put everything on the line for something they believe in with no promise of return. It’s the boldest of all ventures.
10/17
People giving me their "grand wisdom" in having kids is starting to annoy the fuck out of me. I FUCKING GET IT. MY LIFE IS GOING TO CHANGE. LIFE IS GOING TO BE SO DIFFERENT. IT'S MAGICAL. I'm so over it. I'm going to stop bringing the kid up, because the tidal wave of unsolicited advice is starting to trigger me massively. I DIDN'T ASK. (and you also kind of suck).
10/14
Shared the name over the weekend. A family name that I knew would be a very popular pick with the Renfros. I cried, Julia cried, Meemaw cried. We were all happy in that moment. It was heavy and cool and fun and awesome. Everything was right in that moment. It's official. Let's gooooooo.
10/10
"I don't want to be friends with my kid. I want to raise them in a way that they want to be friends with me" (thank you Josh)
10/7
Injected perspective. We left the doctors office after the big anatomy scan. Dozens of pictures of every nook and cranny of this dudes body. A special shout on his penis, which was the "best I've ever seen" from the doctor. Thank you, but he didn't get it from me. We walked out with "everything is normal and looks great".
If the news was anything but that, it would have thrown us off the rail. I know what that news feels like.
It's one of those, "hold up, let's have a moment for gratitude". I could have easily just moved on with my day -- but I've been very intentional to think about how lucky I am to have "normal" "average" "no issues" check in. I know many people do not share that luxury. I have a deep sense of gratitude around that being the case for me. Something to really focus on and fully capture in my head.
10/5
Been thinking a lot about presence. This whole process is one with many stepping stones. Important to keep thinking about taking each one as it comes. Not getting too far ahead, and applying presence to every step in the process. This is a marathon. And I'm trying to embrace every single step.
10/3
Been thinking a lot about socialization. I want my kid to be around adults. I want to speak to my kid like he's a little adult. I think there's something to that. The best kids I know have a lot of access and interaction with adults.
9/29
I felt baby boy kick for the first time. Coming off an epic Paul McCartney concert. I think we were both buzzin. Super stoked. Can't wait.
9/20
A sharp eye on the kids and parents around me. What do I like? What makes this work? What can I replicate? Who do I model after? Jaime and Olly are at the top of the pyramid. I wanna be like them.
9/2
I'm excited for my brothers to be uncles. I think about my uncle Bruce and how much that meant to me as a kid. That's going to be fun. Someone recently said "you can see your kids personality reflect other people in your family". I look forward to that, and having their influence around.