Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Three Month Check In

It's been 3 months since I resigned from BlackBerry and left to do a stint as a Stay At Home Dad (SAHD, is the lingo apparently). Here's a check in with how things have been going.

My primary reason for resigning was to concentrate more on my kids and help my family out. That has been going very well. We are still getting used to Dad at home but I am happy to say that my youngest is doing great with the one on one help and attention he has been getting. My wife has been happy that there are more meals being prepared by me and that things around the house are getting done, slowly, but still getting done.

As part of my time off the past three months I have been able to volunteer in both of my sons classes. So far I have taught 2 Computer Science classes to my older son's grade 2 class. For my younger son, his teacher has graciously let me come in 1-2 times a week to help his Kindergarten class. I do mostly math, some exercise/active games, a little reading, and a little art (basically, whatever she needs help doing). I have become a celebrity with his class and the kids are all excited to see me there. Teaching and interacting with the kids has been one of the high points of my time off.

As an outlet for my creativity, I have been very happy with the blogging as a place to express my opinions, share my multitude of ideas with you, and connect with my readers (mostly friends or family). When I began this blog it was a way to share my latest doings with friends, a bit with family, and a lot with colleagues. My technical and Mac troubleshooting posts are still my most read articles. Since I have gone off to be a SAHD, I have expanded my writing more into my other areas of interest as I have had more time to explore them.

Of course, we can't forget guitar. I have gotten worse, since I have been adding singing, and better at playing since I went off. I would not hire me to sing at your wedding but my jam partner and I are having a blast as we continue to rock out each week.

While off I have dropped 10 lbs but I am still far from a healthy weight and where I want to be. I have done ok the past 3 months with better eating and exercise but am not satisfied with my progress. This is why I am dedicating April to fitness so I can kickstart one of my other loves, running long distance. I look forward to how the month turns out and planning the next phase with running.

Lastly, since I started the DroolFactory, I have meet more people, become active on social media and watched as my readership has expanded. It's always exciting for me when I see a comment from someone, a retweet, or like for an article I wrote.  Thanks to all of you for reading my ramblings and continuing to come back. You make this site worth working on.

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