Welcome to the Parenthood Month!

Good morning from 2018, and welcome to back to my annual January blog adventure! In 2012, I celebrated a different holiday each day in January, according to when they took place throughout the year. Those exploits can be found here.  In 2013, I did something that I had never done before each day, details of which can be found here.  In 2014, I had someone teach me how to do something new each day. Those lessons can be found here. In 2015, I did something every day to prepare for the birth of my son. Those stories can be found here.  In 2016, I cooked a meal from a different country each day. You can get the recipes and results here. And in 2017, I interviewed someone new each day to try to get a better understanding of the different perspectives that surround our daily lives.  Those chats can be found here.

2017 was a year to remember, for some great reasons and for some not so great reasons. We lost family and friends, and saw horrific scenes played out on the news throughout the year. For many, it was a year that made counting down to 2018 a relief.

However, from a purely Farabee-focused standpoint, this year was ultimately one of the best, as it was the year where Elizabeth and I became parents for the second time.  In September of 2017, our daughter, Eleanor, joined our little family.

We are by no means the worst at being parents, nor are we the best. As it is and was with our son, Elliot, we are continuing to learn as we go. There are some days where I think we've really got a handle on all this whole parenting thing.  There are others where I question the hospital's decision to let us come home with them...

For this year's project, I wanted to do something that could help us have more of the first kind of days, and less of the second kind.  To that end, each day this month Elizabeth and I will be doing something that we think will help make us better parents.  It might be an activity, or a new way of doing something, or something that we've been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to yet (for some reason, having two children doesn't double your level of busyness, it ramps it up at an exponential rate). 

In addition to activities or new ways of doing things, we'll be interviewing different people throughout the month to get their perspectives on parenting. It certainly takes a village, and our hope is that by learning from these other great parents that we might become better for our own children.

Follow along this month as we try to mitigate the damage I'm sure we're doing to Elliot and Eleanor (but hey, isn't  that all parenting is in the end?).  Welcome to The Parenthood Month!