Ben Sloot

She’s #chuck and I’m trying to be dad.

Hey, I’m Ben. They call me @mistersloot. My wife gave birth two months ago and the first weeks felt like life beat me with a sack of nickels.

But things began to normalize. I’ve learned by trial and error for the past 8 weeks… lots of errors. Why do this, why write a #dadblog?

• Someday #Chuck may want to know what “The World’s Best Dad” went through
• I’ve got a bad case of being a messy diarier… As in I’ve always wanted to write a diary but put every thought on random pieces of paper, digital notebooks or texts to myself
• I might have some wisdom to impart (spoiler alert I won’t)

Leading up to the birth, I read everything I could, watched hours of videos on The Youtube, and asked countless conversations with the parents I knew.

I now know something no one could get me to understand. It’s a simple fact that no matter how much I tried to learn nothing could have prepared me so…

These are reflections. Instead of being ready for the future, I can ruminate on the past. I read reflection consists of conversations with yourself. So allow myself to introduce myself with some of the following:

• Baby stories of course
• Being a member of #TeamDadbod
• The imbalance of work and life
• I put this last so hopefully, she stopped reading already… my #cohabitant and navigating the new wife/mother

Or maybe it won’t be about any of the above. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel like writing about something different. No matter what, I’ll have a place to do it.

I’ll leave with this. Everyone has a superpower; it may be inconsequential, but everyone has one. Before the baby, I’d tell you I was born with an uncanny ability to float.

The life-altering event which is our baby changed my power. I’ve never been one to sit still for very long, but when #Chuck gets comfortable and racks out on my chest I’ve been granted and instinctual stillness which I can hold for hours… maybe even days if necessary.

Enjoy that nap #Chuck.