My New Year: 2016

I honestly can’t remember the last time I was a little sad to see a year come and go. 2015 turned out to be an amazing year for my wife and I. The biggest reason for that was the birth of our son, and that he was able to witness (albeit from the perspective of a baby that couldn‘t hold his head up) our beloved Chicago Blackhawks win a Stanley Cup on home ice! During the course of 2015 I changed from a married husband, to an expectant father to a father who knew very little about what he was doing in the realm of trying to take care of a baby, to a competent stay at home dad. And it’s amazing for me to look back on all this and wish it to never change.

I love taking care of my son. I love holding him, feeding him, changing him and doing all of the things that you do with babies. And with a new year comes more growth and development in my little one. As he already has been in a lot of ways already, he will eventually make the full transition from baby to toddler and in a lot of regards will not be as dependent on me later this year as he is today. And that fact is a very bittersweet pill to swallow. I have loved every second of being his dad. Even when I get frustrated, tired and flat out exhausted, the best thing I have done with my life is to help bring this little guy into the world.

2015 for me was a moment in time that I wish I could freeze forever. And I’m sure that 2016 is going to bring its own victories, changes and developments. But for the first time that I can remember, I was actually sad to see a year end. So here I am, a SAHD (we seriously need to find a new acronym for that, it is hardly sad) with a whole new year in front of me.

Obviously our net worth is marching closer than it has ever been to the half million mark. I do expect to see significant growth in the overall market due to 2016 being an Olympic and US Presidential election year, and that a lot of sectors in 2015 were flat and even in the red for some. It will be interesting to see if this time next year whether we’ll get the less than 40k  in growth and contributions needed to hit the half million mark in our portfolio.

We have our plan in place and are more than ready to tackle the new year with our single income household budget. Being home I have enjoyed meal planning and having dinner ready by the time my wife hits the door, and of course there’s that fringe benefit of spending the entire day with my son, which I must say is second to none. I’m looking forward on the home front to add some new recipes and meals to my weekly repertoire and see my son continue to grow and develop.

So while I’m a bit saddened at the anticipation of my baby no longer being my baby, I’m happy and excited to see what this new year will bring. Especially now that I’m settled into the role of a SAHD and can throw my focus into my family and not whether I will attempt a balancing act between work and family. So I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year and all of the best in 2016!