Thirty-four

What is the difference between these birthday posts and the year-end posts? The dust has settled on the new year reflections and this is a good time to think about my past year and the coming year outside of the context of holidays and resolutions.

This morning Amanda and Charlie put out some birthday decorations for me. While Amanda was getting some balloons out, Charlie declared that he “will get the buses!” – His birthday was Wheels on the Bus themed, so that is what birthday decorations are to him. So sweet. While eating breakfast we played with little toy busses at the table. It was the best

I wrote this back in October, and it is still the main theme of my past year:

It has taken two years, but Amanda and I are starting to feel like ourselves again, with the added bonus of having a sweet kid in our lives. (Contrast that with mostly feeling like caregivers the last two years.) Our energy and sleep are improved, which helps give space for our interests, projects, and new ideas.

The toddler stage is completely different from the infant stage. Overall, things are good and Charlie is a sweet little guy, and I feel fortunate to be his dad. He is growing and learning at a rapid pace. I love how kind, curious, and affectionate he is.

Last year Zeldman commented,

One thing I did early on with Ava was draw with her, from the time that she could hold a crayon. In that way, I continued to make art (even if it was mostly deliberately very silly art), but my goal was not to make art, it was to make art with my kid.

We started doing this a lot more and it has been great. Family art time is something we all enjoy. Thank you, Jeffrey!

Work overall is good. I have a great team and Automattic is a good place to work. Always juggling lots of projects, but there are three projects I’m proud to have worked on this past year:

Preserving the Harvard blogs archive

FeedLand

A forthcoming link checking/replacement WP plugin with the Internet Archive

Taking stock on last year’s vectors:

Keep prioritizing quality, fully present time with Amanda and Charlie, and our family.

I can improve on this. I should put my phone down more. The days we go have breakfast together somewhere feel special and like a highlight, so we should do that more.

I also can do better about prioritizing time with just Amanda, such as being more proactive about finding a sitter so we can go on more dates. That has been challenging with Charlie’s recent separation anxiety, but something we should work through.

Keep making things.

Getting back out in my workshop starting in November was great, and a big highlight the last couple months. I’m also really excited about the improvements I’m making in the workshop now.

Keep improving our lives & surroundings.

This played a bigger part in the last year than I thought! The deck, my office, the attic, the basement, the shed, hiring cleaners, shutters, glass rinser, maintenance on the car and heater, and definite plans for the fence and garden in motion.

Keep blogging.

I’m sticking with it and it feels good. This is a blog post!

I’m glad by domain longevity post is getting some traction. This is an important issue to work on.

Keep fostering friendships.

One key mindset shift I made this year is realizing that adult friendships are different than childhood friendships. In childhood friends are brought together by circumstances mostly out of their control, you gravitate toward people similar to you, and don’t need to be intentional about them. As an adult you need to be intentional and can form friendships based on interest rather than being alike. This leads to different kinds of friendships. Friends don’t have to be all-or-nothing like when you were a child.

I think the investments we have made in friendships this year have been successful.

So, what do I want my thirty-fifth year to look like?

Take care of my health. Read more, scroll less. Prioritize family time. Make things. Keep improving our lives & surroundings.

Previous birthday posts: 33, 32