A little blog lovin’

There are times when I feel like writing this blog is stupid. Who cares about what I think or what my family is doing? Well, my Mom does. But I could just tell her. Why publish it for the whole internet to see?

It’s times like those where I find motivation and inspiration from reading the blogs that I really love. I also find comfort in reading the blogs of fellow parents (both LGBT parents and straight parents) and realizing we’re not the only ones with a toddler that loves screaming “NOOO! NO POOPIE!” in the middle of Target when he doesn’t want you checking his diaper.

Douglas from Just One Out of Seven Billion stopped by and gave me The Liebster award, which completely made my day, month and year. I’ve loved reading about Chad and Douglas’ journey to parenthood on their blog. I’ve especially loved keeping up with them after the birth of their two beautiful little boys, Cedric and Ezra. What an awesome little family and what lucky little boys!

Here are the rules of the Liebster award:

• Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them
• Reveal your top 5 picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
• Post the award on your blog
• Bask in the love from the most supportive people in the blogosphere – other bloggers
• Hope your recipients pass the award to their 5 favorite blogs to keep the love flowing

  Seeing as how many of my fellow bloggers keep me motivated, encouraged and challenged, there’s no way I’d pass up an opportunity ro recognize a few of my favorite bloggers on the web!

  Hitting My Stride – I’ve posted about Desiree before, but I’ll post about her again. :) Even though we’ve yet to meet in real life (which should be a crime!), Desiree is my sweetums. She consistently puts out posts that have me busting up in fits of laughter or posts that make me think about how I’m parenting the Bean and what I could do better. She’s a wonderful mother to little Sofia. She’s also married to a total hottie, Drew, who is probably 25% of the reason I keep reading (please take another beach vacation – I need more shirtless Drew pics). :) Des is just the best – she’s beautiful, she’s funny, she’s thoughtful and she’s got a strong moral compass that gives her so much integrity. Love that girl!

  Domestic Daddy – DD is one of favorite reads. If you’re looking for a really well-written blog about entertaining, decorating, cooking or – most importantly – being a father, Domestic Daddy has it all! I’m always envious of the elaborate and scrumptious meals DD features (and he always makes it look so easy).

  Two Dad Family – Adrian from Two Dad Family simply MUST start blogging again, so that’s part of the reason I’m including his blog. :) The other part is that it’s a wonderful tool for anyone considering surrogacy, and specifically Indian surrogacy. But the web needs more strong voices like Adrian’s representing our community and showing that, despite your orientation or the sex of your partner, a family is a family. With balancing a full time job and 6-month-old twins (happy 6 month birthday to Alice and Thomas!), I can only imagine how hectic life is for Adrian and his partner, Ralph. But fingers crossed he can carve out a little time to continue sharing his perspective on parenting.

  Regular Midwesterners – I’ve also mentioned Regular Midwesterners before (at least I’m consistent). I’ve really enjoyed Gretchen’s posts but I identify a lot with Josh’s chronicles of his life as a Dad. Our situations are different and our sons are a few years apart, but there are some universal challenges to raising a family as part of a same-sex couple. Josh writes about those, and his every day life with his son, Miles, and partner, Travis, eloquently, honestly and with mounds and mounds of insight. I love reading Josh’s entries because it’s always clear how much thought he puts into every word he writes. It’s a blog that’s worth reading for that fact alone. Josh’s ninja writing skills definitely push me to try and be a better writer.

  Sam and Phil Blog – What I love about Sam and Phil is that they are so completely open about being a same-sex family. Not only do they have two beautiful daughters, Zoe and Ruby, but they are one of the sweetest couples on the blogsphere today. They inspire me because they aren’t just blending into a crowd now that they have a family – they’re actively telling their story, working towards acceptance of same-sex families and helping people understand the surrogacy process. These guys rule. We need more Sam and Phils out there.

  The hard part about this is only choosing 5 sites. I love so many! And please don’t feel overlooked if I didn’t mention your site – know that I had a really difficult time narrowing this down.

  Thank you to all of the bloggers I’ve mentioned for encouraging me as a blogger and as a father and for enriching my life by sharing your own.