This is great stuff. I’ve been a father to a little boy for a little over a year, now, and it definitely is a balancing act that rearranged a lot of life and forces a lot of reappraisals of how you operate.

In my experience, keeping the flame alive (for a year and a bit, so it’s not like I have a ton of experience) is a matter of priorities, balance and sacrifice. Prioritizing your spouse and child to the extent that you feel like you’re giving something up for them, but also being honest about when you need time, or really have to get something done, and so on. There’s been a learning curve so far for me, and I don’t see that changing. But—it’s a lot more fun, and a lot less terrible than popular accounts make child-rearing sound.