I was talking to a friend recently about all of the posts, Photo Diaries, food blogs and even the podcast I used to do here on Pop Poppa back in the day. He asked a very good question, one that I had pondered myself over and over: why? Why blog? Why chronicle my journey through (at least the early stages of) parenthood?

I was actually surprised with how quickly I responded: I hoped it would help other people. Maybe my experiences as a work-from-home parent would give others a chuckle. Maybe some of the trials and tribulations I went through would give another person just the tiniest bit of hope or that sense that they weren’t the only one going through something. Maybe this recipe I tried would work on their dinner table. Maybe.

Blogging, Photo Diary and the podcast all came to a crashing halt over the years. A lot of that came about because our second child not only came early, but also, well, screamed a lot. Pop Poppa fell to the wayside (as did my pop culture blog UnitedMonkee) because all of the other things were a lot more immediate. I was already battling for time to get freelance writing done in a day filled with watching two kids, keeping the house together and making dinner.

But that was six years ago. “What’s the excuse now,” you might ask. Well, for one thing, falling out of a routine and then trying to climb back in can be rough. It becomes even harder when the extra curricular thing you want to do is so very similar to the thing you do for work all day (it’s the same excuse I use for why I’m doing very little writing for myself these days). Mostly though, it came down to time and energy, both of which were in short supply.

I did eventually come to another stumbling block, though, one that brought more of a philosophical question: how much of my kids’ lives do I want to put on front street? I don’t really Facebook and do enjoy Twitter, but don’t put the children on there much. And yet, I was chronicling their lives on both Photo Diary and the Pop Poppa Napcast. After they got to an age where they had their own lives and friends, it seemed like those weren’t my stories to necessarily tell anymore. So, both of those are done for now, though I do have another podcast idea percolating.

Ever since my buddy asked me about the blog, my brain’s been running through reasons why I should kick the tires and light the fires on Pop Poppa again. But what should I write about? Well we’re living in extraordinary times that deserve documentation beyond limited-character posts on Twitter. There’s plenty of material to dig through in that mine as we’re looking at how we’re going to keep our kids home and still maintain their studies for the coming school year.

Beyond that, our family — a 9-year-old-daughter, a 6-year-old son, my wife and I — have really gotten into watching a variety of shows and movies that you might want to check out. The same goes for video games. I’m a lifelong comic fan and love the idea of spreading the good word on all-ages or kid comics that worth checking out. Lastly, but not leastly, I love cooking! A while back I migrated all of the posts from my old food blog Monkeying Around The Kitchen over here because making dinner is so deeply entrenched in how I care for my family. While I may have stopped writing about food, I never stopped trying new recipes — and even developing my own occasionally — that you might dig.

So, with all of that in mind, it’s about time to dust of the ol’ blogging chops and get back to it. That’s the hope at least. I definitely enjoy questions and comments, so drop me either below or hit me up on Twitter @PoppaDietsch. Plus, knowing that people are actually reading will keep me from feeling like the fraud of the above image (from the Superman: Back In Action trade paperback). I hope you enjoy!