Becoming A Father Has Made Me The Happiest, Most Grounded I've Ever Been
My wife and I welcomed our son the same night NYC erupted in joy over the Knicks win. These have been the best days of my life. Some thoughts of gratitude, peace, & the pure joy of becoming a father.
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On Saturday, June 13, 2026, my wife and I welcomed our adorable, healthy baby boy just hours before the sounds of fireworks and street celebrations for the New York Knicks reverberated through the hospital walls. A post I sent as my wife began early labor led to millions on social media cheering on his birth. His birthday was a vibrant eruption of joy and life. And what followed has been the best days of my life.
I’m writing this at 6 am after a late-night shift of baby duty on day 6 after the birth of James Brooklyn Baba. My wife Sophia and I make a great team. A few hours ago it was my turn to change, swaddle, feed, and burp my son back to sleep after he had an unusually fussy night. He’s been mostly calm. This time, he slept for 3 hours uninterrupted. A miracle!
Lying here, with my wife sleeping next to me, my son’s bassinet in eyeshot, and my dog Otis sleeping quietly in his bed, I can’t help but swell up with gratitude. I’m sleep-deprived, and I’m pretty sure if I go another day without shaving, my usually Mr. Clean bald hair style will look more like Danny DeVito. It’s been a whirlwind few days with a lot to process, but what I know for sure is this: I am the happiest I have ever been.
When you hear people talk about parenthood and how it is the greatest joy achievable, sure, you can try and imagine it for yourself. But nothing could prepare me for the pure, unmitigated bliss I’ve felt over these past few days. It’s all true. Heaven on Earth.
I don’t know how to explain it, but something has clicked into place within me. A calm and peace I’ve always sought through meditation, that is now my foundational center. There’s a new equanimity that I’ve always aspired to. It’s not that my life was missing anything, but I feel whole in a way I’ve never felt before.
My wife and I have both always wanted to be parents. It’s something we bonded over on our first date. We’re now living our dream.
Before I say anything about my son, my wife carried this pregnancy and is entering postpartum with a grace and strength that is taking my already expansive love, admiration, and respect for her to new heights. She is bouncing back from birth with beauty and power. And seeing her already be an incredible mom to James has been so moving, while not surprising. This is who she is. I could not be more proud of her.
My son James is a work of art. Not only is he the cutest newborn I’ve ever seen (only slightly biased here), but his temperament is calm and gentle. I can already see the kind and decent boy and man he will become. He looks like me when I was a baby, down to my ears, but he has his mom’s big beautiful eyes. He is a special soul, and already showing signs of advanced newborn behavior according to my wife. One of her Master’s degrees is in child development, so her expertise is a godsend right now.
At some point soon I’m sure I’ll once again feel the weight and responsibility of raising a man in this world. Thoughts of how I should show him a positive form of masculinity consumed me during the pregnancy stage. I felt the gravity of having a son and the need to teach him about virtue, character, and that real strength isn’t cruelty. But right now, all I feel is joy and weightlessness. Like I’m Superman playing Quidditch on Coruscant.
There’s also something eerie about how much your kid looks like you. It’s almost as if I’m holding my inner child in my arms, and the compassion I show in those quiet 2 am moments when he’s crying during a diaper change is somehow healing my own trauma. But that’s a thought I’ll expand on with my therapist, not here. Too deep.
Another thing I’m feeling is a resounding sense of groundedness. As someone with an insatiable ambition to change the world for the better who grapples with perfectionism and pushing myself too hard, when I look down into my son’s face, I realize that I’ll never accomplish anything more perfect than this. I still plan to do everything I’m working toward, but I know for sure that nothing will ever match this feeling, or supersede the love that I have for my wife and my son. My family is my everything.
Overall, we feel blessed with a smooth birth, a healthy boy, and a wonderful family support system and friends (chosen family) that will be by our side, showering James with love. We could not be more grateful.
And all of this coming amid a beautiful moment of celebration in the greatest city in the world, our home. New York, the pinnacle of multicultural democracy, is in a moment of pure euphoria, and we got to experience it firsthand. Our son is now part of New York Knicks history, with his birth coming the day of the NBA Finals win.
I sent a post about how my wife was going into labor, and by the evening, millions of people had viewed it, and thousands were cheering him on and wondering if we would name him Knickolas or Jalen Brunson OG Baba. Some people were hilariously calling him the Knicks messiah. Here are the posts I sent in case you missed them:
I’ve really tried to like and engage with as many congratulations as I can. But there are literally thousands of replies, comments, and messages we’ve received. If I haven’t directly responded to you and you’re reading this, thank you! The outpouring of love on Substack, Twitter, BlueSky, Threads, and Instagram has meant the world to my wife and I. What a warm welcome.
I can’t wait to tell James about his birthday. How New York City saw the fact he was about to arrive as a good omen that the Knicks would win in five. How millions of people welcomed him to the world. And how his presence fulfilled his mom and dad in ways that have fundamentally enlarged our hearts and enriched our souls.
Have a Happy Father’s Day! I know I am.
Congratulations and Happy (First) Father’s Day! 💕
Happy Father’s Day!