Now, with most of the world stuck at home due to a pandemic, Diggs has been making up for lost time.
"It's kind of been up and down," Diggs said of his past 11 months since Ariya was born. "It was definitely up when she was born, definitely one of the highs of my life when she was born, and one of the lows was leaving for training camp a few days later, having to leave her and my girlfriend at home. My girlfriend had to do a lot of stuff on her own and I wasn't able to help…And now, you hate to put it like this, but the pandemic has done some good for me just because I've gotten to spend so much quality time with her and my girlfriend. It has been really fun, man. I've learned a lot. Once I got home, it was like, I'm a brand new father because I was doing stuff my girlfriend had to do every day. It's definitely cool, it's definitely challenging, but I enjoy the challenge. I'm definitely looking to having more sometime in the next year or two."
Being home almost all of every day since the Seahawks' season ended in January means Diggs has been able to see just about every milestone over the past five months, including Ariya starting to walk at an early age.
"My favorite part is just being able to see her grow each and every day," he said. "Just to look at her in the morning, no matter if it's 6 o'clock or whatever, just the excitement of, 'Hey, that's my child.' I get to wake up and see her every day, see her growth every day… She started crawling about a month after I got back, then she started walking at eight months, so I've seen the whole deal… It's definitely exciting for me to spend this time with her.
"It's been dope. I wouldn't change it for the world."
While Diggs is new to being a parent, he isn't new to being around children thanks to his five nieces and nephews, including three nephews—the sons of his brother, former NFL defensive back Quentin Jammer—who are staying with Diggs and Evans this summer.
"I expected (parenting) to be tough, obviously, but I have five nieces and nephews, and my three oldest nephews are basically living with me this summer," he said. "I've seen them grow up, I've been around changing their diapers when they were younger, so for me it was just about having the patience to deal with it consistently every day. That's what worried me, and it actually hasn't been as tough as I thought it would be. My girlfriend has been phenomenal. Her mom and her sister are right down the street, they're five minutes away. My mom is back in Florida, and this is the most my mom has ever visited me in an offseason. We've had a lot of help."
Watching Jammer juggle the life of an NFL player with being a dad set a high standard that Diggs is trying to live up to after seeing his big brother handle those two roles so well.
"Growing up, my brother was my role model, he and my mom are the people I've been closest to my whole life," he said. "My brother, he's a great dad, he's a phenomenal dad. I'm telling you this guy has the most patience I've ever seen with kids, it's crazy. So it wasn't any advice he gave me, it was more just watching him. I remember him coming home from OTAs, coming home from practice, playing with the kids, putting them to sleep, reading them books, giving them baths. I watched how he was as a dad, and I was like, 'that's how I want to be as a dad.'… My goal was always to be the best father I could be, and he definitely helped put me on the right track to be that."
Asked what advice he might pass on to any new dads, Diggs said, "I would tell them it's the best thing in the world, it's the best feeling to be able to look at your child and know that she's yours, no matter if she's crying all night or what. She's your child, you might be frustrated, but at the end of the day, a parent's love is unconditional. Just enjoy those moments, they're not going to be baby's forever."
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Seahawks Players Celebrate First Father's Day - Seahawks.com
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