I am going to be a DAD!

”There is no school that can teach you how to be a good dad.”

---

That’s what my old man used to tell me while I was growing up, every time we had arguments. As a kid, being a complete punk rebel during my teenage life, I did not pay attention too much to those words, but very deeply inside, I knew he was not having it easy with me.

Did my dad do a good job with me and my siblings? There is no doubt he did.

Everyone makes mistakes while raising a kid, and he was not perfect neither. I remember when I was 9 or 10 years old, we had shrimps for dinner, I started to feel weird by the smell of it. He was expecting me to start eating, but I was quietly neglecting the food trying to understand why my throat was itching. It wasn't until I said “I don't want to eat this” when he got mad at me and replied: “You are going to eat all your food!”.
It was thanks to my mom when she noticed that something else was happening, and that is how we discovered I was allergic to seafood.

I am sure he didn't feel good about it, but I was old enough to comprehend my dad had no bad intentions, he just wanted me to eat that meal he paid for and appreciate the value of having something to eat, while many others can’t in this world.

Me and my dad when I was a few months old.

---

”You can tell how good a parent you were by observing your children with their children.”

---

I found this quote in a small collection of Fathers quotation from my grandfather’s books. The “World’s Greatest Dad” by Thomas Nelson.

I am sure my grandfather was always proud of my dad, because of the way he raised us and the opportunities he gave us to study and become who we are today. I do know that he was also proud of him for marrying a wonderful woman

When I first read this collection of great quotes, I always asked myself if I was going to be as lucky as my dad to find a wonderful woman, and also have the strength and discipline to be a good father. So far, after almost 10 years of marriage, I can happily say I cleared my first doubt.

On the other hand, I know is too soon to think of this, but something that it’s in my mind lately is if I am going to handle situations properly, later on when my son enters the adolescence, believe me, I was hard to deal with during my teenage rebellion with no cause.
A lot of credits to my dad who had to deal with my defiant attitude.

These and many other questions and thoughts occupy my mind lately. If you are a father, you can remember how it was before your first baby was born.

A new way of love…

A friend of mine just had a baby, and he told me the other day that I have no idea how I am going to feel when the newborn arrives, it’s a new way of love hard to describe. So if I already feel the way I feel, I cannot imagine how it will be next year.

I like to control everything, and sometimes I am too technical. I am already thinking about all the things we will need and planning on which items I should ask to friends whom had their babies more than a year ago. @evecab tells me not to worry too much about that.

I am also worry about finances, because I want our baby to have everything is needed. I am constantly asking @evecab if she has been eating and what she ate. Now that I wrote all this I realized that maybe I am worrying too much, if so, I can’t help it. This is probably a sign of an overprotective dad.

It’s so hard to explain this new love I feel. I can only say that it made me have some tears at the doctor's appointment when I was watching the ultrasound screen:

It’s a boy...

---

Something that I also think of, and that makes me sad, is that my dad is not around to help me out with his best advices and most importantly, to enjoy how it is to be a grandfather.

Unfortunately, a cancer took my dad away from us when he was 54. I know that one of the things that made him sad during his last months was to realize he was not going to enjoy any grandson in this life.

I promised myself I am going to take care of my health and diet as much as I can so my son can enjoy his father’s love for as much as this life allows me to.

---

We have not decided which name we are going to give him. Although I already proposed an idea to @evecab and I would like you to let me know what you think of it. She doesn’t like my idea and we already have an argument about it. Well, I would love his name to be: “Satoshi“...

Hey, it’s a joke! Of course we are not going to name him like that. Not that Satoshi name has anything wrong, but an occidental type of name would be more appealing. We have time to think of this later.

---

I hope someday in the future I will show this writing to my son and enjoy it together.

We still have several weeks ahead, a lot to read about post pregnancy, prepare ourselves (psychologically speaking) for the nights without sleep to come, more doctor visits, etc, so good vibes are very welcome =)

These are very exciting moments. I will be writing more about this new journey of our lives.

Are you a father already? How your journey have been? If not, what would you do that your dad or the person who raised you did with you that you enjoyed a lot when you were a kid?

Thank you!