To Be A Good Husband

So You’re Gonna Be A Dad (part 1)

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Jul 282011

“You’re going to be a daddy!”

Well congratulations, bub, and welcome to the hardest, most rewarding, and most mind numbingly awe inspiring job you’re ever going to have as the male member of the human species.

I’ve noticed that getting that news from your wife/fiance/girlfriend can lead you to have either one of two reactions. Either you feel it as the single most world changing event in the history of the universe, or it feels all very abstract. I have to confess, I was of the latter persuasion. I knew what it meant, I understood the responsibilities and the implications on an intellectual level, but it didn’t really hit me emotionally until maybe the 2 to 3rd trimester and I started to actually feel the baby in my wife’s belly. THAT was freaky. I had visions of Aliens and V going off in my geek brain – there’s a lifeform in my woman’s belly! – while at the same time it no longer became a theoretical little blob on an ultrasound.

2011 must be a banner year of Kieun’s friends and reproduction because quite a lot of my friends and my wife’s friends (aka our friends) are having children. It occurs to me that I haven’t really gone into the 9 month process leading up the D-Day (that’s D for delivery, pal). I could write a tome about it, but who’s gonna wanna read that? So I thought I’d put down some thoughts, observations, and other highly opinionated advice for anyone who may have just recently heard those fateful six words.

Creative Pop Up Cards

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May 092011

I want to use this opportunity to put in a small plug for a website a good friend of mine has started. His name is Rich Chen and he is a very talented fellow. He’s a great engineer, and very clever artist, and he is particularly talented at what would be called “paper arts.”

In particular, he is really good at making pop up cards. He recently started up a website called creativepopupcards.com to showcase some of his talent and his work.

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, take a look at this youtube video below. You can see the cards he’s made at this website, or at his Youtube channel. He provides examples of his amazing creations as well as detailed information, tutorials, and templates on how to make them yourselves.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnGQlBokkG0

This type of papercrafting is an excellent way to impress your kids, your wives, heck impress anyone really, if you even want to give someone a card. It’s also just a good way to spend some time with your kids making an amazing creation that they’ll be proud of.

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gift – Origami Rose

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Feb 142011

Gentlemen, it’s that time of the year again. It’s Valentine’s Day, a day to tell your wife, your fiancé, your girl that you love her – and figure out some clever, special way to do it. Well, not all of us plan ahead, and I know a cool trick up your sleeve can save your butt if you are scrambling to figure something out the day before or even the day of Valentine’s Day. So here’s a treat for you all. I am going to explain a way to make an origami rose in 5 minutes or less that you can give with your V-Day card. Any schmuck can buy a rose. But to make a rose, to show that you spent time to create an item of love and devotion – that’s gonna impress any girl. And consider this for any Dads out there with boys in school – this is a cool little trick that you can show to your boy so that he can make a rose for his special sweetheart.

First, let me show you the end product so you know what you’re trying to create. This is the end product, the rose you’re trying to make.

Important Safety Notice: Pregnant Women Should Avoid Diet Soft Drinks

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Jan 202011

You know, I’ve always said this. I never trusted the whole “diet” thing and I’ve been saying to my wife that she’s gotta cut down on her diet soda even before she got pregnant. Glad that there’s scientific proof that I was right.

“Research carried out on almost 60,000 pregnant women in Denmark found that those who drank artificially sweetened soft drinks, whether fizzy or still, were more likely to give birth early.

It was found that those who drank one serving per day of artificially sweetened fizzy drink were 38 per cent more likely to give birth before 37 weeks gestation and those who consumed four servings a day were 78 percent more likely to have their baby prematurely.

…

“Certainly, until more experimental work is done, this study suggests that pregnant women should steer clear of artificially sweetened drinks. Quite frankly, pregnant women should be focusing more on nutrient-rich drinks anyway, like milk and fruit juices. And don’t forget the water.”

OK, in her defense, my wife has cut out sodas (for the most part) from her food intake since the first trimester, but I still stand by my smugness. I gotta get my ya-ya’s somehow.

the hardest job in the world (part 1, of many)

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Oct 012010

I’m going to write a little bit about why I said being a Dad is the second hardest job in the world. I say this because our role as dad, father, pops, what have you – it doesn’t really start until the kid is born. But I am seeing that for the mom, it starts from day 1 of conception.

My wife is now 7 weeks pregnant, and the poor girl is having allergic reactions and nausea that comes out of left and right field. She can’t eat and keep things down, have to be careful about what she smells and what she looks at for fear of random nausea attacks. I just have to take out the garbage and rub her feet – thing’s I do normally anyway.

So Junior, if in 20 years you find this old blog post and read this, know that your mother has had to put up with your antics from before you even had a spinal column. I still have 8 more months to go before the real roller coaster ride begins.

–Kieun

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