Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Going to be a New Daddy

Coincidentally, I'm also the newest Rice Daddy.

Before I get started, I must thank daddy in a strange land for letting me play in your sandbox. Also, shout out to Instant Yang for turning me on to the site in the first place and planting the idea in my head that I could lay out all my joys and insecurities about being a prospective parent on this site.

As for myself, I'm a 29-year old Chinese American originally from VA and now reppin' outside B-more, MD. My wife of five years (this April!), Nakko, is originally from Japan, and we're expecting our first child in July. The other member of the family is a 12-year old border collie/lab mix named Spaz (who, by the way, was kind enough to let me link to his blog on the contributors' list. Thanks, Spaz!).

So far, we've had a very interesting first six months of the pregnancy. First off, Nakko was in Japan visiting her family when she found out. The day she was supposed to fly home, my wife called to say that she had delayed her flight because she had gotten sick and was too nauseous to sit on a plane for 19 hours. When she first told me I wasn't that concerned since I figured it was just something she ate and she'd just feel better in a few days. I also thought the idea of getting back on a plane probably contributed to her illness -- my wife loathes flying and would much rather travel using Doraemon's dokodemo door.

I called my parents to let them know about Nakko's delay, and my mom joked "maybe she's pregnant." In a truly GMTA moment, Nakko's mother in Japan had the same idea and brought home a pregnancy test. The rest, as they say, is history. A history I'll be telling you all about in upcoming posts.

The last thing I'll leave you with is this quote from a good friend of mine. The sentiment simultaneously moves me and scares me silly. We decided early on that we wanted to know the gender of our child (we don't really like surprises), and were excited to learn my wife was carrying our daughter inside her belly. My friend, Shafeeq -- who has three daughters of his own, so naturally, I asked him for advice -- said this to me:

"You will be the first man your daughter will fall in love with, so take the responsibility seriously."

10 comments:

Monster Daddy said...

Awesome, a Pan Asian American couple. Welcome to Ricedaddies!

Anonymous said...

Aww congratulations. Your friend gave you some wonderful advice.

Oberon said...

.....you are too cool rice daddy.

keith chow said...

Thanks for the kind words everybody! It's really exciting being a part of such a wonderful site.

Anonymous said...

"You will be the first man your daughter will fall in love with, so take the responsibility seriously."

This is such a great sentence!!
Very, very nice!

Greetings from Europe!
Jolina

http://www.modelvideos.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

very thoughtful

you make me want to become

a better man...sob

Anonymous said...

Welcome and congratulations. I love that advice... that is so true.

Anonymous said...

A daughter? Easier when they're little harder once they hit the teen years. Boys are usually easier then but harder when they're small.

Just wait until she wants to start dating....

*giggle*

It will be your karmic payback for being a total tool when you were younger. Don't tell you weren't....15 year old boys are all the same....everywhere.

thisislarry said...

rakuman, welcome! That's the best advice on raising a daughter that I've heard. And the scariest. Well, no, Henri's advice is much scarier.

good luck w/ the rest of your pre-parent days, and see you on the other side.

Anonymous said...

As mother to three daughters and one son I have this to say: Girls like to keep secrets. Boys are more honest.
Girls:"what are we doing mom? Noooothing!" singsong voices.

Boys:"Playing with the air freshener mom!"

Congratulations to you and your wife!
btw I have been reading Ricedaddies for the past little while, I thought it was about time to post a reply ;)