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Am I a New Dad?

May 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

I consider myself to be a new dad (parent), but the other day I was talking to Lucy and we started asking ourselves when do you lose the right to  use the title new mom, new dad, and new parent?

Is there something like an old parent?

For me an old parent is one that has had too many kids about 12 and has proven himself as a true veteran or old parent in my mind also translates to grandparent (which I like more).

New makes me love the title more

As humans the word new can be enchanting. I remember getting my 1st Palm Pilot back in 1999 or 2000. I was so happy with it, a few years later I decided to upgrade to Palm 505 which was a color PDA, then two years after that I bought myself a Palm Tungsten T3, and so the story continues to my first smartphone a Palm Treo 650 all the way to now where I have an iPhone 4. I would love to get the iPhone 4s but wanting to upgrade is a bad addiction many people have. The same goes when you buy a car and months later  you stop seeing your car as a new one.

Since objects don’t evolve it is easier for them too lose the charm fairly quickly. The experience of being a parent and having children is different since they continue to evolve into new stages with different needs.

Your always a New Parent

I am so attached to the new parent title, I want to keep it for a while and I might have way to do so. Maybe by creating different stages (since each kid is so unique many things will be new):

Newborn → New Parent

Toddler → New Toddler Parent

Teenager → New Teenager Parent

Going through school where you are a freshman in High School and then In college so why not be a new parent at each stage.

Seeing that my mom sees me as her baby I think that after 32 years she is still holding on to the title giving me another excuse to keep the title.

How do you feel about the term new Parent?

 

Filed Under: New Dad, Papá Heroes Tagged With: , , ,

Key Milestone – First Year as a Dad

December 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 

As humans we are constantly working on reaching new milestones. I have to say that all of us have some sort of competitive nature embedded in our DNA. For many individuals like me a key milestone is becoming a parent. A year as of today I became the proud parent of a healthy baby girl.

The Fastest 12 Months of my life

It has been one year that has gone by faster than I could Imagine and going back just 12 months I can see the progress of how quickly my daughter has grown and most importantly how much.

Simple things like the length of her hair, the changes in length and thickness of her extremities, her face, and many other factors that unless you look back in pictures you might not even notice.

One Year as part of our Parenting Team

Today I mark another milestone as a parent along my other half Lucy. We are celebrating 1 year of becoming parents. I never pictured myself as a parent but I have to say that I am very grateful of this awesome blessing.

Getting Things Done

Something I have found extremely interesting is how efficient I have become at getting things done. Being a parent puts you in the situation that procrastinating can set you back in many ways. It makes you enjoy and get things done at your first chance. If I look at the many projects I have done this past year I see an increase in productivity given the many tools I have opted to use and the advice I have received from many of my mentors on the personal and business side. This project Papaheroes.com was an inspiration of being a new dad along with launching Veglatino.com that is another outlet where I might cover my views on nutrition as a vegetarian.

Don’t Wait Till Tomorrow

One thing that I have learned seeing how my daughter quickly grows up as the Days go by is to make sure I spend as much time as I can with her every day.  Time just moves by so fast if we miss out on something we can rewind and go back.

More of an at home Dad during 2011

Given how poorly my business did this year kept me at the house most of the time, which I really appreciate because I was able to capture many of my daughter’s, own milestones during the first year?

When most parents are waiting to get home to spend time with their kids I have to say I got Paternity Leave in some sense. It made it worthwhile to work as much as I could in 2010 to the point I have been able to enjoy and use some of the savings I had from 2010 to spend quality time with my new family.

What Milestones have you hit as a Parent? Which Ones are you waiting to hit?

Any advice on what I should be expecting in the next 12 months (or 17 years) that I did not experience in the first year as a parent?

 

Filed Under: Fathers, New Dad, Papá Heroes Tagged With: ,

Healthy Online & Offline Relationships for Children

July 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I see how curious my daughter has become since she is 6 months old. She looks at everything that breaks a pattern. I wish I had the power of Aquaman; the ability to read her mind. She loves engaging with people and gives a smile to everyone at near proximity. I guess that by being a new dad and studying my daughter I can see how early in life people want to engage. I observe her especially when she sees herself in the mirror and is trying to reach out to touch her reflection.

Most of our time is spent trying to engage with others. We meet many people where we either connect or don’t connect. With the today’s social platforms, everyone wants more friends and a larger network, but as adults are we evaluating who we have around ourselves and family? Are we making sure we have quality people over the quantity of people?

As a kid, I use to always mix myself in with a different crowds. I have never tried to make anyone happy just to have them around me, I guess it is not in my nature. Even though I had a high probability of rejecting people who I thought could harm me, I still ended up with a good share of bad relationships. With the help of certain individuals who had the foresight to pick out the bad apples, their advice was an integral part of filtering out the toxic relationships.

How do you guide your children into creating healthy relationships?

I guess children learn what their parents teach them. How is it that sometimes adults have issues picking the people around them and children have better radar when choosing relationships.

The internet brings new opportunities and threats into parent’s busy lives. There is very little advice that we can get from our parents and grandparents because they did not have to deal with the interconnected world.

It is even more important to set those rules of using the internet and guide our children in learning the meaning of relationships online and offline as early as possible. There is a communal effort that has to occur between parents today. Even the Papaheroes don’t have the capability that Professor Xavier from X-Men has of reading people’s mind or the intentions they have whether online or offline.

What new issues do you think have appeared in this new world that our parents and grandparents did not have to deal with in regards to relationships?

How do you deal with them?

photo credit by bradley j

Filed Under: New Dad, Papá Heroes Tagged With: ,

Filtering the Answers to My Questions

June 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Being a new dad I sometimes try to find questions to many of the daily situations I encounter. One thing I learned is that there is so much information regarding many subjects. This can create an overwhelming situation when it is time to make a decision regarding the well being of my daughter. Thankfully I have an incredible partner who along her we decide the best options for Daniela. I have to say that most of the time she is taking the heavy load of taking care of Daniela and finding solutions to most of her problems.

Since the idea of creating Papaheroes.com started forming I have been thinking on how we can find reliable sources that can provide you and me information can benefit our kids. There are so many sources for one specific subject that it can be overwhelming to have to get a quick  and correct answer to even simple problems.

These days Daniela is teething and we have looked for many solutions to make her more comfortable and take away any possible pain. @Lucymfel has experimented with many options (that made sense) like frozen carrots to make her feel better. But on the other side she had some suggestions by people which we thought where playing a prank on us. One of the solutions offered was giving a bit of liquor which we quickly discarded.

Thankfully I have a great friend who is a pediatrician who quickly handles most of our questions at any time, he is one of the many angels looking out for us and Daniela. Since many of you might not have a pediatrician it would be great if we could create a group of individuals like you who can share their experiences as parents regarding many of the issues we will continue to encounter.

I know we have some great parents as writers on our papaheroes.com but you are also key in helping us provide great content and solutions. So this is an open invitation to either suggest ideas by contacting me directly or asking about becoming part of the alliance.

What sources do you recommend us researching or using to get quick and reliable answers?

We have a few in mind that we will bring up in a future post (don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter) but since you are part of the papaheroes team also we wanted to hear and include your ideas?

Filed Under: Choices, New Dad, Papá Heroes Tagged With: , ,

My Papá Heroes!

June 19, 2011 by 5 Comments

Tio Rey, Me, and Tio Tito

Being a new dad  has been a gratifying learning experience for me.

If I look at the people who have supported me in these last few years and over my life time, I am able to identify the traits of Dads I really admire. As a tribute and dedication to these dads, this first blog post is for them. Here are a few thoughts on why I think they are awesome dads.

My Dad Luis (aka Don Tito)

Many of the traits I have in communicating with people and being able to persuade people during a difficult situations, I learned from my dad. Although I am not as good as he is at enchanting people, I think I have learned a thing or two.

My dad grew up in a poor environment along with his 11 siblings in Puerto Rico’s housing projects better known as “residenciales”. Something my dad taught me that I repeat every day is gratitude and sharing with others what I have.

My dad would always share everything he had with those he respected and cherished. Every day I try to copy my dad in those actions and I have to say it has brought me great results.

My Uncle Irving (aka Tio Tito)

I guess in some way I am his only son. He has always been a second father to me. Right now @danielalcolon is very lucky that she has another grandfather who loves her. My love for history and marketing can be directly attributed to Tio Tito.

When I was a kid I use to spend my two months of my summer vacation here in Puerto Rico. My Uncle Tito would submerge me with facst about world history including my island of Puerto Rico. I would spend the summer watching documentaries with an extra narrator and he explained things that I was not certain about. He would take me around Puerto Rico and teach me about the historical places. He always had a great story around its history  and all of these facts are ingrained in my memory.

Till this day whenever friends come to visit, I provide historical tours about the Island’s history. Thanks  to Tio Tito’s effort in teaching me most of it. Tio Tito also worked for over 30 years as a professor teaching students of all ages about marketing and other great small business advice. Till this day his ideas are a great source of information for me.

My Brother Javier and I September 2009

Javier (My Younger Brother AKA Javi)

Many of us are surprised when we first hear the words, “You are going to be a dad.” Javier took a more admirable and respectable route; he choose to be a Dad and does a great job. When many of us were still thinking of partying and enjoying life, my brother Javier choose to become an awesome dad sacrificing many things to make sure his son is well taken care of.

I admire Javier because I would not have been able to sacrifice the many things he has to become a father the way he did.

Uncle Reynaldo (aka Tio Rey)

My uncle Rey was one of the reasons I joined the U.S. Military. He retired from the National Guard after 30+ years of service and a tour in Iraq at the rank of Lt. Colonel. I always saw my uncle as role model and made the decision to enter the military following his foosteps. If someone has really sacrificed his life for his kids, my uncle is the best example. Till this day Tio Rey still sacrifices greatly for the well being of his kids.

Alex, Diego, and Me South Beach Miami September 2010

Alex

Alex calls me his brother and I call him mine. He always introduces me as a brother and for me it is a privilege. Both of us grew up a in rough neighborhood and always stood side by side trying to stay away from the bad crowd.

Now Alex is a great and proud father of my Nephew Diego which I love so much. Different to other dads and similar to my Uncle Rey, Alex is a decorated combat veteran serving a tour in Iraq and Afghanistan. Being an ex-service member myself, I have to say Alex is one of the most committed soldiers I know. I applaud Alex for being one of those that are willing to put their life on the line for others.

Other Awesome Dads

Overall I have learned unique things from these awesome dads I have in my family. Yes I know of many more that are awesome that have guided me with parenting tips. Some who I have met not so long ago like Gabo Pagan, Arsenio Sanchez, Rick Lipsett, Ricardo Serrano, Tony Torero, Chris Brogan, Ivan Traverzo, and Ramon Morales. Others I have been friends with for a while like Moises and Kike Gonzalez.

How many awesome dad’s do you know? What have you learned from them?

Make sure you wish them a Happy Father’s Day!

Filed Under: New Dad, Papá Heroes, ParentHood Tagged With: , , ,