Jano Photo's

BIRTH!

You heard me...BIRTH! I was there, it was F A N T A S T I C!

The best expierience of my life, to see a miracle in front of you changes a man. Cliché? Maybe. But this I tell you, I have never in my life felt so many emotions. Anger, fear, joy, ecstasy and above all appreciation.

Appreciation to GOD! HE who guided everybody in theater that day (25th of February 2008), HE who kept my wife and I calm throughout the procedure and HE who granted us the miracle.

Appreciation for the talent of the doctors, nurses, helpers, cleaners... everyone who was involved!!!

I wish I could put into words the feelings I had when the little rascal burst into song in the theater, and immediately demanded all of my attention. The look on my wife's face as the raised Jano from her belly and give him to me, the look in his face when he saw me for the first time and the warmth of the tears on my cheeks...all to insane to put into words.

The fact the this little BABY would from this day on depend on me for survival makes a man do crazy things! The fact that this little PERSON'S world will only be a big as the one I show him makes a man lay awake at night. The fact that this little MAN would one day be the man I am today...would make a man CHANGE!!!

Mahatma Gandhi said: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Jano is here! :-)

For obvious reasons, I have been a little slow in posting new items. The little fella has been keeping us quite busy!

It is amazing how such a little person can change one's life, wonderful how he can make me wax lyrical about stuff I never even thought about and above all cynical about the WORLD! The intentions of it, the actions of it and it's attempts to hurt him. Yes I am talking about the world, and everything in it. How can I say that I promise to protect you son if I let the world hurt him.

How does one know when and where to draw the line...Am I being over protective? Am I jealous? Am I just a caring father?

The answer genuinely avoids me...

Getting Close now...

Antenatal

It has been a while since my last post and I am feeling a little apprehensive at this stage of our pregnancy. It is somewhat of a surreal feeling as I am not sure what type of a father I am going to be for little Jano.

I would not say that I am a very emotional person but this little man might just change that.

We went for our first antenatal classes on Monday and it was, surprisingly, allot of fun! I was not the only dad there and in all my shortcomings as a husband I was vindicated by all the other fathers also acknowledging the same shortcomings as me.

That made me feel great, not the fact that we all had shortcomings but the fact that we all have the same shortcomings.

I have met some incredible people at the ante natal classes, and I am sure that I will continue a friendship of sorts with some of them. Interestingly enough there were allot of people I have met before, Rudi, someone who played rugby with me at high school. Jaco Pretorius the springbok winger, we met at varsity before the whole celebrity thing, and I must admit a more down to earth guy than I expected.

To make a long story short we went around the room and exchanged names, birthdates and baby names. The most interesting thing that we did was the expected sizes of our babies. After mentioning that Jano might be 5 kg's and 60 cm at birth he was doubted by the class as "MINI BAKKIES". His nickname is class from then on.

Unfortunately for Jano, it seems that his future has been planned out already. A springbok rugby player...no,no,no...A champion hurdles athlete...no,no,no...a magnificent pianist...no,no,no...What ever my boy decides I am sure that he will make a huge success of it and his dad will be the proudest dad in the whole world!!!

Until next time...

Jano, we love you!

Role Model?

AM I?

It has been a while since my last post but with good reason, it has been busy in the Dietrechsen family in the last couple of months...

Jano is starting to grow at an enormous rate now and the fact the he is going to be a big baby did not impress his mother who still needs to carry him to term for another two months. :-) My wife and I are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our first born and we cannot wait to welcome into the world our "little" bundle of joy. I say little because at a probable 4.5 - 5.0 kg's and 50 -60 cm at birth the little man will still be extremely fragile and will need all of our attention and love!

Staying on that topic...I have been plagued with doubt the last couple of months, not doubt in my wife or doubt in my abilities, but doubt in the fact that would I be a good role model for my son? What have I done that my son can be proud of (except marry his mother)? Am I worthy of this gift from GOD?

So, to evaluate this situation lets right down some to do's. I would like to:

1) Learn how to scuba dive
2) Climb Kilimanjaro
3) Run the comrades marathon
4) Sky dive
5) Cycle the 94.7

I do not think that this list is too much to strive for...do you? I would like to accomplish these things so that my son can have a father that he could look up to. Does that mean that if you do not accomplish these things that your son will not be proud or look up to you? of course not!

My father never did any of these things and he is probably the best man I know!!! I look up to him in everything I do, that is what I want for my son. I am just not sure that I can offer that to my son without accomplishing something extraordinary...

I will ponder on this for now and I will post another article soon.

So until next time...

Joel Dietrechsen