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B4B Biker on Being a Father

Kevin-Biese-160x160Happy New Year everyone! I hope your 2014 was an amazing year and I pray that 2015 will be even more fruitful for you. I am very thankful for all the blessings this past year like finishing my undergraduate degree at UW-Madison and completing my 4th Biking for Babies trip, but I am the most thankful for my son Weston who was born on August 23rd. Parenting has been such an amazing adventure and has been an amazing way for me to open conversations to others about the beauty of family and children. As many parents know, the nine months of pregnancy is full of reading parenting books or getting advice from parents, friends, family, etc. on how to raise a child (P.S. there is no cookie-cutter way which makes it so much fun and exciting!!). So, for all you expecting parents (especially young parents like myself) who will read this, I thought I would share some of my “advice” on how the first few months of parenting will go.

Some things I’ve learned in a few months as a dad:

  1. Women are amazing and when you find one that makes the perfect mom, they seem almost supernatural
  2. A baby can hiccup, sneeze, poop and pee almost simultaneously
  3. Being a student and a father is as hard as you can imagine; it is also more rewarding then you can ever dream
  4. A smile on your child’s face is worth 10,000 cries
  5. I feel just as happy laying on my bed with my wife and son singing and making faces at each other as I did on my wedding day
  6. After reading this, call your parents and THANK them for feeding you, wiping your butt and giving you a roof to grow up under; your parents love you and care for you more than you can even fathom
  7. God sometimes gives you more than you can handle, that’s why He gave you an amazing spouse
  8. Your prayer life gets lost in the hecticness of parenting, it’s hard but work on it
  9. Walking into a university building with a car-seat and diaper bag will cause everyone to stare at you…just own it
  10. Parenting is more difficult than any combination of class I have ever taken but 1,000 times more rewarding than getting an A on every test I have ever taken
  11. A child is the most humbling experience ever because it truly takes a village to raise him/her
  12. Last but not least, family takes on a much bigger and more beautiful meaning

Mine and the rest of the B4B team’s prayers are with all of you especially those who are expecting a child. As a father, I can tell you there is nothing more beautiful, exciting, scary and rewarding as parenthood.

Love,

Kevin