The short and long of the crash an older man failed to look before making a left turn onto a major highway blocking my vehicles path. We hit the front of his car, reaping the front of it off causing us to roll an estimated three-six times, hitting at light pole with the car ending upside down.

Hearing my son screaming in the backseat as the car was flipping down the road is the scariest thing that I have every gone through in my life. Once our car was at a complete stop I unlocked my seatbelt, slide back to my son that was still in his car seat and I unlocked him and then slide out the driver side window.

The crazy part out of all this!! Neither one of us had a signal injury at all!! It’s now been six days since the accident, I only have a bruise on my left shoulder and my son it still “A-OK” of-course I’ve had him checked out twice now by doctors to make double sure.

I was driving a 2005 Land Rover Freelander and to be completely honest I had never given thought to safety when purchasing car. Since the wreck I checked the rating of my vehicle and come to find out it had excellent safety rating for keeping people safe in the event of a wreck.

So, it’s just a week later now and I’ve already settled and received my insurance check and believe or not I have already decided, paid and order our new 2009 Land Rover LR2 HSE it’s due to be at the dealer in Germany in just four to six weeks. It’s even safer than the old one, seven airbags and if you’re really interested you can check it out more at landrover.com

Also wanted to note that my son’s car seat is a Confront BeBe “Moby” Oxygen 2/3, not sure if the brand is available in the states or not we purchased at John Lewis in England it’s also available in several locations throughout Europe and “YES” I’ll be replacing the seat with another one.

Here are some pics of my crashed Freelander and our new 2009 LR2 HSE.

Our Crashed Land Rover Freelander

Our New 2009 LR2 HSE (here in just 4 weeks)

Anyway it was a great success my daughter Layla and Tate really enjoyed themselves on their three day holiday slash birthday party. We also had the pleasure of taking a walk along the sea and ate a traditional fish and chips meal. 

Along the walk I spotted a place called Gypsy Lee and I was unaware of the legend of Gipsy Rose Lee of Brighton a famous fortune teller of the 1900s and supposedly this woman according to her sign is related to this person.

Even though I did not stop by she saw me and quickly said – you are soon to be a top blogger on the net! At least that is what I think I heard her say maybe she said for twenty quid that can be true.

Butlins The Famous Billy

My Son & I – Spaceship Ride

Butlins View From The Sea

Fish & Chips Resturant

Gypsy Lee Fortune Teller

The Family:  Jason – Kelly – Layla – Tate

Ok, our holiday photo show is over and if you have ever dreamed about going to the Maldives I can highly recommend it. It’s a must do on a list before you die, truly one of the most beautiful tropical destinations to put your feet up or enjoy a great snorkel and see thousands of tropical fish.  Our destination in case anyone wanted to relax there sometime: Luxury Resorts and Spas by Anantara Maldives

I on the other hand was expecting much more from this safari.  When making my way through the safari drive I was excepting lions, tigers and bears to be right along side our Landover but this was not the case.  Well at least I am not writing an article right now on how a bear or giraffe destroy our car and the kids have not been eaten today. 

I actually had every intention of lying on this post and telling you of how close I came to being eaten by that bear and leopard but I am to honest.  The truth is that my Sony digital camera has an excellent zoom and I was able to zoom right in on them from the Landover. In case you were somewhat worried about the welfare of our children I assure that I am a Grade a Safari Man and every precaution was taken to ensure their safety.

This is an area of my life that has taken some time to reach the level that I am at today. It wasn’t until I meet my wife and after many discussions and thought did I reach the decision to become a father. The love you have for another person is the ultimate reason why you should want to reproduce life together. This rationalization made me understand why and was the deciding point for me to take the first step into fatherhood.

I think everyone would agree that parenting is extremely hard at times but the rewards are always so much more worthwhile. The decision to become a parent should never be taken lightly or consider if you are a little unsure that you are ready for it. To be a parent is something that can not be compared to anything else that you will ever experience in life. The measurement of time seems almost in relation to the blink of an eye when seeing your kids grow up. You remember when they came into this world and then before you know it they are twice the size and still growing at a rapid pace.

At the time of writing this article my wife and I have two kids, a 4 year old daughter March 19 and a son who will is 8 months old this month. I could not ask for a better family in my eyes our family is the absolute best in the world. I work for the US Government and have a remaining two years left on my contract in Belgium. My wife stays at home by choice to raise our children and has plans to start her real estate career when we move to the states at the end of my contract. To be able to have one parent able to stay at home and raise the children is a luxury and also gives you peace of mind not having to worry about the care they are receiving.

Our daughter is very intelligent for her age and always asks for the explanation as to why, to see if she is in agreement with you. Most times she will be in agreement with you when she has distinguish the truth of what you are telling her because if she thinks you are not telling the truth she will definitely tell you. At school it is an easy observation to see just how advanced she is compared to other kids in her class. I know you may be thinking but you are the father and of course you will say that about your daughter but this is not the case. She looks like and takes after her mum very head strong, determined that she is right in almost any situation that occurs.

Our son very new to the world just turned 8 months old and said his first words dad dad. My wife tells me every day how much we look alike and that the only thing he got from her was eye color. He has already doubled in size since birth and at times I do not notice how fast he is growing until you see a picture of him or when my wife is getting rid of the smaller clothes he used to wear. At the present he definitely loves his milk, biscuits, bathing, watching his sister and running around the house in his walker. A very happy baby always laughing, smiling, talking and almost never crying accept when you have a slow response time on getting his milk and of course he never thinks it enough after you’ve feed him.

I would like to think that every parent out there share great moments with there child or children that they treasure forever. For me I would have to say that I love it when they smile at me and I get that feeling in my heart, of being loved and appreciated very much. This is something that in my opinion nothing else can possibly compare to and it is something that only a parent can experience. There is so much to learn from being a parent it is not just an act of raising your children. Every day is a new learning experience that you are apart of with your children and sometimes it may seem that your kids are getting the better of you but you have to remember that both the parent and child are basically in a learning process of getting to know what is right and wrong.

Almost always you hear parents stating that I will do this better than my parents have, well this is a definite if you come from a rusty spoon back ground such as I have. I know that our children are on a complete different path than I had to take and that my wife and I are raising our kids to the best standards that are possible. For starters our children will have a cultured background since my wife is from England and we are already living in another country and we will continue to travel regardless of where we live in the world. I know that both of our children have high potential and my wife and I will always continue to influence (not force) our kids in any right direction they choose to take. Parenting sometimes does not have a clear path but through patience and always striving to do your best you find that at the end it will always prove to be worthwhile!

Getting a vasectomy and the reasons why you should have the operation. My wife and I both agree that we only wanted two children preferably a boy and girl and that is what we ending up having; Layla & Tate. So we were then confronted with the decision on permanent birth control.

I think all women will agree that men should step up and get the vasectomy considering the fact they are the one’s giving birth and us men are only standing by there sides. I like all men in the back of my mind thinking I do not want any knifes going near the region of my testicles, I really was not impressed with the vasectomy idea. Of course I knew it was my place to step up and be a man also.

The day of my operation I arrived at the hospital at 8:00 am and started the paper work, signed a document stating that the surgery should be consider irreversible with a 0.5 percent failure rate. Then they showed me to my room where I had been waiting for approximately two hours and another patient showed up in the bed beside mine. Something I have forgotten to add is that I am in Belgium a French / Flemish speaking country. So anyway the man was wheeled out in his bed and returns 3 hours later and had an IV and a tube in his mouth with blood going through it. Then they tell me to get my gown on, well point to it anyway and I was unable to ask the other man what he had done. So off I went in my bed thinking the worst about this vasectomy.

Arrival at the doctor’s operating room and doctors asks are you ok (he speaks a little english), I say slightly nervous and he says everyone is. The nurse starts to prep me at approximately 1:00 p.m.; sterilizer, four blue papers around my groin then the doctor states he will now inject the local anesthetic. I started squeezing my fists tightly thinking the worst possible pain and the he done it, comparable to the same feeling you get at the dental office when they inject the anesthetic. Ok the cutting begins feeling nothing and can not see anything because of the blue papers but I do however see smoke coming from my groin still no pain just the feeling of movement down there. Then the doctor says that side is good and will inject the other side and do the same, the other side I only felt a more pulling sensation no pain. Ok so surgery complete in 50 minutes the doctor gives the brief about not playing sports for 3 weeks and prescribed two meds a antibiotic and pain killer and said I had to return for the follow up in 10 days then the nurses wheeled me back to my room. I was released within 30 minutes from the hospital and I was on my way home at 2:35 p.m.

Day one only a little sore nothing major (less soreness compared to a tooth extraction) and no problem urinating. Day two decided to have sex was thinking I would have pain when ejaculating but no pain at all just sore where the incisions were made, note take is easy during the sex if you do decided to go for it because of the stitches. Oh also wanted to note that when I looked at the incisions they looked around a quarter of inch in length and they did bleed a little not much however. Anyway the rest of the week the soreness just gradually faded away.

At my follow up everything was A ok and then he gave me an appointment for lab work which is scheduled 2 months after surgery to check the sperm and make sure there is 0 level left. So I think you know what has to happen at that appointment, so I will be taking my wife along hopefully it’s allowed.

Follow up lab work: guess what you do not have to do you no what at the doctor’s office you do it at home and then bring it with in two hours. Test back two weeks later and I am sterile and happy with my two kids.