Happy New Year !!!

It's Down To 30 days...

First of all, hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday. After today, Anh will be working for another two weeks until January 9. That's when she'll go on her long 4.5 months of maternity leave. After having been off for a week, I know she's really looking forward to working again tomorrow... NOT ! :-)

30 Days ... 720 hours ... 43,200 minutes to go until the big moment. At this point, I'm feeling like a little child counting down the days until his birthday. I can't wait anymore. At this point in time also, I'm trying to think what else Anh and myself need to prepare for before little Baby Huynh comes out. We've picked out her name officially today, but we're going to keep it a secret until she's there. As far as preparation goes, I think we're pretty set for now. We've packed our Labor stuff for when the big day comes, filled out the paperwork for when we have to go to the hospital etc. Last week I contacted the Dutch Consulate General in Los Angeles to go through some questions regarding adding our baby daughter to my passport, as well as going through the process of how to apply for a Dutch passport for her. This girl will have the privilege to have a dual citizenship. And to keep options open (you never know what might happen in the future regarding her residence), I want to make sure that she'll be able to call herself Dutch-American (or vice versa). Which brings us to another question... what language will we teach her?

After having searched the internet, I found a Dutch school in Hollywood where we can send her to at the age of 4. Meanwhile, I'll be the Dutch teacher while Anh will teach English to her. We will also add some Vietnamese (with the help of the family) in the mix. And if Anh's Chinese is still up to date, we'll try that too. One thing's for sure ... she'll be well-rounded in her language. Today I ordered a High Definition video camera to capture all those beautiful moments to come. Sometimes I wish our parents had that technology back in the day. How fun would it be to watch my 3D/4D pictures when I was still in the womb and see my toddler experience in HD!

This coming week we have to stack up on some extra coconut butter. As Anh's belly is growing, we're covering a huge surface of coconut butter to keep those stretch marks as minimal as possible. Our baby's movements are becoming stronger and stronger. Especially, at night she tends to be very active. I realized during Christmas dinner how fast kids grow. Anh's sister's baby (Yenna) is only three months. But in those three months she's grown so rapidly. I can still remember seeing her all wrinkled and so tiny after her birth. By now you can already see her laughing and responding to us playing around with her.

With all this said, time for me to hit the sheets so that another day can go by faster. Until the next post.

Preparing For Our New Arrival!

It's Christmas Eve and I am sitting at home in the living room making a list of all the things that I need to pack in preparation for our baby girl's arrival. I was checking online to see what was needed for the big day and didn't realize that there was so much stuff that I needed to pack for myself, the baby and daddy. I guess I better start packing because you never know when the big day may come. It could come early or later depending on when she wants to come out.

The big day is approaching and I am kind of scared about how the labor and delivery will go. Some questions that have crossed my mind are: how will I know when is the right time to go to the hospital?, how long will I be in labor? am I pushing the right way?, etc. I have been watching dvds with Minh about the labor and delivery process and am somewhat prepared for the big day but you never know things could change when that time comes.

I am anxious, nervous, excited and scared at the same time about the arrrival of our baby girl considering that this is our first child but with Minh by my side I am sure that things will be alright. Together we will do our best to raise our child in the best possible way. Well, now it's a matter of time until she comes so that we can hold her in our arms and love her unconditionally.

Merry Christmas !!!

The chestnuts will be roasting on an open fire here in SoCal this year. For the past two years (or should I say, ever since I got here) the two of us spent Christmas time in Holland. With Anh still having 34 days to go, we obviously won't be able to travel. 

Looking back at this year, I can definitely say a lot of things have happened. Obviously we got ourselves 'knocked up' and I'm impatiently waiting for our little one to pop out. The thought of becoming a parent is still surreal. I think I would also like to give a huge shout-out and show gratitude to my best friend Ytja back home. Thanks Charlie, for helping me out with my dad earlier this year. For the readers, Ytja has been like a brother to me ever since we were little kids. The brother/neighbor from next door. Best friend a person like myself could ever wish for! Meanwhile, I just realized how old I am ... I've known this fool for over 20+ years now ... but then again, age ain't nuthin' but a number.

Back to Christmas ... currently, I'm seeing people running around like crazy trying to do their last minute Christmas shopping. We just got home from the mall ... and it's crazy to see the shopping madness. Too bad Americans only celebrate Christmas. Back home, when Christmas time comes around people just shut down ... celebrate Christmas, Boxing Day (2nd Day of Christmas, or 2e Kerstdag) and start stacking up on fireworks for New Year's Eve. In my case ... December 26th (2nd Day of Christmas) is another working day for me :-(.

Anh has this week off. Most of her time, she's sleeping in (cuz the phone won't be answered until after 10:00 am.) and cleaning up our place. We're going to have a Christmas dinner with her family tomorrow. What the plans are for Christmas Day ... we still have to plan :-). Depending on how the weather is this weekend, I might take a small snowboarding trip to Big Bear. That's the good thing about SoCal. You can either go to the beach here in Santa Monica, stroll down the boulevard and enjoy the sun or just go up north a little bit for 4 to 6 feet of snow. Enough diversity, I should say. 

At this point in time, the final touches are being added to our little masterpiece. She should be 5.5 lbs by now and approximately 18 inches tall. The kicks have turned into small wiggles and stretches due to her growing day by day in that little space called Anh's womb. I read somewhere that she will be adding her final layer of fat this week which will result in her having her daddy's dimples (I hope). Also, her lungs should almost be fully developed (meet your new competitor, Michael Phelps). And her liver is starting to process the waste products (thank God we've already stacked up on those diapers).

How much longer can a person count down for her arrival in 34 days? Again, I can't wait ... maybe by hitting the sheets now will make another day go by faster. 

Lastly, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the food, each other, the family (if they haven't been snowed in or being stuck at the airport due to weather conditions). 

Until the next post :-).

Baking Chef...

Part of being a future parent is being able to bake a pie. I haven't baked any pie or tart whatsoever for a long time. So, with Anh's help and my Dutch background, here is the end-result of a traditional Dutch Apple Pie ("Appeltaart") with a twist of American flavor. 

We just need to let it cool down and with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream ... Hmmm !!!

Anh saw her doctor today for her check-up. Everything is still good to go. The baby's heart rate was 141 which was perfect at this stage. She'll have her next check-up in another 2 weeks from which points we'll start to having weekly check-up until Anh's giving birth. 

Around this time last year, we were spending our Christmas and New Year's in Holland... something we obviously won't be able to do this year because of the baby. Even though the weather is cold, I do miss the cold cold (freezing cold) weather back home. So instead, we're planning a trip to Santa Barbara tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, our appeltaart is close to cooling down. And for some reason, our stomachs are really growling... 

Until the next post :-).

34 Weeks Pregnant...

Lately it seems as if the father has trouble sleeping. Meanwhile, Anh's getting her early rest. Hmmm ... shouldn't that be the other way around, knowing that close to 75% of all the pregnant women have trouble sleeping in their third trimester. 

At this point both of us are waiting, waiting ... and ... waiting. Instead of driving ourselves crazy (mainly daddy), it might be better to utilize the time that we have left to spend with our friends, family, together, etc. I can imagine that soon everything will revolve around the baby, and Anh and I will wish we could have some downtime. 

Currently, little baby Huynh is the size of a doll (close to 18 inches) and weighs about 5 lbs. At this stage, she should be ready to start descending down or at least, be in that downward position. Things to do this week is to start filling out the hospital paperwork regarding her birth plan... whether we want rooming-in or have her go to a nursery for a couple of hours after the delivery, contacting the pediatrician, medication, etc. Anh's going to deliver at Hungtington Hospital in Pasadena. Also, I suggested to start watching those DVD's again ... just to refresh our memories. This coming Saturday we're seeing the doctor again ... and every week thereafter.  As far as activities goes, our little one has been very active lately. Unfortunately, still now belly button pop :-). 

Speaking of popping, time for me to pop the light switch. It's bedtime. 

Until the next post.

The Set-Up... It's All About Time

The saying goes "Money Can't Buy You Happiness". I say "...but it buys you the things that make you happy". 

(By the way... Thanks Babe for those words... I love you too)

With our little one coming in less than 41 days, I've been extremely busy trying to put a plan together for her. There are a couple of things certain in life: death, taxes and time. So, what I have been asking myself the past couple of days is what we need to do to set this girl up, so that she'll have less things to worry about in the future. What can we, as future parents, give this munchkin what our parents haven't been able to do? Meanwhile, I was running a couple of numbers today. And I came to the conclusion that time is the keyword. 

The next thing is to find a way to generate tax-free compounding of earnings inside a vehicle. The longer we can keep the money invested, the greater the wealth accumulation. So, what better way to start accumulating a large amount than to start during childhood? When tax-free and tax-deferred compounding has more than 50 years to run its course, a relatively modes savings plan can produce substantial wealth. 

The final objective is to put a plan together that protects our munchkin's life, while generating a supplement to her future income too. Since I want to create an interactive blog (and since I don't want to give away the farm), here are some examples. Did you know that...

- If you start putting a life insurance policy together for your newborn child by paying $75 a month, your child will be able to retire at 65 with a TAX-FREE annual income stream of over $136,000 a year for the next 25 years (total of $3,400,000 income)!

And assuming her life expectancy is 100 years old, her legacy to our grandchildren would be at least another $3,000,000.

- As far as starting a tax-deferred and tax-free vehicle for her, I'm thinking of funding a Roth IRA for her. But don't you need to have income and be at least 18 years old? The answer to both is NO. It's difficult to prove this income. The Internal Revenue Code says all income is taxable unless an exception is made, and there's no exception for amounts paid by parents to family members for household chores. So little baby ... be ready to do some paid chores around the house. By the time you're 30, you should be on your way to have your first $100,000 in your account. Cost? Another $50 a month.

It's all about time ... $550-600 for your child a month (that's how much day care costs nowadays) shouldn't be much to ask for. That will take care of:

- $250,000 college tuition 20 years from now

- $100,000 down payment for a house or something else

- generating a retirement income for her of $136,000 for 25 years thereafter AND $3,000,000 in estate benefit. 

Too good to be true? Absolutely not ... a combination of timing, caring parents will do just enough. Remember, take the emotion out of life and it all becomes a numbers game. 

Speaking of preparation. Meanwhile, we did some shopping at Babies R Us, Target and Walmart yesterday. And I'm proud to say that we're the owners of 368 diapers... which will probably last us only 1 month, assuming she'll consume 8-12 diapers a day. Hey, but at least we're prepared. All we need now is for her to come out.

Until the next post ... L'Chaim