We continue to roll towards Father’s Day while highlighting great dads. Today, it’s all about Ricky Shetty:
Ricky Shetty is a passionate networker based out of Vancouver, Canada. He has traveled to over forty countries and lived & worked on four continents doing a bungy jump and skydive while in New Zealand. Ricky is the happy husband of Anne and proud dad of Rianne. Ricky is the published author of the book “Wisdom from Daddies: What I Learned from Interviewing 100 Dads about Fatherhood.” He writes a daily blog about fatherhood on his website http://www.daddyblogger.ca Ricky’s mission is to change the world – one dad at a time. And now on to our interview…
My first memory as a father was… the first time I held my daughter in my arms. It was one of the most powerful moments in my life when I realized for the first time that I was a dad to a beautiful young daughter and I was responsible for being the best dad possible and raising her to be the best woman she can be. I hadn’t realized that I was a dad when my wife got pregnant, or even over the next 9 months of pregnancy, or even when I saw my daughter’s come out of the womb. It was really that special moment when I held my daughter tightly close to my chest that the awareness of fatherhood first begun. It’s such a strong memory and I’m glad that my wife made a video of it to show our daughter when she grows up!
Here is a video of that incredible moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3LZRNjdDhY
The funniest thing my daughter does is…My daughter is so cute, so charming, and so funny. Everything she does brings a smile to my face and makes me laugh with pride and joy. It brings such happiness to my heart when I wake up in the morning and I see her big, bright smile and her four front teeth grinning back at me. I love tickling her, making funny sounds, or playing peek-a-boo just to hear her contagious laugh. In terms of funny she does, I would say listening to her “sing” (babbling with a high-pitched tone), always warms my heart.
What’s in your man cave? I have all my electronics in my “man cave” (or work station/home office). I have my MacBook Air, iPad, iPhone, Digital Camera, and cables whose use I don’t even know – I think I’ve lost a lot of the devices but still don’t throw away the cables just in case I need them in the future. Plus, I have a massive book library which I probably should give to the library or to charity since I usually just read a book once. I work on my daily blog in my “man cave” which I publish nightly before midnight and going to bed – I have blogged for over 180 days continuously since starting my blog on Dec 1, 2012.
My wife is my hero because… My wife is my greatest cheerleader, my strongest supporter, and my closest friend. There really aren’t enough adjectives to describe how valuable and important she is. She is a strong woman of God, a caring mother, and a loving wife – what more can you ask for? She is always the one I go to first when I feel down or don’t know what to do. Just her presence and her listening ear are enough to make me feel better. Plus, she is an incredible cook! We both have different personalties – I am more outgoing, she is more private, however we feel that are strengths balance each other out.
How many hours of sleep do you get each night? Our daughter is a good sleeper and generally sleeps the whole night long so I am able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep/night. We are blessed that she sleeps really well – perhaps because we decided to co-sleep. However, when we returned from a family trip to the Philippines, our whole family faced jet lag for close to a week. Our daughter was up in the middle of the night playing with her toys still thinking she was on Manila time. To overcome her “baby jet lag”, we had to force her to stay awake as much as possible during the day so she would get back into her regular sleep schedule.
What did you get your baby’s Mama for Mother’s Day? My wife got to spend her first Mother’s Day in Manila, Philippines with her closest family and friends. This was an extra special trip for our family as it was also the first time little Rianne got to meet her grand-parents. I got to preach at a local church about motherhood so I decided to wash my wife’s feet as a demonstration of my desire to serve her. She is an amazing mother and needs more time off just to be alone, spend time with her family and friends, and not be stressed by work, marriage, and parenting. I’m so glad that we were able to take her on this incredible Mother’s Day vacation.
If you your wife could vacation without your kids, where would you go? It’s hard to leave our daughter and go on a vacation, especially since she is only one year old. We have gone on plenty of date nights where we leave Rianne at grandma’s but we have never gone anywhere overnight or out-of-city without our daughter yet. However, it would be nice to go on an anniversary to Vancouver Island for a couple of nights – our anniversary is coming up on Canada Day (July 1, 2013) so we’ll plan a nice getaway for just the two of us. Having regular vacations and time off from our daughter builds a stronger marriage and makes us stronger parents and .
If you could go on any vacation with your kids, where would you go? There are so many places on my bucket list of family vacation spots. One of my must-sees before I die is Machu Picchu in Peru – I also want to see the rest of South America as well as Africa and Antartica. I have seen Latin America tour packages that includes all my dream destinations. I have already traveled a lot across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia but those were mostly in my 20s as a backpacker. I’d love to take an around-the-world trip with our whole family as well as a cruise to the Caribbean and the Bahamas. My wife and I love to exploring new cultures and we want to bring our daughter and future kids along for the adventure!
Describe your perfect Father’s Day. My perfect Father’s Day is spending quality time with the two most important people in my life: my wife Anne and my daughter Rianne. I tend to be highly sociable the rest of the year, on several evenings, and on most weekends. However, Father’s Day is really a family day – I want my wife to be a part of the experience. Last year, our family visited Queen Elizabeth Park to celebrate our daughter’s first month and my first Father’s Day. This Father’s Day will be extra special for me as I am doing the public book release and book launch party on Father’s Day (Sunday, June 16, 2013)
Make sure you head over and check out Ricky’s blog, as well as following him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.