Raising a Daughter: From this Daddy-O's Point of View

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The weekly flights bring you one of the following:

A MINDSET SHIFT to prepare for opportunity and build better habits towards success. 🤩

Or…

AN OPPORTUNITY STORY sharing pivotal moments from an individual’s life that changed their trajectory in a positive way. 🚀

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This past Monday was my daughter’s 9th Birthday! 🥳

This lil’ one of kind, beautiful, and amazing girl is growing up WAYYY too fast, but I am ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY loving every DAMN second of it.

🎉HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, VICTORIA!🎉

P.S. If you’d like to wish Victoria a Happy Birthday, please reply to this email and I’ll share your responses with her. 🥳

As we celebrated Tori this week, I can’t help but take a moment to reflect on her life so far.

I do it every year and I couldn’t be prouder of all that she’s accomplished, along with who she’s becoming…

• She’s an incredible little sister (and second mom 😂) to her older brother.

  • Always reminding him to take his vitamins or brush his teeth. 🪥

• She brings all the ENERGY and LAUGHTER with her spunky personality and humor. 🤣

• She’s super into softball and looking like a natural already.🥎

  • I was just telling my wife the other day, I have these visions of her playing D1 College Softball and us traveling around the country to watch her play. If I’m right… I.CANNOT.WAIT.

• She sneaks into our bedroom at least 2-3 times after tucking her in each night for some extra hugs and stories.🥰

• She’s has an uncanny ability to memorize song lyrics, and LOVES to sing. 🎶🎶

  • Couple that with a beautiful voice, there’s really nothing better than blasting the tunes in the truck with her belting it out.

• Ever since she was a toddler, she gives you a cute little smirk and a wink when she notices you, just to let you know that she’s HAPPY.😉

• She’s a very good artist, and has produced some amazing drawings.🎨

• I will always treasure our walks around the block, just the two of us (and well…. maybe Juno our Silver Lab as well), chit chatting about life, future aspirations, and whatever her little heart desires.💓

• Our recurring Daddy Daughter Days will be some of my most favorite memories with her, which I hope we will continue those for a lifetime.🙌

She’s had me wrapped around her little finger since the day she was born and she always will and forever.

There’s simply nothing I wouldn’t do to be there for her and help her be as successful and happy as she can possibly be for the rest of time.

About 7 weeks after Victoria was born, she was diagnosed with RSV.

This was one of the scariest moments of my wife, Kimberly, and I’s life, if not the scariest. 😨

Here we had our brand new baby girl at 7 weeks old catch RSV, which in newborns can be extremely dangerous.

Basically, she didn’t have the ability to breathe because of all the mucus in her teeny tiny nasal pathways.

The tricky part of RSV is it lasts about 7-10 days, but there’s literally NOTHING the doctors can do until about Day 5-6.

It’s a respiratory virus that needs to run its course.

When we first started noticing the signs of wheezing and her having a difficult time breathing, we were… FREAKING OUT.

According to this ARTICLE, 2-3 out of every 100 infants with RSV infection may need to be hospitalized. Those who are hospitalized may require oxygen, IV fluids (if they aren’t eating and drinking), and mechanical ventilation (a machine to help with breathing).

Welp…. apparently she was one of those 2-3% who needed to be hospitalized.

LUCKY US… 🥺

We immediately took her in.

They cleared out all the gunk from her nose and throat, then told us to go home, grab a nose and throat suction THINGY-MA-JIG.

UHHH… 😕

Supposedly, it was TOO EARLY in the viral infection’s life cycle and there was nothing they could really do at that point.

WTF?!?! 🤬

We switched off, 8 hour shifts literally staring at this lil babe’s belly, making sure she was breathing. Eyeballs peeled nonstop, day and night. 😨

Whenever we heard her get clogged up again, which was like every 90 minutes, we suctioned as much gunk as we could out of her, ran into the bathroom and flipped on the shower to create a steam room to help break up all that crap.

This went on for about THREE FULL DAYS.

We cried. We were scared. We remained strong.

We knew that we were going to do Whatever It Takes to get her through this.

By the 5th day, it got so bad, we had no choice but to rush her back to the hospital 🏥 and get her on breathing treatment to bring her oxygen levels up.

Once we arrived, I told Kim that I would stay with Victoria the entire time and never leave her side. She needed to be home with our son, Jack, and I will keep her updated throughout on V’s status.

I didn’t want to see my wife cry again and I knew that I would be able to remain calm during some very scary touch and go points over the next 48-72 hours.

Victoria and I stayed in the hospital until December 26th, 2014.

Yep, that’s right we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the hospital together. 🎄

Even Santa came in that night, while we were sleeping, and dropped off a little gift for her to wake up to. 🎅 

It was very nice of the jolly old fella to make a quick pitstop for her. 😉

She ultimately recovered, thanks to an amazing staff and even though, she required an oxygen tank and breathing tube for the two weeks to follow…

…OUR BABY GIRL CAME HOME! 🙌

I’ll never forget those quiet moments we had alone together.

The time watching her in the hospital bed, talking to her and telling her how strong she was, and how I was so proud to be her Daddy-O. 😊

As scary as some of those moments were, right then and there, we had developed an unspeakable bond.

My daughter became more than just a daughter to me….

…She became my WHOLE HEART. 💞

Being a father is a huge responsibility.

Being a SUCCESSFUL father is an even greater responsibility.

Being a SUCCESSFUL GIRL DAD, though…. Now that is the BIGGEST responsibility of all.

• Show Up for Her

• Laugh with Her

• Color with Her

• Play with Her

• Talk with Her

• Guide Her

• Teach Her

• Love Her

BE A SUCCESS IN HER EYES.

BE HER HERO. 

If you would do Whatever It Takes to be a success for others, whether it’s your children or someone else, then use that same energy to be a success for yourself.

Whatever the perception of success looks like for you, take the time to get FOCUSED, HAPPY, and HEALTHY to achieve your DREAMS. 🤩

It’s not possible to make a positive impact for the long haul if you’re not in the right mindset to work on yourself.

You’re not getting any younger either, and time is flying at an incredible speed.

Whatever you’ve been thinking about that will change the trajectory of your life in a positive way, JUMP! 🦘

I’m giving you permission.  GO FOR IT. 🚀

Now is the time to start taking MASSIVE ACTION. 💥

P.S. Victoria’s Favorite OPPO FLOW Band is “Today is Your Day.”

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Until our next FLIGHT, enjoy Victoria’s pick for your YOUTUBE Video of the Week! 👇

Remember, Opportunity is Everywhere!!

Cheers! Steven

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