Thoughts on my first fathers day

Hello to everyone on a very special day for me and our family. My first fathers day!

All of you that know Keli know that is she is extremely sentimental and full of love. I knew she would put a lot of effort in to making today special. It started with a great breakfast at Mimi's cafe. Her old college friend Tara had visited yesterday and joined us for breakfast before heading out. After a nice breakfast, we headed to "Fantasy of Flight." It is very close to our house and I had always wanted to go, so I was very excited. We toured the museum portion and got to watch a small air show with WW I era planes. Finally we headed home so I could catch the rest of the Cardinals game and receive my gift. She did such a great job. She ordered a hard bound book with a story she wrote and was filled with pictures of MJ. It is something I will treasure forever.

Of course today has been a day of reflection also. Being a father was not quite the immediate overwhelming joy I expected. The love is overwhelming. I knew that the very first day as I sobbed at his bedside. As a father you immediately want to make things better for your son. I could not to do that. Even when we were able to come home I immediately had to go back to work. I think that lack of time together and his complete dependence on Keli really slowed our bonding process. That made me very sad. I had waited for this for so long. Luckily, I am very happy with our bonding 3 months later. He is growing so rapidly. I had a story that I started reading to him in November. I read it to the belly every night before bed, even on the few nights we were apart those final months I read to him through the phone. Well, I continued to read the story sporadically after his birth but we obviously lacked a routine. When he reached about two months of age we began a bed time routine that included reading him the story every night again. To me that was a huge turning point. That very first night when I started reading our story, his little face lit up, he cooed, smiled, and laughed at me the entire time. It tickles me pink that this is now part of his routine. Essentially every single night as he goes to bed I get an eruption of smiles, laughing, and oogly eyes. It makes my heart melt every time.

Overall, we are both just so thankful. I sometimes feel like we over dramatize those first 16 days. After all, he is home, he is healthy, and lord knows he is growing just fine. We have so much to be thankful for. We have such a happy marriage, our friends and family our extremely healthy overall, we both have achieved success in our careers, and we have a support system many people can only dream about. So do we over dramatize, in my heart I know we don't. It was painful, very painful. But those memories are growing fainter every day. It is just great to be a dad. To share that with my dad, and with his dad. I hope everyone had as great a day as we did. Thank you Keli!