Father's Day

In the spirit of Father's Day this weekend I'm taking today to shower praise on my partner in this parenting journey.  I know I gush about Nate a lot on this blog, but he deserves every bit of praise and accolades that I give him.  He is an amazing husband - but he is an equally amazing father.

It's funny, he was ready for parenthood much sooner than I was and wanted to be a dad rather badly, but he confessed to me before Ollie was born that he feared being a good dad.  I think that is a natural feeling that all parents - moms and dads alike - experience before their children are born.  But his fears were truly unfounded.  He is a total complete natural.  Right from the start he jumped and got his hands dirty right away.  When Ollie was a newborn, Nate got up at night with me at every feeding to help change diapers so I could get a little break, even after he went back to work.  He was a pro at swaddling, he could rock and bop Ollie to sleep faster than anyone else.  He did tons of research on how to introduce Ollie to solid food and cooked countless meals for him, often staying up late to get stuff pureed and froze.  
This hasn't changed now that Ollie is older.  Nate and Ollie have an incredible bond. Nate takes on the bath time routine each night and it's so cute listening to the two of them playing together and bonding. He is patient, he'll read Ollie the book he wants 15 times in a row if it comes to that.  He never complains if I have a night with the girls or some other event that takes me away from the house.  He often times takes responsibility for being the one to help Ollie with his food if we're out at a restaurant.  He does all this because he truly wants to and I think we make a great team - I'm so lucky to have him as my partner!

And of course, Ollie loves his daddy just as much as his daddy loves him.  He asks about daddy all day long and while he dishes out love to all of us very sweetly with his "I yove yous", the first person he truly said it to was his daddy and he has even said "I yove my dada".  So I think Ollie feels just as lucky as I do that Nate is his daddy.  We're very blessed.

Happy Father's Day to all dads, those who wish they were dads, those missing their dads, dads of fur children and to those who simply support dads!  Have a wonderful weekend!