Celebrating Father's Day

My husband and I always knew that we wanted to have children.  Yet, once they came along I think parenting and being a Dad was more difficult than my husband expected.  A lot of things in life come very easily to him, but parenting was HARD!  Going through some of those tough, but amazing times by his side though has helped me gain such a better appreciation of the father who he is today and how much he has grown over the past 5 1/2 years.

Here are a few things that I love about my husband as a Father to our children and some things that we have learned along the way!

1.  He Forms Relationships with Our Children Differently Than I Do

With each new baby that is brought into our family I gush with an outpour of love and probably hormones.  Instantaneously I cannot imagine my life without this little one and my life is forever changed.  Now, I am not saying that my husband does not love our babies and connect with them, but I have learned in time it is definitely in a different way and sometimes on a different time table.  The biggest thing that I have learned is THAT IS OK! 

All of our babies have loved breastfeeding and have breast feed on demand around the clock for months!  With my husband's crazy work schedule as a physician I have always gotten up at night with our babies.  I see now how much more our babies NEED me and are simply around me more than him.  This "lack" of time that our babies used to have with my husband used to bother me.  Yet it was not a lack of quality, just a different quantity of time.  I see now that his connection and relationship as a Father with each child is just growing in a different way.

Now when we add babies to our family my husband is a ROCKSTAR at entertaining and making our other children feel truly special when I need to focus my attention on the new baby. 

2.  He Plays Differently

I am with our children for a majority of the time between staying at home and homeschooling them.  We love to cuddle, read books, go swimming, make crafts, do puzzles, but when they are with their Dad playtime is completely different.  I used to helicopter over my husband with his parenting but I have learned how FANTASTIC his way of playing with our children is for him and for all of them.  He gets down on the ground a lot more than I do to physically interact if it is playing sports or simply rough housing with them.  He puts on their favorite songs for a dance party in the living room.  He goes out of his way on his way home from work to pick up a special treat or toy to surprise them.  He throws them super high like a rocket in the swimming pool!  All of these things are different than what I might do and they love it! 

 

 

3.  He Shows Our Children That Our Marriage Comes First

 

My husband is really good at loving our children, but is also awesome at making sure than he and I have time to connect.  Sometimes he is very busy with work and I want him to spend time with the kids when he is finally home and he instead will plan a date night.  There have been times that I wish he would just rather re-connect with our children, but then he helps re-focus me how important it is for our marriage, our family, and especially our boys to see him prioritize our marriage.  He is a fantastic role model for our boys and I know they will look back to their childhood and be able to take tips from him to bring into their own marriages or parenting.

 

 

4.  He Gets to Know Them Individually

 

All of our children have very different personalities, different hobbies, different likes and dislikes and my husband is great at connecting with each of them at their level.  We started something earlier this year where at the end of each week one of the children get to go out on a special date with Dad.  Usually it is just something small like going to get ice cream, playing at a park or play place, picking out a new ball and glove at the sports store, etc.  The kids love their one and one time with Dad and I know it is really great for him as well.  Usually when he walks in the door from work he is bombarded with hugs and "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!!!" followed by 3 little voices trying to share all of the stories of the day.  It is so great for him to have this special focused time to hear what is on their minds and get to know their hearts a little better!

 

 

 

5.  He Is A Great Role Model

 

My husband is a fantastic role model for our children, which I think is especially important right now when we have all boys!  He is a very hard worker and always determined to do the best at everything that he does.  Our children see this in him and always talk about how Daddy is "helping the people" as an Emergency Room Physician.  He is a great leader in our faith and has gotten so great at sitting with the big kids during mass if I need to take little ones out for a while.  More importantly he shows them by example what it is to be a faith filled servant of God.  He shows them how to treat others with respect, how to use their manners and how to have fun!  He is a fantastic man and we will be so lucky and blessed if our sons grow up like their father!

 

 

Happy Fathers Day!!!