I still remember writing when my daughter's smile and her crawling was an incredible thing to see.
A year ago I never could have imagined the incredible feeling each time she sees me walking into a room, points at me, smiles and yells "DADDY!" The adorable crawl I loved so much has been replaced by a full fledged sprint that ends with a hug for me as she pats me on the back. That's all it takes to wipe away all the pressures and stresses of the day.
There have also been plenty of challenges this year including ear infections, teeth that took their sweet time coming in and any number of other things. All that put a definite dent in the sleeping abilities of the parents in the house and that trend continued on Saturday morning.
For reasons I'll likely understand the little angel decided that 2:30 in the morning was plenty late enough to sleep. The strange thing was as much as I would have loved to have been asleep in bed there was something satisfying about being there for her and helping to make her happy in the middle of the night.
I heard a song on the radio on Friday about a dad that really hit what I feel about my nearly two years of being a father. The lyrics said, "That's my job. That's what I do. Everything I do is because of you. To keep you safe with me, that's my job you see." The song is by a country artist named Conway Twitty and he seems to have hit the nail right on the head.
If there's one thing I've learned over the past 22 months it's that there's nothing I wouldn't do for my daughter. There's nothing I wouldn't do to keep her happy, keep her safe and keep her comfortable. Even if it means less sleep for me, if it means she is happy then that really is all I need to know.
Father's Day will always be the day I give thanks to the fathers in my life be they biological, step, in-law or grand. Much like last year, I'm especially thankful to this little bundle of joy snuggled up on my arm who has no idea I'm writing about her and how she has made my life infinitely better in just a short period time.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!
