Half a dozen: Happy Father's Day!!!

A few nights ago I walked into my knitting group and one of the young ladies had her baby with her. She explained that her husband did not want to babysit and so she had to bring the baby. I guesse it showed on my face that I was shocked by her statement. She proceeded to say that when the baby was smaller the husband would babysit but would always call about a half hour into it asking her to come home. I commented that my house would have to be burning down or a child literally dying before my husband would call me when I was out having alone time. Not because I don't want him to call but because he realizes the importance of me having alone time sometimes more than I do. I guesse I must have made a few other comments about my husband because one of the ladies commented on how I "must have married a really great man". Youn know what? She's right, I did. Often times I will go over to someone's house or have the chance to observe couples interacting and I end up coming home and telling him how grateful I am that I have him for a husband. I am so fortunate to have this man in my life. He is the perfect companion for me and the perfect father for our children.

I think we have a picture of Matt in this position with all of our children. He loves his children so fiercely. While I don't neccesarilly think I am great at the baby stage, he truly is. He has an amazing way with babies (as many mothers who have let him "borrow" their babies can attest too). When I was breastfeeding Michael (The Baracuda child), I was very sore and bled every time he nursed. He would cry to be fed and I would cry in anticipation of the pain that nursing him would involve. Knowing how important it was to me that I breastfeed our children Matt would walk back and forth with Michael for how ever long it took for me to finally give in to feeding him, never once giving in to my pleading to feed him formula. He went on to breastfeed past his second birthday and I treasure those memories, possible because of a patient and dilligent father.

This picture is one of my absolute favorites. It was taken just moments after Sariah's birth. In it I imagine Sariah's fear and confusion at being in this strange environment. She looks at her father as if knowing that he will provide answers, comfort, and all the love that she will need. In his arms she feels comforted and secure. In this one moment he transends communication to tell her in a gaze that he will protect and cherish her from now until eternity.

It takes a willing and patient person to put up with me. Matt is just such a person. He not only puts up with all of my ideas and passions but he supports me in them. I see other mother's whose husbands balk at some of the things I now insist on, even when the mother has a strong desire to do certain things for her family. He has supported me through natural childbirth three times, supports us financially so that I have always had the choice to be a Stay-at-home-mom, he also supports my efforts to home school our children and not have them vaccinated without cause. He truly trusts my ability to do what is best for our children. In this picture you can see him crouched behind me. He stayed this way the whole time I was laboring beacause I would not let him move. As I was pushing I could feel his legs trembling with the strain of holding that position and as much as I knew he wanted to move I desperately needed him to stay right there, so stay he did, without ever once complaining.

I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is the best Dad I could have ever asked for to raise our children. I guesse in some ways I am jealous of the fact that my children do have such an awesome dad. Michael gave him a card that said "I love you because of tackle Daddy". Each day when the children discover that Matt has come home they all yell "tackle Daddy" and you hear the thundering of footsteps and the banshee yelling of children who are incredibly enthusiastic. Then they spend half-an-hour tackeling him and wrestling around on the floor, no matter what. Once in-awhile the children will be engrossed in something too fascinating for even "tackle Daddy" and you can tell how dissapointed Matt is.

Saturday and Sunday morning's are the best, the children come in and snuggle with us and while mom adjusts to haveing to wake up, Dad entertains them by tickling, giving rides on his legs, or playing hide-n-seek under the covers. It is amazing how much we all miss him on Monday whe he has to return to work. When he was in the Army he would save his leave so that he could take 30 days to be at home after I had a baby. Others said that it would drive them crazy to have their spouse at home 24/7 for that long a period of time, we all reveled in it.