Father’s day is a chance to celebrate all things, DAD. We all know that “daddy’s way” can sometimes be the good, other times bad, and often times funny. Their unconventional ways of caring for our young can be comical at times. I’ll bet we’ve all been guilty of criticizing them. Yes, dads may let our kids pee on the flower beds, dress the little ones in mismatched clothes, or pretend to be asleep in the middle of the night while the baby is crying, but they sure do bring a lot of joy to the home when things are crazy hectic.
They always know how to make all the cuts, scrapes, bumps and falls seem just fine because they don’t over react when our kids hurt themselves. (Something I know way too much about with 3 sons.) But let’s be real. Sometimes dads have a “special” way of taking care of the kids or handling situations that we mothers wouldn’t dare do. So in light of Father’s Day, I’d like to share a couple of dad stories in honor of our men for being our support and keeping us laughing.
Let’s begin with how my husband took “the news” we were having twins. As I lay on the table unable to view the screen, my husband and the ultrasound tech became silent. They glanced back and forth at one another and back to the screen. I became nervous. I thought something was wrong. After what felt like an eternity, the tech says, “well you probably didn’t expect this, but you have TWO babies in there.” My reaction was quite different from my husband’s. He was calm, cool and collected. His first words were, “well we have a full basketball team now. ” Really, I thought, that’s really what you are thinking right now?? Not once did he seem upset about this. And, if I am honest, I was quite upset. My mind raced with all sorts of questions, scary scenarios, and awful imagines of a massively huge belly that I was not yet ready to be excited about. I was in shock really. But it was that day that I knew that if anyone could handle such a large fatherly task, it would be him just by seeing the pure joy on his face. And the same happened with my own father. As I told him the news and shared with him my worries, my dad was gitty and excited. Not only did he tell me I could handle it, but he made me believe I would be the best twin mommy in the world.
Aren’t you glad God created men who may inwardly worry about things, but outwardly hold it all together for the sake of their daughters/wives in order to bring serenity and humor to situations that seem far too big for us to handle? In that ultrasound room at that moment, having twins did seem far too big for me to handle, but seeing my two favorite men in the world so composed chased away all my fears. Don’t you love how dads have a magical way of doing that?!
We often get asked how we “survived” when we brought TWO newborns home to a house with an attention-seeking-3-year-old. It was all kind of a blur. We lived minute by minute just to get through that challenging stage. But really how I got through it without too many meltdowns is because my husband was all hands on deck. He definitely did some things I would never have done. Like when he used a hair dryer to dry the baby’s wet nightgown instead of just changing his clothes. Or when he used multiple feeding props so he could fall back asleep, and “swaddled” the baby by tying a shoestring around the blanket. Then there was the time he watched with laughter as one baby peed on the other sleeping baby. (Ugh, sadly that happened more than I’d like to admit).
I’ll confess that I was quite critical of his ways. But he was just exactly what I needed to get us through those long sleepless nights. I may still be critical of the way he handles things, but I am learning more every day how to appreciate him for his “daddy ways.”
How many times have we been too critical of our husband’s way of doing things? Yes, they may “bathe” our kids by throwing them in the pool, give them cake for breakfast, or let them jump off dangerously high objects, but they love their kids just as much as we do, and our kids live through it. So let’s make our dads feel extra special this Father’s Day. Let’s thank them for keeping us laughing on the days we want to cry. Let’s celebrate the fact that when we see problems, they find solutions. When we panic, they are resilient. When we worry, they can somehow make us smile. Thank them for being our support system and doing things “daddy’s way.”
I’d love to hear stories of the ways the dads in your life have done things “daddy’s way.” The good, the bad, and the funny…comment below!
