becoming daddy

Best birthday present from the best wife ever (Taken with...

Sun, 27 May 2012 17:47:46 -0400

Best birthday present from the best wife ever (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Dear Vera

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:32:00 -0400

Happy Birthday! It’s hard to believe that you’ve been here for an entire year! Sometimes, I can’t even picture what life was like without you, and yet sometimes it seems like only yesterday we were all crowded around Momma and meeting you for the first time.

One of my old friends said that having a daughter is extra special for a Daddy. I haven’t decided yet if that’s true, because both you and your brother are both equally — if not slightly differently — wonderful. But there are definitely the things about you that make you so special.

When you are happy (which is usually), you open your mouth in the widest smile possible. It’s as if you have too much joy and you simply have to share it or else you’ll explode. And share you do; it’s simply impossible not to smile along with you.

You love to laugh … at Sally, at your big brother, at Pastor Dean, at Papa and Grampa and everyone else, but when you laugh with me it sounds a little different. Maybe I’m just being selfish, but I hope you keep that laugh forever as you grow up into a beautiful girl, young woman and adult.

This year is going to be different as you move from being The Baby to being a big sister, but like I told your Momma, you’ll *always* be my Baby.

Love, Daddy

On my way! (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:04:35 -0400

On my way! (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

“sissy, like this: bang Bang BANG” (Taken with...

Thu, 03 May 2012 22:44:47 -0400

“sissy, like this: bang Bang BANG” (Taken with instagram)

“it’s bumper-to-bumper in the Tunnel…”...

Wed, 02 May 2012 19:55:04 -0400

“it’s bumper-to-bumper in the Tunnel…” (Taken with instagram)

Faster! Faster! Mush! (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:06:22 -0400

Faster! Faster! Mush! (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

New year - same traffic jam (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:18:09 -0400

New year - same traffic jam (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Dear Momma

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:40:00 -0400

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!! We wanted to tell you how you are the bestest momma in the whole wide world!!!! Thank you for always helping us do stuff, even when it’s gross. Thank you for letting us use your shoulder and your leg and your sleeve as a napkin or a kleenex, especially lately when we were both really sick and snotty.

Thank you for being so cuddly when we don’t feel good. Sometimes sitting with you on the couch is teh best medicine!

Thank you for always knowing what we want, like when we are tired and in bed but won’t go to sleep or lay down. You always know if we just want water or to have our blankies a special way. and you always tuck us in better than Daddy.

Thank you for always wanting things to be pretty and clean and special. You worked so hard to make our bedrooms so fun and special and just for us.

and thank you for laughing with us so much. Daddy says that you have a special laugh just for us, and it’s one of his most favoritest things about you. He says that your whole face just lights up when you get home from work, even when you’re tired.

Most of all, thank you for being the most beautiful and wonderful and incredible mother I have ever seen (and for being Daddy’s bestest friend! He couldn’t do it without you. we may be little, but even we know that)

Love, Amos and Vera (and Daddy)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:15:20 -0400

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! (Taken with instagram)

Dear Amos

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:37:52 -0500

Yesterday, your Momma and I dropped you off at preschool for the first time. We had always planned on keeping you at home until kindergarten, but it’s best for you and your learning if you get a little jump on school. We got a little list of school supplies, stuffed your monster backpack with your things, and off we went down the road for your first day.

We were early, so we could meet your teachers and see your classroom again, and then we headed back outside where the official drop-off is. You loved seeing the buses there dropping off the kids, and you held your teacher’s hand as she walked up to get another student. Of course, being Amos, you also pulled away and sprinted back down the sidewalk … but you were just coming to get me. When it was time, you held her hand and marched away with the other kids around the corner and out of sight.

You were scared — that, we could see. You looked back a couple times, and it was clear that you were unsure of this new development. But you were so brave. You went and had a great time with your new teachers and your new friends and you were excited to go back today.

I was less excited; you’re my little boy! It was hard to think about you growing up and walking away. I had the same pang in the pit of my stomach today when you went around that same corner and out of my sight again. It’s the pang that every parent feels the first time their kids go spend the night somewhere or go away to camp or the first time they have to leave their kids with a sitter. It’s the pang that every parent felt near the end of Toy Story 3 when Andy’s mom is looking at his empty room and realizes that it’s all true; he really is leaving.

This pang doesn’t happen because we don’t want you to grow up; it’s because every parent can see their child with two sets of eyes. We see you as the boy, adolescent, man that you are in this moment, but we also see you as you were … as a newborn, a crawler, first learning to walk, first learning to talk. Every time there’s a first time (and sometimes for the second time and sometimes for the fortieth time), we have flashbacks to your smiles and tears and bumps and bruises. I don’t know if it goes away (you’re still just a little guy), but I hope not.

Love, Daddy

Moi? (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:02:27 -0500

Moi? (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Merry Christmas

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:58:01 -0500

Merry Christmas

Dear Amos and Vera

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:09:33 -0500

Ever since your Momma told me that you kids were going to have a younger brother or sister, I’ve been very afraid. I was very happy with our lives as we know it; we were getting by (if not ahead), and we all had our routines built around our lives with each other. But a new sibling for you means lots of changes are coming—changes to your Momma and my work schedules, less (or no) daycare (which you both like very very much), a new car, shared rooms … all sorts of problems that you probably won’t worry about but adults seem to think are very important. This, combined with our new, smaller income has kept me up on Craigslist and LinkedIn and CareerBuilder for many more nights than is really healthy.

Today, the three of us did some grocery shopping, and then we stopped by to see Momma on the way home (mostly, I must admit, due to the fact that I locked myself out of our house). You two were asleep, so Momma came out to the car. She immediately asked to get something out of the trunk, and when she finally finished rooting around in there, she emerged with a handful of groceries to give to an acquaintance in need. I realized that if I had been asked, I would have happily grabbed a loaf of bread or something of equal value that probably seemed generous and useful but was also, well, cheap. But your Momma grabbed eggs, bread, milk, tortillas … all sorts of actual things that are going to be really helpful for this family.

The point isn’t really the “what” of what she gave, it’s that she gave no thought to neither the amount of what she was giving as well as the fact that it would have never occurred to her to *not* give it. See, while i was feeling sorry for myself, your Momma was looking for opportunities to bless others. It is one of the things that I love most about her; she is truly one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met.

There’s going to be lots of things that you both learn from us, both good and bad, but I truly pray that you both take the lessons that your Momma is constantly teaching about generosity, care and concern for others, and constantly being on the lookout to do something special for others. Today was an excellent class.

Love, Daddy

best Superbowl ad ever. “Hey, Janice”

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:58:50 -0500

best Superbowl ad ever.

“Hey, Janice”

Look at that swagger from my kids and my new nephew. (Taken...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:37:52 -0500

Look at that swagger from my kids and my new nephew. (Taken with instagram)

I haz a sad. Honda has ruined one of the greatest movies of...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:23:27 -0500

I haz a sad.

Honda has ruined one of the greatest movies of all time.

Some kids sleep with stuffed animals. My son, however …...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:16:53 -0500

Some kids sleep with stuffed animals. My son, however … (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

“object in the rear view mirror are closer than they...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:38:02 -0500

“object in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear” (Taken with instagram)

Snow days lead to the best train tracks (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:45:24 -0500

Snow days lead to the best train tracks (Taken with instagram)

Snow Tree (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:15:08 -0500

Snow Tree (Taken with Instagram at The Nutt House)