What Makes a Good Dad GREAT
My husband and I have completely different styles of parenting. I’m high strung and stress out over every bump, bruise and scratch but I’m also not afraid of tough love. He’s more laid back and relaxed when it comes to how he parents but hates saying no. With us being opposite it gives Carter the perfect parenting duo. He’s involved, hands on and never hesitates to give me a break when he can tell I need it most. Father’s Day is this Sunday and when I first started this post I was going in a different direction, discussing how he’s a great dad and how Carter [already] has so much admiration for him. (He seriously worships the ground he walks on.) That being said, after searching for photos I couldn’t help but look back on the memories we have already made in the 15 months with Carter. I want to share what I think what makes a good dad great with a few of my favorite Carter and Daddy moments.
- The first time he was able to hold Carter. After Carter was born, he was whisked off to the NICU (dad following behind). That night only one of us was allowed to hold him, which I took in an instant. My husband wasn’t actually able to hold him until the next day. I was so excited for this to happen.
Coming back to our NICU “station” to find the two of them sleeping while doing Kangaroo Care. This is one of my favorite photos. For those of you who don’t know, Kangaroo Care is skin to skin. It provides amazing benefits to all babies but especially those are have a little big of a fight ahead of them.- Another NICU memory: After two weeks off to visit Carter everyday (and stay with me at the Ronald McDonald House), he had to get back to work. After two days away, he couldn’t go any longer without seeing him so he drove to come see us and Carter couldn’t stop staring. It was obvious they missed each other and I caught the moment. After that, Eric came almost every day during the week (always stayed on the weekends) for an hour or two and then turned back around to head back home. Dedication.
The MANY times they have fallen asleep together. I have so many photos of this frequent occurrence, but here is a favorite.
Reading Carter “The Night Before Christmas” for the first time on Christmas Eve.
Coming back to our NICU “station” to find the two of them sleeping while doing Kangaroo Care. This is one of my favorite photos. For those of you who don’t know, Kangaroo Care is skin to skin. It provides amazing benefits to all babies but especially those are have a little big of a fight ahead of them.
The MANY times they have fallen asleep together. I have so many photos of this frequent occurrence, but here is a favorite.
Reading Carter “It’s the little things that make a good dad great. Great dads are there for their children: to read to them, help wipe tears, to teach them and give them their own special way of parenting that moms cannot do. A great dad is also their for their partner. They take over after a tough day when mom needs fifteen minutes (or an hour or two) to herself.
What’s your favorite Father and Son/Daughter moment?
Love all the cute photos! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you 🙂 I love these photos as well. Memories!
Oh I adore that first picture of kangaroo care! So special!!!
My favorite moments are just when my Husband is holding our daughter and you can see that look of complete adoration in his eyes. Oh it just melts my heart. I have a lot of those pictures.
I’m such a sap; I totally teared up! Great post, Randa!
Thank you 🙂 I teared up writing it.
Daddy’s are pretty freaking awesome 🙂 I love watching dd and daddy play video games strangely enough… they are so cute and they both curl their toes the same way 🙂
I love all the adorable moments. I have many pics of my son sleeping on his dad as a baby. Such precious memories!
Thank-you for giving dads their props!
Your hubby seems like an amazing and caring dad, that is awesome!!
Mitch
I love when my daughter felt asleep on my husband for the first time, it was so cute!
This is so sweet 🙂 I love seeing my hubby interacting with out kids, I feel so blessed and I know that he is an awesome dad!
You brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. Great dads are something to treasure and celebrate every day.
Aw, those are super cute photos and great memories! I’ve also got MANY pictures of my hubby sleeping with our daughters – which I think is super cute but he wonders why I keep taking sleeping pictures. 🙂 One of my favourite pics of my hubby and our oldest daughter is him holding her at the hospital too. Thanks for sharing!
My hubby also wasn’t able to hold our oldest right away. He was almost a week old the first time daddy got to hold him 🙁 thanks for sharing the photo’s!
Love all the pictures! What an amazing dad your hubby is 🙂
Having a supportive husband & father makes a huge difference. I love the first picture!