My Husband as Daddy

I always knew Michael would be a great daddy, but he has far surpassed my expectations with Charlie! Watching him with our little boy makes me grin like a fool...usually I'm thankful he's looking at the baby, not at me. :)

He even changed the first diaper...his first diaper ever the day we picked Charlie up from the hospital. I've heard that some new dads have trouble bonding with their tiny babies because newborns seriously pretty much eat, poop, sleep, and repeat, which is not that exciting for dads. This has not been the case with Michael. He loves to hold the boy up close and talk to him. Charlie already turns his head to look when Michael talks.

Last night when he got home from work, Michael took Charlie from me. As he was holding his little boy, he said, "Oh you are one handsome little lad, yes you are." That made me smile, and made my heart melt a little.

Of the two of us, Michael was quite a bit more reluctant to turn the corner towards adoption, back when we made that momentous decision. I had to do my fair share of pushing to get him to come towards me. In fact, if it had been up to me alone, we would have started the process much sooner than we did. I think he had a lot of (typical) fears about whether or not he would be able to truly fall in love with a baby that wasn't biologically linked to us. The very first day we were with Charlie, I could see that was not going to be the case. I already knew that in theory, but you always have the little niggling voice in the back of your mind that wonders how it's really going to be once your time comes. I can honestly say that with Charlie, it was love at first sight for both of us.

I am amazed at how gentle Michael is with Charlie. I never thought my husband would worry that much about whether or not our baby pooped, or how much he was eating, but I get those questions every day.

One of the very first presents "Charlie" bought me was this really cool baby gadget called the Itzbeen. It's an electronic doodad that helps keep track of baby activities. We've used it a lot, especially in the middle of the night when neither of us knows which end is up.

Speaking of the middle of the night, that's the other thing...Michael is almost always awake before me when Charlie cries. He's always been a lighter sleeper than me, but still...I imagined that I would be the primary one to hear/worry about the baby in the wee hours, which hasn't been the case.

It's really been great. Michael and Charlie were both very thoughtful on Mother's Day. Michael says Charlie picked out all my gifts, which consisted of some new stepping stones for my garden, a lovely pink rose bush, a "herb garden in a pot" plant, and some cheesecake...which is my all-time favorite dessert. I'm pretty sure I could get used to this!

I've also learned new things about my hubby these past couple of weeks. Who knew that in Britain, snaps are called "pops," clothes pins are called clothes "pegs," diapers are called nappys, and pacifiers are called dummys? (which, BTW, is short for dummy tit, ha!)

Life is good and we are so happy and so blessed!