This is the mischievous kid who put newborn kittens in the mailbox for the mailman, poked holes in his water bed just to see what was inside, poured a container of bleach on the laundry room carpet, turned on the iron (face down) on our parents’ wooden dresser, called his big sister “mom” and cried when she went off to college, stuck out his tongue in his school pictures, loves No-Bake cookies, reads mind-boggling theological books, writes amazing science fiction (I think that is what he would call his writings), and makes everyone laugh.
Happy Valentine’s Day to my best friend, Dave. This is Valentine’s Day #15 for us. I hope we have 50+ more! Thanks for loving me and our girls so much. I love you.
Nine days ago, you arrived in this world in a flash! This first week with you seems to have gone by just as quickly. You are changing before our very eyes and it’s so exciting to watch you grow.
I know you can’t read yet but I don’t want to miss this opportunity to tell you a few things. These are things I tell your sisters often. You need to know them as well:
I love you bigger than the entire universe! I will never be a perfect father but please know that I really do love you and am working really hard to be the best dad possible.
Your mom and I are the luckiest people in the entire world because we get to be your mommy and daddy and your sisters’ mommy and daddy. Sometimes I pinch myself just to make sure I’m not simply dreaming.
God has an amazing plan for your life. It may or may not be the plan you have for your own life but I promise you that His plan is good. You don’t want to miss it!
Here is a short film I made especially for you. I’m pretty sure that you’ll be embarrassed by it long before you appreciate it. But I do hope that you appreciate it someday. I plan on making a bunch of these to help capture your life story.
When Lauren discovered her first loose tooth a couple of weeks ago, she did not eat much of anything for a day and a half. She was so worried she would swallow her tooth. Thankfully, she got over that fear. Today, the tooth came out. She was so proud. Maybe it’s just postpartum hormones for me and sympathy hormones for Dave, but we both got tears in our eyes. Our little girl keeps growing up.
We are in the midst of the brand-new-baby-sleep-deprivation stage but I wanted to share a bit about Hope’s birth. Don’t worry, nothing graphic!
Hope decided to arrive very, very quickly. So quickly that I didn’t get my beloved epidural, didn’t get the antibiotics for group B strep, and my doctor had to run to the room. I’m just glad we made it to the hospital. And I’m glad I was in the labor and delivery room and Hope wasn’t born in the elevator. I don’t remember much of what happened but I do remember the nurse yelling, “Dr. Apgar, we are about to have a delivery!” I’m not normally a crier or screamer but I think I was doing a lot of both! After a few pushes, I yelled, “I CAN’T do this!!! How much longer????” My doctor said, “One push and this baby will be born.” It was two pushes but I’ll forgive her.
And yes, Dr. Apgar is related to the Dr. Apgar who invented the Apgar scale. Hope scored a 9 on that scale.
Despite the pain of a non-medicated birth (ouch!), Hope’s birth really couldn’t have gone better and now we have a beautiful little girl. Three beautiful little girls. My cup runneth over!
NY Grandma has been insisting for weeks that Hope would be born Saturday, January 30th because of the full moon. NY Grandma is smart like that! Allison also guessed January 30 on the Anyone Want to Guess post. Congrats to both of you!
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Allison also guessed January 30 on the 