Thoughts From a New Dad

This morning I got to sleep in until 7:30am. Sleep in you say? Well compared to 5am a couple of mornings ago, 7:30 was awesome. I actually woke up at 7 thinking that this morning might finally be the morning that they finally start sleeping longer, and I could have a little free time before they woke up. Well after sitting down to check my email for about 5 min my phone went off. It was Mary letting me know that it was time for me to take my shift, and once again I had to leave another task unfinished. It seems that I can't get anything done. Almost everything I start gets interrupted by a crying baby before I can finish. I am the king of the half unloaded dishwasher, the halfway dressed baby, the half written email, the half purchased boppy pillow on Amazon, the halfway mowed lawn, the half loaded car, the half made sandwich, or the halfway diapered baby that must wait while I burp the other halfway fed baby - meanwhile the halfway diapered baby pees halfway across the room. What a life.

This Sunday I will be blessing Grant and Avery in our ward. It will be the first father's blessings that I give my children, so I have been feeling a bit reflective this week as I have prepared for it. I have been thinking a lot about my life as a little boy growing up in Virginia and then in Colorado. I was blessed to grow up in a righteous happy home with tons of opportunities to feel loved, to grow, to make mistakes and to learn. My Virginia years were easy and carefree. I had lots of friends in our middle class neighborhood that I would swim with, ride bikes with, play cops and robbers with, and explore the woods with. When we moved to Colorado my carefree time was coming to an end. I got baptized the same month that we arrived, and I didn't know any of the other kids that got baptized that day. I had to start at a new elementary school and make new friends as a new 3rd grader. And then came the teenage years. I was a pretty good teenager, but there were things that went great for me and other things that I wish had gone a lot better.

I naturally want my kids to be able to avoid all the mistakes that I made, but at the same time have all the same love, opportunities and challenges that I had as well. I want them to be good readers, and learn to play nicely with all the other kids. I want them to be the smartest in their class, and bring home beaming report cards. I want them to know the scriptures and to feel and recognize the spirit at a young age. I want them to have faith and to be hard workers.

I love my kids and I am as proud a father as any. I feel so blessed to have these two health, happy, amazing children. I want the very best for them, and am going to do my best to give it to them.