To My Kids, Thank You for Making Me a Dad

The Last Day

Six years ago around this time my wife and I were gearing up for the birth of our first child. I am pretty sure we already had the nursery painted and a collection of everything we would need for our baby girl. Physically, we were ready for this kid to make her grand appearance. Mentally, we were no where near ready to become parents. Sure we had some semblance of experience from being an awesome aunt and uncle but being ultimately responsible for our own human, that was something I don’t think we were ever ready for.

Thanks Baby

The day finally came for our daughter’s arrival. Our unpreparedness showed as we did not have a “go bag” ready, we forgot our camera, and were just overall not ready. Six hours later, Abby popped her little head out. Being a couple of novices at this whole parenting thing, we got our first scare just a few moments after Abby’s birth. She didn’t start crying immediately like you see on T.V. This scared us, but the nurse told us not to worry, she was OK, except she got a little meconium in her and the nurses had to help clear all of that out.

Cries finally filled the area where our beautiful daughter was being cleaned up. Never have I ever fell in love so fast. Before her birth I already knew I loved my daughter, but when you finally have that chance to see your child in real life and not through a ultra-sound screen everything changes. It was at that point that I became a real dad. With the meconium and everything else all cleaned off of my tiny daughter, I took her in my arms and thanked her for making me a daddy.

Abby and Daddy

Watching her grow into a little lady over the years has been filled with joy. Hearing her first word (dada), watching her take her first steps, and taking her to her first baseball game are all memories that wouldn’t be possible without her and because of that they will be treasured forever. Listening to Abby sing-a-long to songs and watching her create amazing artwork makes me realize just how thankful I am for this little girl. I see her personality growing into a little mini me and it just fills my heart with so much joy. Thank you Abby for making me a dad. I could not have done it without you (and of course mom).

Pampers, which has always been a big part of my toolkit when it comes to raising my kids, has released a new #ThanksBaby video that I think is great and beautifully captures the journey of fatherhood as it begins.

Years later I never thought I would be experiencing the same feelings again that I did the day my daughter was born, but I guess history is capable of repeating itself which is exactly what happened the day my son was born. This time however, we were more prepared. I had the bag and camera ready. When you become a father, preparedness becomes ingrained in your mind. But in reality, nothing can prepare you for fatherhood, except having a child.

Alex

Our son Alex was a born stuntman and immediately started stealing hearts. He has grown up so fast and has dad wrapped around his finger with his “I sowry, it a ackident” when he gets caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing, like jumping on the couch or crawling into bed to sleep next to daddy just about every night. He loves his toys and has an imagination that can be envied by all. The little guy just melts my heart. Even though I know I will get some crumby sleep, how could I say no to this little cutie’s snuggles. Thank you Alex, you have taught me how unconditional love can be so amazing. You also taught me how to worry non-stop with your stuntman antics which you so eloquently call “magic tricks”. Your heart is as big as your bravery and I love that you’ve taught me to just go with it once again. You and your sister are me and your mom’s everything and I cannot thank you two enough for making me your dad. I love you both!

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When a baby is born, a dad is born. This Father’s Day share using the hashtag #ThanksBaby to give thanks to those babies that have made us the dads we are today. Because of them we have grown in life as dads that do what needs to be done to help those little babies have a better, loving, more fulfilling lives. I know it is going to be a sad day when my two leave the house, but at least they will finally be out of Pampers and maybe one day in the far future they will have children of their own and I can share my fatherly wisdom with them on how best to share a bed with a toddler.

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Disclosure: I have partnered with Life of Dad  and Pampers for this promotion. Check out www.pampers.com and be sure to follow them on social media to learn more about Pampers products, join the Pampers Rewards program, and find ideas and information to help your baby get the most out of love, sleep and play.

Website – http://www.pampers.com/en-us

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Pampers

Twitter – https://twitter.com/pampers

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pampersus/

Our Beauty and The Beast Screening

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When starting this blog I wasn’t sure how I was going to come up with topics to write about as time progressed on. But after going at it for a couple years now I have found that I have plenty to write about, particularly about some of the opportunities that have presented themselves such as this particular event.

Working with Life of Dad and Disney, I had an amazing opportunity to host a Beauty and The Beast screening for the new Blu-ray that was released on June 6 (buy it!). My daughter loves Belle and all that she is capable of and when I asked her if she would like to have a big movie party she was immediately excited and her little mind started turning over ideas of what we could do.

Some of her ideas were too grand. Believe me, I think it would have been awesome to rent out a ballroom and have a beautiful celebration, however, this is going to be setup in my backyard, so the ballroom is going to be out of realm of possibilities. We were able to setup lights and decorations, along with a big screen to show the movie.

With a handful of kids, my wife and I hosted a fantastic screening of the movie. We had lots of candy, popcorn, glow sticks, and even a photo booth. There’s not much more to say about the screening other than the movie is worth picking up and thank you Life of Dad and Disney for this opportunity to screen the movie!

Check out the photos from our event and be sure to pick up your copy of Beauty and The Beast which is now available wherever Blu-rays are sold!

 

The #CheeriosChallenge 2017

#CheeriosChallenge Twitter Chat

Last year Life of Dad started something amazing called the #CheeriosChallenge. This year it is back and St. Louis Dad has joined in on the fun. You can get in on the action as well by posting your favorite photos of you or your family trying out the #CheeriosChallenge!

Here are some of my favorite pictures that I have come up with during this awesome challenge. Take any of your own? Link them below in the comments!

Introducing the Life of Dad App!

lod-logo-tmMy buddies over at Life of Dad have announced that their app has finally been released in the iOS and Android stores! The app is great and includes just about everything from the main Life of Dad website as well as an awesome ability to take photos and add some really cool filters to the amazing photos you take. I used the Beauty and The Beast filters for our screening a few weekends ago and I was very impressed with how easy the app is to use.

As mentioned the app is available for free for iOS and Android, so be sure to search it out and download. It’s free, what else could you be waiting for?

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