A Good Daddy

I can’t exactly call him the unsung hero because (when it comes to his wife anyway) he’s been “sung” plenty of times, but he’s a hero nonetheless, and it’s almost Father’s Day. I’ve been wanting to do a “husband appreciation” post for a while now, and what better time than Father's Day weekend.

I’m always thankful for my husband. Anyone reading here knows that. But I am more thankful than maybe I’ve ever been this postpartum season.

He's stepped up after every baby is born . . . to take care of the house, and the baby, and me. This time seemed extra involved though.

After Alec was born, the dishes got done, and the laundry was kept after, but I distinctly remember walking out into the kitchen and finding crumbs on the counter. For everything Eric was doing, I couldn’t help but notice such a simple thing that he wasn’t doing. (Bad wife, I know.) And I somewhat guiltily got a dishrag and cleaned the counter. It was harder for me then to just sit quietly and let someone else do my work. I’d never been in that position before, and it wasn’t easy. And then Eric went back to work three days postpartum, and I floundered, in both my mind and my house.

After Sebastian was born, not only did the dishes and laundry get done, but that sweet little Alec who had always wanted his mommy was suddenly a daddy’s boy, and I about couldn’t stand it. I cried because it felt like such a night-and-day difference. Eric took good care of him, such good care that my little one-year-old didn’t even seem to mind that his mom had a new little boy. And then Eric went back to work three days postpartum, and my sister Dora arrived with all her household and toddler expertise, and I floundered in my mind but at least not in my house.

Then came baby #3. With this baby I was scared enough of postpartum that before we ever got pregnant, I told Eric that the only way we were having another baby was if he would take two weeks off work. He’s always said he’ll take one, although we can see from past experiences that that wasn’t ever actually the case. He agreed to the two weeks, but we both knew I wouldn’t hold him to it when the time came. 😊 Good thing too, because I think when it came down to it, there he was, back to work on day three, just like every other time. (To be fair, it was only a partial day of work, and he did take a little more time off after that. 😊)

It felt different this time though. I wasn’t floundering in my mind, for the first time postpartum ever. And thanks to Eric and a few others, I wasn’t floundering in my house either. My mom came and folded a bunch of laundry and made us supper. Renae came and mopped all my floors. Eric’s mom brought us what felt like meal after meal and babysat the boys quite a few times. Katrina and Karina brought us food. Dora, while trying to stay afloat with school and work, made us lunch and came as much as she could to hold the baby and play with the boys and lift our spirits when three little boys to one mom felt like too much to handle. And Abby . . . if Dora was my angel-in-disguise after Sebastian was born, Abby was certainly it after Emmett was born. She made us supper a couple different evenings, and she also came over quite a few times to sweep floors and clean bathrooms and do dishes and fold laundry and play with the boys and hold the baby.

And behind and before and around all of that . . . was Eric.

I told him at one point that he was taking care of the house as well as I would’ve been. There were no crumbs on the counters. He did the dishes even more often than I usually did. The laundry always got done in good time. He kept the floors cleaned up and swept up better than I would’ve.

And I sat and enjoyed my baby and knew that things were getting done and would get done and that I didn’t need to worry about anything. It was amazing, really.

But that wasn’t all. Besides the housework, he had two little boys to take care of. And their mother. And their baby brother. And their chickens. And their kitty who happened to have two babies on the same day that Emmett was born. Imagine, three babies born at our house all in the same afternoon! One tiny Emmett and two tiny kittens. Eric put a heat lamp out on the cat box and made sure the mama always had food and water. (I guess he technically had two postpartum mothers to care for, haha.)

And even that wasn’t all because he still had his business to run. He still had employees to keep busy and customers to keep happy.

He did all of that, and he did it with a smile. He even said at one point that it felt like he was on vacation. 😊 Having everything taken care of felt amazing. Knowing it was taken care of by someone who was enjoying doing it and not resenting it at all was even more amazing.

If you need an example of a superhero dad/husband/housekeeper/businessman, look no further. I just showed you one.

And if you need photo evidence, I have that, too. 😊 (Captions will be below the pictures.)

Superhero housekeeper evidence:Even the lawn was taken care of.

Superhero animal carer evidence:

Superhero businessman evidence:

Superhero husband evidence:The best birth partner a woman could wish for, truly.

Best postpartum partner, too, actually. This was the morning after Emmett was born, and we didn't know yet how my head was going to be. There was nothing quite like knowing though that whether my mental state ended up being good or bad, he was going to be there. Oh, I love him . . .

All three of our other children sleeping? Time to take care of our "fourth child," the business.

Eric made sure to take a picture of me and my boys on Mother's Day even though I hardly even wanted to at the moment. I'm glad I have it now. 🙂 (Notice Alec's little flower garden.)

I've already forgotten all the details of this picture, but we'd been trying to have a hotdog roast, and for various reasons the s'mores part of that kept getting derailed. So when Emmett had finally gone to sleep and the wet, grumpy boys had finally had a bath, we stuck the boys in front of a video and snuck back out to sit by ourselves in front of the fire and eat our s'mores in peace. We felt like we were in our twenties again. Oh wait, Eric still is. 😊 Whatever the case, we felt responsibility-less for a few sweet moments.

And then there’s superhero daddy evidence . . . which is what I have the most pictures of, both in real life and in honor of Father’s Day. Eric really is just a wonderful daddy. I love to see him with our boys.Just look at that tiny, brand-new baby, safe in his daddy’s arms.

Eric is always the first to diaper and dress our new babies. He asked this time if I wanted to do it, and I said no, he always does it. 😊It sure looks like that little boy is reading a book with his daddy. 🙂Slightly more age-appropriate reading.What lucky boys to get to ride in a big machine with their daddy!Notice the train track on the patient, sleeping dad. Daddy awake, Baby asleep.Daddy asleep, Baby asleep.Daddy asleep, Baby awake.Eric gave the big boys puppy-dog noses and painted a little mountain scene on their house for them.He built them this neat swing set in our backyard.We let them each pick out a kind of flower seed at the farm store, and Eric helped them plant the seeds in their little flowerbed by their little house. Meanwhile, it doesn't take much to make the youngest boy happy. 🙂This picture is so funny to me. I feel like a lot of days that coffee and Bible that Eric is consuming is exactly what is needed to keep up with those giggling little boys beside him on the couch.Alec was very pleased with the picture his daddy drew him.