The Man in Our House

He's kind of a big deal in our world.

Dad.

Da-da.

Daddy.

Bryan.

For one thing, he is the strongest person in the house.  Lifting little boys over his head with no problem, even as said boy is pulling around...wire?  What is that?  I don't know.  (We practice safety in our home, as you can see.)  And by the way, Ben WAS happy here - I caught him in a weird moment with my camera.  He wanted Daddy to lift him again, and again, and again.

Oh, and he's doing this with another little boy breathing and slobbering into his face.  Pretty awesome.

Also he is the official Tickler of the house.  Able to tickle two little boys, upside down, at the same time.  Amazing!

Skills.  Girls like guys with skills.  And my guy has LOTS of skills.

(Napoleon, anyone?  Are you with me?  I know Bryan is.)

Also, he is Cuddler Extraordinaire.  Little Sam was pretty sick in this photo, and he just wanted to be with his Daddy.  So Daddy just let him be.  And all was well with little Sam.  Sometimes there is no greater comfort to our boys than just sitting/laying with their Daddy.  Or, if it's Ben, it's asking him endless questions about God, or the world, or space, or anything else that Ben can think of in order to stall bedtime.

Bryan's patience is practically endless.

For Father's Day, they expressed their love and appreciation by choosing a gift that represented their special and meaningful relationship with their father...

What else, but a Cookie Monster t-shirt?  Nothing else would do.  Bryan wore it proudly...to church!  And all day.  And maybe even to bed that night.  I can't remember that far back...I was sleeping.

Which reminds me...he still gets up with the boys at night if they have a "daddy emergency"....like a bad dream, or a need to go pee and tell him all about it, or that they are too hot/cold/awake...this is amazing because Mama sleeps through this.  I don't know how he hears them.  It's as if once my babies get past the infant/middle-of-the-night-feeding stages, I am deaf to them in the night.  I think that they just know that Daddy can fix just about ANYTHING, and Mama is not much use to them until the morning, when they are hungry and waiting for their breakfast and chocolate milk.

He was born on Father's Day, actually, so he gets quite spoiled during this week!  (Kind of like my birthday and Christmas!)  And we had fun spoiling him.  All the usual father-ly-type gifts like electric trimmer, car radio, clothes...nothing terribly huge but all useful and much-needed!  (His 2002 Corolla had a cassette player...and Bry's got a 25-mile round-trip to his job every day.  Yeah.  It was time for an upgrade.)

And now that I've totally embarrassed him for the year, I'll stop bragging on him now.  He would rather fade into background and not be noticed.  Ever.  But, he married me, and I talk a lot.  And when I can't talk, I write.  Therefore I blog.  And since he's got SO MANY SKILLS...he's going to be talked about.

So, thank you

Strong Man

Tickler

Cuddler

Fixer and Comforter of all problems

I hope we, your family, can bless you as much as you bless us every day.

I love you.