Appreciation for what we have

In a world where being a father seems to be purely biological (get the girl pregnant and say adios!), I am very much appreciative of my husband.  Yes, people, I am married to my daughter's father.  Shocking as that might be in these days.  Not only am I married to him, we have been married since 2006.  Our son was still born in 2010 and our daughter was born in 2011.  You do the math - the "ring" came before the "bump"!  (A fact that a priest thanked us for this past week - which is sad that he felt the need to do so)  The only shotgun that was associated with our wedding was the one that my husband's uncle/Godfather gave to him as a wedding present (completely random and funny story associated with that!)

Ok, back to why I (and my daughter, though she doesn't fully realize it yet) am appreciative of what we have.  My husband is not perfect - none of us are.  That being said, he does a great job of doing the best he can.  It took a friend pointing out how much I was taking for granted to realize it.  In the past week my husband has:

~ Changed probably 60-75% of the diapers when we have been home together
~ Warmed up bottles and fed our kid probably 75% of the time that we have been home together
~ Laid on the floor and played with our daughter
~ Encouraged her to roll over (her latest trick)
~ Sang made up and traditional songs to her
~ Held her when she was upset
~ Played with her
~ Read/told stories to her
~ Helped me clean the house
~ Dealt with my craziness with minimal commentary
~ Watched over and protected her while I spent time visiting with a friend

One might say, "yeah, but that is what you would expect him to do".  That is probably why I might have been under appreciative of him lately.  I should expect him to help out with our child.  Yet, in a day/age where so many men are making babies and running away or just not being fatherly towards them, I am lucky.  My daughter adores her dad.  And he whole heartedly deserves her adoration.  There are times when I am pretty sure she would rather be with him than with me.  He is the fun one. She is lucky, and one day very soon I am sure she will realize it.  Right now, she is just too young, so for the time being, I am here to say, THANK YOU SWEETY!  We love you!