First Father's Day

These...

... are some lucky babies, because they have this guy...

... as their dad.

Jason is an incredible father to our two children.  He is a "hands on" daddy - not sitting on the sidelines. 

Jason goes to work every day and works hard to support his family.  He gets up early and helps me get the babies started with their day - changing diapers and cleaning up the kitchen after their breakfast.  He spends all day at his job (running or swimming during his lunch hour every day so that he doesn't miss out on time with me and the kids) and comes home eager to jump right in.  As soon as he walks in the door, he either picks up one of the babies or plops down on the floor to play games with them and make them giggle.  He helps feed them at dinner time, gives them baths and reads them books every night before bed.  When they wake up for 4 am feedings, he gets out of bed and brings them to me so that I can nurse them.  When they're done eating, he gets back up to change their diapers and tuck them in bed.  He even did this early on when the babies were waking up 3 and 4 times a night EVERY night.

Jason does seemingly little things that make a huge difference to me.  He sifts the kitty litter every day.  He takes out the trash every day.  He vacuums the floors on the weekends.  He puts the diapers in the wash every other day... all without ever being asked. 

Jason makes sacrifices for us.  Before we had children, he ran in 4 Ironman triathlons.  Since we started our family, he has "downgraded" to marathons.  He used to train for 2-3 hours on weekdays after work and for at least 4 hours every Saturday.  Now he trains during his lunch hours at work, because his family is his top priority.

Jason, I often find myself thinking about how lucky I am to be married to you, how lucky I am to have a man who invests so much of his time and energy into his family.  We get the very best of you, and I know that that takes a lot of effort on your part.  I often think of how lucky Miles is to have a daddy who is an ideal model for what a man, husband and father is meant to be.  We love you so very much.

Thanks for all of your heart, energy, courage, endurance, strength, wisdom, patience and love.  Thanks for being our Irondaddy!