Nine months in, what I’ve learned about #dadlife

I’m gonna tell y’all some #dadlife truth I’ve come to realize this past week. As I’ve told y’all before, in the later stages of Elissa’s pregnancy, I wasn’t sure I was cut out to be a dad. I’ve learned so much in the nine-month crash course since Emery was born—about being a dad, about myself, about being a better person. These nine months have been filled with laughter and joy, frustrations and tears, sleepless nights and early mornings. This past week was especially difficult. Elissa and I traveled to New York for work, which meant leaving Emery here with her grandparents. It was our first extended time away from her since she was born. I’m struggling to find a way to say this without sounding like a terrible father, but I didn’t realize how much I love this little girl until I picked her up last night. Walking in the door and seeing her brought the biggest smile, made my heart beat faster and brought on this wave of feeling that my family is complete again. She makes me so proud to be her dad, and watching her grow fills my heart with so much joy and happiness. Even in the week we were gone, she got taller, has more hair, and is so much more active and aware of her surroundings. She also crawls around saying “dadadadada.” I don’t know if she’s just spitting out sounds or intentionally saying “dada” over and over, but I’ll go with the latter 😉. Dad life, you guys, is honestly the best. That ain’t no lie.