Father's Day Happenings

A month late---ok, almost two!, but still worth posting the memories!  Whew, I'm wayyyy behind!Wanted to share some of the great "Daddy Moments" we had throughout the day on Father's Day.  :)  It was a wonderful day celebrating 4 amazing daddies:  My Daddy, My hubby, My Father in law, and My Brother in law!  They are all wonderful men!

I love my Daddy oh so very much!!

Play time with C's Daddy!

The Hiner crew loving on their Daddy

We have the greatest Dad in the world!

Look how good he does at his Daddy role

Little Landon loving having some special time with his Daddy

My silly family

Zach and his Dad

We celebrated by making them a "man's meal" of ribs, beer, macaroni, chocolate cake and goodies.  Hopefully it was a day to make them feel so special! :)

Happy Father's Day: My Husband

This is officially the celebration of Zach's first Father's Day!!  We celebrated last year because he was already a father, but this one is special because he has his little son here to love on him and remind him of what a blessing he is to Carter!
I have been blown away watching Zach so easily take on the role of Daddy.  He was made for this!  Zach is a very loving man towards family and that is just magnified with his son!  It is very apparent that he would do anything in the world for the safety and well being of Carter.  Carter will grow up feeling overwhelmingly loved, supported, and encouraged. 

Daddy gives Carter lots of kisses and love

As soon as we found out we were pregnant, we began imagining our future life with our little one.  Many men (and women, honestly) freak out at least at some point of the up coming reality that will be their lives.  Zach never had one of those moments, or if he did, he never showed an ounce of fear or nervousness.  He was elated!  Every conversation was filled with joy when discussing our son and parenting and how our child will grow up.  Zach said from the beginning he was going to be a very involved Dad and he wanted his child(ren) to know that they were the most important part of his life (....besides me of course hehehe). 

Loving on Carter before he's even here

In labor and delivery, Zach showed characteristics that were very telling of how he would father.  He encouraged me the whole way through reminding of the good that was going to be our outcome.  It got tough in there and he stayed very positive and focused on helping me through it.  Zach is already like this with Carter.  Each little milestone that Carter moves towards, Zach is there rooting him on and encouraging him.  Every night when he gets home, he practices walking with Carter, he watches him get better and better at crawling and is genuinely excited at his growth.  He plays with Carter and finds himself doing extremely silly things to get a smile out of him. 

First moment with his son

Taking his baby boy home

I've mentioned before the bed time routine that we do which is bath, feed, story, bed.  Zach has been a part of that every single night (that he's been in town).  He is commited to being there for Carter and being in Carter's childhood memories.  He doesn't even do it out of "I just know I've said I'm going to" kind of mindset, but he is excited to do it!  There have even been nights when friends or family have been over and I've told Zach that he can be with them while I do bedtime and he always says no!  I want to do it too.  :)  Not only that, he makes it fun and exciting for Carter by playing bath games with him or singing goofy songs to make Carter smile.  He is amazing with him.

Zach flying Carter and zooming him into kisses!

I think one of the greatest things is just how Zach wants to be such a big part of his life.  He shares the parenting duties with me to his greatest ability and I couldn't imagine being in any different situation.  I couldn't imagine not having him here to help with every task and decision.  Granted, there are many times that he lets me decide how we should schedule or handle certain things, but he is always ready to share ideas of what we could do or try and he is always there to be a part of implementing them! He always tells me he doesn't care what he's doing with Carter, he loves every opportunity to be with him.  This works out great for me when I've been battling a nap fighting kiddo and would love a break.  It's not the most fun moment to spend with our little love but Zach jumps on the opportunity to tackle naptime because it gives him another moment with his lil man!  He is joyful in every thing he does with Carter.
I love being in the kitchen cleaning, or upstairs, and hearing Zach and Carter playing.  It usually fills the house with giggles and "yay's" and excitement!  I know they have a blast together and their relationship will only grow stronger through the years.

Snuggles before nap time!  Carter is fascinated by Daddy's nose.

Something that is precious to me is that Zach LOVES dressing him and Carter alike.  It's not like they wear exact matching outfits, but he loves to coordinate them in either colors or patterns!  It's pretty cute!  He used to love playing superman with Carter when he was littler and fly him through the house.  He loves any firsts he can do with Carter, like experiencing his first snow, feeding him his first foods, watching his first moves.

Dressed like Daddy for Christmas

C's first snow!

Daddy feeding C peassss!  ewww



Carter watching his Daddy at his baby dedication

 Zach is a wonderful Daddy and our little one is soooo lucky!  He has the smartest, most loving, most hardworking Daddy to grow up with and that's a blessing.
And I'm sure lucky to have this man by my side as we experience life together and parenting!  What a rock he is for me!  I love you Babe!! :)  Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day: My Daddy

Well, Father's Day is right around the corner!  I love this holiday because I get to celebrate the amazing Dad I have!  I am the luckiest girl in the whole world to have the Daddy that I was blessed to be given to!  My Dad is a wonderful man!  He has shown me the way a man should love both his wife and his family.  He's smart, funny, hardworking, loving, encouraging, a blast to be around and the greatest example of what makes a man!

Dad deep in thought!  He's a very brilliant guy!

Always having fun no matter what there is (or isn't) to do!

Fun to hang around with Dad!

I remember growing up watching my parents love on eachother with handholding, flirting, kissing, etc and being completely DISGUSTED with it!  Especially the older I got and the more embarassing it was in front of my friends.  It was clear that they were completely in love, and that part was great!  They got a kick out of myself and my siblings "ewwww" ing and proclaiming how "grosssss" they were.  And it didn't stop them.  Today, I am soooo glad that I witnessed that with them my whole life.  Dad was always making an effort to make Mom feel special and loved.  He treated/treats her amazing!  It set a very very high standard for what I was looking for in a partner.  Someone who stood by my side, encouraged me, loved me deeply, put me first, and never forgot the little things were the most important.  He showed me how a man should love a woman.

Dad and Mom at their highschool prom

Loving on Mom (and being silly) this Christmas

In fact, one of my favorite memories with Dad was when I turned 16 and he took me on my very first date.  I wasn't allowed to go on dates before 16, and when I did go on one with Dad, he demonstrated how lovely I should be treated.  He was a gentleman.  He knocked on the door and handed me a flower and we went off to the car for our date, after of course telling Mom what time he'd have me home by.  We arrived at downtown Fort Worth for dinner.  We had a blast talking together and thoroughly enjoyed the funky restaurant we ate at.  He opened doors, paid for dinner, and gave me his full attention.  He took me on a horse and carriage ride through the lit up city after dinner too.  Which, ironically, Zach proposed to me in NYC on a horse and carriage ride.  We hung around Ft. Worth for a bit after that enjoying the rest of our date.  I knew then that I would not settle for less than a gentleman because I knew they existed!  I thank Dad for the man I married because I didn't settle, I waited to find the man that would love me the way Dad loves Mom.  And isn't it ironic that they thought the same way about being romantic (or showing what romantic looks like) with a sweet, tender horse and carriage ride?  I'd say I married a man like my Daddy, which I think is something I couldn't ask for more!

The image every girl loves to see:  Her Daddy and Hubby having a blast together! 
Thanks Dad for loving my Husband!

Dad also showed me how to love a child.  He was always a very involved, loving father.  He had to work a lot when I was younger, but I don't remember that being the overwhelming memory.  I more so remember learning to ride a bike with him running after me and being there to pick me up when I crashed into the parked car, I remember him tucking me into bed and telling me he loved me, I've had lots of snuggle time with him, I remember walks with him where we just talked about what was going on in life-we even did this when I was in high school, I remember family road trips with Dad calculating how long it would take at the current speed we were driving and figuring how to get there fastest without stopping-which meant timing lights.  He got a kick out of doing that and it always made me laugh.  He helped me with homework, especially stinky math homework.  I give him a TON of credit for that because I was awful at it and it was like talking to a brick wall when trying to teach me, but somehow he stayed very patient and attempted new ways to teach me.
He is also very wise and reliable.  I turn to him with a hundred questions.  "Dad, what do I do when my car broke down AGAIN for the 20th time in college?"  "Dad, how would you budget ______?"  "Dad, my computer says something odd, what should I do?" etc. etc. etc.  Yes, these might be just the mundane questions, but no matter what pickle I got myself into, Dad would always fix it.  He is a genius with cars, computers, etc.   I would in my I-know-nothing-about-cars-or-computers state, call him and vaguely describe whatever was going on and he would either tell me how to fix it or come himself to help me.  He is very selfless and giving.  He is there to help at any point in time for any reason.  I always know I can turn to my Dad.

Something special about him was he was great at getting the point across when we did something wrong.  I felt deep sorrow when I made a bad choice and got the talking to because I hated letting him down.  Sometimes that ended in me crying after being sent to my room.  But what was special was that in the next 5 minutes, Dad would always come to my room, hug me, and tell me how he loved me.  He hated seeing me cry, but was strong enough to let the lesson sink in before comforting me.  I felt so loved when he would come up, even when I would still act angry at him.  And it never failed, he always came.

Special Daddy hugs

Still getting Daddy hugs

My wedding day was something I always looked forward to experiencing with my Daddy.  It was a very special day and I dreamed of walking down the aisle with my Dad and later getting that special Daddy/daughter dance.  It was one of those moments walking down the aisle where I felt overwhelming love for the man that has been the biggest, most important man in my life taking me to the other man who would be the other most important man in my life.  It was tender.  I swear Daddy had a tear, though he says the photographer just caught him scratching his eye.  Whether that was the case or not, I like to tease him and believe that he had a moment where he was so touched he shed a tear.  :)  You tell me....

Dad and I love to use being together as a great excuse for eating sweets! :)  We both have a sweet tooth and indulge it when we are together.  When I go to meet him at work for lunch, we use that as an opportunity to try the restaurants most delicious, calorie packed, chocolatey-ist desert we can find!!  When I spend the night there when Zach is gone, we have bowls of ice cream together.  Come to think of it, I should plan way more slumber parties to get way more ice cream! ;)  We loved watching 24, the show together so we often scarfed our desert down while watching the drama packed show. 
My Dad loves Carter!!  He is so sweet with him.  His ultimate goal is to get a smile out of him so he plays goofy faces with him, lets him hold his cold beers--don't worry that's as far as it goes, bounces him, talks to him.  He is a great Captain to my little man and I am so blessed that Carter has such a strong role model to watch and learn from.  Hopefully Carter will learn determination, humor, and love from his Captain.

Meeting Captain and Gigi on his birthday

 
I love you Daddy and am so blessed to have you in my life and the strong relationship that we share!  I couldn't ask for more!  Thank you for being such a role model and loving father and helping guide me down the right paths in life.  You are truly the best man I know!  I love you!