Everything I Have Learned About Fatherhood After Three Months

Sometimes you wear matching bows / bowties

I watched an interview with Killers lead singer Brandon Flowers where he talked about fatherhood. He said “there’s a chamber in your heart that you didn’t know exists, it opens up when you have a baby, it’s been such a great experience overflowing with that love that I didn’t know was there before” I can tell you that at least for me personally Mr. Flowers is unequivocally correct.

Three months in I have learned a few things about being a dad.

You will always be tired

Say goodbye to sleeping in, lazy Saturdays, or a solid night’s sleep. We have a full bedtime routine that involves diaper changes, dream feedings, and industrial swaddling. If that all works, and the baby actually falls asleep it’s like having a ticking time bomb in your house. You don’t know when it is going to go off, but it will and sometimes it will be at 1:59 on a Tuesday night.

Things that were once of the utmost importance will slide down your list of priorities.

I am not exaggerating when I say I could probably recite most of Return of the Jedi, and the only time I ever skipped a class in High School was to see the Phantom Menace. When I got married I compared each of my groomsmen to a character in the Star Wars Universe. Up until three months ago my Star Wars credentials were without blemish, smash cut to having a baby and I totally missed Solo when it hit theatres. Guess what? It didn’t even bother me that much.

Vacationing with an infant is just the same things in a different place.

Relaxing on the beach? Not happening. Running out the door with no particular plan? Uh uh. Sleeping in? See above. Quick and easy navigation around the airport? Negative Ghost Rider. We took the baby to a family reunion in Outer Banks, NC. While she was certainly the “Belle of the Ball” with her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, it takes a caravan worth of stuff to make the trip as comfortable as possible for her. At any moment she can decide she is tired, hungry, or in need of a diaper change and all other activities and enjoyments cease immediately. 

Everything she does is absolutely amazing even though pretty much every baby has done that exact thing throughout human existence.

Who would think a yawn, a smile, a little noise, a sneeze, a toot, a stretch could be the most thrilling thing you have ever experienced. These small simple things make me as happy as humanly possible.

And the most critical thing I have learned…Mom has the magic touch.

When the baby is fussy, she doesn’t want to eat, the diaper has been changed and I have tried every trick I know and I am absolutely at my wit's end I can hand the baby to her mom and all will shortly be right in the world.

When I found out we were having a girl I was so excited. I had always heard that little girls love their dads. What I didn’t know was just how much I could love her.