I’m sitting in my kitchen and all is quiet. The kids are starting to stir, I can hear the toilet flush and the faucets running and the dogs have disappeared to go and say good morning to them. Sydney has a new bug infatuation. She has a bottle full of beetles that have been putting a whoop ass on my roses – I guess that’s one way to get rid of them. She told me last night she plans to collect as many as she can today. Rachel is going to try and cut back on sugar today as she “went for it” (her words) yesterday. We may go to the pool if it stops raining. It’s a typical weekend when Ray works. We all mill around doing stuff until about 3:00 then we gather in the kitchen to wait for him to come home – then our day really starts.
The key to our happy family is having each family member have equal roles in the family. I’ve heard women say that their kids trump their husband. Or the husband says the baby comes first. I think this is utter bullshit and a piss poor way to run the family. If my husband were to get KIA our family would never be the same, he is irreplaceable. If something were to happen to my plane on Tuesday as I fly to Hawaii my family would never be the same. If something were to happen to either of the girls our family would never be the same. It’s that simple. I suspect that all families are the same in that regards. The problem is how a family shows on a daily basis how much they mean to each other…..busy or not.
I read this article yesterday and it made me sad for these families. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/16/pearlman.fathers.day/index.html?hpt=op_r1
I couldn’t imagine having read this article and relating to it. Or thinking this would be a good article for my spouse to read in hopes it would jostle their parental instinct. If you read this article and think this your family is in trouble. Sorry – that’s just a fact.
I am very lucky. Ray is an awesome father and he needs no advice from Jeff Pearlman. If you were to ask me to put it into words why Ray is such a great dad I can’t – there are so many little things that he does – and the little things are what matters. He is always willing to play, whether it be tic tac toe at a restaurant, wrestling on the living room carpet, having tea with dolls, reading stories, or letting the girls give him a makeover….his toes nails are usually peddy’d up with some weird combination of black, purple and orange AND he wears flip flops all summer. The girls can always talk him into letting them practice painting on his toes and he leaves it on until it grows out. If you know my husband than you know he isn’t gay, besides it is the worst pedicure ever - no gay man would be caught flashing it off with pride like Ray does. The funny thing is when most guys see Ray’s toe nails they ask “You got girls, huh?”
When I was pregnant with Rachel I had quite a few problems. I had trouble gaining weight (only 8#s at 8 months and I ate so bad….makes me cringe when I think of the stuff I ate). At 28 weeks her heart beat became erratic and they sent me for tests to see if her heart was developing correctly. We found out during that ultrasound that we were having another girl. I thought Ray might be disappointed if we had another girl. But when the doctor told us that HER heart was fine and that SHE was developing perfectly and that we didn’t need to buy any new clothes – Ray flashed the same big smile that he had shown when I told him I was pregnant. He didn’t care if the baby was a boy or girl – as long as she was healthy – he was just excited to be a dad. He just LOVES being a dad and he’s really good at it.
There are so many nights when we are all home from work and school and we are just doing mundane things like dinner, packing lunches, cleaning up from dinner, whatever family chore that needs to be done and we are all in hysterics because of the jokes we all make. Rachel made a “rain stick” at school last week and she thinks it sounds really good. She’s been shaking it and dancing to it and to her the different shakes makes different noises – she’ll say listen to this one! And shake, shake, shake….it sounds horrible. But we all grin and give her thumbs up. As she was shaking out a new tune last night Ray told her to take out the garbage. Her reply? I’m a house band, I don’t travel. After composing himself Ray said, Hey Eddie Vedder take it on the road. Of course Rachel had NO CLUE what that meant but she shook her rain stick, her little butt and the garbage right outside laughing the whole way.
It’s these little things that make the best place for me to be right at home with my family. So on Father’s Day I’d like to say thank you not only to Ray for being a fantastic dad but to the girls for being fantastic kids. I’ve got an amazing family and I’m really lucky.
Happy Dad's Day, Ray. We love you.
The key to our happy family is having each family member have equal roles in the family. I’ve heard women say that their kids trump their husband. Or the husband says the baby comes first. I think this is utter bullshit and a piss poor way to run the family. If my husband were to get KIA our family would never be the same, he is irreplaceable. If something were to happen to my plane on Tuesday as I fly to Hawaii my family would never be the same. If something were to happen to either of the girls our family would never be the same. It’s that simple. I suspect that all families are the same in that regards. The problem is how a family shows on a daily basis how much they mean to each other…..busy or not.
I read this article yesterday and it made me sad for these families. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/16/pearlman.fathers.day/index.html?hpt=op_r1
I couldn’t imagine having read this article and relating to it. Or thinking this would be a good article for my spouse to read in hopes it would jostle their parental instinct. If you read this article and think this your family is in trouble. Sorry – that’s just a fact.
I am very lucky. Ray is an awesome father and he needs no advice from Jeff Pearlman. If you were to ask me to put it into words why Ray is such a great dad I can’t – there are so many little things that he does – and the little things are what matters. He is always willing to play, whether it be tic tac toe at a restaurant, wrestling on the living room carpet, having tea with dolls, reading stories, or letting the girls give him a makeover….his toes nails are usually peddy’d up with some weird combination of black, purple and orange AND he wears flip flops all summer. The girls can always talk him into letting them practice painting on his toes and he leaves it on until it grows out. If you know my husband than you know he isn’t gay, besides it is the worst pedicure ever - no gay man would be caught flashing it off with pride like Ray does. The funny thing is when most guys see Ray’s toe nails they ask “You got girls, huh?”
When I was pregnant with Rachel I had quite a few problems. I had trouble gaining weight (only 8#s at 8 months and I ate so bad….makes me cringe when I think of the stuff I ate). At 28 weeks her heart beat became erratic and they sent me for tests to see if her heart was developing correctly. We found out during that ultrasound that we were having another girl. I thought Ray might be disappointed if we had another girl. But when the doctor told us that HER heart was fine and that SHE was developing perfectly and that we didn’t need to buy any new clothes – Ray flashed the same big smile that he had shown when I told him I was pregnant. He didn’t care if the baby was a boy or girl – as long as she was healthy – he was just excited to be a dad. He just LOVES being a dad and he’s really good at it.
There are so many nights when we are all home from work and school and we are just doing mundane things like dinner, packing lunches, cleaning up from dinner, whatever family chore that needs to be done and we are all in hysterics because of the jokes we all make. Rachel made a “rain stick” at school last week and she thinks it sounds really good. She’s been shaking it and dancing to it and to her the different shakes makes different noises – she’ll say listen to this one! And shake, shake, shake….it sounds horrible. But we all grin and give her thumbs up. As she was shaking out a new tune last night Ray told her to take out the garbage. Her reply? I’m a house band, I don’t travel. After composing himself Ray said, Hey Eddie Vedder take it on the road. Of course Rachel had NO CLUE what that meant but she shook her rain stick, her little butt and the garbage right outside laughing the whole way.
It’s these little things that make the best place for me to be right at home with my family. So on Father’s Day I’d like to say thank you not only to Ray for being a fantastic dad but to the girls for being fantastic kids. I’ve got an amazing family and I’m really lucky.
Happy Dad's Day, Ray. We love you.
Great post! Me and my girls are very lucky to have a wonderful man in our lives also. They are definitely irreplaceable! Life without him would cease as we know it. As a matter of fact..it's time for use to walk down to the train and meet him as he gets home from work. One of our summertime rituals.
ReplyDeleteShantel, so glad to hear you have a happy family too =) That must make your husband feel like a king to be met at the train station. You are setting a great example for your kids =)
ReplyDelete