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It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since my boy, Brogan, was born.  Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday and other times it seems like it was forever ago!!  I’m not even sure if I can explain how much my life has changed since he entered this world.  I’ve always been someone that has enjoyed life and gotten so much out of it, but I’m not really sure I completely understood just how truly happy you can be until I viewed life through the lens of being a “da da”.

It’s like everyday with him is a brand-new adventure.  Everyday I watch the kid learn something new.  Everyday I get a glimpse into his world and I want to be a bigger piece of it. Everyday he wants to try something more - he wants to push it a little further.  Everyday he gets a little braver.  Everyday I see our little baby quickly becoming a little boy.  Sometimes I get excited about that and most of the time I want to hit the pause button.  He’s growing up way too fast!!

It’s amazing to me how he wants every bit of our attention and when he figures something out he wants to make sure we’ve seen him.  There is no doubt that me and Becki are there to be his biggest cheerleader and nothing is more rewarding then seeing that HUGE smile he gets on his face or when he laughs so hard that you think he is going to pass-out!! :)  Yeah - he pretty much has us wrapped around his finger - and yes he/we know[s] it!!

There is so much about him that I love.  I love our Saturday mornings together [even when he wants to get up before 7am].  I love coming home and opening the garage door and before I can even get a foot in the door I hear him screaming “da da” from somewhere in the house.  I love when I call home during the day and I can hear him screaming in the background.  I love it when Becki puts me on speaker phone and in his gibberish he tries to carry on a conversation with me.  I love when Becki brings him up to the office for a surprise visit and he decides to destroy the place.  I love it when he knows he has the attention of the room and he soaks every bit of it up.  I love how I can wrestle with Becki on the floor and she can scream like I’m hurting her and he will race over to protect his “momma” [seriously he gets upset].

I love “bath time” with him at night as we make a huge mess in our bathroom.  I love going and getting him in the mornings as he dances up and down in his crib.  I love hanging him upside down and throwing him up in there - yeah he loves that!!  I love how we can sing, “shake your booty” and he will “shake his booty”!! :)  I love it when he head-butts everything and then cracks up at himself.  I love it when he crawls up in my lap with his “lovie” and just lays back with me in the recliner.  I love how he waves at every car, person, dog, and anything else that passes him during our walks at night [he thinks everyone wants to see him].  I love our nightly walks together as a family.  I love how he has brought me and Becki even closer as a couple.  I love how he has forced me to change and rethink so much about myself.  I love knowing that I have a direct influence on the man he becomes one day and fully accept that responsibility.  I love being a dad and I love the son that God has given us.  I know everyone thinks there kid is perfect - but ours really is!!

Happy Birthday Bro - I love you!!