Hold Onto The Little Things

Dads:  Hold your babies.  I mean this in the most basic and direct way.  Hold your daughter or your son as often as you possibly can.  Those of you with children six months or older know just how fast this time goes by.  They are tiny little bundles for such a short time, and nothing can capture that state of sweet, warm,  perfection like the feeling of your baby in your arms.

Every time you hold your baby, you feel better than the moment before.  Even when you're exhausted, in a hurry, distracted or otherwise preoccupied - the second you have their body against yours, you are immediately exactly where you belong in the universe.  Let's face it, that can never happen too often.

We are all busy, regardless of occupation, family make-up,  or caregiver situation.  We are all busy.  But babies are only babies for what seems like a few precious moments in time, whenever you look back at them.  You pick up your baby, and bury your face in them, and it never fails to overwhelm you in the best way imaginable.  It's as if their physical bodies are a drug you made unwittingly.  It is the most perfect and most selfish thing you can do, to hold your own child.  This is why you must do it often.  Not as often as you "can," or as often as "necessary," but as often as they are available to you.

I say this, knowing that I haven't held my 3 month old baby enough.  This is my third child, and yet, I haven't embraced the lesson I'm trying to articulate here.  I'm afraid I've failed in exactly that, which I'm insisting you do.  I'm hoping you'll take this to heart, and we will all do better.  I should be holding my son right now.  As I write this, he's nestled in a Boppy on our love seat just a few feet away from me.  I should be holding him, and dictating these words into my iPod - or - perhaps not typing at all.  This "sacrifice" of time holding him, is not worth it for the sake of getting my message out, but I'm an obsessive writer.  I should be writing this while my wife is nursing our baby - the only time when I'm truly justified in giving him up.

Now I'm holding my little guy to my cheek.  He's awake and jerkily testing his muscles.  Tiny feet poke into my side as He moves his head busily back and forth.  These simple - yet precious - movements are experiences a parent should relish even more than a stunning sunset, or last minute championship goal!

Now you!