Fast forward to today and there’s no way that seemingly-carefree-but-secret-harboring young couple could envision what the next four years would hold. Parenthood has changed us as individuals and as a couple–in mostly good ways, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I certainly didn’t imagine on December 6, 2015 what life would be like on December 6, 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That my wife would spend most of those four years being pregnant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That I would come home from work to a house that had been ransacked daily by a three-year-old and a one-year-old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That those kids would scream for me when they hear the garage door open and run to give me hugs when I enter the door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That I would spend my free time playing “house” and “wedding” and know so much about Daniel Tiger and “Tangled.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That I would experience the greatest of joys and the greatest of frustrations of child-rearing–sometimes in a single evening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That a small blue line of dye on a pee-soaked stick would give a renewed sense of purpose to my life as I daily accept the challenge of my vocation to fatherhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt that it is a significant challenge. In my darker moments, I wonder how so many people I know were able to make it through this alive while also raising halfway decent people. It’s sometimes overwhelming to think how early we are in this process with our young children, and that come February–fittingly the month of Groundhog Day–we will be starting from scratch again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my better moments, I am in awe of the privilege I have to be on the front lines of forming these little awesome people into big (hopefully still) awesome people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So forgive me for celebrating Saint Nicholas Day a little bit differently from everyone else. Although maybe it’s not really that different. For all I know, I could wake up tomorrow to find that my one-year-old son put something in my shoe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since 2015, Saint Nicholas Day has always been Father’s Day to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Ever since 2015, Saint Nicholas Day has always been Father's Day to me.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24,17],"tags":[43,10,4,11,23,72,70,2,3,7,39],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n