He is such a good dad and with the addition of Eliot he has really shone. The reality is that a lot of my time is occupied with feeding Eliot so Charles often finds himself outnumbered with the other three (for example at bedtime - bathing all three, helping to dress or coordinate all three dressing, brushing all their teeth etc).
To celebrate, we greeted Charles this morning with a twelve pack of American Dr. Pepper. He was excited or at least appeared to be. It does taste different than the Dr. Pepper you buy here in England (in fact, we may have a taste test later for our skeptical British friends - many who have already voiced their doubt). We just recently found a store on line that sells it (thanks to friends tipping us off around Charles's birthday). Perfect timing too - a few months before moving back across the pond!
We then celebrated at night by walking down to our local Pizza Express. We decided that we would all go around the table and say what one thing we appreciated most about Charles/Daddy. I am recording them below so we will remember them in future years:
Jack: How he loves us and tries to take good care of us. (Charles and I chuckled at the tries part)
Addie: She said 'backpack' - we then asked her if she likes it best when she rides in the backpack on Daddy's shoulders and she said yes. This makes most sense since she did ride in the backpack just yesterday when we went on a family walk.
Theo: Cuddling with Daddy.
Erin: How he leads us to be more like Jesus and looks after us so well.
Eliot: Silence as he slept away in his pushchair.
It was touching to see what the kids came up with on their own. Just to paint a realistic picture though it is only right to mention that our lovely dinner was also interrupted with two bathroom trips - and we only have two kids out of nappies so those are pretty poor odds, two spilt drinks, and a cranky server, but all in all it was a great meal.
We are very blessed. Thank you Charles for all you do.
And a few pictures to remember today (Eliot was starting to get fussy so we didn't keep trying even though the lighting was poor!):
