Happy "First" Father's Day...

I wanted to write a post to tell all of you how special Father's Day was for us this year. Even though this is technically Jake's third (I am including the one I was pregnant) Father's Day, this is the first one that he has got to spend with his little girl. I want to go back and tell you a little about Jake's other Father's Days.

When I was pregnant we were still living in Lawton because Jake was in the Career Course at Fort Sill. Since it was Sunday I got up like usual, an hour before Jake, to take a shower so that I could be ready to leave for church on time. I was in the shower and while I was washing my hair

I started feeling very dizzy and sick to my stomach. It got so bad I had to sit down in the shower and call for Jake to come get me out. He helped to our toilet (which was a little closet within the bathroom) and said that he would be right back with a bucket. Fifteen seconds later when he returned I was passed out on the floor with blood coming from my noise. In the short time Jake was gone I had passed out and fell into the corner of the door frame which cut my noise and made it bleed profusely. Jake called the hospital and then took me to the ER where we had a terrible experience. The nurses and doctors would not let Jake come back with me until they were able to "get my story straight." They thought that Jake had beat me or something! There was a lot more in between the interrogation time and the diagnosis so in short I had a vasovagal episode and I was fine except for my swollen eyes and nose. The greatest part of the day was that we got to hear sweet Katelynn's heartbeat for the first time and knew from that point on everything was going to be okay.

Now on to his second Father's Day. Jake was in Afghanistan and was awaiting a date for him to go down to 4th Brigade Combat Team. (that is just a fancy way of saying 4/320th!) The reason he was trying to find out when he would come down was because they told him they wanted to take mid-tour leave before he took Command. We tried to make the day special for him by sending him a ton of goodies and a ton of pictures. I hope that we succeeded in making him feel special on that day but I know that he yearned so much to be with his little girl.

Finally, we are to his third Father's Day. We started the day off by going to church and then we came home and I made beef stir-fry, salad and chocolate pound cake for dessert. While Katelynn was napping Jake and I just spent quality time together upstairs. After K's nap we played and then decided that we would go to Target and buy a Slip-n-Slide! We had a little detour to Sam's to buy diapers and to get Jake and Katelynn a pretzel. Then it was on to Target where we bought the Slip-n-Slide to use on our HUGE hill in the backyard. While we were out, we came to the conclusion that it was still too hot to be outside and postponed the inaugural use of the slide. We played some more and then I made homemade spaghetti that was loved by all! Katelynn got her daddy some really cool grilling tools to include a battery-operated grill brush! She did well!

I think that this Father's Day was by far the best so far for Jake. He knows that without a shadow of a doubt that he will never have to spend another Father's Day away from his little girl unless he chooses to do so!

She loved taking off and putting on daddy's hat.

We tried to get a cute pic after church but K had other plans!

We also went to Jazz on the Lawn again this past Saturday and this was the best pic we got!

I also wanted to take this time to thank my dad for being such a wonderful man. He has taught me many lessons and I hope that he will do the same with Katelynn! I also want to tell my father-in-law, Tom, thanks for being so supportive of Jake and I over the past 4 years! Papa, I couldn't forget you in all of this. You are such an amazing man and we feel blessed that Katelynn will be able to learn many things from you! Katelynn is blessed to have two wonderful grandfathers as well as a wonderful great-grandfather.