First Father's Day

While I never gave much thought to Father's Day, I'll admit I woke up this morning pretty excited to be celebrating my first Father's Day as an actual FATHER. Here, for posterity, is how my wonderful day proceeded:

I was awakened at 6 am for my first Father's Day by Katherine, who was laying next to me in our bed.

[The battle over sleeping territory has subsided quite a bit since last week. Katherine now wakes up at about 5 am every morning almost to the minute. She takes a bottle, then will not go back to sleep unless she comes into bed with Terri and me.

However, the good news is that the girls are back to falling asleep around 9 pm and going to bed in their own cribs. Caroline might wake up once between 12 am and 2 am, but otherwise until Katherine's 5 am wake up call, they sleep like angels in their own cribs!

Back to Father's Day.]

Katherine for some reason did not want to go back to sleep at 6 am. Could it have been her soiled diaper, or was she just excited to wish me a Happy Father's Day? I decided to be an optimist, and chose the later (after I changed her diaper, of course).

We both loitered in bed for another 45 minutes, until we got up around 6:45 am to play. Caroline woke up soon after, and we proceeded to start our first Father's Day together.

Daddy and the Girls: First Father's Day.(click on photo for larger view)

The girls instructed Mommy to get me a very nice gift -- a Mr. Coffee Espresso Maker.

You might consider it an odd gift, since I don't drink coffee, much less espresso.

But my girls know my affinity for hot chocolate, and so they knew that the steam frother attached to the espresso machine was what I really looked forward to.

They also knew that with the rising cost of college tuitions, the Mr. Coffee machine would save Daddy the $2.10 a hot chocolate costs at Starbucks.

A Mr. Coffee for the Dad who doesn't drink coffee?!? Caroline doesn't get it.

I spent a happy morning playing with the Espresso machine, while the girls helped Mommy fix Daddy breakfast.

Later in the afternoon, we took a trip down to the local farmer's market, then drove around the city at random, while the girls took a nap in their car seats.

In the early afternoon, Mommy let Daddy take a NAP -- for a whole hour! -- it was heaven.

In the late afternoon, we went to my sister in-law's house for some poker and a Father's Day dinner.

All in all, a pretty mellow First Father's Day, but a great one nonetheless!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL!