Late Nights

When Daddy says it's going to be a late night, I confess ... I'm a little excited!

Now for our family, this doesn't happen too often. However, when he has a big project, and can, he may plan to work late. And "late", for my hubby, means 10pm or later. 

As I sat with the kiddos at the dinner table tonight and they were being their rowdy selves, I wondered how many other moms miss their husbands at dinner. {Even when Patrick isn't working "late", he is rarely home before 6:30pm. And for a 2 and 5 year-old, that is too late to start serving dinner. They are trying to munch or taste what's cooking by 5:15, so we usually eat around 5:30 or so.... with or without Dad.} How about the moms whose husbands travel or work late as a ritual? How do they do it? It's almost like being a single mom Monday through Friday. Dinner, bed time, and everything in between is done solo. Don't know that I could do that daily. For my sanity!

And yet, I have learned to enjoy these occasions. 

It means I can have a dedicated baking/shopping day without feeling like the house has to be spotless. {Not that it ever is!}

It means that the kids will get to bed on time. {Dad has a tendency to want to spend just an extra few minutes with them.}

It means I have time to blog. {Aren't you lucky?!}

It means I can catch up on my shows that I've missed. {since nothing comes on before 9 or 10pm and I'm only allowed to watch "Dora" during the day, I get behind a day or two....Thankful for DVR!}

It also means I can eat chocolate chip cookies with milk and not have anyone steal them.

Yep ... I enjoy these late nights. 

As long as they are few and far between!

It's a Daddy Thing...

I started joining in on this photo-a-day fun. It's a great reminder to take a picture once a day. Pictures are so powerful; they can make a memory or conjure one. If my house were to catch on fire {after grabbing my kids} I would grab my pictures. They would be the things I missed the most.

So in this photo-a-day gig, you take a picture that has to do with the list created every month. I snap it and name it and post it to my instagram.  You can interpret your pictures however you prefer. And it's always interesting to see someone else's view point. 

The second day was titled "father". We were actually visiting my parents and I was planning to take a picture of my dad. However, my littlest fell asleep with daddy holding her and I could not miss this photo opportunity...

The picture started me thinking about the father/daughter relationship. My dad and I have a good relationship. I always felt protected AND if I only asked my daddy, I could get just about anything I wanted. Like when we went to Disney World and I wanted a Princess hat, all I had to do was ask my Dad and his answer was, "Anything you want, sweetheart!". {Of course, I was 17 years old at the time, so I might have looked a little silly, but he just wanted to be able to give me all of the things I wanted.}

Now that I have my own daughters, I see that father/daughter relationship from the very beginning. My hubby is so enamored with our girls. He holds them so preciously, wants to keep them so near and safe, and can't even stand to think that one day they will go on a date!

I constantly tease him that both of our daughters have him wrapped. He never denies it, but always tries to shrug it off! 

It's not just in our family ... I've seen examples of this Daddy/Daughter thing on TV as well. Recently, while watching So You Think You Can Dance {my fave summer show!}, I was able to catch a glimpse of someone else with that special bond. An 18 year old ballroom dancer talked about hiding her costumes from her Dad. He has a hard time with his little girl dancing for the world to see. My hubby had to agree {I make him watch with me!!}

Do you have a special daddy/daughter relationship? Or do you see one forming in your own family?