Roya June Turns One!

Dear Roya June,

Happy birthday love.

The last year with you and the months prior when you were in mama's belly mark the best days of my life. Thank you. With your mama and your brother Kavaun and the two of us we have our perfect family. Not perfent in the sense of not having our challenges or our ordinary moments, but perfect in the sense that we have more love and joy to go around than we could possibly express with all of our giggles, hugs, kisses and games.  What a great place to be in life when you know that there are not enough ways to express all the joys in life.

You are a happy baby. Your sense of humor is contagious and your smile infectious. You simply make all of the other stuff in life seem unimportant. Playing with you and helping you take those first steps lands you in the Highlights for the Day category regularly.

I think about you when I am not with you and I really do treasure our time together because you make me so happy and proud. 

Tonight after dinner we are going to give you a cupcake, take some pictures and video and celebrate you. This will be the first of many celebrations of you. You have been a blessing in our lives and loving you brings  so much fulfillment. You are my little girl and you always will be and for that I thank you.

Happy birthday.

Love Yours Truly,
Baba

I just had a little chuckle.

Ya see, when I go to the bathroom and I see Kavaun's stack of books by the toilet it makes me think of the animated style in which he reads and sings on the toilet daily.

With the newness of that first day of school or the first drive alone with your license, I watched Roya take 2 1/2 steps today. Soon, my baby girl will be walking. It is already going fast.

Like usual, I cannot sleep on a Sunday night. But so grateful that I am aware enough to realize that today's walk with Kavaun and yesterday playing the human mountain for Roya to climb on were great highlights for a weekend.

Between Roya's contagious smile, Kavaun's imagination and Beata's innocent giggles and beauty I have had the best weekend imaginable. When I go back to work tomorrow and someone asks what I did this last weekend, I guess I will have to reply, "I smiled" and my next line, "I did everything I wanted to do."

Just flat-out lucky.

Gratitude post

On a day when we saw an elephant, lion and monkeys at the Phoenix Zoo, Kavaun's favorite part of the day may have been when the Recycle truck came by to pick up the large bin we walked out to the curb together the night before.

On a day when we played in a pool, ate ice cream and went out and ate pizza, Kavaun most loved spotting the airplanes flying over the house.

And my Roya June  in her baby bikinis and new outfits from mamani.

All of it and more made this seven day trip to Scottsdale Arizona a welcome break in the cold and gray that is Michigan in the winter and early spring. I played in a pool, played with my kids, got to see family and more importantly got to enjoy Beata  loving on her family.

What a great week. I am grateful I am often living in these moments that make my life so special. I am soaking it up and savoring every hug, kiss, giggle, funny  question, game, joke, and even some of the tantrums.

This vacation has energized me and helped me get back to what I love most in life - being the best dad and husband I can be right now.

If I get on my game, I will post some pictures soon.

N

Birthday wishes

With a birthday around the corner, all I can think is that there is truly nothing I need or even really want this year. With the addition of Roya, a beautiful 4-year-old story-telling creative Kavaun and an amzaing wife and best friend in Beata, what else is there?

Kavaun has been playing a lot of referee with his Lego whistle and black and white striped shirt. Roya is all smiles as she crawls everywhere and pulls herself up to stand.

Currently I am typing from my bed as I play host to Kavaun's stuffed animals and toys (octopus, dinosaur and Woofy the dog to name a few).

The only wish I have for my birthday and beyond is that I remain aware of my own good fortune and enjoy the moments that make all of this so incredible.

Good night,
N

Best Days are RIGHT NOW

It is official.
This is the best time in my life. I have never felt so fulfilled and energized by the people in my life.
Roya is 8 months. Kavaun is four.
I am married to my best friend and love of my life going for 7-plus years.
Living in the moment. Living in every single moment on the best days.

Late night feedings with Roya on my shoulder afterward, sound asleep.
Her little arms wrapped on my neck and all I can do is smile.
I loved this age with Kavaun too and now I have a new perspective and understanding of why I want to soak it up before moving on to the next phase.

Every night at dinner, we each say what we are grateful for and occasionally we will talk about highs and lows from the day. Mostly though we battle Kavaun to get him to sit still. My list of gratitude is long and heart-felt. I do not always verbalize well, but I feel it in my interactions everyday. It trickles over into how I carry myself in my career. It fills me up. Since I do believe in jinxing, that gratitude list includes our health, our family, even our house, neighbors and jobs and the support we get from our entire "network" of family (including Miss Tonya).

Beata made a beautiful photo book for our family highlighting all the cool things 2012 brought our way. I love it.

More later.
It's late.

Going to go stare at my baby girl sleeping for a few minutes then kiss my boy on the forehead before I go to bed.