It’s not often we get to watch our spouses fall in love. Maybe if you’re really perceptive, and weren’t fully caught up in the head-over-heals all-encompassing throes of burgeoning love yourself, you were able to watch it happen when you fell in love with each other. But usually that’s not the case; it wasn’t for me. Before I knew it, we were both just there, in love with each other.

But I’ve been lucky enough to get to witness this love blossoming on two separate occasions now: the arrivals of our two daughters. From the moment we received a positive pregnancy test, while I was still in shock with the news, your dad was confident and excited and smitten with his unborn children. As I grew and we prepared for your arrival, his excitement and love increased. And in both instances, during the delivery, when he got to watch you be born, and announce your gender, I could hear the emotion and love in his voice. I watched it become almost tangible, as he got to hold you and be with you in those first few hours of your life. And as he rocked you and just stared at you in awe, in silence, for many moments on end, I knew he was hooked; he was totally, purely, head-over-heals in love with you.

Your dad falling in love.