Three years ago today, I went from being the Dad of one to a Dad of two. I’ll be honest at first I almost didn’t know how to relate to this new little guy in our lives. For the previous two years all my love, focus, & devotion had been upon our oldest son Dayton, and internally I questioned whether or not I had the capacity to love a second human being at the depth in which I loved our first. I still remember the night that I realized, indeed God had created me with the capacity to love another child as much as I loved the first. Landon was just a few months old, I was awoken by Christina nudging me, “Chad will you go check on Landon, I need to work in the morning and it is to soon to feed him again.” (I know that sounds like a question, but it’s not :)) So I got up and went into Landon’s room. He didn’t seem interested in his paci, he didn’t need his diaper changed, Christina said she had just fed him, so I decided I would just hold him for a few moments…as I sat in our glider chair in the dark holding this little crying baby, with each cry my heart went out to him, and as he began to relax into my chest I didn’t want to go back to bed, I wanted to sleep right in that chair with this perfect little bundle & in that moment I realized that no matter how many kids we would have that there is an infinite depth to my ability to love! I realized I was in love with Landon! And every day since my love has grown deeper and deeper for this little guy. He has my sister Erin’s sense of humor (she is the funniest individual in our family) he already makes all the family die laughing, he has a fiery temper which worries me, but also makes me proud when I see him standing up for his brothers or even his mom, (I was tickling Christina one day and Landon & Dayton thought I was hurting her; Dayton just yelled at me to stop, Landon charged at me and laid hands on me to “get away from my mom”). He is strong willed which we pray the Lord uses to defend truth and fight for the underdogs. He is sensitive to his brothers always wanting hugs from them. He is a natural athlete, yes we can tell already:). He is an independent thinker, all our home loves the 49ERS, Landon is a Bengals fan, and at this point will not let anyone convince him otherwise! He is uniquely God’s creation!

When Landon was born he was going to have a different middle name (Emerson), at the last minute when the nurse asked, “now what is his name?” I said to Christina, “I want him to have my middle name Nicholas. Because if we have another one he’ll be our middle child and I want him to always know, that although he may not be the first and he may not be the baby he is still special.” (Can you tell I’m an insecure middle child? 🙂 ) Well it turns out he is our middle child, and it turns out he is oh so very special to his Daddy!   Oh my Landon Boy, how I love you! Happy 3rd Birthday!