This Man is Going to be a Dad!

Yepp...this man is going to be a dad.  And I thought we should celebrate him on his special day...his birthday! (Okay...so his birthday was a few weeks ago but I'm finally getting around to posting this)

This is my way of celebrating my amazing husband and showing the world how excited I am that he and I are going to be parents! (I would have liked to have thrown a parade for him, because I'm that type of person, but Dan put his foot down on that idea)

(These pictures are in a random order so I'll do my best to narrate them)

My husband is a smarty.  This is him getting his Master's in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Illinois.  Our child is going to be a smarty too!

My husband was also handsome from a very young age.  Doesn't he look adorable here?  This little gem of a picture makes me excited to bake cakes for our son's birthdays and take awesome pictures like this. 

I know most children go through awkward stages in their lives but I'm convinced my husband did not. Although his glasses are "precious", he still owns this picture with his handsome looks.  Little baby Koch, I hope you progress through life non-awkwardly like your daddy because your mommy had a bit of an awkward stage though Middle School.

He even had the most adorable smile as a baby.  Have I mentioned that I think all pictures of my husband are stinkingly adorable?

Who doesn't have an awesome picture like this in their childhood memorabilia?  I'm quite sure that our son will have some of these too when he gets here.  

Dan and his brothers making a snow fort.  How precious is this?  I think my sisters and I supplemented our snow forts with garbage cans and anything we could find from the garage but not these boys!  They dug that fort with shovels and brute strength.  Dan will have to show our little nugget all his tricks of the trade for making good snow forts because this is a must for any child.

This little card shark makes my heart melt.  His rugged good looks have always been evident. My wish for our son is that Dan teaches him all the card games that he's taught me and more.  I'm sure we'll be starting out with Go Fish and Crazy Eights then move our way to Euchre.

So Christmas is my favorite holiday and I start preparing for it in July (most people get annoyed with my ridiculous Christmas cheer but I personally think it's precious).  I cannot wait to start our own Christmas traditions with our son (and his siblings whenever they come along).  Here's an adorable picture of Dan on his 3rd Christmas (just a guess).  I guess he was good this year because it looks like Santa came and stuffed his and his brothers' stockings.

Dan loves baseball and here's our little stud starting out his minor league journey.  I can't wait to watch Dan teach our son how to catch, field, and hit balls (because mommy can't catch anything to save her life).  I can't wait to sit at his little league games, bring snacks for his team, cheer my little heart out.  The only point of contention about parenting for Dan and me is what baseball team we will raise our son to cheer for...Cubs or Cardinals.  I'll just say that no son of mine will be caught in a Cardinals onesie...ever.  My baseball team might be in a rebuilding year (years plural. yeah yeah) but that won't stop me from teaching my son about having faith in teams and enjoying the sport for what it is, baseball.

Dan was born with light brown/blonde'ish hair then it turned to dark brown.  I was born with my same red hair I have today so all bets are off when it comes to guessing our kid's hair color.  One thing will be for certain is that our kid will come out with a full head of hair.  Little baby Koch will be a hairy beast with the genes we're giving him and will probably need his first razor by his 3rd birthday.  But in the meantime, check out this heart-warming picture of my handsome husband as a toddler. Awwww!

So I told you these weren't in any particular order so let's fast forward to college!  This is my man on a trip to India he took for an agricultural engineering group he was in.  Who knew that he would grow up to be a world traveler?

Still in India but check out those piercing blue eyes he has.  Since Dan and I both have blue eyes, we're guessing our little man will have them too.  

Okay, rewind to baby days.  Can't get enough of baby Daniel pictures.

Time for cow pictures!  Dan and his brothers used to show their Holsteins and here's my husband-in-training with a prized heifer.  I can't wait for Dan to teach our son all about cows!

You can't tell me this picture doesn't warm your heart.

Fast forward to becoming a master huntsman!  My husband is a skilled hunter with both gun and bow.  I never have to worry about having an empty freezer with this man at my side.  Teaching our son how to be a master hunter like daddy will take time but I'm sure Dan is up for the challenge.  I can't wait for our son to bring home his first buck!  I'm sure daddy will be just as proud.

More college days.  Here's Dan, two of his brothers, and his dad celebrating Halloween at U of I.  I can't wait to dress baby Koch up in fantastic Halloween costumes!  Kids in Halloween costumes are the cutest!

Told you kids in Halloween costumes are the cutest.  I think every Koch child wore that lion costume so I think our little nugget might have to wear a lion costume at least once in his life.  (Dan's the cute one in the lion costume if you can't guess)

Life on the farm!  Wherever Dan and I end up, I want our little man to grow up learning all about life on the Koch farm.  There are so many lessons to be learned on a farm and so many experiences to be had that many kids never have, but I want our little man to have them.

Master turkey hunter!

Sorry Patrick and David, but Dan stole the show in this family picture with the hug and smile. Excited to take awesome family pictures with our little man!

Not only is my husband a smarty but he is musically talented too!  He played trombone in the U of I marching band for 4 years in college. He can also play many more instruments.  I am not musically gifted.  I pray that our son gets Dan's music genes because I'm not bringing much to the table there.

It's a family affair!  All his brothers are musically gifted.  There's even his dad in the background playing the fiddle.  I played the mandated recorder in grade school.  Then I dropped that like a bad habit.  Baby Koch, please get Koch music genes.  Or I hope that the music gene just skipped a generation in my family because my mom can play...just not me.

This ornery little bugger is still the cutest thing I ever did see.  I'm pretty sure this parenting thing won't be easy and Dan and I will probably have some moments with our bugger looking like this but it is going to be so rewarding in the end. Then we can have pictures like this of our man that we can look back on and still think he's the most adorable ornery thing ever!

Every child must learn to make a snowman.  I'm sure Dan can help teach our son to make one just as perfect as this one was.

And yes, Dan even experimented when he was young and cut his hair (notice the interesting cut on the bangs).  I too did this when I was little (I might have even cut my little sister's and her best friend's hair in my days as a novice youth hair stylist).  I hope our child makes adorable mistakes and learns life lessons from them (like there are some things you should leave to the professionals, like hair cutting) and that I get fantastic pictures to remember these life moments.

Told you my man was a baseball stud.  This is him playing at the old Cardinals stadium for his high school team.  He's pretty proud of this photo. (Dan's the stud in the green)

My baseball stud and his team

I knew I had this picture in here somewhere.  Proof that Dan played the trombone.

Dan, it looks like you have your shoes on incorrectly.  O well.  I'm sure you'll grow into them.

Daniel and Patrick holding baby brother David.  I'm excited for our little man to come into the world but I'm also equally excited for him to have siblings (whenever they may come along).

And who doesn't have an adorable childhood bath time picture?  These 4 boys are the cutest!  

Although Dan's face is precious, his outfit is hideous.  Our son will be just as handsome, just in Cubbie blue.

Master fisherman Daniel caught a big one in one of the ponds on the farm.  Gotta teach the kid how to fish dear!

Master turkey hunter!

Okay, so I could have put less pictures on here but it's my blog and I didn't want to.  

It's easy to see how much I love my husband and I love to celebrate him for who he is, amazing.  Dan, I'm proud and honored to call you my husband.  I get blown away at the fact that God made you for me and me for you.  God also brought us together to make a perfect little family and I'm so happy to start it with our first son.  You are an amazing man of God and everyone can see your faith and virtues in everything that you do.  You are a hardworking man, wonderful husband, fantastic friend, great brother and son, and I know you are going to be the most perfect father.  I pray that our son takes after his daddy...minus the Cardinals thing (Gosh I can't get over that).  I pray he loves baseball, hunting, fishing, cows, music, and more.  I pray he is as hardworking and intelligent as you are.  I can't wait to see how our little man grows up and who he becomes but I'm not worried about how he is going to be raised.  He is going to have the most amazing father to teach him everything he needs to know on how to become a man.  You love me to no end and you show me that everyday.  No one will be a better example to our son on how to be the perfect father and husband than you.  Also, thanks for being so amazing to me especially during the unglamorous, hard part of our pregnancy.  I don't think I would have made it through without you.  

Like I said, I wanted to throw a parade for Daniel because I'm ridiculous like that but this was my little way of celebrating my husband and how excited I am that he is becoming a dad.  

I love you Daniel!