If how he cares for Kodiak is any indication, Michael will be an amazing father one day.

(Don’t get too excited. I said one day. Not preggers yet, but the few of you who emailed me to ask if I was are super cute. The maternity clothes comment from the other day is nothing but super wishful thinking.)

The first night home with Kodiak after surgery is always tough. He’s drugged, he’s in pain, he can’t really walk and he’s huge, so it’s not like we can just pick him up and carry him around. As a matter of fact, if you could see the maneuvering it took for the two of us to get him out of the back of the SUV, you would laugh.

After his first surgery, I had to leave on a work trip so Michael was home alone with him for the first few days. Kodiak had a bad reaction to a pain patch (that we insist now is never used on him) and was sick — out of both ends — in the middle of the night. I give Michael a lot of credit for cleaning that up.

Now that a different pain medicine is used, Kodiak doesn’t get sick. But he does pace and whine/cry for almost 12 hours, trying to get comfortable and orient himself as the anesthesia wears off. It’s sad. To make it a little easier for him, Michael slept downstairs with him all night, ready if he needed the bathroom, something to eat, or just some love.

My husband is so ready, so available to jump at the first sign that Kodiak needs anything and the way he talks to him when he whimpers in pain is so touching. If he can stay up all night for the dog, he’ll be great when it’s a baby who needs him.

Not that I needed reassurance, but watching him last night gave me just that. My husband is pretty damn awesome and I?

So damn lucky.

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