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“A very healthy-looking baby boy,” Dr Reynolds says, laying the baby on Tiffany’s belly I’ a towel over him to clean him up

“He’s beautiful,” Tiffany cries, lost in the most wondrous moment of joy

“Yes, you are,” I whisper to her She doesn’t hear me, but that’s okay

The doctor places cla out a pair of scissors “Dad, do you want the honors?” I take the scissors, looking at my son and my wife I can’t believe this is lad Tiffany did

My hand shakes a little as I ravity of the moment But once it’s done, the nurse wraps our little boy up like a burrito

Tiffany holds out her arms, and they hand the baby back to her I hover over the over and over to protect and love them Tiffany looks up at me in wonder “Look e did What we made”

“We did good,” I tell her Her eyes drop back to the bundle in her arms, and mine follow “He’s beautiful”

Every parent thinks that about their baby, even when they come out red and wrinkly with a smushy face But our boy actually is beautiful Beneath the little hat, he has a shock of dark, thick hair like his mother, and his eyes open to reveal a blue quite similar to mine

I lean forward to press a kiss to his forehead “Hi there, Nate”

Tiffany has had crazy pregnancy dreams for months She says the first one hen she was passed out, but they haven’t stopped since then Mostly, she wakes up laughing as she tells me about conversations she’s had with our dreao, she had a different sort of dream

“We were in the park, flying a kite with a toddler And then you swooped hi that he was a kite and les so loud And he squealed out, calling for me, and I answered back, ‘You’re the cutest kite I’ve ever seen, Nate!’ It was like this sense of peace filledto be a happy family—you, me, and Nate”

How do you argue with that?

I’ll tell you—you don’t