March has arrived and it’s time to celebrate all of those great March events: St. Patrick’s Day, March Madness and baseball spring training. I will be celebrating a new March holiday this year, Mother’s Day. Those faithful followers of the Hallmark calendar may wait until May, but this year I’ll be celebrating early.

The original title for this month’s column was "Hip-hip-hooray, Joshie turned one today!" but as I was thinking about all of the great milestones my son Josh has reached and how the year had gone by so quickly, I kept coming back to one theme: what an amazing job my wife, Yael, has done.

Those who know my wife already know that she is a special person. She has an infectious personality, a giant heart and endless energy. One year after the birth of our son, I have even greater respect and admiration for her. Somehow she has been able to do it all and seem stronger and more energetic than before.

I remember watching her fall in love with Josh from the moment that she first held him in her arms. Since that time she has taken on super human powers. She has tirelessly been there for everything that he has needed. She wanted to breastfeed and remarkably has been able to nurse him exclusively for the first year. She has been up with him nights, cared for him when he was sick and has managed to enrich his life with creative activities and her endless love – all on limited sleep and without a break. Even when her back has given out, and it would seem that she could hardly stand up, she somehow finds a way to make it through.

The most astonishing thing to me is that she has never once sighed when she has had to get up at night or complained that it was too hard. I truly thought that my training was demanding and required long hours, but that was nothing compared to what my wife faces each day.

I often hear people tell Yael that it must be so great to have a husband who is a pediatrician. While there may be some perks, there is another side to this story that she hasn’t shared. While most moms can ask for their pediatrician’s advice and then go home and make their own decisions, the wife of a pediatrician is held to a much different standard. While other moms may introduce a ‘forbidden’ food early or turn a car seat around before their child is a year old, the wife of a pediatrician is always hearing things like "but honey, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends….". I can only imagine the extra layer of difficulty that is added by having a protective Dr. Dad around.

I now have an even greater appreciation or the full-time job called motherhood. If you then consider the extra demands of caring for a busy household and husband, it is like working extra nights, weekends and holidays – all in a row. Somehow my wife must have grown another 10 arms or had herself cloned.

So why should I have to wait until May to say thank you for being such an amazing wife and mother? Yael, I love you and I deeply appreciate everything that you do for us.

Dr. Brennan is a general pediatrician, certified lactation counselor and Santa Barbara/Goleta native. Contact him at 563-1995 or visit www.SBPediatrics.com