Justin Verlander Says 'It's Been a Lot of Fun' Being a Dad: 'Every Day, It's Something New'

Justin Verlander‘s smile is contagious — and who can blame him when he has Kate Upton and their beautiful baby girl to go home to?

In a Thursday interview with reporters during a spring-training session in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Houston Astros pitcher raved about his life as a dad to daughter Genevieve, whom he and his model wife welcomed Nov. 7.

“I get out [to golf] occasionally, but not quite as much,” Verlander, 35, said with a laugh, as seen in video footage shared by USA TODAY. “[Having a baby] definitely changes the afternoons a little bit.”

It’s worth the trade-off, though. As he explained of his daughter, “I get pretty excited to go home and see her smiling. It seems like every day it’s something new, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

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RELATED: Justin Verlander Holds New Baby as Kate Upton Raves, “Daddy Daughter Snuggles Beat Everything”

Verlander and Upton, 26, are no doubt into the full swing of parenting now, but the beginning had a few bumps — starting right after their first child was born.

“We were going back and forth even in the hospital,” Upton told Extra last month about the indecision surrounding their daughter’s name. “Justin had some real name-commitment issues. I actually just kind of left him on his own.”

“He knew Genevieve was my favorite, so I just left him to fill out the paperwork. I was like, ‘I can’t deal with that right now,’ ” she explained.

RELATED VIDEO: Kate Upton Pregnant With First Child

Upton seems to have the whole parenting/romance balance down. On Thursday, she gave an honest look at new motherhood in a candid selfie on Instagram.

The supermodel — seemingly in full makeup, with her hair styled for the evening — could be seen using a breast pump in the snapshot, with her top pulled up and bra visible above a pretty pink skirt.

“Valentine’s Day dinner pregame #JustKeepPumpin,” Upton cheekily captioned the image.

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