My wife has always said that the first 3 months were the easy bit.  Now the Australian National University has confirmed it in a recent study.

(1) New mothers are usually given no support from their partners after child birth
(2) New mothers spend 71 hours/week on paid and

unpaid work, when child is 3 months old
(3) The workload increases to 75 hours/week when the child is 9 months.
(4) Over 90% of that work is housework and child care
(5) On average, new fathers spend only 5-6 hours/week on child-rearing activities.

If that wasn't enough.

(6) The workload is heaviest, not just after birth, but climbs quickly from 3-6 months after birth, peaking around 9 months.
(7) The workload does not decrease as children become more self-sufficient, mothers just have other types of work and often more, e.g., shopping, cleaning.
(8) The article supports the idea that maternity leave that only covers the first 2-3 months leaves mothers with a massive task when the child reaches 6 months.

So fathers....

(1) The mother's workload actually increases as children get older.  So being around during the first couple of months is easy. Plan to be able to support mothers in the 3-9 month period. For example, learn to leave work so that you are home no later than 6 pm every night and be ready to take over looking after the kids as soon as you get in the door.

(2) Stop giving stupid excuses like, "Something came up," "I'm in the middle of something", "My boss asked me to work late", etc.  Show some respect for your partner and some love for your children and get organised and learn to say no to work.  If you have a meeting at the end of the day, tell the participants from the beginning of the meeting that you have to leave at 5.30pm at the latest.  Respecting you partner and indicating that you take your parenting obligations seriously is not a sign of weakness.  You may even impress some people.  Most companies spend a lot of time trying to make you a better person in the workplace.  Try to apply some of that learning at home.  It may turn out to be a much better investment.  (Divorced wives and estranged kids are financially and emotionally very expensive!)

(3) Taking pride in or joking about the fact that you don't ontribute around the house or spend enough time with your kids, is the mistake your own father made and probably regretted.  Don't make the same mistake.  And besides, you sound like a fool.

Good luck,

Wombat