"my dada would like to speak now." -vegas

Hello ute stalkers (or lack thereof, considering my wife has failed to keep you regularly updated with text). This is CJ. The husband. The boyishly faced, pushing-30 (I’m only 26), sometimes pale sometimes tan, witty husband.

I wanted to give a bit of a husband sorta viewpoint into the life of Crystal, Vegas and myself, as well as how our lives have changed since Vegas’ arrival to this planet (forgive me if I reference space or technology too much- I’m a dork).

For those of you that remember, throughout Crystal’s pregnancy Vegas was surrounded by a lower than normal amount of amniotic fluid. Crystal, I noticed, got increasingly nervous over this, but to tell you the truth, (Crystal doesn’t know this yet either) I never worried one bit. Of course, I made it seem as I did, because that’s the husbandly thing to do right? I don’t mean for it to come off as uncaring... that isn’t it at all. I just knew deep down nothing was wrong and that everything would be smooth- and it was.

The birthing was reminiscent of the birth scene of the zombie baby in Dawn of the Dead. Ok, not really. I didn’t watch. She wouldn’t ‘allow’ it. Nor did I even want to. I just sat patiently by her head and played Scrabble for hours, made fun of the chicken broth and yellow Jell-O she had to eat, played on my Blackberry, watched TV, chatted with my brother, mom, and mother-in-law, and sometimes pretended to be playing on the Playstation 2 the hospital promised would be in the room, but wasn’t. Grrr...

Fast forward a bit to our gorgeous baby girl sans blood and mucous and ‘fluid’ all over her body. She’s been SUCH an easy baby, that we love being around, that we love showing off, that we love buying things for (even if it is a ‘farm dress’ daddy bought her that mommy doesn’t like), and just staring at her face. Neither of us could have gotten this far without the other and I’m so thankful for Crystal’s [most of the time] patience, attention to detail, style, and [most of the time] attitude. Yes, it’s more difficult to just up and drive to the movies- we aren’t those people that bring an infant to a theater- or head to the bar for some drinks- we don’t take a baby to a bar . However, we do have an array of people we graciously trust with Vegas and can call upon for these things if the desire to see some Angelina Jolie or Jake Gyllenhaal takes over.

I’m really excited about her 1st birthday and 1st Halloween she can wear a costume for. If you don’t already know, a lot of ideas regarding Vegas [including her name] come from me. Crystal probably doesn’t share that too much. She’s the physical creator, I’m the visionary. I’m brainstorming birthday party themes now, and have had a costume idea for months. Both things must be non-traditional and unexpected. No offense to anyone, I just don’t want tiaras or pink butterflies or Dora the Explorer party favors all over my house, nor do I want her in a ladybug costume. You’ll see later on if my hopes come to fruition in these aspects.

Fatherhood is not at all what I expected. I had never changed a diaper before Vegas, and that’s easy. I am NOT a morning person, but it’s fairly easy once I see her darling face in the morning to just get out of bed. I don’t try to over-protect Vegas by not letting her see the TV or constantly spraying hand sanitizer on everyone. She’s just a mini-me that I’m enjoying watching grow up so fast with Crystal. I love the moments we share as a family and look forward to the many more to come. Crystal, too, is an amazing mother, wife, lover, daughter, sister, phlebotomist, real estate licensee, and human being. She’s creative, strikingly beautiful, has amazing hair, and never ceases to make me laugh- sometimes with her contagious laughter alone. Anything she involves herself in only gets better. Neither of us would be the person we are today without the other. After all, just ask her... I made her what she is today. ;-)

Thanks for taking the time to read my rants and raves. I’m sure it could have been better, but probably could have been worse too. Maybe DW <--- did I do that right? (Dear Wife?) will let me contribute to her blog more often.

(if you’d like to donate to Vegas’ Bentley fund for her 16th birthday party, just ask for my PayPal contact info)