hayrides, pumpkins and pig ears.

as children, CJ and i had never been to pumpkin patch that either of us can recall. it was a no brainer that we wanted vegas to experience this.

when i refer to a pumpkin patch i most certainly do not mean this.

i'm sorry, but unless you live in downtown NYC there is no excuse for this. why not just go to walmart like everyone else to get your pumpkin, and not waste your money on this "pumpkin patch" experience.

after some much appreciated referrals we headed to carrigan farms for a hayride and a real pumpkin patch! it was a first for all of us! the weather was absolutely gorgeous, 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. the actual pumpkin patch was huge, a lot bigger than i pictured. we definitely had our choice, there were literally hundreds and hundreds to choose from in all shapes, sizes and colors. they were so fresh we had to rip them off of the vine they were growing on. they even had a mini petting zoo which just put the icing on the cake. enough with the blah blah blah, here comes picture overload.

i live for the weekends i can spend with my little family. <3.

happy birthday vegas landry.

today you are one.

that's 365 days old, which to me... is unbelievable.

how did i ever function before you? what were my goals? what were my dreams? oh yeah, they were YOU. you are my everything. you are the drive that pushes me to want to become a better person. on my worst days, that gummy smile makes everything disappear. you are so innocent and clueless to the real world and i want to keep you that way for as long as i can. all you care about is eating, sleeping and tapping things with your middle finger... which is a pretty awesome life if you ask me. you pass no judgment, i am your mom and that's all you care about. you don't care if i have an important job, drive an import or even pay the mortgage. all you ever want from me is attention, and i really do try my hardest to give you as much as i humanly can because i know you will not be this little forever. while my heart aches just typing those words i cannot wait to watch you develop into an amazing girl. hell, you already ARE amazing, in more ways than your little brain could ever imagine.

you changed my life one year ago today, and for that i am eternally grateful.

i love you [mama].

i know you will not remember your first year, but it is forever etched in my brain. thank you for being awesome!

crawling and sand. not to be confused with crawling in the sand.

the mister, the little and myself relocated to the beach for a long weekend. this was the first time vegas' little toes touched the sand. there is just something about babies, beaches and uninterrupted time with my husband that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

we had some much needed family time, even if only for three days. we went to myrtle beach, sc. not the most glamorous of beaches, but cj has family that lives there and happens to own an ocean front condo, so it was pretty much a no brainer.

while we were there, vegas decided to become a normal baby and actually starting crawling like, for real. exactly 11 months old before she did it. she was so early on most of her other milestones, but this one... not so much.

she wasn't too fond of the sand at first, so there was no crawling on the beach, thank you baby jesus. she loved the ocean, just not too much of it at one time. it only took one mouthful of saltwater to initiate herself to the beach. she sunned with mom, peed on dad [hilarious] and rubbed sand in her eyes about 578 times, give or take.

she is going to be a golden goddess like her mom was as a kid. WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?! I AM SO WHITE! i guess i will be happy in a few years when i am hopefully not getting a melanoma removed from baking in the sun. but everyone knows that most people look a little better with a little color on them. boo, just boo.

"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)

myrtle beach 2010.

cj and i had our first break away from being full time parents since vegas was born. we were gone for nearly 5 days over the fourth of july. it was extremely hard on me personally when we first left. i had enormous mommy guilt. vegas stayed at our house while my mom came over to watch her.

before this trip we had not been away from her for more than a day or two.

we considered taking her with us, but since we were going with one other couple [childless i might add], we figured we would attempt to be good company sans a baby.

we went to myrtle beach, sc and had the most beautiful weather. high 80's, no humidity! it was crazy town though because of ALL of the people migrating to the beach to see mediocre fireworks. and crappy they were. we will not even touch on how i feel about that subject. [can you sense my disappointment?].

cj and i had a great trip, but we missed our girl like crazy! im so glad my mom sent us about five pictures a day to our phones to hold us over until we could kiss her cutie cheeks.

enjoy the pictures.

ALSO - again i am going to ask all of you lovely readers to do me a favor. i entered vegas into yet another baby contest. PLEASE vote for her. its in abc order and you are only allowed to vote on one baby picture a day [there are nearly 250!] per user account.

we could win a $500 visa card if we can get the votes. i know its a long shot, but i know we have a cute girl, and apparently you guys think shes cute as well because you come here to read about her! look for this picture vvvvvvv

please and thank you from vegas in advance.  :)

fathers day 2010

fathers day was pretty low key around our house yesterday.

the three of us woke up way too late, snuggled  in the bed, ate breakfast at lunchtime, laid around at the pool, took vegas to see her grandfathers grave and put flowers on it for the first time, met up with CJ's brother and sister, then headed to dinner at cheddars.

it was a perfect way to spend his first fathers day in my opinion. :)

and completely off subject [ineedatan], but i got my hair chopped off saturday. does it look like a "mommy" cut? maybe the humidity was making it poof out, idk. boo!

days [124 - 130]

[124] - i'm so excited about the new season of the hills mom! heidi is such a plastic pool float.

[125] - how in the heck am i supposed to eat this mum mum?

[126] - i'm probably still a little short for this contraption.

[127] - i'm his cougar girlfriend, he's just so precious, i must pat his widdle head.

[128] - floppy hats and stunna shades. yep, thats how i roll in the bjorn.

[129] - moms first mothers day with an [outside baby].

[130] - prom night with uncle ryan and aunt kathy. i'm ryans number one girl, shhhh don't tell the lady in the polka dot dress.

mothers day - with my mother of course.

there are not nearly enough words in the english dictionary to describe how i feel about my mother. those would be good words, not bad.

i am lucky to have a pretty awesome relationship with my mother. i know that is not the case for so many others.

this mothers day we went to lunch where she gave me this beautiful "mother and child" bracelet. it is dangling on the keyboard as i type this. i was completely not expecting a gift from her, so it was extra special in that sense.

vegas was a little on the crabby side today. she didn't get the memo that she is supposed to be on her best behavior. i guess she thought that since she gave me my present last week [got my hurrr did!], that she was off the hook.

ps. my mom is not a midget, all though she does resemble one in pictures sometimes. oh, and no i am not adopted, ive asked a few times because i look nothing like her. im all my dad. just like vegas, i guess.