If you are reading today, then either you read my first installment and are a glutton for boredom, or you forgot that Darcie was gone and wanted to read whatever clever musings she was writing about today.  For the latter group of you, I will apologize in advance and recommend that if you are going to read this - you start at the beginning - yesterday’s post.  For the rest of you dial 1-800-BLOGS02 to keep your new favorite blogger in the competition…

3. Disney World.

OK, I had to add this or else I risk severe bodily harm.  While it might be inflated at number three, our first trip to DW was an amazing experience.  You all know Darcie well enough to know that I’d heard all about Disney World.  However, I had never been.  I (foolishly) thought that Disney World was just another theme park.  Yes, yes, yes – blasphemy, right??  I was just misguided.

Months before our first trip, I remember calling Darcie and spending hours looking at the Disney website and asking her Disney World trivia.  That was when I first learned that while flowers were of no use when Darcie was mad, talking to her about Disney World changed her mood faster than you can say ‘It all started with a mouse.’  Now I am not a great storyteller, so I will spare you the details of our trip (though if you ever end up on Darcie’s bad side, I recommend you ask her about it) – you will just have to take my word that it was an unbelievable trip and afterwards, I was not only a member…I was the president (OK…maybe I was the vice president, but it just doesn’t have the same ring to it!)

2. Our Wedding Day.

When I proposed to Darcie, we both wanted to have a ceremony that involved the girls.  Beyond that, we didn’t know exactly what else we wanted.  Topping our list was getting married somewhere tropical.  I personally had visions of flip-flops, board shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and an ocean breeze…oh yea, and this guy performing the ceremony…

For a variety of reasons, we decided upon a small ceremony in Tucson – at that time, our soon to be new home.  We had an amazing ceremony at the Westward Look Resort.  I got my first peek at the amazing planner and designer that Darcie is and at the amazing team the two of us make.  We wrote our own vows and ceremony; we created our own programs and favors; we picked out all of the music and arrangement; we did it all.  And it was all absolutely perfect!  We even had a rainbow appear just before we had our wedding pictures taken – if that is not a sign, I don’t know what is!!  Now, I won’t bore you with the details – but I will tell you that I will never ever forget seeing her for the first time in her dress that night.  The whole world stopped in time and she was the only person I could see.  Funny how that feeling never went away…  Oh and if any of you suckers lovely ladies ever has the yearning to provide us with a week of child care for our four delightful children, we still fantasize about that tropical ceremony!!

And the number one event is…

1. The Birth of our Son.

You knew it had to be big in order to top our wedding day – right?  I think this is as big as it gets.  Now, I realize that I am preaching to the choir here…most of you being moms yourself.  But let me try to put this to you from a dad’s point of view.  For starters – we struggled with the decision to have another child.  There were times when I felt like our family was complete and other times when I felt like we really needed one more.  When we finally made our decision, I knew that we were doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing.

Now living in a house with four women, I really wanted to have a son.  Not to say I would have been disappointed with a girl, but I would have felt bad making her play with GI Joes and tackle football.  We bought a book on how to choose the sex of your baby, inconspicuously titled “How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby” and followed it to the letter – don’t worry, I won’t get into any more details than that.  The day that Darcie found out that she was pregnant, she got a box and put the positive pregnancy test in it and had me open it as a gift!  Ignoring the fact that she essentially gave me a stick with her pee on it, it was so sweet!  Just thinking about it now almost makes my eyes tear up.  I hung on Darcie’s every change and growing belly.  I read all the books, I followed his growth on the internet, we got a 3D ultrasound to get a better look at him, and I would fall asleep at night with my hand on Darcie’s stomach.  The pregnancy itself was an amazing experience…which is easy for me to say because I didn’t get sick or pee when I coughed!

I can still remember very specific details about the day he was born – which is a big deal for me because I am not very detail oriented (read this as: I am an unobservant man who probably didn’t notice that you got your hair cut or lost weight or got a nose ring.)  The actual birthing was not the most pleasant of experiences.  Jayce sort of got stuck, which is not surprising when you consider that Jayce was a large baby (a point of pride for me) and that Darcie is 5’3” and not heavy (I don’t know the rules about putting your wife’s weight on the internet, so I think it best to ere on the side of caution here.)  The trauma of the doctor using a toilet plunger to yank him out was a bit much for Jayce, who was pretty sure he wanted to stay right where he was, and his first experience in the world was chest compressions and oxygen from a mask.  That moment, when our newborn son was being treated and my wife was laying, exhausted and bleeding, on the hospital bed, I have never felt more torn.  I couldn’t leave my wife’s side even though I wanted to be by my son.  I think she noticed, and being an American Gladiator of emotional strength, she ordered me to Jayce’s side.  As you all well know, Jayce turned out just fine despite the brief scare (I think he was faking because he was mad at me for cutting his cord!)  But that day, my relationship with Darcie changed forever.  Just watching her give so much of herself not only to give life to our son, but to make me a father, still touches me.  That experience is a microcosm of the kind of person Darcie is.  If it is important, she will give everything she has for it and ask for nothing in return.  If that isn’t the kind of person who deserves everything - I don’t know who is!!

So, that is my top 5 list…I hope you all enjoyed hearing about Darcie from my point of view.  I know it is hard to believe, but she really is as amazing as she seems.  And since she is too humble to brag on herself, it is my pleasure to do that for her.  Now ladies, go ahead and leave me comments at your own peril - knowing that each new comment goes straight to my already inflated head!  And in the meantime, I will try to scratch something together for tomorrow’s blog since I lost my nerve before I stretched this one out into tomorrow as well!