It was the Friday before Dax's first birthday and we were sitting in the exam room waiting for Dr. Puck to come in. "So this is what it is like to sit here and wait for us doctors." Mike said while we were sitting down watching Dax standing by the block table trying to stack a couple of them. "I know it's a total pain right?" I said sarcastically as Puck walked in. "Hey guys, how's Mr. Dax doing?" He asked as he walked into the room at the same time that Mike picked Dax up and we all walked over to the table. "So do you guys have everything ready for the party?" Puck asked while he was listening to his lungs and heart. "I think so. We are going to the portrait studio in the mall tomorrow to get some family and first birthday pictures and we have everything ready for a safari party on Sunday. You guys are still coming right?" Puck nodded his head as he undid Dax's diaper. "Yep, we wouldn't miss it. Rachel is dying to meet some of my friends and Noelle just learned how to crawl, so she will have a good time too." He answered as the guys were getting Dax's clothes back on. "You did get him an egg free cake I assume." Puck said as he was documenting the chart. "We sure did. We pick it up first thing on Sunday." I replied. Puck recommended we do a scratch test at his check up appointment a month after he had to go to the hospital. We found out that he is allergic to eggs, beans, and fish. I remember feeling so sorry for him when we found out because he would never get to know the wonderful taste of sushi. "Well everything looks good. I will go ahead and let you guys head on out and will see you Sunday after noon." Puck said as he ducked out of the room.

We stopped for some pizza on our way back to the apartment for supper that night. Tina decided it would be better if we go ahead and do most of the decorating now that way it's one less thing we have to do tomorrow or Sunday. First we hung up the banner that was green and had safari animals all around the words Happy Birthday Dax. Then we taped cutout animals all along the walls and on the kitchen counter that faced the living room. The last thing we did was hang some streamers and more cutout animals from the fan and light fixtures in the kitchen, living room, and dining room. I had stepped inside the bathroom real quick to wash my hands so I could eat a piece of cold pizza, when I saw Tina just outside the bathroom door but her attention was directed at the wall. I slowly walked over to her and realized she was filming Dax as he was talking to the monkey cutout that we had hanging from a shelf. He was saying some real words and baby words but it was the sweetest thing. I looked down at Tina and saw that she had a happy tear in her eye and wiped it away for her. She tilted her head up to look at me then. "Our baby is growing up." I smiled back to her, "Yeah he is"

We woke up early on Saturday morning and headed to the airport to meet the grandparents and get some breakfast. "I can't believe he is already a year old." Michelle said as she gave Dax a piece of her grapefruit. "I can't believe it has been less than a year that we have known Dax and Tina." My mom said as she was carrying on with Michelle. The two of them were getting along as well as the dads were. No worries about the in-laws liking each other, I thought to myself. "So I was thinking, after we get the pictures taken, why don't we all spend the rest of the day at the zoo?" Tina said with a half smile and half pout look on her face that I knew no one would be able to deny. "That sounds great to us darling. We better start heading to the mall though if we want to make it on time." My mom said and we all started to get up then and make our way to the mall down the street. As soon as we got there, they showed us the station that we would be using. Tina pulled Dax's picture shirt out of the diaper bag and said that she was going to go change him and clean him up. "Now remember, no matter how much extra it costs, take as many pictures as possible throughout the entire time. This is a trip I want to remember." I told the photographer and she just nodded with a smile as Tina came back carrying Dax.

"Ok can I have Dax at first with the big number one and we will get a few shots of just him first." The photographer said as she placed him where she needed him too while Tina and I made goofy faces to get him to laugh his hardest. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a light green shirt that had a little panda sown on the side. Tina took one look at it at the department store and built this whole plan around that shirt. She thought it would be important to capture what was happening in our lives as a family with each of Dax's birthdays. "Next I want Tina to stand over to the side here facing the wall while you hold Dax so he is facing you. I want to get the two of you to smile at each other." The photographer said as Tina started smiling at Dax and gently singing her favorite song to him that caused him to smile every time. I got so caught up in it that I almost forgot what I was supposed to be doing. Since Tina had her back to me, I was able to walk up behind her without her noticing. "Great, now could you set him in front of the blocks here in the corner?" She asked and Tina set him down and turned around to see me on one knee with a little blue box opened in my hand.

I couldn't believe what was happening. I had just set Dax down thinking the lady wanted to get a few pictures of him playing, when I turn around and see Mike down on one knee. "Tina, I promise to always be there for you, Dax, and any other children we might have. I love you more than you could possibly imagine and want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. Will you marry me Tina?" Mike asked as his voice was starting to tremble. I had tears gathering in my eyes and without even having to think about it, I was nodding along like a bobble head. "Yes of course I will" I shouted as I let him put the ring on my finger and then jumped at him causing Mike to have to catch me and he spun me around. By the time he had set me down, Dax figured something was going on and walked over to us with his arms up in the air. Mike bent down and picked him up and I held my hand out so he could see the pretty ring. The photographer spent the next 20 minutes taking tons of different poses and non posed pictures before she announced that we were finished. "So give me about twenty minutes and then I will have your portraits ready for you." She said as we started to get our stuff together. "How long have you been planning this?" I asked Mike as I was putting my shoes back on. "The day you made the appointment, I knew this would be something that we would want to remember forever and pass on to the rest of the family. Plus I had asked your parents for their approval at Christmas time." He said as he tied his last sneaker and stood up in front of me. "So did you like it?" Smiling up at him, "It was the perfect proposal." I told him and we headed to the tables just outside the studio where the parents were all sitting. They all knew of course what Mike was going to do but they were all excited to see the ring and that his plan had worked. We went and looked at our picture after a few minutes and I immediately fell in love with all of them. "I don't know how to choose. I wish we could buy all of them because I love all of them so much." I said trying to pick out our favorite ones. "We will take the deluxe package." Julia had said from behind me. Mike and I looked up at her then in shock. "This is our engagement present to you." She said and the lady started to put everything together. I think my favorite picture was the one that we had blown up and framed for our living room. It is a picture of the three of us all smiling at the camera with my new ring sparkling on my hand.

We had made it to the zoo about an hour later even though everyone was already starting to get worn out. Dax absolutely loved it though. Mike was in charge of taking care of Dax while our moms were asking me question after question about the wedding. I had known after a certain point that this was the end game and that I loved Mike and we would always be together and had already given some thought to the wedding. "As long as the colors are pastel, I don't care what specific colors are used." I said as we were walking through the petting zoo trying to catch up with the guys. We had found them in with the ducks and saw Dax trying to chase after three of them while Mike was slightly jogging behind them. I was glad I had remembered to bring the video camera and pulled it out of my purse to record it. "He really is Dax's daddy isn't he?" Julia asked while we were all watching them. "He has been this whole time. Dax is a very special boy to have Mike in his life." My mom said and I couldn't help but nod and smile.

It was 7pm before we made it back to the apartment. Tina went straight to Dax's room to get him into his pajamas while I put the stuff we had got from the zoo on the table. We had picked up a few last minute gifts and decorations for the party in the morning. "Night my Dax, I will see you in the morning for your birthday." I heard Tina say from the bedroom. "Night mommy" I heard his little voice tries to say and then saw her walking out a second later. "I can't believe everything that happened today." She told me as she was walking over to where I was sitting on the arm of the couch. "I know it was a crazy day. I'm just glad you liked the proposal." I told her as I wrapped my arms around her as she stood in between my legs. "I loved the proposal but I think I would like for you to make the engagement official, if you know what I mean." She said as she gave me a kiss. Catching up to her thought quickly, I picked her up and ran to the bedroom.

We had set he alarm for the next morning so we could finish some last minute things and both are up for Dax. Tina was working on cutting up veggies and putting the lunch wraps together while I finished the decorations and wrapped his presents. "So the parents are grabbing the cake for us on their way over here and we should expect them around 12:30 and everyone else around 1." She told me when we heard Dax start to fuss a little. We both ran into the room to say hi to him at the same time. Tina picked him up and sat with him on the couch while I grabbed his breakfast but he seemed too interested in the decorations to eat. We took turns and finally got him feed and cleaned up ready to go around 11. I had just finished hanging up the picture frame with the picture of the three of us in it when Dax made a grunting sound realizing that he now had a dirty diaper. "I will go change him." Tina said looking up to me while I was standing on a chair in the living room. I got the last corner secured when I heard a knock on the door. Dang parents, I thought, we told the 30 minutes early not 2 hours early. I made it to the door and opened it not knowing the guys standing on the other side. "Can I help you?" I asked trying to be as friendly as I could to the stranger and only opening the door enough so he could see my face. "Yeah, I was looking for someone who used to live here but I guess she must have moved. Sorry" He said as he started to walk backwards slowly. "No wait, are you looking for Brittany or Tina?" I asked thinking he was a old friend of theirs that I hadn't met yet. "Tina, I was looking for Tina. I was just going to stop by and say hi to her today." He said with a kind non robber smile. "She still lives here, come on in and have a seat and I will get her for you." I told him as I opened the door farther and let him enter. The guy walked in taking in the whole place but I saw his eyes glued to the picture I had just hung up. "We just had that picture taken yesterday. Tina wanted to have family pictures and Dax's first birthday pictures done at the same time." I told him trying to lighten the mood. "It is a really great picture. Dax has gotten big." The guy said as I nodded back with a smile and started to head to Dax's room to get Tina when the door opened and I saw Dax running out of it. He came running straight to me yelling "daddy, daddy" and I bent over to pick him up. "He is all clean and ready for his party now. Did I hear…" Tina was saying until she looked around me and saw the guys standing behind me. "Artie? What are you doing here?" She asked and it finally dawned on me who this guy was. This was the guy that left Tina when she was pregnant and didn't want anything to do with his son. "Hi Tina, I was in town and wanted to stop by and say hi." He started to say with a smile on his face while she still had a frown on hers. "I'm going to take Dax into his bedroom for a bit." I said as I backed into the room leaving the two staring at each other. I pushed the door partially closed and sat door beside it while Dax started to play with his blocks.

"Why are you here and not in California?" I asked getting more and more pissed off. "The contract I was under had ended and I came back here to sign a new contract for another tour. I remembered that today was his birthday and thought I would stop by to see you guys." He said still smiling a little, I guess hoping I would as well. "We have a very busy day today. Our friends and family are coming over soon for the birthday party." I told him wanting him to leave. "I know. My mom saw yours at the store two weeks ago and had said they were coming up here to see you guys. I'm sorry I stopped by unannounced but I thought it would be good for his dad to be here on his birthday." He said starting to get more ticked off. "You are not his dad; his dad is Mike. You are the sperm donor who left me to fend for myself when he was born. You haven't been here where you should have been. Career has always been number one priority for you. So don't you dare make me try to make me feel bad because I didn't invite you to the birthday party." I yelled at him before stopping myself to take a breath and try to compose myself. "I know I haven't been there for you guys but I just thought it might be good for me to stop by." He said as be both calmed down. "So, is Mike your husband?" He asked trying to be civilized. "Not yet, we are engaged. Dax already calls him daddy though and we have been living together for awhile now. He was Dax's doctor until we started dating. Dax means just as much to him as I do and he doesn't put anything above us." I said in a nicer voice. "That's good. I'm glad you found someone Tina. Could I see Dax? I brought him present." He asked and I thought about it for a second. "Mike, could you bring Dax out here please?" I shouted back to the door and the both of them came out a few seconds later. I took Dax for Mike's arms and walked closer to Artie. "Dax, this is Artie. Can you say hi?" I asked him while he laid the side of his head on my shoulder but let out a small wave. "Hello Dax, it's good to meet you. I brought a present for you on your birthday today." Artie said as he reached in his bag and pulled out a elephant stuffed animal and handed it to Dax. "Thank you", Dax said in his baby voice. Artie smiled at him and said. "You're welcome". Artie looked back up to me then, "Your mom said that he liked animals. I'm going to go ahead and head out. Thank you for letting me see him Tina." Artie said as I nodded back to him. "Bye Artie", he walked around me heading to the door. "Thanks for being such a good dad to him Mike. He deserves someone like you." Artie said as he passed Mike. Mike smiled at him, "Thank you. My son is a pretty special little boy." Mike replied. "Goodbye" Artie said as he closed the door behind him.

Everyone showed up for the party right on time and Mike and I had already forgotten about the whole Artie issue. Everyone loved Dax's party decorations and his safari outfit of cargo khaki shorts with a button down t-shirt. He had a blast eat his first egg free cake and opening his presents. I think his favorite part though was having everyone he loved in the room with him. He had his Aunt Santana, Brittney, and Jen eating out of the palm of his hand and his grandparents were even worse. I had walked into the kitchen to start putting some of the fruit away when I felt Mike behind me. "This is by far the best party ever." He said resting his chin on my shoulder. "It really is" I said sighing. "What are you thinking right now?" He asked me. I knew he was worried about what Artie's visit would cause me to act like tonight but I was smarter than Mike about some things. "I'm thinking I would like to get married in Hawaii on the beach." I said causing Mike to turn me around in his arms. "Sounds perfect"

That June…

The end of June found Mike and me standing in front of a minister exchanging vows. Our closest friends and family had joined us for this special day and Dax was standing next to Mike with holding the small pillow with the rings. The sun was nice and warm for our wedding and the sky was bright blue. I had thought up till now that Jen's was the best beach wedding ever but I was wrong. My Hawaiian beach wedding was far better.

The next May…

Mike and I took our daughter to her first appointment with Dr. Puck. Dax stayed at Aunt Brittany's house while his new baby sister went to see the doctor. Melody Anne Chang was born on April 26th surrounded by everyone she loves including her older brother. Mike and I couldn't be any happier now.