Tristan Daniel is born January 1st, 2018 at 12:23 a.m, our little New Years baby. Crystal was in labor for twenty four hours, and I was right beside her the whole time. There was no way in hell I was going to miss the birth of my second child.

A few months after Crystal found out she was pregnant, mom and dad moved to New York with Chelsea and Christian, who's in his last year of high school. He surprisingly didn't mind that much, since he was planning to go to college here anyways.

Crystal and I, and the array of doctors and nurses, were the only people in the delivery room. Neither of us knew what to expect, but the nurses helped me and Crystal through it, and Tristan was the end result.

"Can we meet our grandson?" Dad asks, poking his head into the room.

I nod, and my whole family comes in, including my Sky, who's hiding behind my mom wearing her new Big Sister tee shirt. "Come on Sky, don't you want to meet your brother?"

Mom urges her forward. I pick her up and sit her on my lap. Crystal holds the new baby so Skylar can see his face.

"Wha his name?" Skylar asks me, reaching out to touch his face.

"Be gentle baby girl," I tell her, "his name's Tristan."

Skylar climbs out of my lap and onto the bed with Crystal. She places Skylar on her lap and lets her hold Tristan for a while. I take a lot of pictures of my perfect little family.

Mom holds the baby next, and he's passed around for a while, making Crystal extremely anxious. "Baby, calm down. He's going to be fine." I stroke her hand soothingly.

"I'm sorry. I just love him so much already," Crystal interlocks our fingers, never taking her eyes off Tristan, who is currently in my dad's arms.

I grab her chin and gently tug her head so she's looking at me instead of the baby. "He is going to be okay. Trust me."

She nods, and a small smile appears on her face. "He looks just like you. Same dark hair, same jaw," she moves a finger down my jaw, "same cute nose," she taps my nose, "same lips," she softly traces the curve of my lips, "he's going to be a heartbreaker just like his daddy."

I can't help but kiss her gently on the lips. "I'm glad he got your eyes." His icy blue eyes are just like hers, much better than my dull brown ones.

Soon it was time to feed Tristan. He had a hard time latching on, but when he did he was sucking away. "He's a pro," I tell her, watching in amazement. It's surprising how much I missed with Skylar.

"Just like his daddy," Crystal jokes, giving me a wink.

After the feeding the nurse instructs Crystal to burp him, and tells us it's time for his first diaper change. I let Crystal do the honors. She's a little rough since she's never done it on a real baby before, just dolls and pillows and sacks of flower. She does good though.

The first night she gets really emotional. "I'm a mother," she would cry, and I would respond with, "you've been a mother for a while now," which would just make her cry even more. But it's true. Crystal has been a great mother to Skylar, and Skylar treats her like her mom, even calls her mommy. Every time we're in California we visit Trinity and I frequently show Skylar pictures of her so she won't forget who gave her life, but when it comes to the 'mom' title Crystal has it in the bag.

After another night we get to go home. Crystal sits in the back with Skylar and the new baby. Skylar can't stop blabbering to him, but I think he likes the sound of his sisters voice, which is good because she's a talker. Our quaint little house has three bedrooms and two baths, perfect for  our family. I take Tristan out of his car seat and follow Skylar around the house as she tells her brother what every room is. Lastly is his room. The walls are painted with the top half white and the bottom half baby blue. TRISTAN is spelled out in green letters above his dresser, just like in Skylar's room, except she has her name in purple. The letters were a baby gift from the Logsdon's since they couldn't be here for the baby shower or the birth.

Skylar is highly amused by the fact that we bathe him in the sink for the first week or so. She loves helping though. She helps whenever she can, grabbing diapers and clothes whenever we needed them. I'm so happy that she's this excited. I read about how sometimes when you have your second kid, your first born gets jealous and resents the new baby. Thank god Skylar doesn't hate her new brother. I was also worried she wouldn't like the fact that he was a boy. She doesn't seem to mind, though.

Crystal doesn't leave the house for a month. After the fourth week I make her go out for a girls night with Anna, Maya, Victoria, and Keith's new girlfriend, Jasmine.

"Me wanna watch lion," Skylar says, jumping up from the table to retrieve the movie. I burp Tristan before moving to his room.

"I'm putting Tristan down, I'll be out in a minute," I tell Skylar when I pass her in the hallway. She nods and goes to the living room.

Tristan goes to sleep easily. I make sure the baby monitor is on before going to the living room. Skylar isn't there, but in the kitchen, trying to make popcorn. I pick her up from behind and she giggles. "Do you need help?" I sit her on the counter and she nods.

We make a bowl full of popcorn and return to the living room to watch The Lion King, her current obsession.

I've missed my little girl. I'm always busy with work and school, and now with the new baby everything is so much more hectic. I have tried to make special times for just me and her so she knows she hasn't been forgotten or replaced.

Tristan only wakes once during the movie, which is surprising. Skylar is passed out by the end so I carry her to her bed and kiss her goodnight. "I love you little munchkin."

Her eyes open a fraction and she mumbles "I wove woo."

Crystal comes home around midnight, exhausted. She only called once, and that was at the beginning of the night, so I suspect the girls took her phone to keep her from checking up on the baby. When she gets home she moves right past me and goes to check on Tristan. When she sees that he's alive she kisses me in greeting.

"How was your night?" I ask, my hands planted firmly on her hips, tempted to move further down.

"Mm, it was fun." She places her head on my chest. "How was your night with Sky?"

"It was great. We watched The Lion King and had popcorn."

"Sounds like a blast."

We walk to the bedroom, and we find a munchkin standing in front of our bed, thumb in mouth, her special bear in her other hand.

"What are you doing in here? You're supposed to be in bed." I pick her up and sit down before placing her on my lap.

"I got squared," she murmurs quietly, cuddling up to my chest.

A cry from the other room gets everyone's attention. I stand up to get him, but Skylar screams for me to stay, so Crystal tells me she'll get him even though I promised her I would give her a baby free night.

I lay down with Skylar beside me. "You don't like daddy spending time with the new baby do you?"

She shrugs and then shakes her head. I'm going to take that as a no. "You'll always be my number one, okay?"

She nods. I wrap her in my arms and we both drift off to sleep.

Six months after the birth of Tristan Crystal decides to get on birth control after a very stressful pregnancy scare. We are definitely not ready for a third child. She gets the mirena, a brand of IUD, a birth control implant I know way too much about now. It's almost 100% effective.

After graduating college I find a job teaching in the FACS and coaching lacrosse at George Park High School. Not what I initially wanted to do, but I'm loving it so far. FACS is Family and Consumer Sciences. I teach Relationships and Parenting and Life Skills and I'm the only male teacher in that department. It's great because I get to share my story and experience and educate the next generation and hope they don't make the same mistakes I did.

Crystal fulfilled her dream of opening her own bakery. It's quite a successful little shop with the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had.

One day, about two years after Tristan was born, Crystal comes to visit me at school. She's working as a part-time nurse at Clark Memorial Hospital as well as running her bakery. I don't know why, it's not like we're in financial trouble. I don't stop her, because she loves doing both.

Anyways, Crystal brings me lunch in the middle of class. "What are you doing here?" I ask her, kissing her cheek and taking the brown bag from her.

"I just wanted to stop by. I hope you don't mind," she says nervously. Why is she so nervous?

"Of course I don't mind. Class, this is my wife Crystal. Crystal, this is my third period class." She waves to the kids.

"Can I talk to you outside?" She asks. I look around. I can't just leave them. But she does look nervous and anxious.

I change the slide on the PowerPoint. "Write this down and we'll discuss when I get back. I'll be right outside the door so don't try anything," I say, looking at the students who I'm talking about. The troublemakers.

Outside the door I say, "what's up?," and roll up my sleeves the same time she blurts, "I'm pregnant."

My mouth drops, "what? Seriously?"

She nods, biting her bottom lip. "Yeah. My mirena expired and I forgot to get a new one. Please don't be mad."

I raise my eyebrows. "Mad? Why would I be mad?"

"Because you didn't want anymore kids until we were thirty and I thought-"

I cut her off by lifting her up in the air and spinning her around like you see in those romance movies. "It's great news. We are going to be parents again!"

She giggles. "Okay, put me down before you get barfed on."

When her feet hit the ground I'm kissing her. I feel her smile. "You better get back to your class."

I pout and kiss her one more time. "I love you. See you at home?"

"I love you too, and I'll be there."

All eyes are on me when I get back in the classroom. Someone raises their hand and asks what happened. The smile won't stay off my face. "My wife is pregnant." The ironic thing is I'm in the middle of one of my parenting classes, talking about the different forms of birth control.

The girls in the class, which is the majority (all but three), aww. "Pregnancy can be a wonderful thing when you're life is stable and you're in a loving, committed relationship. There's nothing better than raising children with the person you love."

Eight and a half months later my second son was born. Robert Daniel was born October 31st, our Halloween baby, named after Crystal's brother, who sadly passed away last year. Six year old Skylar was in school when he was born, and she could not have been more upset about it.

"I wanted to see my baby brother being born!" She stomped her feet and everything.

She was fine once she got to hold him. Tristan crawled up next to his mother and sister to sneak a peak, and I just had to take a picture.

Two years after that I almost have a heart attack. Probably not literally, but it felt like it. At just eight years old Skylar told me she had a crush on a boy in her class. Crystal finds it hilarious. Me? Not so much.

"He's so funny daddy, and Michelle says he likes me, too," Skylar says at the dinner table.

"I don't like this boy," I say, taking a bite out of Crystal's delicious chicken.

"Daddy, you haven't even met him," she groans. Oh my god, it's starting already.

"I learned the alphabet today!" Tristan says, then proceeds to sing us the alphabet while Skylar sulks and Robert makes a mess with his food.

That night Crystal comes into bed looking sexy as hell in her new lingerie. She lays beside me. "Don't stress hon, she's eight years old."

I grab her hips and pull her towards me. "Exactly. She's eight and it has already started."

"Just wait until she's a teenager, she's going to have all the boys chasing her," Crystal teases, but it has my mind reeling on the future. "Oh come on, I was just teasing."

With her arms around neck and her sinful body pressed against mine, I put off the thought of the future for another day.

That day comes five years into the future.

At just 13, Skylar comes into my room. To my dismay she's... developing more quickly than the other girls in her school.

She puts on her puppy dog face and sits at the end of my bed. "Daddy...."

"Yes darling?" I ask, closing my laptop for this conversation.

"Can you take me to the movies Saturday?"

"With who?" I ask, already knowing it's a boy.

"Logan."

I've been dreading this day for the past five years. Her first date.

I meet the boy and his parents when I drop her off at his house. He seems intimidated, but I don't blame him. I was bad at meeting parents, too.

When she gets home that night we question the heck out of her. "Did he kiss you?" Tristan teases, looking up from the iPad. He makes kissing noises and Skylar hits him in return.

"Hey, no hitting your brother," Crystal chastises.

Robert comes running into the room with his friend Mark behind him. "Skylar went out with a boy!?"

"Ugh, I'm going to my room," Skylar announces, marching off.

Crystal grabs my hand, "I don't think they kissed."

"I don't think it went very well. She's in a pissy mood."

Crystal giggles. "That's because it's her time of the month."

I scrunch my nose. "I don't need to know that kind of stuff about my daughter." Her first, you know, was when she was ten. She went to Crystal, crying and confused, so Crystal sat her down and they had that talk.

Logan didn't last long. A week, at most.

At the age of 15 she got her first boyfriend, Hayden. He was 16 and charming and respectful and everything I could ask for in the boyfriend of my daughter. Until one day, after they've been dating for two months, he broke up with her, and she was devastated.

"Can I kick his ass?" I ask Crystal when she climbs back into bed after talking with Skylar.

Crystal wraps her arms around me and sighs. "No, she's going to be fine."

I stroke her hair. "I don't like seeing my baby girl hurt like that."

"I don't either, but dating is a part of high school. You just have to let things run its course."

Her 16th birthday is in a few months, which means she'll be driving. I swear she's going to be the death of me.

"I'm pregnant," she mumbles into my chest; I almost don't hear her.

Smiling, I kiss the top of her head. "I love you. And I love our baby growing inside you."

Nine months later our second daughter was born, Lucille Daniel, Lucy for short. Skylar thanks us sarcastically for finally giving her a little sister at 16.

We make frequent family trips to California to visit our families, and every time we go Skylar asks, "are we going to see Trinity?" As she grows older she understands more. Around the age 14 I told her the whole story, even the parts where I was reluctant to keep her. After that she respected those trips to see Trinity; she started taking them more seriously.

My favorite trip was the summer before Skylar went off to college. She was 18, Tristan was 14, Robert was 12, and Lucy was 2, and we decided to drive there. It took us four days to reach the Logsdon's house, where we were staying. Along the way we stopped at some landmarks and we have a photo album dedicated to just that trip.

That's also the summer Skylar met Fisher, a nice, smart, aspiring actor. They had a summer fling. And they had sex.

After three weeks of knowing him, Skylar came into our room one night, a smile on her face.

"Daddy, can I talk to Mom for a minute?" She asked.

I was hesitant, but left the room.

In that time Skylar was telling Crystal about the amazing night she had with Fisher, and how they went all the way, and how she's in love and thinks he's the one. I know this because Crystal told me, and after she told me I went into Skylar's room.

No need to share all the details of what happened, but some nasty words were said, and by the end Skylar was pissed at both me and Crystal.

"If you're going to act like this then give me your phone," Crystal had said.

Skylar scoffed, "you can't order me around."

"I am your mother, now give me your phone."

"Too bad you aren't really my mom," Skylar said. It felt like the air was sucked out of the room. I watched Crystal slowly drop her hand and Skylar turn away without an apology.

I find Crystal in bed after attempting to yell at Skylar, but she ignored me. Yelling doesn't work unless the other person is actually listening.

I lay beside my beautiful wife. "You know she didn't mean it darling."

She sniffs. "It's my greatest fear, losing Skylar. I feel like she's mine, I love her just as much as I love the other three, but I'll never have that mother-child bond of giving birth and breast feeding. I fear that one day she'll realize I'm not her mom-"

I stop her, "Crystal, you are her mother. She knows it, and you know it," I lift her chin up, "hey, remember the day you officially became her mom?"

Crystal finally smiles. "She was five and wore a white sundress with a daisy on it. It wasn't a big deal to the people there, but it felt like one to me. It made everything so real."

I kiss her nose. "You are her mother, mom, caregiver, whatever term you want to use: you are it."

The next day Skylar only talks to me to ask if I can take her to visit Trinity. When we get there she sits at her grave and bows her head. I watch from the car, where she asked me to stay.

She starts talking. And after that she places a letter on her grave and stands up. Back in the car she hugs me and apologizes for overreacting.

"I'm sorry, too. I just want you to understand that sex is a big deal," I say. I grab her hands. "When you have sex with a person you're essentially having sex with everyone they've had sex with. This guy-"

"Fisher."

"Right, Fisher," I correct, "how many girls has he slept with?"

She looks away. "Three, including me."

That bastard. "Those two other girls, who knows who they've slept with-"

"Daddy, I don't really want to talk about those other girls."

I nod. "The point is, sex is not something that should be taken lightly. You need to protect yourself from STD's, STI's, and unwanted pregnancy."

"I get that you're worried, but aren't you kind of being hypocritical? I mean, you and Trinity had a summer fling. You all slept together."

This conversation was not going where I wanted it to go. "That's different. We were each other's firsts, and it also resulted in an unwanted pregnancy."

Skylar smiles. "I'm glad Fisher was my first. I know we're not going to last, but it's my life, and I enjoy making mistakes so I can learn from them. Thanks for looking out for me, but I'm not your little girl anymore. You have to let me make my own mistakes."

I realized that night that she was right; I have to let her go. Before that though, I take her roller skating and out for ice cream, and the whole day I saw her as my little Sky.

"You need to apologize to your mother," I say as we drive off.

She sighs, "I know. I didn't mean it. Does Mom know that?"

I nod. "We had a long talk last night. I don't ever want to hear you say it again though."

She agrees. "Hey, do you remember the day she adopted you?" I ask.

Just like Crystal, Skylar smiles. "Vaguely. I was so young,