Christmas in Memphis

This Christmas, I had the *ahem* distinct pleasure of being on call Christmas eve and missing basically all of my favorite parts of Christmas, namely Christmas eve at home with family, spending time together, eating, laughing, going to church and remembering Jesus and why we all can get together in the first place. So, I was not in a very good mood most of Christmas Eve, the ED (as always) admitted about 30 kids and 20 of them should have gone home (but that is a different and much longer post) and so they kept all of us up all night. But, I was able to go home a few hours early (and by few, I got to go after ONLY 27 hours in the hospital, not the usual 30) which made it sightly better. I have to admit that when I'm working and not getting to rest, it is very hard for me to keep a proper perspective on things, especially when I am missing things that I think are very valuable and missing times that I know I will cherish. I get very selfish, very bitter, and it is definitely a sin that God keeps bringing readily to my attention.
Anyways, my family came down, Kera on Christmas eve, then my mom and nonnie and poppaw on late afternoon Christmas day, then Dad on the 26th. Jaclyn, Kera and I were invited to eat lunch with the Jemison's, some of the mature members of our sunday school class, so we had a delightful lunch time with them before the rest of my family got here for Christmas.
The more I am working and made to spend time away from those I love most, the more I come to cherish the time I do have with everyone, specifically, my wife and rest of the family. There was not major news over Christmas, no very serious conversations, just excitement over being together, talking about the future, reminiscing about the good times of the past and of course, lots of great meals and treats to enjoy. It was a few days filled with those little moments that make life so precious. Sure, we did the presents, but that to me is secondary. It's nice to see people open gifts and flattering to receive them for sure, but the best part is just being together.
We were both sorry that Jaclyn's parents couldn't have made it down for Christmas. Jaclyn got to talk with most of her family on the phone, and while it is not ideal (a euphemism to say that it is terrible), she enjoyed getting to speak with them and wishing them all a very merry Christmas.

5 reasons I may be the best husband ever...

So, It's almost 4am and i'm on call at the bon-bon and dealing with pissy (can i say that on the internet?) parents who don't want their baby to be stuck with an iv...but that iv delivers fluids and meds that this particular baby REALLY, REALLY needs, so I just dragged my grumpy self up to the room to talk some sense into them. At times like these I really want to say what I think of such business, but alas, I do not. And then perhaps alas more, i start thinking how great a person i am that I do not say those things. terrible I know. (I am very aware that I think them, which is a different post.) Then in my A.D.H.D. stream of consciousness mind, I start thinking how great I am at other things, such as playing addictinggames.com, laying on the couch and watching football, and being a husband..so that lead to this list of 5 things off the top of my head of exactly why I am such a good husband (if I say so myself), and at 0400 they seemed funny to me (read: great excuse for why these will not be funny at all).
In no particular order:

5) Bought surprise tickets for my wife to the ballet for our anniversary
4) Giving up a free, 3rd row ticket to the titans/steelers game tomorrow to spend time with my wife
3) I don't get in the way of my wife's cleaning tasks and let her do them mostly all herself because she doesn't like the way I fold stuff, and doesn't like the way i put some dishes away and doesn't like the way that i put silverware back in the drawer, and doesn't like the way i do most other cleanings either.
2) I allow my wife to do all of the christmas shopping by herself (or with malinda), because a 25 week pregant woman loves to be lost in crowds and traffic and around very strange post office workers. Her endeavors include buying all of the gifts for my family without the slightest bit of complaining, designing our christmas card, addressing envelopes, mailing them, and single handedly wrapping each gift that she bought (but i'm not really allowed to wrap gifts, either, because i'm not good at that).
1) I allow her to make me whatever she wants for dinner. almost every night.

Ok, maybe i'm not so great after all. Moral of this much longer (and probably less funny-er) than i intended story is that Jaclyn rocks. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I don't really like having to spend nights away from her. So, these are just a few of the ways that she serves me. So, readers, sorry if you puked a little in your mouth just now. eat a cookie and it will get rid of the taste. Oh, yeah, i'm really good at eating cookies too.

a great reunion

Last night Blake and I traveled to Nashville to watch Behold the Lamb of God, Andrew Peterson's brilliant Christmas composing. It was the eve of our third anniversary, and I barely saw Blake until the show started around 7:30pm. The Bergeron's and I laughed as I ate dinner with my in-laws, sans my husband, in celebration of the day! Blake had to work and thus came up to Nashville just in time to see the show. (I tried to upload a picture of the cover of the CD, which I suppose would be the symbol of the tour, but once again my blogging skills have proven to be sub-par.)
The great part about the whole evening was that Mary McCulloch, my best friend from Davidson, was there to celebrate her birthday! Not only did I get to watch the most amazing show EVER- with fantastic singer/songwriters, live strings, and the like, but Mary is also pregnant (her second) and we are due within a week or so of eachother. This made for some GREAT pictures, (though not so great of me after walking in the rain to the theater) but great for memories! It was so fun to document our expanding waists and laugh about how our girls are going to be great friends!

In other news, We have had another ultrasound and everything looks great! Hopefully we will continue to have a non-eventful pregnancy, from the health standpoint of Lily. I would hardly describe some of MY experiences as "non-eventful." Our next visit to the OB is in January and we are so excited because we get a free 3D ultrasound... will she have my nose? Who knows! For now here is the latest pic.