On: The first of many to come...

It has been so long since I actually authored a post that I feel as though I am a guest blogger here. I am so thankful that Jenn has been so good about blogging this year while I have been in medical school. So why am I writing? Well, I have a story for you :)

A few days ago I was diligently studying for my neuroscience exam (read: not perusing my e-mail) when, out of the blue I got an e-mail! Occasionally they offer us as medical students discounts on tickets for events around town. Most recently we had the opportunity to get Razorback tickets, but unfortunately I didn't get over to the office quick enough and they sold out, but I digress. The e-mail I am referring to was offering discounted tickets to Wicked at the Robinson Center here in downtown Little Rock. An amazing location, and an even more amazing musical.

It occurs to me now that perhaps not everyone here has seen, or heard of, Wicked. It is a prequel of sorts to the classic Wizard of Oz story. I was lucky enough to see Wicked in Manhattan on Broadway, but unfortunately Jenn has not had the chance to see this amazing musical. We said that as soon as we got the chance we would get her to see it, I mean after all, she already has the soundtrack memorized.

So now we are caught up to this moment in time when I get an e-mail selling discount tickets to see Wicked. Victory is at hand! I was all set to head over to the office to purchase these tickets when it occurred to me that perhaps I should check to see when the show was. It is an evening show on November 11th, 2010. Perfect, a nice winter treat for my wife! Then it hit me. Well two things hit me. Have you ever been so excited about an event that when you purchase a gallon of milk with an expiration date past the event it gets real? Well people, they are selling tickets to a show for AFTER our first child will be born. Woah.

No problem right? That is exciting but doesn't change anything. Oh but it does. For the last few years Jenn and I have been blessed with the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want to. Dinner? Sure! Manhattan for the night? Absolutely! Everyone who thinks they can go see Wicked in November take one step forward, not so fast Jon Pagan. Thats right people, our expected due date is November 2nd, 2010. A mere 9 days before the show. So alas, we passed on the tickets. So for the first time, our child influenced our life in a very tangible way.

Isn't that amazing? There is absolutely no other reason that I'd rather not be able to take my wife out to a night on the town. My child, will be here in 174 days. My child. So for the first time of many to come, our world has been changed by this little life.

Little one, you rock my world and I can't wait to meet you, and tell you how you've already changed us for good...

Word to My Motha

Today I arrived at Sunday school, met by little girls all abuzz with what they had done, or were going to do for their mothers for mother's day.

"We got my mom a camera!"

"We got our mom a chocolate fondue kit!"

"We're taking our mom out to lunch at the club!" I still do not know what or where 'the club' is, but apparently, it's a very big deal.

This got me thinking about some of the childhood gifts I have gotten my mom for mother's day:

• The classic butchering of her rose bush to assemble a jam jar containing 3-4 semi wilted roses of varying size, exhausted from being man-handled by an eight year old.

• The...well, I'm not really sure what you would call two 4" paper plates hot glued together with the center cut out of one of them to frame a small bunch of dried flowers. Plus bow for the 'wow' factor.

• Lunch out with my mom and sister, where we would lecture her about taking time for herself. Sounds relaxing and not at all obnoxious, right?

You get the idea. My mother is a very patient and gracious woman.

So this year, I thought I would take a moment to praise my mother on the interweb, to explain to you all why she is awesome:

• My mother used to bust out her sewing machine and make my brother and I super-cool bean bags to toss back and forth at each other.
• She endured the aforementioned, poorly planned mother's day gifts.
• Somehow, my mother can survive on less sleep than any other person I know. How does a person work five, 12 hour shifts in a row on an average of 5-6 hours of sleep per night? I have no idea. I believe she is part photosynthetic.
• She worked tirelessly to sponsor things like music events, flute lessons, ballet, school, internships, wedding. Without complaining.
• She always planned (and executed) very creative and fun birthday parties.
• My mom cannot insult people, or swear, to save her life. "These chips are funky!" Whoa mom, let's watch the trash talk.
• If you were to Google her name in Google Images, she is the fourth image to show up on the first hit page.
• She has always been loving and supportive toward her family and friends. She is kind, lovely, funny and compassionate.

I could go on, but all of this is to say that I love my mom and I'm so thankful for her. She really is an amazing woman.

Happy mother's day, mom:)

Why Our Baby May Wear Nothing but Onesies

I'm thinking that someone may need to disconnect my internet at work today if I'm going to get ANYTHING done... Five minute breaks can quickly turn into 15 minutes of surfing the web for cute baby clothing:

One Tornado, Two Tornado, Three Tornado, Four...

I know, this would have been more fun, right? Instead, we watched this on doppler radar:

By now, we should know better than to take the words, "severe thunder storm warnings" at face value. This was one of four tornados that made its way through central Arkansas last night. A family in a city just south of us was able to capture this image before heading for shelter.

Fortunately, we didn't find ourselves in a Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton situation--having to lash ourselves to farm equipment for safety (thankfully--we have neither lashing materials NOR farm equipment).

Instead, we chose a safe room, prayed, sat away from the windows, and prepared to watch the news until 2:00am when the tornado advisories were supposed to lift. I made it until about 10:30pm and then when to bed. Had the paths of the tornados shifted in our favor, Jon would have gotten me and we would have sat in a closet, under our mattress with our Maglite. He stood watch until about 12:30; at that point, the storm cells had scattered or moved on and we were no longer in harm's way.

Stressful night, but we're happy to report that there was no damage to us or our neighborhood!