Bizarro Valentine’s Day

It’s been well documented how much I love my wife. She’s an amazing woman with too many qualities to count. But I’ve never pointed out any of her flaws. I mean, why would I ever do such a thing? Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner and my baby is due at any moment, I thought I would write a bizarro blog about my wife before I can’t write anything at all due to the fact we’ll have two screaming children. Besides, since I went through this already for our anniversary the world needs to know everything isn't perfect.

Country Music

When I was first interested in my wife back when we were attending college, I noticed she was a big country music fan. I thought to myself, “That shouldn’t be a surprise because all white girls like country, right?” So I overlooked that flaw. She knew I hated country music, but I don’t think she knew to what degree. She’s been great with not listening to it with me around. However, there are times when I use her car that the radio is set to a country music station. For those few seconds between realizing what I am listening to and turning the radio off by ramming my fist through it like Bruce Lee ramming his fist through people, I am exposed. Every time that happens, I feel like I have to be quarantined.

DVR Too Full

There are times I go to the TV to record a basketball game or an episode of The Walking Dead but either the DVR is too full or there are other shows being recorded. Normally, I wouldn’t mind if they were good shows. However, when I look up what’s on the DVR there’s about 100 episode of Chopped, Say ‘Yes’ to The Dress, and Biggest Loser.

(Katie excerpt: I frequently text my wife in the middle of the day to ask her to record a basketball game for me on the DVR. Not once has she ever denied this request for lack of space. The games are always waiting for me when I get home. Even more amazing, when there was a conflict between shows to be recorded two nights ago, my wife very sweetly offered to give up her recording space so that I could watch what I had planned. That’s true love.)

Chopped

I actually liked this show, at first. Then after watching several episodes I realized it was basically the same thing over and over. The cooks get stressed out because they’re running out of time and the judges tell them what’s good and bad about their particular dishes. The judges are also persuaded to keep or chop certain chef’s because of their character and/or story, although they won’t admit it. If the cook is a jerk the judges get more critical with their work. We see right through them. It’s a wonder why more chefs don’t catch on to this. Anyway, it just got tiresome watching other people eat. How do I know if the judges are right unless I try the food myself? I don’t see the need to record every episode when every episode is the same.

(Katie excerpt: Of course, every time my wife watches this show and the competition involves a big slab of red meat, I must admit that, once again, I find myself drawn to the competition.)

Say ‘Yes’ to The Dress

This has to be the first show in human history to make the balls of a man shrink by merely watching the intro. An entire show picking out a wedding dress?

(Shaking my head)

(Katie excerpt: Thankfully, my wife understands this and has NEVER subjected me to watching the show. I also have to admit that I have had the movie “Aliens” on the DVR for months, now, and my wife has yet to delete it- even though I have subjected her to the nonsense of it multiple times. Again, true love.)

Biggest Loser

Okay, this show is actually inspiring. It’s nice to see fat people decide they don’t want to be fat anymore and do something about it. You see their everyday lives improving in very practical ways, like being able to bend down and put their socks on.

Of course, there can’t be a show with healthy people who have always lived a healthy life. I mean that’s pretty boring. People want drama and dramatic changes. I even thought about gaining 300 pounds in order to get on the show so I could win some money. Then I calculated the cost it would take for me to gain that much weight and decided it really wouldn’t be worth it. Bummer. I was looking forward to binge eating at Cheesecake Factory.

In short, I love my wife. She brings so much joy into my life, I nearly weep when I think about it. But I really wish she would kick these annoying habits. However, I am well aware that if she were to write a blog about my flaws, my guess is that it would be a lot longer.

(Katie excerpt: And yet, I know that she loves me just as much as I love her!)

When your wife is the editor excerpts on blogs like this happens.

Baby Prep #2

When my wife and I decided to start having kids, we thought it would be a good idea to time the birth for the summer and after the NBA Finals. Okay the last part was my idea. Since we both teach we’d be off of work and wouldn’t have to deal with taking time off. Having the child after the NBA Finals was just an added bonus for me. Besides, I wanted to give my wife and new child undivided attention and how could I do that with the Finals going on?

You could read about The Birth of Joelle here.

With baby #2, we decided we weren’t going to time anything and just “let nature take its’ course.” One of the changes in philosophy is that I wanted the kids to be close together, not so much because they would grow up together and be close but rather because I wanted them out of the house faster. Our second little girl is due in the next couple of week, and it’s in the midst of a really busy work schedule. Maybe waiting another four months wouldn’t have been a bad idea, but it’s not like we can go back and change things now. The staff at my school knows baby #2 is right around the corner and knows I might just split and leave my students hanging if #2 decides it’s time to introduce herself to the world.

It was pretty easy to prepare for a baby over the summer. I just needed my blanket and a bag of junk food. Once those things were ready, we just had to wait patiently. This time around, it could happen when I’m at work, which freaks me out a little. Mid-February is right around the NBA trade deadline, and I don’t want to get behind on work. Truthfully, all those things will have to be set aside because the most important thing is my family. Honestly, what frightens me is our world changing because we’ll have not one but TWO babies. How will Joelle react to not being the big banana? How will my wife deal with having two kids to take care of and working from home as well? How am I going to accomplish what I want to accomplish AND give all my girls the love, care and attention that they need?

There are so many questions. But you know what? I don’t need the answers (not right now anyway). That’s the beauty of life. You just need to enjoy the ride. I’ll figure out those questions (and even questions I have yet to ask) with my wife, my community of family, friends, and pastors and ultimately the Lord, who will grant me wisdom, as I need it. As I reflect more about having another little girl, I’m excited to shower another person made in the image of God with love and care- the love and care neither my mother nor my sister received growing up. As you may already know, my biological father wasn’t around when I was growing up. I’ve had to deal with that my whole life. But with Christ’s strength I have the confidence in knowing I won’t turn out like him. By the grace of God I have an opportunity to redeem my bloodline and that opportunity excites me even though it will cost me two weddings, many sleepless nights, and diligent gun training to fend off unworthy boys. Whatever challenges are ahead I’m up for it, as long as they’re not during the NBA playoffs.

For more blogs like this read: Girl Power

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