life-consuming

here’s a quick picture summary (with a few comments) of what has been consuming our lives for the past few months:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giants win the world series!! James has been a fan forever. He turned me into a die-hard fan. I even watched a game by myself while he was working. I know! Fear the Beard!

And my face and the rest of my body continues to balloon out in all directions. (See following pictures… and previous picture.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was reading a blog that said stripes are great camouflage for a pregnant belly. I don’t think my striped shirt was hiding anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think? And some of my favorite little girlies came up with the perfect hiding spot for their little toys in my cowl neck shirt. They called it a swing. I love them.

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally… the nursery. There are a few more things that I’d like to add, but at least the little buster is going to have a gorgeous place to rest his head at night. Yeah, I’m totally bragging. So what? I made the bedding, thankyouverymuch. It was frustrating, tedious work but so worth it in the end. You like?

(ps- I don’t know who I’m referring to when I ask “you” questions in my posts)

 

10 more weeks.

i’ve made it to 30 weeks. this pregnancy has really thrown me for a loop.  i’ve pretty much had anything and everything in the sickness department. people from church have thought we’ve moved because we haven’t been in so long. no we haven’t moved. not for at least another year. little buster is doing just fine. he is growing and taking whatever he needs from me. i am more than happy to give him whatever he desires. as long as he is doing awesome, i can deal with anything. and he is doing awesome.

i have had some major fun in the past few months too. james and i went to hawaii and it was the trip of a lifetime. it was the perfect last hurrah before our worlds are turned upside down and change forever. i also snuck in a quick trip to houston to see my sissy and her beautiful family. james has officially quarantined (is that a word?) me to west texas. i guess i’m to the point where i really shouldn’t be traveling.

little buster loves to move. i think his favorite past-time will be dancing (inside joke). i have a super awesome waddle. i get weird looks all the time from old ladies. why is it always the old ladies? i think they still think i’m 15. oh well.

quick thought

i know i haven’t updated in forever, but i just had a quick funny. ya know what’s super fun? having to go to the grocery store, by yourself, while being huge and pregnant, and having to buy an enema. just picture that.

will it never end??

today i went to the bookstore. i got to the check-out counter and the cashier asked me if “my family” had a membership card. maybe it was due to the fact that my shoulders are barely higher than the counter, or that i still have a pizza face. but people are constantly mistaking me for a teenager. i wanted to say something like, “you mean do my mommy or my daddy have a membership card?” instead, i made sure that my ring was in plain sight when i swiped my card and that i added a little extra pregnancy waddle to my walk when i left the store.

i guarantee the cashier was thinking “where on earth are her parents?”

it’s another sunday evening all by myself. at least now i have a little companion who enjoys doing acrobatics in my tummy. especially at night. what’s the deal with that? i can’t complain though, i absolutely love it.

i am 22 weeks along now. feelin’ pretty awesome. steadily expanding. the shirt i am wearing in these pics used to be really long on me. now it is practically a belly shirt. sweet.

i love how diplomatic my doctor is when he tells me i’ve gained (maybe a little more than is  truly necessary) weight. just tell me i’m chubby and i’ll tell you i’m growing a human and then neither one of us will feel uncomfortable. maybe you will actually, just a little.

i love being pregnant now that i’m not sick anymore. i just have to keep this little guy fed and we are both happy campers.

as promised.

there ya have it, my ever-expanding body. james is obsessed with feeling my belly. i think he’s excited or something. my dad likes to ask me which side is pregnant, like my belly or my butt. he gets a big kick out of telling me that my butt is getting pregnant too. such a gentleman.

despite my silly remarks about getting fatter, i have been feeling really good. i am now 20 weeks along and i think me and the little buster have figured out how to keep each other comfortable. or at least comfortable enough to keep food down (for the most part).

so if you haven’t heard, we are having a baby boy. i don’t know how you couldn’t have heard about it, what with james practically screaming it from the rooftops. we went in for an ultrasound before i left for utah and our little man was definitely not being shy. he seemed determined to show us that he was indeed a boy. james was on cloud nine.

oh yeah, my trip to utah. it was so much fun. i had such a good time just hangin’ out with my family. we talked, and laughed, and ate good food, and went swimming, and shopping, and to late night movies, and took long naps, and didn’t take any pictures. i know, i know, i’m usually such a good picture taker. i was too busy this trip with family stuff.

how i long for the days that i can drop by unannounced at my parent’s house. where i can sit right in the grass and not have to worry about getting eaten alive by creepy crawlies. this brings me to my next update.

back in may, james applied for an air traffic control position in salt lake. we have been waiting (and waiting) to hear anything. finally a few weeks ago, james got a phone interview. it was more like a quiz, with no personal questions at all. we were both worried. we pray every night to have the opportunity to live by our families and raise our children by their grandparents. yesterday james received a phone call. he was (tentatively) offered a position in salt lake starting september 2011. so if everything goes according to plan, it looks like we will be moving home next year. of course this is bittersweet for us both. we have loved living in midland and the lifelong friends that we’ve made here. at least we still have a whole year to live it up down here in west texas.

i am completely aware that i have been M.I.A. for almost a month now. i have been sick. then the sickness (mostly) stopped in time for my trip to utah. i have many updates to share i.e. my ever-expanding body, pictures of delicious babies, and our current "limbo" status might be changing for good. stay tuned...

decisions

when sneezing, i can choose to:

a) pee a little,

b) hold the pee in which usually results in a sharp-shooting round ligament cramp, or

c) try to hold in the pee, unsuccessfully, and still get a round ligament cramp

either outcome produces the same response from me: “aw crap!”

i happened upon a ballad version of my favorite song ever. i am so lucky that james humored me with this one.

We're Dog People from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

time for an update

i think i may just be starting to get over the morning sickness. i haven’t barfed in three days, which is a record. dang it, i don’t want to jinx myself. did i just jinx myself? i sure hope not.

james and i are so thrilled about being able to start our family. we feel very blessed to have had this pregnancy happen so quickly. i guess it was just the right time for us. we have almost been married for four years ya know. and in Mormon standards that is a long time to be married without having kids. i bet you all were starting to wonder if we still even liked each other. we do. we like each other.

james has been an absolute gem for the past two months. i have been a retching, pizza-faced monster. i still am a pizza-face. thank goodness for photo shop. james says it makes me look even more like a fifteen-year-old than i already did. great… i am a knocked-up fifteen-year-old. (i’m really 23 peeps). a happily married 23-year-old. sorry to burst your bubble flight attendants of the world: i am in fact old enough to sit in an exit row. (yes, i was actually asked once if i was 15 while sitting in an exit row, but that is a story for another time).

if you are still reading, you can probably tell that my mind is racing. thank you for your endurance.

we have lots of great things happening this summer. we moved into a new place. we ended up not buying our house. there is a job opening in salt lake and we wanted to be footloose and fancy-free just in case we get it. we were sad for a second about the house. but we’re good now.

james’s brother gets home from a mission this august. we can’t wait to see him. my little brother is actually getting his mission call today! we are so excited for him.

i am going to utah at the end of july to hang with the fam. it’s gonna be a partay.

i’m really excited to see our brand of baby. i am so used to my sissy’s brand (see sidebar). oh yeah, i am going to need to make some room on the sidebar.

:)

my good news

i sit here trying to come up with an interesting way to say what i want to say. i ask james for help cuz i know he is great with words. but all he can do is sit on his big purple exercise ball and play a song on his guitar that he made up about not wanting to go to work. i’ll admit, the song makes me laugh. but this is serious stuff.

last night i had a meltdown of sorts. i mostly blame it on the weekends. i hate weekends. but there are other factors in play now. like the constant nausea, or the pizza that my face has become, or the weight gain. oh the weight gain. i blame it on the constant nausea. the only thing that helps is eating… all the time. and not the healthy stuff either. eating stuff like cereal or bread. my emotional state is hung in the balance by a tiny wire. james scoffs at that statement. he thinks it’s an understatement. he said he would use the word twine, because it is way wimpier than wire.

well i hope these words clearly expressed what i am trying to say. if they didn’t, then you are kind of a dummy.

weekends

weekends are a time when i sit on my rear. my rear has been complaining lately due to my excessive sitting. so i give it a rest by laying down completely. ha. i especially dislike sunday evenings. i have grown to expect a text message from james saying that he has to stay an extra hour and fifteen minutes because the guy who was supposed to work that shift has called in sick. james has assured me though, when he is months away from retirement, he will call in sick all the time too. i am going to hold you to that promise boy.

done and done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My nursing school pinning ceremony was awesome. Mostly because I am officially a graduated nurse. I am so glad that my family got to be there and join in the celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some random’s they took, probably while waiting patiently through all the extra crap that graduation ceremonies consist of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then there was actual graduation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steph was on a role. Love that girl!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I almost didn’t go to graduation, but I’m so glad I did. I sure am going to miss seeing my peeps every day. Thank you to everyone who supported me through these past three years. School was tough, but it has all paid off in the end. I love you guys!!

so sorry.

yeah so i haven’t blogged in forever. i am about to graduate peeps. i would like to officially name last week “the week from hell”. but here i am on the other side… still alive… and participating in one of my favorite past-times… blogging. my whole family is coming to teeny tiny midland to join in the festivities of next week. i am so super excited to see everybody, and have everyone actually see where i live. yeah i know, (mom and dad), ya gotta go where the grandkids are. i can’t supply those yet.

i took a test last week called “the comprehensive predictor”. it is a predictor for how well we graduate nurses will do on the state boards. i dominated. in fact, my instructor told me that she has only seen a score that high one other time in her career. boo yah.

that is the update for now. i leave you with a picture of the cutest baby on the planet.

ecstasy.

james thinks i’m funny

one of our many goals in life is to not laugh at each other. i don’t know why we do this, but it makes those times when we actually do laugh that much funnier. we also use the comedic rule of three. you’ve never heard of this?? well, you’re welcome, i may have just changed your life. i was on a role yesterday. we were driving in the car and listening to the new weezer album (which by the way is totally awesome). we were stopped at a light and i decided that i wanted to make james laugh. so i commenced raising the roof like a total dork. he didn’t laugh at first, obviously, so i just kept going. i knew that he would laugh if i did it long enough. with each passing second my moves got a little more rhythm-less and my face got a little bit uglier. success.

then the rapping started (what? rap in a weezer song, preposterous!) and i (of course) rapped all the words like a pro. i even got the gangsta hand movements down to a science. i wasn’t even trying to make james laugh, but i guess i am just so naturally hilarious.

comedic rule of three: do or say anything three times = laughter. really, try it.

she doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry

so stinkin' cute from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

a day at the park (and tons and tons of pictures… mom)