James and Mary

kinda cute.

2011-12-02T09:53:00.001-08:00

stubborn little baby.

2011-10-20T16:28:00.001-07:00

this guy has filled my life with more joy than i have ever known. he is one week away from being 10 months old. i can’t believe how fast the time has gone by! here are some things that i want to remember:

he crawls. he says “dada” and “baba”. he hates wearing hats. (i pretty much hold this hat on his head until he gets distracted with something else and forgets about the hat). he still loves his cribby crib. he is about to get some major teeth-age on top. his poor little gums are so swollen. he decided he is done with nursing. (his mom has been mourning this loss for the past five days, but she’s doing okay now). he sleeps all night long. he is too “skinny” according to his doctor. we’ve gotta fatten this boy up. he loves babies and other little people. he loves to lay on a blanket outside in our backyard and crawl around the perimeter feeling the grass and leaves. he loves looking at airplanes. every time he hears our neighbors’ dogs barking he stops what he’s doing and tries to find them. he is the happiest baby and i adore him.

like mother & father… like son

2011-10-03T09:20:00.001-07:00

harry guy likes to make faces. lots of faces. i couldn’t begin to think of who he gets it from. okay maybe his faces could never in a million years look as ugly as ours.

hi, my name is Mary.

2011-09-28T14:23:00.001-07:00

i don’t know if you remember me. i run this here blog. i have a really super cute baby boy, and an equally attractive husband. i’ve been m.i.a. lately for many reasons. i won’t bore you interweb folks with my excuses. i’m just going to start semi-fresh.

first things first. harrison. nine months old today. eats normal human food. almost crawls. sleeps on his belly. has two teeth. has crazy scare hair. has pretty blue eyes. loves his blankie. loves his cribby crib. loves to be outside. loves going on walks. loves dogs. loves his Dad. says “Dad” all the time. especially loves his Mom. ;) he is my eternal sunshine.

secondly. we moved to utah. thirdly (is that a word?). we bought a house.

after moving to utah i made james and harry get family pictures with me. they were both pretty good sports. i bribed james with a treat from the bakery down the street. i bribed harry with nursings ifyaknowwhatimean. i think they turned out really great.

we are so grateful for the time we got to spend in Midland. it is where James became an air traffic controller, i got my degree in nursing, and we had our first precious baby. we left behind some amazing friends that we miss a lot. we are really glad to be back with our family, but Texas will always hold a special place in our hearts.

psst- all of our professional pics were taken by the fabulous Jennifer Fauset.

2011-07-02T11:04:00.001-07:00

duck pond adventures

little guy has a certain affinity for ducks. we decided he needed to see some real ducks and took him to the duck pond.

he. loved. it.

anyone who knows me well knows that i am particularly frightened of all things that fly. i think it all stems from the time i was driving with james and decided it would be fun to drive into a small flock of birds to see them scatter. they didn’t scatter. i am forever traumatized. also when i was a kiddo my dad was attacked by a swan. yeah. so having ducks and birds all up in my business made for one nervous Mama. but Harry loved it, so i put on a brave face.

Harry also loves the no pants dance. that’s what i call it.

2011-06-14T18:53:00.001-07:00

happiness.

2011-06-02T11:34:00.001-07:00

yum yum. gimme more!

this was his first ever experience with rice cereal. he loved it! he would get mad in between bites cuz we weren’t giving it to him fast enough.

2011-06-02T11:25:00.001-07:00

playing catch up

First Mother’s Day (as a mother) Ever!

Look who’s old! That guy!

Here’s some more random FL pics:

florida vacay

2011-05-03T18:28:00.001-07:00

so little guy had lost of “firsts” this past week.

first time on an airplane.

first time on the beach, which didn’t work out too well. (fat sweaty baby + sand and salt water = not so awesome) harry didn’t care so much, it was mostly his mama that cared. but doesn’t he look super cute in his fedora and plaid swim trunks??

first time on a really long road trip. you can tell how well that went by the look on my face. yeah it was going awesome.

yep we went to fort walton beach, FL with the Fabrizio fam and my little sissy Sarah. it was really fun and the beach was gorg. Sarah helped so much with little guy in the car and took some beautiful pics:

see? beautiful right?

it was a great week and it was really fun to hang out with my sissies and those other yahoos.

see what i mean?? yahoos.

seriously every cute picture that us girlies tried to take, there was a monster in the background always trying to mess it up. we did manage to get some cute ones though.

aww, we love eachother. if you look closely at the one of sarah and i, you can see that i had to photoshop donny’s stinkin’ head out of the picture. here:

there is (or should i say “are”? i am never sure)… there is/are a lot more pictures and a lot more stories to tell. but i’m sure grandparent’s heads are about to explode from all the picture-y goodness in this post. i will let you digest this one and i’ll be back with more later.

2011-04-10T19:14:00.001-07:00

mini road trip

it’s official. Harry hates being in his car seat. I’ll let the videos explain.

mini road-trip take one from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

mini road-trip take two from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

on our way home he started freaking out so I sat in the back with him. we thought maybe some soothing music would calm him down. nope. only made him more frantic. we decided to give a fast song a try. so james and i whipped out our a cappella version of “bohemian rhapsody”. yes, you can only imagine. he loved it. we spared him from hearing more a cappella songs from his crazies (james and i) and just turned on my ipod. we played such songs as “how bizarre” “dancing queen” “good vibrations” “jesse’s girl” “where do you go my lovely”. (yes, i admit to having all of these gems stashed on my ipod). he loved all of them. here’s “how bizarre” as it was playing. you can tell that i really know the lyrics well. good thing Harry doesn’t mind.

mini road-trip take three from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

and did you notice that Harry is wearing a different outfit on the way home? yeah, he spit up and it went all the way down to his feet and came out of the bottom of his pants. poor little guy! don’t worry, we gave him a bath as soon as we got home.

ah adventures.

2011-03-29T16:01:00.001-07:00

party on.

it stinks that these pictures are blurry, but i’m still in love with them.

2011-03-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

holy crap this makes me laugh (obviously)

cutest trick ever! from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

2011-03-26T20:54:00.001-07:00

i’ve been told its time.

i know i haven’t updated in ~~over a month~~ a long time . i don’t even feel a little bit bad about it either. my time (and energy) have been being spent on a much more important duty. my beautiful baby boy. and boy is he beautiful.

he is 13 weeks old and weighs 14 pounds. yeah… he loves to eat. he loves to play with his daddy and kick his legs in the bath. he likes to go on walks and he loves being outside. he is so strong. we swaddle him at night and every time i go to get him, he has his arms out. sometimes he even manages to get the blanket completely off his body. i don’t know how he does it because we wrap him up tight.he loves to snuggle with us. especially his daddy.

He was given his baby blessing on March 6, 2011 by James and it was beautiful.

He loves to kick it no-pants style.

he thinks he’s got it rough as a baby.

yeah, i work him pretty hard.

and here’s one last one. i just think it’s freakin awesome.

2011-02-14T15:16:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines day

2010-12-06T14:25:00.001-08:00

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)

2010-10-18T14:57:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-10-17T13:09:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-08-25T17:39:00.001-07:00

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?”

2010-08-22T18:41:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-08-14T15:27:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-08-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-10T21:52:00.001-07:00

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!”

2010-07-02T17:58:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-06-30T09:44:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-06-14T09:07:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-05-30T18:42:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-05-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

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!!

2010-05-02T16:40:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-04-22T16:07:00.001-07:00

ecstasy.

2010-04-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-04-06T19:08:00.001-07:00

she doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry

so stinkin' cute from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

2010-04-06T19:06:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-02T15:40:00.001-07:00

Untitled from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

big buddies

2010-04-02T07:06:00.001-07:00

2010-04-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

i love me some Gabers

rrrrrroad trip

2010-04-01T13:48:00.001-07:00

we drove to houston yesterday. we love to take any opportunity possible to see family, and this weekend we both have time off from work and school. so we drove… all eight hours. i decided to take a picture for every hour. you can tell that i became more and more delirious as time went on.

2:30 pm- just about to leave, james being a dork

3:30 pm- he was snoring

4:30 pm- he finally woke up, now i can rock out to la musica

5:30 pm-the delirium is starting

6:30 pm- getting sick of driving, time to switch

7:30 pm- that’s better, james only closed his eyes for the split second that the flash went off

8:30 pm- i wanted to be cool and close my eyes too

9:30 pm- full on delirium

we made it safe and sound and are enjoying our weekend!

Planning

2010-03-30T15:56:00.001-07:00

Planning never works out the way you planned it
-James

2010-03-28T07:53:00.001-07:00

so busy/when i have a free moment i want to do nothing except watch tv.

school is absolutely overwhelming. i just need to keep reminding myself that it is almost done. yeehaw!

buying/building a house is stressful. i just need to keep reminding myself that it is almost done. yeehaw!

i am so busy with school, (but i do manage to find time to watch the many shows that i DVR throughout the week. when i think back on the many wasted hours of me sitting in front of the tv, i think “how in the crap do i get anything done for school?!” but somehow i manage, and have been managing for the past year and a half. i must be doing something right. i think i am a television-aholic. do they have a rehab for that sort of thing?)

okay it seems it is just during the week that i am busy with school stuff. i guess i subconsciously don’t allow myself to think about school during the weekends. my brain is wicked awesome.

i also manage to squeeze in a trip out the house (in between shows of course) almost every day. i went out there yesterday. they started staining our cabinets. they are very purple-y. i am a tiny bit nervous about them.

random: the other day james and i were at goodwill looking for a gem and as we were walking in we were holding hands. when we got closer to the door james let go of my hand. a few strides later i reached for his hand and he told me he didn’t want to hold hands. he said that in places like goodwill and walmart that he doesn’t like to hold hands because “it is weird”. oh jamesey, you boggle my (wicked awesome) mind. it’s a good thing i love you because you are kind of a weirdo.

2010-03-19T19:38:00.001-07:00

just to clarify

remember this? well here’s why:

2010-03-14T17:50:00.001-07:00

dear daylight savings,

it is 8:00 pm and it is still light outside. thank you, thank you so much!

love,

one happy little spring-breaker

2010-03-12T18:08:00.001-08:00

it feels like home to me.

yay for garage doors! ….and bricks!

hurrah for kitchen cabinets!

yeehaw for laundry rooms! and doors!

practicing brushing our teeth at our new double sink vanity, of course:

what would i do without my little guy and my favorite hoodie? i wouldn’t laugh as much and i definitely wouldn’t be as comfortable.

2010-03-06T19:51:00.001-08:00

that’s twice now.

we have some new neighbors. they like to smoke… a lot. their stench has been filling our apartment on a nightly basis for the past week or so. two nights ago it got really bad. i maybe cried just a little. so james finally went over there to (ever so politely) ask him if he could smoke on his porch. he told him that i was pregnant (which i’m not), and that the smell was making me sick. is that okay, or are we bad people? when one uses the excuse of being pregnant (which again, i am not), i find that it is easier for that person to get their way, or at least to get sympathy. i wonder if people will believe me when i (one day) become pregnant, or if i will be like the girl who cried wolf? i say ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

2010-03-04T06:09:00.001-08:00

you know james is tired

when he does awesome stuff like this:

we had just laid down in bed to turn in for the night…

me: (groan) i forgot that i have to pee!

james: just pee the bed… and turn off the light.

gotta love him!

2010-02-27T15:04:00.001-08:00

quote of the day

“I’m too short for sunsets.” –yours truly

2010-02-27T15:02:00.001-08:00

pic of the day

2010-02-24T19:35:00.001-08:00

more house pics

here’s me standing under our shower: james at a bad angle, good thing he’s cute: recessed lighting, yee haw!

exploring the backyard: front: drywall:

i was hoping that my shoes wouldn’t get muddy, family room: absolutely freezing: as soon as i took this step i immediately regretted it:

2010-02-23T06:44:00.001-08:00

miss you lolly.

dancing in the car from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

2010-02-17T14:44:00.001-08:00

when i need a break

when i need a break from school work and life in general, my little guy never disappoints. the other night we played War and then topped off the evening with me giving him an airplane ride. i haven’t laughed so hard in a long time.

2010-02-13T18:49:00.001-08:00

i think that i like to look as gross as is humanly possible.

we went to the house again today to check out the progress. it is going up fast. my favorite part was sitting in the backyard while james walked around and inspected everything.

2010-02-13T18:36:00.001-08:00

he makes me smile.

your husband can give you a card like this only if you are well versed on Brian Regan jokes.

2010-02-13T18:26:00.001-08:00

so very busy.

as you can tell from the title, i have been so busy. i have had school every day, all day this week including two twelve hour clinicals at the CCU. i started out having clinicals at the ER and i absolutely loved it, but then after two weeks i got moved to a different hospital. so i had to start all over with getting to know people, getting to know my way around, getting used to all the alarms and (ahem) other sounds (and smells) at the CCU. after my first shift as soon as i got in the car to drive home, i started bawling. i was pissed that i got moved to a different unit, and i was just overwhelmed by everything.

i need to remember to just take it one day at a time. especially right now when i am so busy that i can’t even participate in an occasional ladies’ night with one of my favorite peeps.

the picture of me is of that first day when i got home from the CCU. red, splotchy face, frizzy hair, and no smile.

i’m lucky to have such a fantastic hubs who supports and loves me even when i cry over everything and snap at him for anything. thanks little guy. needless to say, the next day was a better day.

2010-02-07T14:37:00.001-08:00

we took a field trip.

james and i drove out to our house today. it is kind of a long drive. but i love it out there.

2010-02-06T17:01:00.001-08:00

funny story..

(this is a dry-erase board that hangs on our fridge)

(no, I’m not pregnant)

(ask James, he will love to tell you this story)

2010-02-05T14:18:00.001-08:00

i think he likes it.

what do you think??

2010-02-03T19:37:00.001-08:00

I never thought I’d be a country gal.

our soon-to-be new home:

is it weird?

2010-02-01T14:58:00.001-08:00

my dad sent me an email a few days ago. i have been so busy that i haven’t had a chance to look at it until today. it is a video of a five-year-old girl calling 911 for her dad. after the video was over i totally bawled like a baby. is that weird? maybe it’s from a combination of being completely frazzled and missing my beautiful niece (who is also five). just look at my hair. that is the hair of one stressed out nursing student who is on the very brink of having a nervous meltdown.

so busy.

2010-01-29T21:23:00.001-08:00

The last semester of nursing school is really hard. I am only two weeks into it and I am already so overwhelmed by all the work. Yesterday I had a twelve hour clinical in the ER. When I got to the hospital it was absolutely pouring down rain. I had to practically swim across the parking lot. So when I got inside I was soaked. My shoes (and socks) stayed at a nice squishy consistency for the full twelve hours that I was there. Sweet. And I missed lunch. The cafeteria closes at one and nobody told me. I have clinicals at a new hospital that I have never had clinicals at before, so there was no way of me knowing that lunch was no longer available after one o’clock. I got mad at my nurse preceptor (probably not the best idea) for not telling me. So I grabbed my snack of a granola bar and an orange and I got to the lobby to sit down and eat before I burst into tears. Food is important to me people. Especially when I have squishy shoes and am working a twelve hour shift in an ER where I feel like I’m just in everybody’s way. I talked myself down from my near emotional breakdown by saying things in my mind like “this is so not a big deal” and “he didn’t notice that you were about to cry, he was too busy flirting with that cute PA”. I didn’t cry. Wow was I proud of myself.

So today I took the day off from all things school. I feel refreshed and am ready to start again with the madness on Monday.

cutest thing ever.

2010-01-20T13:12:00.001-08:00

if you want to laugh and maybe cry a little, then watch this video. so cute. so so cute.

2010-01-20T13:08:00.001-08:00

i totally just applied for my licensure in Texas. this is big people!

i’ve decided

2010-01-19T17:29:00.001-08:00

I can officially classify myself as “old”.

When did I decide this?

Today at the gym when I complained to my buddy that the music was way too loud.

Atleast I still look like a teenager.

thanks Lydia

2010-01-17T18:22:00.001-08:00

I wake up during the night a lot. Now, thanks to you and Jocelyn, every time I wake up I have Lady Gaga lyrics stuck in my head. Who can go back to sleep when they are thinking of such profound words as “I’m your biggest fan, I’ll follow you until you love me, papa-paparazzi…” And yet I can’t bring myself to take her off repeat on my iPod. Love you Lydee!

i really missed him.

2010-01-16T17:06:00.001-08:00

love you James!

just to prove it.

2010-01-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

obviously everyone knows how cool my family is, right? well we got family pictures taken in utah by the best photographer on the planet. no joke. she is awesome. and we rock the party so hard that we got featured on her blog. i’m sure she does this for most of her clients because she is so great, but i was flattered to see our mugs plastered on her website. here’s the link: http://fausetphotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/family-photography-salt-lake-city.html

thank you carli!

2010-01-12T11:49:00.001-08:00

getting back into the swing of things

2010-01-12T08:49:00.001-08:00

I got back from Utah on Saturday. It was definitely hard leaving my family and especially those babies. My flight had a layover in Houston so I was able to fly with Carli and her kiddos to help her and then go on to Midland. I literally sobbed uncontrollably in the airport. I love our life here in Texas but I absolutely hate living away from my family. We will move back someday. Anyway, I have lots of pictures.

Me and Frizzle hung out a lot Come to think of it, everyone hung out with her a lot.

We went to this super cute restaurant in downtown SLC called Em’s. Great food, even better company.

I got to hang out with the coolest siblings ever.

I got spoiled by Mom and Dad

We went out to eat… a lot.

Gabey made funny faces to entertain us.

We had many a dance party. (video to come)

We hung out with Jamesey’s buddies from highschool

I had such a great time. Now that I have gotten settled back in Midland, I am so glad to be home.

we have fun at my house

2010-01-10T19:47:00.001-08:00

sophi took this picture of jacob and i. jacob told me to “be serious like the mob”. imagine us talking with a raspy new york accent. my family could totally take yours down.

so in love.

2010-01-09T20:08:00.001-08:00

DonJuan, this one's for you...

2010-01-08T10:03:00.000-08:00

I know you're going to see them tomorrow... but I thought you would like to see some pictures of your beautiful, silly little ones:

Good Morning!

2010-01-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Sarah (and my mommy) in the morn:

I would fear for my life if I put only the previous picture of Lolly on here. She would surely murder me. So here is a good one too:

(Love you Sarah!, you are my favorite little sissy!)

soakin' it up

2009-12-31T13:26:00.000-08:00

beauty from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

Gabers eating fruit snacks from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

snow day

2009-12-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

it has snowed almost every day for the past week here in utah. the kids were dying to go play in the snow. Sarah was the only one tough enough to brave the cold with them. i stayed inside and took pictures from the window.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

you know james is out of town when

2009-12-15T20:40:00.001-08:00

i make a whole video about my day. enjoy.

home alone from Mary McAllister on Vimeo.

the awesome tunes are from The Killers

you just know that i’m saying something hilarious

2009-12-14T18:16:00.001-08:00

pretty much our goal in life is to not laugh at eachother. we were in the car (of course) and i wanted to take a picture, a cute picture. so i tried to make jamesey laugh. totally didn’t work. but this picture perfectly illustrates what james puts up with on a daily basis.

i've had a request

2009-12-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

knowing me, should anyone be surprised that i took pictures of james's incision? i think not. i wasn't going to put them on our blog to spare the people who might not find it as cool as i do. but then yesterday at church i had a request for the pictures. so here they are:

poor little guy. he is so bruised.

and i just had to throw this one in there. this is our makeshift waterproof wrap so james could take a shower. garbage bag, plastic wrap, and medical tape. awesome.

james got the staples taken out this morning so we won't have to waterproof his incision anymore. yeehaw!

saturday afternoon

2009-12-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

this is how excited we are to be out of the house.

2009-12-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

James has been such great comic relief for me this week. Yesterday I wrapped his bandage up really good in plastic wrap so that he could take a shower, and his bandage still got a little wet. So today he decided it would be better to just take a bath. Luckily, he is a little bit loopy from all the pain meds so he doesn't mind me taking embarassing pictures of him:
He looks way too big for our little tub. I just sat in there and laughed. It was awesome, just what I needed during a week filled with nursing school finals.

my husband is very funny (unintentionally) when on drugs

2009-12-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

remember that time when my hubs hurt his knee? well he hurt it pretty bad. he tore his ACL, his meniscus, and chipped his femur. after about a month of waiting, we finally got it fixed. major surgery... total bummer. but of course i brought my camera along so as to document this day:

first time ever that his leg has been hairless:

james did some awesome things while under the influence of heavy-duty drugs. the anesthesiologist came in before surgery to do a femoral nerve block so he gave james some great drugs to make him sleepy. when the guy left i asked james if his arms felt heavy. he told me no, and just to prove it, he started dancing with just his arms and thumbs. it reminded me of Grease. then after the surgery i was helping him get his clothes back on. i gave him his sweatshirt and went to get his shoes. when i turned around this is what i found:

he told me he was just taking a break. he seriously sat there for over a minute. i couldn't pass up the opportunity, so i grabbed my camera, snapped a picture, and helped him finish dressing. i was laughing so hard. the nurses probably thought i was a terrible wife, laughing at my husband when he was just a few hours post-op.

so now we are at home. james is thoroughly drugged up. all is well.

First time in three days...

2009-11-27T16:42:00.001-08:00

that I've put on makeup
that I've donned a brassiere

Don't judge. That's how I roll.

it's a good thing you are so worth it

2009-11-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

I love the eating delicious food part of Thanksgiving. The preparing is a different story. Last year James was at home to clean the turkey and get all the junk out of the inside. (What would I do without a boy around?) This year I didn't get so lucky. I never knew that maneuvering a wet seventeen pound turkey could be so difficult.

I was looking at the beast and telling myself that it will just take a minute, and I could scrub my hands and arms down with antibacterial soap as soon as I was done:

all up in that turkey's business:

Also, do you see that little bump under my eye? I was leaning over in my closet to hang some of my clothes on the lower shelf when my face collided with my vaccuum cleaner handle. I yelled like a man while I clenched my fists and I didn't even cuss (out loud). I laughed at my deep-voice yelling and tight fistedness afterwards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

don't know why i even try

2009-11-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

I am a huge nerd.

2009-11-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

Today James and I went on a little date. We are limited in what we can do because of James's lack of mobility. We went out to eat and listened to some sweet tunes in the car. As we were driving home listening to Jack Johnson's "Better Together" I bust out with my best robot dance moves. I didn't realize at the time that the robot and a sweet, slow ballad from Jack Johnson don't really mix. I told James that the robot is my "go to" dance move. We decided his is the "head nod" per doctor's orders. When we pulled into our apartment complex I busted out laughing, only then realizing the nerdiness of my choice in dance moves.

Oh yeah, and we are home and in our pajamas and it is 6:38 pm. Does that make us (me) even nerdier?

2009-11-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

baiosdfaqwen**rkljvh! are there no competent hairdressers in midland?? i went in for a trim and i specifically told the lady, "i don't want any length cut off, just a trim". i've learned through experience that in midland you have to be very specific about what you want. so how the crap did my hair turn out like this:

just kidding, it's not that short. but i could've fooled you.

the best thing about monday nights

2009-11-09T18:06:00.001-08:00

i get to hang out with the hubs and fall asleep on the couch while he watches the jazz lose another game

the best thing about monday mornings

2009-11-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

after James leaves for work at 5:15 am, I get to rock out to the amazing new Weezer album while I finish getting ready for clinicals. It's an early start to the day, and nothing makes it better than rocking out to some great tunes in the bathroom, singing into my toothbrush/microphone.

i promise, we are all adults

2009-10-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

me with my favorite workout buds.

me (ladybug), kristen (firefly), and steph (bumble bee)

poor little guy

2009-10-28T18:48:00.001-07:00

last night was basketball night for James. he plays on a city league team and he loves it. last night was his second game of the season. i was studying/watching tv (i know, bad combo) when he got home so when he walked in i didn't look at him. i just said in my silliest, most mary-ish voice: hey little guy! he said: um, my dear, i hurt myself. then i look over and notice his gait. holy crap he is really hurt! i help him get to the couch and assess the damage. he was in the middle of playing when his knee literally came out and went back in. youch! he said he felt a pop, which is never good. i immediately elevated it, iced it, and gave him 800 milligrams of ibuprofen. am i in nursing school or what?

today i had clinicals all day. i felt bad that i couldn't baby him and grant him his every whim. luckily i was forced to leave early. but that story is for another post. this is about my little guy. his knee is more swollen and painful for him today. we made an appointment with a specialist for next week. he has been on the couch all day, icing and elevating. good boy. i bought him a cane. i know, that's a funny mental picture. don't worry i took an actual picture and put it at the end of this post. he looks like a pimp.

poor little lamb:

so swollen:

sir "wobbles-a-lot" the pimp:

baseball, body pillow, and blankets. what else could a guy want?

i have a new black friend

2009-10-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

My friend and I go everywhere together. My friend is so new and we have already been through so much together. We have gone to school on a Friday (I know... ludacris) and assessed many a pregnant woman. I love my new friend. I hear things so clearly through it. Thanks to the awesomest, funniest, and best looking parents ever for sending your grown-up daughter her newest friend.

2009-10-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

This is the maximum amount of excited-ness that I can muster at seven in the morning. I was woken up by my phone ringing. Not my cell phone, my home phone. I thought to myself, "surely it's a telemarketer, I'm not going to answer". But then I remembered that today I have clinicals and maybe by the grace of the universe my instructor was calling to cancel. I ran to the phone. He is really sick, bummer. I don't have clinicals, yee haw!

quote of the day

2009-10-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

"My teeth look shorter today." -yours truly

my baby sissy

2009-10-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Is my baby sister already 16 years old? Where has the time gone? Sarah went to her first formal highschool dance yesterday with her boyfriend Tanner. I made sure that my Mom took pictures so that I could document it.

oh how cute:

now it's Sarah's turn:

she couldn't figure it out, so my Dad stepped in:

breast cancer walk

2009-10-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Bird Day!

2009-10-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Mary Anne McAllister's birthday again and she is a happy and healthy 23 year old. We went on a Birthday Date yesterday and got her some new pants at the mall. The movie that she choose was less than desirable, meaning that two out of the last three years she has picked a really crappy movie to see on her day. Dan in Real Life was the only winner a few years ago. Here are a few of the mandatory pictures of the date that we had:

Here she is all excited about her newly tinted car windows

Is it just me, or does Mary take over 50% of her photos in her car?

Just a thought.

To my girl, I love you and hope that you have the best birthday ever.

-JAMES

there's no use hiding it

2009-10-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

i know that everyone loves it when i am home alone and do crazy things. yesterday i was home alone, and extremely bored. i decided to send my family a little sunday afternoon pick-me-up. my sissy decided it would be awesome to put it on her blog. soooo, if you wanna see it, then scoot on over to her blog.

2009-10-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

you see what I have to deal with? all those books go in my back-pack on a daily basis. I should be studying from those pages. I think I'll try it my way instead:

it's not working.

Birthday Week....

2009-10-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

has arrived! yee haw!

birthday party

2009-10-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

me and the birthday girl:

Stephanie and her family: (left to right:Doug, Michael, Bo, Steph, Kristen)
Stephanie with her kiddos:

What a fun night!

2009-10-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today started wonderfully. This afternoon, not so much. I have been trying to find some pretty flowers to give my friend for her birthday. So I went to Sam's Club. (They always have pretty flowers). I couldn't find my Sam's card anywhere. So I had to go in and have one re-issued. No big deal. As I'm standing in line this big old lady comes and stands all up in my business. What is the deal with people in lines? Do they think that if they stand unbearably close to the person in front of them that the line will move faster? Or maybe it's that the big old lady was "big" and "old" so she felt like she was entitled to go first or something. I don't think so big old lady. I turned around multiple times to give the big old lady the "look". You know the one. She no comprende the "look". Whatever. I got my card and got the crap out of line. I didn't see any flowers I loved, total bummer I know, so I left... empty-handed... from Sam's Club.

On to HEB. I don't know why I didn't think of this place first. I found some cute little tulips, (after getting in line, then changing my mind, then getting in line again) that I thought would be perfect. Saturday afternoon in Midland=long lines everywhere.

As I'm in the parking lot I, of course, walk down the completely wrong aisle and have to rely on my car alarm to tell me where my car is parked. I get in the car and drive to the nearest stop-light. I turn left on the green arrow behind a car that is going so slow. So I change lanes and pass that dummy.

As I'm passing "the dummy" I see a cop car parked in a nearby parking lot. All of a sudden I'm the one who's "the dummy". Yes that's right, I got pulled over. I got pulled over for the first time in my life... for speeding. I kept my sunglasses on because I knew my eyes would totally give away that I was almost crying and I wanted to keep it together, atleast until I got home. So the cop takes my license and insurance info and goes back to his car. While he's there I look in the mirror to make sure I am remaining tough-looking. My nose and chin are all red from my almost tears. Dang it, there's no way he missed that! He comes back to my car and says he is just going to issue me a warning. HALLELUJAH!! The red face must've made him take pity on me! Whatever gets me out of a ticket I guess. So I say "thank you so much" and my voice totally shakes. I roll up my window and immediately start bawling. Hey atleast the cop didn't see any tears. I know, I'm super tough.

2009-10-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

i could do this all day, every day.

we frighten small children

2009-09-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

James and I play this game where we face eachother and count to three. On three we pull the ugliest face possible. We were playing the other day and I had to take some pictures.

It's funny how my faces all consist of un-human nostril flaring and crossed eyes and James's faces mostly consist of squinting eyes and pushing his chin into his neck. Awesome. Don't you wanna hang out with us like every night? I know, you totally do.