The One With Shower #1

Adorable Shower #1

 

So right before the new year we had our first shower! The hostesses (Lindsey, Jamie, Kristin, Sedonia, and Lois) did an incredible job planning and decorating, it was awesome and very cute! Thanks again!

They decorated with a bunch of antique toys....I think the toys back then were way cuter(and maybe more fun) than today's toys!

 

 

So the hostesses had a really fun idea to decorate onesies at the party! It turned out super cute and now Baby Gator has some very stylish clothes!

 

 My long time childhood friend Paige Meyer is also pregnant

.....and is due a week after my due date! Soo crazy!

 

It was such a fun shower and we got so many incredible gifts!  As I showed Mr. Gator the gifts after the party, we both had the realization that they were OUR gifts for OUR baby! Thank you so much for everyone who was able to attend, it really meant a lot to both of us!

The One With All The Things To Do

So after talking with my sister, I realized I might be getting ahead of myself.....I am after all two months away. But going back to the need to organize (see last post)....lets have some fun!!

Our Magical To Do List

1. Pick a baby name.......impossible
2. Register at the hospital.......every 1st and 3rd Saturday, looks like we are registering Feb. 2
3. Make a birth plan.......call the stork and have him deliver quickly. done.
4. Find a pediatrician.......there's like a million of them! How do you choose!
5. Get and put bedding on crib.......so that would mean we have to take everything we've been storing out of the crib?
6. Install the car seat.......first we have to get a car seat, this should probably be listed as #1
7. Set up diaper changing station....... get a diaper changing station
8. Find newborn outfit.......impossible. For girl however...easy peasy
9. Get sharing snacks for the hospital.......ahhh look how sweet, Megan is sharing
10. Get snacks that I won't be sharing for the hospital :).......no statement needed
11. Pack baby bag.......hmmm how to pack for someone you have never met....interesting
12. Pack diaper bag.......so there's diapers, wipes and....
13. Pack my Bag.......do I plan for everything to happen smoothly or for a not so great scenario?
14. Pack Mr. Gator's bag.......easy peasy
15. Nail up bathtub.......leaving this one to Mr. Gator
16. Set up baby monitor.......and this one too
17. Buy straw for tervis.......very important task
18. Find and buy a rocker.......this actually should be find a spot for a rocker in our apt and then get one that fits

The One With The Whirlwind

Whewwwww........ what a whirlwind! Naming the blog Megan's Merry-Go-Round has proven itself accurate once again. Those of you who know me well, know I am in love with organization, in all the ways it can be done. Whether its organizing kitchen cabinets, a closet, or a schedule, I love doing it. However, the opposite is true too. When things are hectic, schedules are crazy, and rooms are disorganized, I am super antsy and uncomfortable. Well this is what I experienced over the Christmas break, plus I had a cold to make things run even smoother ;).

Mr. Gator and I both really wanted to make sure we spent time with everyone before the baby comes and our big move to the northeast. We had a blast celebrating Christmas with our families and our extended families and were sooo excited to see everyone! In total we attended seven Christmases/Christmas parties and even had a sweet baby shower before the new year and wedding. It was a crazy amount of driving, but so worth it. Mr. Gator and I had lots of time in the car to make to do lists for things that need to be done before the baby arrives. We also listened to lectures about the Barbary pirates (terrorists back when the country was founded) and famous American novels that impacted the country, all very interesting and informative.

I don't think our car has every been filled to the max like it was on the way back from our last Christmas. You know those skits with the clowns coming out of the car and you never understand how they could all fit in there....I think that is what our neighbors thought when we were unloading our car!

So from all that I have several post on my to do list! Here is a sneak peak of what's to come....

To do list:
1. Pick Baby Name
2. Register at the Hospital
....to be continued....



Adorable Shower #1

Adorable Shower #2

The One In New Orleans

About a month is ago, well maybe a bit longer than that we went to the Great Classy Beautiful Weirdly Historic city of New Orleans with our friends the Owens. They thought they could possible change our opinion of New Orleans by showing us a different side of the city since they grew up in the state. Mr. Gator and I did leave the day thinking a little more highly of the city, so mission accomplished I guess!

Side Note: In one of my previous posts I did mention that I have grown to appreciate and love the state, and that opinion is still very true!

We started off the day by visiting the famous Cafe Du Monde and eating some delicious Beignets. If you are ever visiting the state I highly recommend stopping at one of their many locations. These treats were very yummy!

 

After filling up and a unnecessary parking ticket we ventured over to the Louisiana State Museum Cabildo, the very site where the Louisiana Purchase ceremonies took place. I now have a personal mission to visit all the famous signing sites. Luckily I have a few already under my belt due to class trips and living 15 minutes away from a very important Texas site.

The table and pews to the left are the very same furniture pieces (I personally felt like they should have been roped off or guarded more, after all this historic purchasing site did get the US closer to Texas land ;))

We learned a lot about this swamp land and saw many well preserved artifacts.....and had a little fun along the way!

In case you were wondering how I came to the conclusion that this is not a clean city
.....if it says at the state museum, it's hard to deny.

 

 

 





 

You don't want to know.....but I will tell you anyways.
Short Story: Napoleon died, before they buried him they put wax on his face and then made a few bronze death masks from the wax. Fun Fact: this one was lost and was later found in some trash I believe.

 

The One Where We Find Out

Well......after polling many friends and family members on what they thought the gender would be, most were correct, except for a certain husband and sister of mine who guessed wrong. We are having a BOYYYYYY! We are both super excited, and now that we know it feels more real! I always knew I was pregnant, believe me the reoccurring morning sickness reminds me, but now baby gator has a gender and soon will have a name. Baby gator is growing in size and reminding me he's there by little and frequent nudges inside. Mr. Gator loves listening to his movements, and we've noticed baby gator responds to his voice. An amazing blessing he is. Another blessing was when we found out that baby gator is growing at a healthy rate and everything looks good, prayers answered!

Mr. Gator and I from the beginning thought it was a girl, had a name picked out and everything. It was a pretty name too, a name I wanted for many, many years, so we will just have to save the name for the next gator.

We haven't fully decided on baby gator's name, we do know that the initials will be JMC. Mr. Gator has a really cool tradition to name the firstborn with the initials JMC. Now as a little girl, as most little girls do, I had a list of boy names already picked out. Now these boy names have varied over the years and have not all stuck like the girl name. But of the ones that did stick, of course none of them have the initials JM or even J or M.  Mr. Gator and I have gone back and forth on boy names ever since we have been dating (I think once we decided we were going to get married, we planned the rest of our life out including baby names), but we have never come up with a JMC name.

We are currently deciding between naming it after our fathers, conveniently they each have one of the initials, and are biblical, or another name that has an awesome meaning, however, neither is biblical or any family name. We love both names, but we also know that a person's name is the most important thing to that person, so we want to make sure we pick the right one. We know that God has a different name for us in the end, but I still would kinda like baby gator to like his name while on Earth.

For now and as always we will call him baby gator because after all that was his real first name.

The One With Nothing To Eat

Those of you who know me, know I love food. Not all food, but the stuff I do like, I love. After looking at magazines, pinterest, and countless blogs I cannot find anything I want to make to eat. My diet recently has consisted of potatoes, cheese burgers, french fries, and apples. Literally that is it. I want to eat healthy for myself and the baby, but have no idea what to cook.

Here's the problem:

• I am lactose intolerant, but craving some cheese (I may or may not be giving in)
• Most food items are on my pregnancy bad list, tomatoes and pork especially.
• Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food are sadly all on the bad list.
• Mr Gator can't eat nuts and doesn't like cornbread.

As I researched I realized everything has either cheese (which I already knew), tomatoes, nuts, or one of my pregnancy no-goes in the recipe. I am looking for a healthy recipe or food that doesn't have a lot of spices/flavors in it and doesn't have milk products, tomatoes, or nuts. Any suggestions? Your prize you ask? A hug from a hungry pregnant me who misses food! Not good enough....think of it like a game!

Don't forget to vote whether you think baby gator will be gator or gatorette!

**Sorry for the confusion, when I say my pregnancy bad list, I do not mean bad to eat while pregnant. I mean when I eat these items 99.9% of the time I get sick because of eating said items thus their standing on MY (personal) bad list.

The One Where The System Breaks Down

I haven't posted in three-ish weeks and I apologize for that, but I think* I have good reasons for not doing so, hopefully you will agree:

1. My 3 year old laptop died. It was not dropped. Nothing was spilled on it. It just went to sleep one night, and didn't wake up in the morning when I was ready to use it. At least it went out peacefully unlike my last one.

2. I am currently 18.5 weeks pregnant, yes the .5 is necessary, each day is a milestone. Now I have not, not been posting because I am 18.5 weeks pregnant, rather I have not been posting because I have been experiencing elevated first trimester effects in the second trimester. Of course I am super excited to be out of the first and into the second, however, I am curious when I will get to experience the joys of the second. It will come right? Let's hope and pray so.

3. Due to forgetting to bring my camera everywhere (sad day) and not having the ability to upload pictures from my phone (note the #1 reason for not posting), I felt that without pictures my posts would be somewhat boring.

Sorry to be a downer, BUT I have exciting news or I guess will have exciting news to come.....

On Halloween I will potentially get to find out the sex of baby gator, not because I like the day and will be going to a psychic but because that just happens to be the day of my next appointment!

I thought it would be fun to take a poll to see what everyone thinks baby gator will be! So please take the poll on the upper right side of the blog, I can't wait to see what you think it will be!