The One With More Details

While we were visiting our families we were thrown two parties, well baby gator was thrown two parties and we were just invited.

The first of said parties was in the country at a beautiful garden market. And when I say beautiful, it is a big understatement. It is probably one of the few places that I can say every square inch was thought out, planned, and placed perfectly and not one detail should have been changed. The party was just as perfect! I was able to introduce my baby gator to so many great friends and family members; I loved every minute of it. There's something special about introducing your baby to your friends that you grew up with. Very special.

My mom, sister, and sister-in-law did a fantastic job of decorating and planning.

 

 

Everything was so sweet! Including my little gator....because he slept....the entire party.

Yep. That's baby gator. In a car seat. Sleeping. The entire party.
I also didn't realize until 10 minutes before the party was over that baby gator was still buckled in. (face palm)

 He didn't even wake up to see his new friend....my childhood best friend's baby who should have been born around the same week as baby gator, but I had a too excited baby ready to come out and she had chill baby that wanted to stay in. Come to think of it, that describes them both pretty well. Baby Gator =  not chill. Baby Meyer = chill.

 

We had an equally fantastic time at our second party in the city. Except this time, Mr. Gator was able to see all of his old friends and show off his little gator off. Everything was decorated cute and Mema even had a little picture game showing off their side of the family babies. I of course guessed most of them right.....just kidding I think I got 90% of them wrong, and the 10% I got right were of baby gator. It was also really neat seeing the books and toys Mr. Gator used to read and play with out for display.



 

 At this party baby gator decided he would be a little more lively and stay awake. However, as you can see from the picture below, he did not decide to smile....at all.

 

After awhile he decided to blow off the party and nap for this one too, at a time when he was not suppose to be napping, but we can't complain since there was very few tears.



 

 

I still can't believe just how bittersweet everything was. Each weekend we have a few more boxes packed, but still many more to fill. I realized today that exactly a month from now we will be in Texas for our last time until Christmas. 

The One With The Overload

My little gator is three months and counting now, but let's pretend as you read this post that you are taken back to three months ago. What were you doing then? On vacation? Trying to figure out if it would ever stop raining? Awaiting for my very thorough and sometimes interesting posts? I can't actually tell you what I was doing then because well frankly, I don't remember. I think part of being a new mom is that your brain is on overload with worry and stress about things like poop, sleep, naps, is he going to stop breathing if I look away, and because of all of that with the addition or rather subtraction of sleep that is no longer apart of your day to day life, I forgot what I/we did all day. To sum up what life was like though I hope this extremely long post will help inform you of my little gator's life.

My parents, baby gator's grandparents, came to visit and we had tons of fun! We had lots of laughs, went to a famous Chinese restaurant, and of course relaxed.

My dad was finally meeting his first grandson!
 

 We decided to take a trip to visit my parents a few weeks later to get some much needed rest. Baby gator played with his cousin baby whimsy, and received many confused and interesting looks from her.



They are going to be best friends one day....well once baby gator stops crying and realizes there is another baby next to him and when baby whimsy realizes what the loud thing next to her is.

Baby gator surprisingly didn't get to experience rain in the swamp land, but he finally got a taste of it during our visit in the country

Baby Gator turned two months old, he started smiling and cooing a whole bunch more, I think he was practicing for our next big trip to the big city and the country.

 

 

 

Mr. Gator wanted to take a trip to our hometowns and to see his two grandmothers, so we could say our goodbyes and introduce our little gator to all of our friends and family before we left for the north. This trip included many, I repeat, MANY hours of driving. It was bittersweet trip visiting everyone.

Little gator with his great-grandmother.

Four generations separating these two sweet hands.

Little gator with one of sweetest ladies I know.

While in the country, my dad treated us very well! We had a crawfish boil and boy did they taste good! I still believe he makes the best crawfish I've ever had----way better than anything I've tasted in the swamp land, no lies.

 

The little gator himself.

Cousin bonding time, I told you....best friends in the making!

We then made our way to the big city and visited lots of friends and said our goodbyes. As I write this, I feel like we are leaving the country for forever.....eeeek!

Future bffs

 We ended our trip in the east country where baby gator met his other great-grandmother and all of her friends. Again bittersweet.

 

 

Hopefully that caught you up on everything....maybe in three more months I can catch up on our life again, just kidding. But maybe not, as I now look around and look at the many things I will have to pack and then unpack in the very near future.

The One With The Arrival

Well my sweet baby gator has arrived! Everything went perfectly; we cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers! God has definitely blessed us! He came one week and one day early. Mr. Gator's coworker had a crawfish boil on Friday, so we decided to have a fun night out....little did we know just what kind of fun we would have!

The day of course started out normally: I went grocery shopping (luckily), picked up Mr. Gator's dry cleaning, and when Mr. Gator came home we went on a walk around the neighborhood, and then left for a crawfish boil (some have speculated this is why I went into labor, but I disagree...the crawfish were not that spicy). ALL of these events were a terrible idea after the fact because they made me exhausted, again little did I know just how exhausted I would end up being that night!

I went into labor around 9:30 pm and my baby gator, Jack, took his first breath at 3:04 pm the next day!

My mom, my sister, John's parents, and his brother made the super long trip in the middle of the night for the arrival of baby gator and they all made it in time! I'm pretty sure there was lots of speeding involved....

 

Since his arrival he has been a perfect little newborn gator. He is starting to sleep really well at night and is getting pretty good at posing for pictures!

 

 

And he even has made friends quickly :)

 

Thank you all so much for you love, support, prayers, and all of your sweet messages! We can't wait for you all to meet him!

 



The One With The Opposite Of Productivity

I have a theory.....

I think I am nesting.

I am a somewhat rational person, but the feelings I am experiencing are completely irrational.

I want to cook, like everything.

Yesterday I felt compelled to make a very large dinner...from scratch. I made chicken fried steak, spinach gratin, fancy mac and cheese (from scratch not the box kind), and homemade biscuits. Did I have the energy for this? Of course not, I am 8 months pregnant. Did I like anything I cooked? Of course not, I have a terribly picky appetite right now. Luckily Mr. Gator benefited from all this. Although, now he might disagree since he "volunteered" to clean all the dishes, and by "volunteered" I mean that I could not pull myself off the couch to do anything after I finished cooking.

I don't even like chocolate and I really, really want to cook these: (the original killer brownies) http://www.dorothylane.com/products/viewdetail.pl?id=114

Like I am about to go to the store to get the ingredients.

Mr. Gator doesn't even like chocolate.

So I wouldn't eat it. Mr. Gator wouldn't eat it. It's Friday, so Mr. Gator couldn't even bring them to work tomorrow. And I still have this uncontrollable need to go get the ingredients and start cooking.

 

If this is truly nesting, why did this have to be my form of it? I like things organized and cleaned, so I would gladly taken that kind of nesting over the urge to cook unnecessary food....it at least makes sense.

 

Oh and if you were thinking, well hey you can just fill up your freezer/fridge for the week.....

My once formerly organized and half as full freezer and fridge.

 

The One With The List's Update #2

Our Magical To Do List Update
So before as I checked things off the list, I would add things to the list. Now as I cross things off, I realize there are so many things I need to do, but am not sure what they are. Help Please!

1. Pick a baby name.......impossible
*Sooooo close...I blame Mr. Gator on this one. We finally decided on a name and then he called the baby by the wrong name when he was talking to him, so that opened a can of worms.....
**I think you all know that we haven't picked a name yet.....maybe we will just "surprise" everyone when he is born with the name (real meaning: the hospital will make us choose and we will finally decide)

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!
* Done and done! Super excited about the one we picked, he seems really good and nice. Only problem is that it's in the same building of my old work......can you say awkward?

5. Get and put bedding on crib.......so that would mean we have to take everything we've been storing out of the crib?
*Where is the crib skirt...many things are waiting on it's arrival! Hopefully it comes before the baby to make things easier!

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
* As of right now we have a wall of diapers

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
*We finally got one, although we were so worn out from looking and deciding we didn't return it when we opened the box and saw that it was the wrong color!

19. Buy crib mattress cover.....not that our baby gator would ever have an accident in there, it is more for the dust
*Dust will no longer be a problem

20. Buy changing pad cover....see above comment
*Done and done.

21. Buy a humidifier.....because the poor baby's nose will get too dried out in the northeast
*Done and done

22. Buy a carseat cover......the bright sun and babies don't mix well neither does snow

22. Buy a baby wrap......I am all about the multitasking (anyone know of a good place to get one?)

Additions:

23. Buy a window shade for the car windows......yep I'll be one of those moms :|
*It's official. I have window shades on my windows. Sigh....I guess it had to happen.

The One With Shower #2

When we got back to the swamp land after the new year, my sweet friends threw me a baby shower. The hostesses (Christine and Megan G.) went all out! Everything was decorated so sweetly with lots of pictures of Mr. Gator and me as babies.

 

 

I joked earlier in my pregnancy that I craved milk duds and jalapeno chips (like every day).....so they surprised my with both at the shower, along with other tasty food of course!

My sweet friends at the shower!

Megan G. will be an amazing mom, can you believe all of the above items for hot chocolate were handmade?!

I had so much fun playing many games and getting so spend time with our friends we have made in the swamp land! I soo thankful for them, I don't think Mr. Gator and I could have survived this crazy place without them. I can't thank them enough for the sweet shower they threw!

The One With The List's Update

Our Magical To Do List Update

So this whole checklist thing is really fun, however, I am realizing the more I cross off the more I add to the list!

1. Pick a baby name.......impossible
*Sooooo close...I blame Mr. Gator on this one. We finally decided on a name and then he called the baby by the wrong name when he was talking to him, so that opened a can of worms.....

2. Register at the hospital.......every 1st and 3rd Saturday, looks like we are registering Feb. 2
*So excited about our hospital and nurses, both seem really great!

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?
*Just like I took credit for being a certain amount of weeks and 1/2, I will certainly take credit and say we ordered the rest of our bedding (thanks to some lovely hosts from shower one and my mom!)

6. Install the car seat.......first we have to get a car seat, this should probably be listed as #1
*Thanks mom!!!

7. Set up diaper changing station....... get a diaper changing station

8. Find newborn outfit.......impossible. For girl however...easy peasy
*So basically mom has crossed more of these off then a certain soon to be gator daddy :)

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....
* I am going to say maybe this is packed correctly and has everything I need in it

13. Pack my Bag.......do I plan for everything to happen smoothly or for a not so grea
t scenario?

14. Pack Mr. Gator's bag.......easy peasy

15. Nail up bathtub.......leaving this one to Mr. Gator
*And Mr. Gator gets to cross one off whoop!

Lindsey- this is what a nailed up bathtub looks like!

16. Set up baby monitor.......and this one too
*Walkie talkies until the baby comes....I think so!

17. Buy straw for tervis.......very important task
* Can you believe they only sell lids in packs of 4 and straws in packs of 6....this wouldn't be that big of a deal if I had more cups, but I have two cups and one already has a lid and no place to store any of them.

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

New Additions!
19. Buy crib mattress cover.....not that our baby gator would ever have an accident in there, it is more for the dust

20. Buy changing pad cover....see above comment
*Anyone know a good place to get them, our target had three not so fun options...

21. Buy a humidifier.....because the poor baby's nose will get too dried out in the northeast

22. Buy a carseat cover......the bright sun and babies don't mix well neither does snow

22. Buy a baby wrap......I am all about the multitasking (anyone know of a good place to get one?)