35 weeks or most likely 36

We had an appointment this morning which was oh so fun! I got an ultrasound done like usual, but I also had the privilege of getting the Strep B test done plus he checked my cervix for the first time! He made me think it was going to hurt incredibly bad, but I'd like to think I was tough & I survived it! :) He said I was dilated to about a 1 so I guess that's better than nothin..

Well during the ultrasound, Doc told us our baby was growing nicely & he measured a bunch of different parts of her body & according to those measurements she is already 6lbs 4oz! Which would put her a week ahead of our original schedule & mean that I am actually 36 weeks along today! I'd like to think this will change my due date up a week - to June 20th. So everybody cross your fingers for us because we are SO anxious to meet our beautiful little girl!

{this pic is from last week so I may be slightly bigger?}

On Saturday night, after I got home from the baby shower my amazing friends Jacque & Kiera threw for me, Tyler & I went to Babies R Us to get some of the things that we still needed. We had gotten a duplicate item so we returned that for store credit, we had some cash from our family shower & a gift card from my brother's family - so we used it all up & not a penny more on some essential items we needed before Baby Gap makes her grand entrance.

We bought a pack n play that we plan to have in our room for the first while until we feel she is old enough to sleep in her crib, we also got the carseat headrest inserts, some more hangers (because we were overly blessed with clothes as gifts!), and a much needed Boppy pillow.

We feel so blessed by all the gifts we have received that have helped us so much. All the little expenses add up when having a baby, & it can be a stressful thing. So we are so grateful that we have such amazing family & friends who have made this journey so far an easy one.

Family Baby Shower

We were thrown an awesome family baby shower!

Tyler came to this one since most of the family who were able to make it are from his side. We were overwhelmed by how many people came & by the generous gifts they gave us for our baby girl. We've also had numerous family mail us gifts from around the country & we feel so blessed - thank you everyone!

{only some of who came!}

{my poor niece Ava was sick}

{this isn't even all the clothing we received! I just ran out of hangers!}

{the loot! our baby was spoiled rotten!}

Maternity Pictures

At the end of April we had the chance to get my maternity pictures taken by my magnificent friend Dustin Izatt! I had a hard time convincing myself to get these done because it is hard to see myself on the chubby side after promising myself 6 years ago that I would never go back there. But I knew deep down before I got pregnant that I would inevitably gain weight during pregnancy so I am trying my hardest to accept it & find the beauty in it. I believe all pregnant women are beautiful in every shape & form. There is just something that radiates from a pregnant woman that you won't find anywhere else.

For these photos I wanted to, more than anything, show the love the Tyler & I share - and the new love we are forming stronger and stronger everyday with our tiny baby girl.

Thank you Dustin, from the bottom of my heart, for these & for doing such an amazing job!

Here are just a few of our favorites.

Tyler's Graduation!

Two weeks ago Tyler graduated with honors from Weber State University! He graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Business/Marketing. It seems like I have been waiting for this day for such a long time, I cannot even imagine how amazing it must have felt for him to be finally finished! Although he is contemplating going on to get his Masters degree, at least we have made it to this milestone!

I am so incredibly proud of him, he is such a dedicated hard-working man. I am so lucky that he chose me for his wife. He started out his college career at UVU before we met, took a year off when we were dating/getting engaged/getting married, then started back up at Weber State FULL time every Spring & Fall semester until he finished! All the while he has been working 40+ hours a week for AT&T and the last year & currently Managing his own store for Verizon. He even managed to get AWESOME grades & graduate with HONORS. I think that this definitely deserves some bragging rights. What an incredible man! And I am grateful every second of everyday for him - & I know our baby girl will be too.

Two special graduation gifts for Tyler this year -

First, I surprised him with plane tickets to HAWAII! We both have never been & it was somewhere we both want to go. It was always so hard to commit to spending so much on plane tickets to get there, so each time we looked into it we always changed our minds to other vacations {caribbean cruise, mexico, etc.}. I found an amazing deal on plane tickets this time around & I just couldn't pass it up! So we will be packing our bags & going to paradise for a week & a half this November!

Secondly, and most important, our baby girl will be born next month! {NEXT MONTH?! Wow, I can officially say that!} We hadn't planned it this way, in fact, we had been trying to get pregnant for over 3 years. But of course, Heavenly Father knew what was best for us. As much as we longed for a baby, looking back we know things would have been much more stressful for Tyler to be doing full time school, full time work & parenting. Isn't it amazing how oblivious you can be with out even realizing it? We trusted in Heavenly Father's plan for us & had faith that when the time was right, we would be blessed with a child. That was definitely not an easy task, especially for me. But I strived to have faith continually & I am now so anxious to finally meet my little girl!

Thank you to my parents, & Tyler's parents & Grandparents for coming to his graduation and supporting him! It meant so much to have you all there to celebrate.

28 weeks! ..and an iPhone photo dump

It's taken me longer than usual to make this post. It's been pretty much a whole week since we went in for our 28 week appointment. I was so excited to see my baby girl again - I'm so glad I get to have an ultrasound every month. This particular appointment was my glucose test as well, so I had to drink a special drink they gave me & then get my blood drawn. I'm happy to say that I passed - yay! No gestational diabetes here *knock on wood

More good news - I only gained 3 lbs over the last 4 weeks so I guess my hour long walks everyday & stricter diet have paid off! Now I just need to keep it up through the rest of this pregnancy!

I also got to get an awesome shot in my booty (TMI?!) called a Rhogam shot. I had to get it because my blood type is O negative & there's a possibility that my baby has a positive blood type which apparently if that's the case my body will start building antibodies & would think my next baby is a foreign body & attack it. SO this shot (& another one after I deliver) will prevent that from happening- thank goodness for modern medicine right?

{Here I am at 28 weeks- and now finally in the 3rd & final trimester!}

Now for an iPhone photo dump! It's the best way to see what we've been up to...

We got this crib bedding for FREE through Overstock. Tyler got a $200 giftcard through his work so we were able to snag the bedding I wanted, plus some adorable headbands for our Baby Girl. I will post a pic of it all set up when I am totally done with her nursery.

I have been in love with everything FRUIT lately. I am obsessed with finally getting these yummy things back into my life. To get an idea of how much fruit I've been eating lately... I get them at Costco on a weekly basis & we all know Costco sells in BULK!

I just have cool dogs.. what more can I say?

Toby is seriously the most silly dog ever. He has to be in the middle of whatever we are doing. Hence the photo above where he is laying in the middle of our yardwork project. Such a big helper! :)

I finally got a Kitchenaid mixer! I've been wanting one for years & my sister in law happened upon this one & offered it to me for a price I couldn't pass up! Yay for new toys!

Another silly Toby fact - EVERY morning when Tyler gets up & lets him out of his bed (cage) he climbs up on my bed and has to lay right on my big pregnant belly. I think he is already becoming protective over this little girl! :)

Like I mentioned earlier, I have been religious at going on hour long walks every morning. My dogs know exactly when we go by the certain clothing I put on (isn't that crazy how smart they are?!) They absolutely love going for walks & Roxi has even lost some weight! We have been soaking in every ounce of sunshine we can get & loving the warmer than usual weather we've been having.

On our usual route we take, there is a creek about 3/4 of the way. Toby always gets so excited when he can hear the water running because he knows I always walk down there to let them get a drink. The picture above is Toby doing just that!

I snapped the pic below on one of our walks one day - I am loving Spring & all the tulips/flowers & blossoms!

This is the blossoming tree in my parent's front yard. Isn't it GORGEOUS?

We decided to rip out all the ivy/vines in our backyard & experiment with a tiny garden. It took a while (& a couple garbage cans full) to get it all cleaned up. But last saturday we were able to till up the dirt & then plant a few different vegetables!

It may have been too soon to plant but oh well.. We are excited to see if our experimental garden will produce anything this year!

We loved sharing Easter with most of our Gelter family. We made Rice Krispy Treat eggs that were super cute. We were able to make a special Easter dinner complete with Ham, Grandma's potatoes (funeral potatoes), rolls, asparagus, and cream corn.. Mmm makes me want some more just thinking about it! :) We did a fun Easter egg hunt for 2 of my nieces who were there & then we did an adult egg hunt too. I got to cheat and help hide eggs as well as team up with Tyler in the hunt. I guess everyone thought I needed some sort of advantage since bending over isn't my strong suit right now! ;)

Most of all, we are grateful for the reason we celebrate Easter. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel in our lives. How sweet a blessing it is to know that our Savior suffered & died for us & that he was resurrected & still lives!

Preparing for the babes!

Last week we got Baby Gap's crib delivered & couldn't wait to put it together! We were hoping it wouldn't be too difficult, and luckily we were right. It took us about 2.5 hrs total, but ain't it a beauty?!

We found the model at Babies R Us but they didn't carry it in white. SO we found it online & *bonus* it was cheaper! Love that.

We got the mattress delivered yesterday, so now all we need is the bedding. I'm pretty sure about the one I want, it's just the committing & actually buying it part I haven't done yet :)

We should be getting her dresser delivered next week, as well as the glider chair & ottoman.

Little by little, piece by piece, this room is turning into our Baby Girl's NURSERY!

I never did a separate post about painting the walls & that's mainly because all my photos of it were on my phone which a few weeks ago got wiped clean :( I was dumb I hadn't set up iCloud yet so I lost all of my photos, etc.

My Dad helped me with the painting, he is amazing!

I painted two coats of white prior to, and then pretty much in one day we nailed out the gray stripes. We used Frogtape (love this stuff) & measured and taped off every bit of the walls. Honestly, it was the taping part that took the longest. But it was OH SO WORTH IT. I am in love with how it turned out & luckily Tyler loves it too. And even better for him, he didn't have to do ANY of it - haha.

We also went & registered at Babies R Us. We were so surprised at how much stuff you really need for a baby. We didn't scan half the stuff we could've, just the essentials, and it was still a TON of stuff! We had a fun day completely centered around our little one, it was exciting to think about her being here to use all of the stuff we were registering for. I am getting SO impatient already & I still have a possible 14 weeks of waiting! I just keep telling myself that it will be here before I know it, which I'm sure when she's here that's what it will seem like!

...And last but not least... I was able to snag this gorgeous diaper bag from the Petunia Pickle Bottom Outlet sale that they do I think twice a year. I was so scared that I'd get it & it wouldn't be as cute as I imagined, but I LOVE it & I am so happy I went with this one. I had been looking all over for one but just couldn't commit. I knew I wanted a Boxy Backpack because I think the changing pad feature on this bag is PERFECT. So yay! I got it for $70 off the original price! :) It was worth it even though I sat on my laptop for 2.5 hrs constantly refreshing the webpage because it kept crashing due to high volumes of traffic! Tyler can vouch for me - I was getting beyond frustrated! haha - those darn pregnancy hormones!

24 Week Appointment

We had our 24 week appointment this morning. No new photos of Baby Gap this time which is okay since we just had our targeted ultrasound 2 weeks ago. She is still very much a GIRL thank goodness, I don't want to keep going on that rollercoaster :)

Our doc said that she is growing healthy and strong! Her targeted ultrasound results were all normal which is great news! He also said that our little girl is measuring a week ahead of schedule!
In sort of bad news... I was told I had gained too much weight in the last 6 weeks. Shame on me! I guess I better be more strict from here on out. I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize not having an easier delivery, or easier pregnancy in general.
I need to be healthy and strong for this baby girl, I love her so much already!!

Here is a 24 week progress pic!

I have been starting to have a little heartburn which I know is normal. But has anyone else confused it for hunger? Maybe I am just crazy. I feel this little girl so much now, it is such an amazing feeling! I don't know if I could get through pregnancy if I didn't have those constant kicks & reassurance of my tiny baby inside of me. She is starting to take up more and more space & I can definitely tell! I am told that I am carrying pretty low so hopefully that will prevent her from ever getting into my ribs - haha.
I am starting to get so anxious for her to be here yet I still have to wait until JUNE! It seems like forever away... but I'm sure it'll be here before I know it.