Birthday Time

We've celebrated many a birthday in the last few weeks so here's a quick shout out to all those GELTER's I love so much born this time of year. I wish I would have had my camera with me for each family celebration, sorry I'm not more together.

Dev- Jan. 19th
Our darling sister turned 16! Bring on the car keys and the soon to be broken hearted. I wish I had some documentation of all 6 Gelter children playing Twister that night. They were so fun to watch; we're all just kids deep down inside.

Dad- Feb. 4th
It doesn't matter how old Dad is because I'm sure he doesn't want that published. :) A night out at the Olive Garden with the fam and Dad's sense of humor was a lot of fun.

Rach- Feb 18th
Turned 22 and she looked so dang cute tonight. How can you not love this girl? Just look at her birthday wish face! PF Chang's with lots of food sharing and swapping going on was a good time! We had an even better time when we ordered dessert...yum!

I get so excited for a night out with the Family! I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Amazing Parents

I was briefly kidnapped tonight by two loving parents who took me to the mall. Okay, so kidnapping probably isn't the right word because I did absolutely no protesting. They had a mission to buy me more colorful multipurpose maternity clothing. It was a lot of fun because we just went to Macy's and picked out normal clothes that work as maternity clothes. Some of the current styles are very flattering to us big bellied girls. I'm so excited to be adding to my very depleted closet. This isn't something I would have gone and done for myself, but it makes me feel so much more beautiful and comfortable. Thanks again Mom and Gregg, you just made my trimester! XOXO

EMOTIONAL!!!

Alright, my hormones are going crazy! Yesterday I cried during the 6th grade version of Hamlet for crying out loud! I'm aware of the insaneness of my emotions but can I stop it? NO!!! Luckily I've been able to keep the tears back for the most part, and since looking in the mirror the wrong way can make me feel like crying, I think that's pretty good.

Well today was a roller coaster day:

1. Crazy morning... getting off schedule just throws me off.
   
2. I was teaching and my secretary brought me in a beautiful bouquet of roses with a great note from Aaron. The kids all freaked out. They just kept saying over and over again, "Your husband must really love you!" Every time it made me all teary, so I'm thinking it's going to be a great day from that point forward.
   
3. I turned around and my Principal was there. No biggy, but she had her clipboard, which meant she was there to evaluate me. It went okay, not great, but my hormonal self started feeling insecure.
4. Towards the end of the day I got an e-mail filling me in on the lender that's suing against my Fathers Estate for $11,000! YAY! In what realm should I pay that amount of money for my irresponsible father's choices and those irresponsible lenders that loaned him the money? More than anything I was upset because it brought back all the horrible memories of when it first happened. It's unsecured debt so...thank goodness for good attorneys and a calm mother. Hopefully it will all just blow over.
   

I came home to a cuddly husband who loves me and hugged me just to let me know everything is going to be okay. Now we're just relaxing and watching Friends. It's nice to know that in a few months I'll get to see the face causing all this emotion, and my heart, life, and love will never be the same for the better.

*Thanks for letting me vent, I know it's really insignificant stuff.

Who needs sleep? You're never gonna get it...

This song is now very meaningful especially at 3:30am. Waking up frequently has been a constant during this pregnancy, but all of the sudden like clockwork I'm up at 3:OO for a bathroom break and I get right back in bed. 3:30 am rolls around and I'm begging for sleep to take me away. 4 am I just give up the fight. I get up and make myself a cup of tea, because it's still freezing in our house that early in the morning, and I sit down to read my scriptures. It really doesn't bother me much until I get to work and realize my emotions are all weird because I'm tired. This is what my poor students have heard all week, "Mrs. Gelter is grumpy this morning, so she's going to try really hard to not be grumpy, if you try really hard to be good." This morning one student finally asked, "Why are you so grumpy?" I told her, "The baby kept me up" (because I didn't think she'd get "my hormones are going crazy") So boldly she told me, "That's why my sister doesn't want a baby, because she wouldn't get to sleep anymore." It's hard to be grumpy after that, they're so cute. Anyways, looks like change is headed into my sleep schedule. I guess it's just the Lord's way of getting me to read my scriptures more and Porter's way of breaking me in for his early morning mommy time.

So Much To Be Grateful For

I have been so happy and content with life these days and I want it to stay that way. Today I found myself wondering why I have allowed myself to be grumpy at times. My husband reminded me that life really is at lot less stressful for us since college life ended and that I'm not dealing with diseases every day in the classroom anymore; but still I think my attitude has a lot to do with it. So here's a list of all the little things I'm grateful for:

1. My testimony & Aaron's testimony. We both bore our testimonies in church this Sunday and I was determined not to cry during mine, resulting in some long pauses, but I kept it together. However, I lost it when Aaron got up there.
2. He's no small blessing, and definitely deserves to be mentioned: PORTER, we love you!
3. 20 minute morning laps around the school as the sun comes up. I walk to keep the back pain away, and I was surprised to find I sleep better when I walk. It's getting brighter earlier each day, I love that!
   
4. Family, we turn to you when we just don't know what to do and you help us through. That and you're all just so much fun to be around! Cute baby Emerie sure does make my heart warm. We Love You All!
5. I'm passionate about my job! I LOVE TEACHING!!! It's such a relief because after last year I felt that I had missed my chance at going into a career I truly love. Lucky for me last year was a fluke. I make a difference, I am getting better every day, I'm growing and challenging myself. I love how exhilarating it is knowing I'm trying my best and doing a good job.
   
6. We can just roll with it and have fun. For example, at the beginning of this pregnancy I made Aaron promise to try to take me on one last trip together as a couple. We thought about California, New York, even just Park City but time got moving fast and those plans didn't play out the way we hoped. We had a chance to go to Wyoming with two other couples in our ward, but plans changed once again. So, it's a new fun challenge to try to make our trip celebrating "Just The Two of Us" actually happen. Which reminds me, if you have any ideas for a quick get away, please, leave me a comment! We really want to go before my 3rd trimester and I'm just shy of 4 weeks so time's running out.
   
7. Sydney, that pup can always lift my spirits. What a darling little dog who loves me. Even when I trick him with a yummy smelling treat each morning just so I can catch him and lock him in the bathroom he always forgives me and keeps on loving me! If that isn't love I don't know what is!
8. My Husband, the calm, constant, love of my life! He's my best friend, and I can't believe I found such a good match! I'm a Lucky girl!
   

This is much longer than I had wanted, so if you didn't make it this far I understand. Like I said I just want to remember it's my attitude that helps me see just how beautiful the journey of each little moment really is.
P.S. I was feeling so grateful yesterday I let Aaron take a picture of what I like to call, "Big Beautiful Meg" I feel big but I really do think I'm beautiful... at least that bump is.

I did this because I'm a sucker for Aaron and again gave in when he requested I post it. For your entertainment...ahhh...

Porter Ray is On His Way

We're having a baby BOY!!! We're so excited! We had a great time meeting Porter during our ultrasound today. He was very cooperative when it came to letting us know he's a boy. He's probably tired of being called a he/she. Porter is very healthy, 5 toes, 5 fingers, he has a well developed brain in his skull, and to my personal relief a 4 chambered heart beating nice and strong! They're keeping my June 14th due date, but Porter seems to be a little younger than last time so I am not going to hold fast to that due date in case he decides to come a little later.

As part of our "Gender Discovery Day", Aaron and I went and bought our first baby items tonight. It's hard not to just put everything in the basket, it's all so cute. We picked up 3 newborn items and had so much fun squealing over our finds and watching the others reaction. My personal favorite was Aaron's "AWW" over this: He's excited to be getting his little boy. As we left, the Doctor that did our ultrasound congratulated me on, "having a normal, well-developed offspring" and to Aaron he said, "Congrats on the Wee Wee!" I can't stop smiling, we're so very happy!

I know you've all seen baby clothes, but I couldn't stop uploading...hope you don't mind. :)

We picked this one because we keep debating about whether he's going to be left-brained like Aaron or right-brained like me.

Half Way

HOLY COW!!! I can't believe I'm halfway through this pregnancy! It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning and a lot of different thoughts went through my head.

I thought about how quickly those first 20 weeks went by! Which caused a mini panic attack because the next 20 weeks will go by just as quickly. It's just not a large amount of time and before you know it our little one will be here. I'm really super excited for that day but I also can't help but think life will never be the same from that moment forward, so I want to enjoy every moment in these next 20 weeks. Mostly I want to enjoy being with Aaron, just me and him! It will be great to see him as Daddy and to be a family of 3, but I'm going to enjoy being a little selfish with my Aaron time.

I thought about how amazing pregnancy is! It has it's moments of unpleasantness, but I'm really enjoying this new experience. I love watching my body change, feeling the baby move, looking down at my bump and knowing there is a life within me. I just feel so lucky to get to be carrying this child!