Pregnancy Update

I suppose it's about time I do the obligatory pregnancy posts. I really was planning on doing them before now, and more often, as I want to remember stuff. Life happened and this blog was neglected so this post is two pregnancy updates combined. I made my own questionnaire of sorts combining a bunch of others I found. It may change as time goes on.

I should mention also that Dillon has been the best ever during all of this. He is so good to me; sympathetic when I need it, helpful all of the time. I just love him.

1st trimester

About 12/13 weeks

• When did you find out you were pregnant? April 22, 2014
• When is your due date? December 29, 2014
• Who was with you when you found out? Nobody. Dillon had to go to a church youth activity and I decided to take the test while he was gone.
• Who was the first person you told? Dillon. Enjoy his reaction below. Although, I don't know why he seems so caught off guard. Results were quicker than expected? I love that he can't stop smiling.
• How did your parents react? We put the news in my mom's Mother's Day card. She giggled like a little girl and danced on the porch. My dad told us it was about time and then congratulations. I'll have to ask Dillon what his parents said, I don't really know except for the general congratulations from both of them.
• What was your first symptom? Feeling like someone took a mallet to my chest 24/7. 
• Belly button in or out? In
• General mood? Sick
• Thoughts: When I first saw the positive on the pregnancy test I seriously just thought, "No way." There wasn't a natural gush of lovey feelings for this tiny babe, mostly because it seemed unreal (it still does for the most part). The first trimester was rough. I remember thinking that everyone who says you forget how awful you feel is a dirty liar. 
• Doctor Appointments: The first appointment I had, I didn't really know what to expect. Everyone's seems to be different depending on which Doctor you go to. Dillon wasn't able to come to my first one with me and it just happened to be the most exciting. They pulled out the ultrasound machine and the doppler so I got to see and hear my little human. I think the doctor was feeling like he should put in some extra effort to make it a special experience since I came alone. He said in the cutest voice, "Look kiddo, there's your baby." It's hard to describe. I'm not naturally the most emotional person in situations like this so I just smiled. Everything looked good and baby was on track.
• Baby: I've been using two specific sites to track the baby's progress. According to them, by the end of the 1st trimester the baby was about the size of a peach and making all kinds of progress. Nervous system, fingernails, vocal cords, and all sorts of other stuff were in the works.
• Symptoms: Seriously, everything. It could have been much worse. I have a friend who is due about 10 days before me and the poor thing had to be hooked up to an IV because she couldn't keep anything down. I experienced the ones everyone thinks of as typical- definite morning sickness (more like ALL DAY nausea), vomiting, being tired, and already mentioned, an extremely sore chest area. A few things were ones that I didn't know were normal- I was so, so dizzy that it would wake me up from sleeping even though I was already lying down (this one was the hardest for me while I was still teaching). My body was producing so much extra saliva that I was gagging all of the time (this one is gone). I had an extremely gross aftertaste in my mouth all the time but especially after eating. It's described online as a metallic aftertaste, mine was more sour (this one is mostly gone). 
• Movement: Nothing
• Cravings/Aversions/Eating: Food pretty much sounded gross the whole first trimester but meat especially made me want to gag, particularly beef. I made Dillon eat his hamburger across the room from me because I couldn't handle the look and smell. During this time, I discovered and became grateful for easily throw-uppable foods. Carrots is not one of them. In fact, all raw vegetables instantly made me sick and run to the bathroom. So much for trying to eat healthy.

Now

• How far along are you? 19 weeks
• Do you know the sex of the baby? Not yet. We find out tomorrow!
• Have you picked out names? We have a list for either gender but haven't really landed on anything.
• Have you felt the baby move? Nope.
• Belly button in or out? In.
• General Mood? Irritable. Like, wow.
• Thoughts: I'm almost halfway there and it still doesn't feel real. I see my belly growing and hear the baby's heartbeat and it's just not quite feeling like reality. I'm guessing that will change once I feel Baby Thatcher move. 
• Doctor Appointments: These are pretty non-exciting. I don't know if Dillon and I are atypical or not but we don't really have any questions (mostly because we don't know what questions we should be asking) so the appointments last about 60 seconds.
• Baby: Baby is now the size of a mango and about 6 1/2 inches long. The waxy coating all over its skin has developed to keep it protected. Baby's cartilage is turning to bone. All sorts of exciting things.
• Symptoms: Thankfully, the 1st trimester ones have subsided. I'm currently in the easier stage. I am ridiculously hot all.the.time. Because of this I have the tendency to overheat really easily which makes me pretty sick. I've always run naturally warm (as in I like my house to hover around 68 degrees) but this is a whole new level. I basically hate being outside if it's hot at all. The dizziness has revisited but mostly just in the morning. It's not nearly as bad as it was.

**Dillon decided to buy this pool which was the best purchase of the summer. I basically wanted to swim every day to cool off but really didn't want to go to the local aquatic center. Running into your former students in your swimsuit is just..awkward. We have spent a few afternoons just lounging in this pool and it has been awesome.

• Movement: Still nothing.
• Cravings/Aversions/Eating: I still don't really crave meat but I can handle eating it now. If a food has too much melted cheese in it, it makes me gag. The idea of a grilled cheese sandwich is not appealing at all. I wouldn't really say I've had any consistent cravings but right now all I want in the world is Sour Patch Apples. The two places in Cedar that always have them...don't. I'm desperate enough that I'm considering ordering them online.

Anniversary Colorado Style

Dillon and I celebrated our 4th anniversary in June. Four years went by so fast! I've been so grateful every day that I was lucky enough to marry the perfect man for me.

As per tradition, we planned a trip centered around baseball and decided to also make it our anniversary trip. We've gone to Denver three times now to watch a Braves game. The first year we went, both of us assumed the other was going to make hotel reservations..and then it was the week before and neither of us had done anything. We started searching. Everything that was reasonable in Denver was completely booked. There were only openings in places where you were almost guaranteed to be shot or burgled. Seriously, the reviews were insane. We decided to branch out and stumbled upon the Columbine Inn that was in a little town just 25 minutes outside of Denver. The small town of Idaho Springs, Colorado enchanted us both and now we purposely stay there when we go.

Idaho Springs is a tiny town (about 1 square mile) in the Rocky Mountains. It's a picturesque small town tourist spot.

Main Street

One of the many mountain waterfalls

Dillon and I have our favorite spots we like to hit but this year we made reservations in a different place. This year we stayed at the Indian Hot Springs Resort. The resort has hot tub rooms that are fed directly by natural hot springs in the area. They also have underground mineral caves that are built right around the springs themselves. While checking in, we noticed a sign that proclaimed swimsuits were now optional in the mineral caves but the caves were divided by gender. Ew. Dillon joked that having the caves split by gender kind of defeated the purpose of hanging out in the water sans suit. Cheeky dude that one.

We actually couldn't hop in the caves or tubs because it would have boiled poor baby. But the resort also has a pool that is fed by the hot springs that is kept around a pleasant, but not too toasty, 90 degrees. We spent a good amount of time in that pool (with all suited up people, thank goodness).

Other than that difference in our usual experience, we made sure to hit up our favorite spots. First on the list was an awesome BBQ place that has great food and let's you sit outside to eat by the river. We ate there twice and probably would have repeated it more had we been in town longer.

We ate plenty of gelato while perusing the cute shops on main street, a few times.

We also made sure to eat at Tommy Knockers which is one of Dillon's favorites. We tried a new place (for us) that had delicious Mexican food. We made sure to buy some small souvenirs. Between all of that we relaxed in our room.

And the main reason for our trip, we attended the baseball game. The Braves won!

All in all a great trip and one that I'll be happy to repeat as often as we can throughout our marriage.

Let's Catch This Business Up

This post covers pretty much everything that has happened this year. I know. Five months of catch-up. But really, these highlights themselves didn't seem to qualify enough for their own post while I was still in school. Together they make a nice little blog entry though. 


Dillon and I, with the other science teachers, checked out the St. George Dinosaur Track Museum to see if it would work as part of our 8th grade field trip

During our fossil unit, the other science teachers and I decided to make bug candy that looked like amber fossils for the kiddos...300+ candies for the record. The meal worms were ordered food grade, nacho cheese flavored (so gross), just in case the students decided to actually eat them (most of them didn't).

The final product

I saw a woman at this year's USTA conference that seriously has to be Amy Farrah Fowler's long lost twin (and I discovered that trying to sneak pictures of strangers is prrreetttyy awkward).

Dillon and I celebrated Valentine's at home this year.

Mmmm...macarons. I found these babies on Etsy at
etsy.com/shop/ellemercedmacarons 

Flowers and M&M's from Dillon

Some bored teenagers thought it would be cool to shoot out our car window (and others over the course of about a week). Little did they know that that is our wrecked car that will be making it's way to the salvage yard soon so...whatevs. (Is it a little embarrassing that it's still sitting in front of our house? Maybe. What can I say? Not a top priority).

We celebrated my birthday. Dillon let me open my presents early.

We had no birthday wrapping stuff, so he just kept putting things
in this bag one at a time :)

Then we went down to St. George for glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and shopping.

Such a winner staying strong, holding those bags while standing in
Victoria's Secret.

And ended with my birthday "cake" and white hot chocolate from Starbucks. **Sidenote: So, remember how Rainbow Chip cake basically rocks my face?? They discontinued it! Like, gone. Seriously, I think I hate Betty Crocker. They replaced it with some Funfetti nonsense. Not the same folks. Not.the.same. The frosting is nowhere to be found except for on Ebay for obscene prices. In my totally deserved depression, I told Dillon that I just wanted a coconut cake donut for my birthday from this awesome donut shop in town. They closed the week of my birthday. Despair, I tell you! But Dillon found these at Starbucks and they were pretty rockin' too so, all was well.**

We traveled to Delta for a quick visit and I helped the niece and nephew create some slime. (This is the best and easiest-to-make slime I've come across--water, borax, and polyvinyl alcohol. You can totally order a Polyvinyl Alcohol slime kit through Amazon. I recommend it over any of the slime recipes that involve Elmer's glue).

The Britos came down to visit (which we loved!) and we decided to hit up the Children's Museum in St. George. It's completely free and so fun for little kids (and adults).

I made Dillon help me chaperon another school activity- the Science Olympiad. The bus ride = not awesome, but the kids had fun and we all learned a lot.

We found out we're pregnant! Which I have no picture for, except for the pregnancy test. I feel weird about posting it...mostly because we all know what had to go on that stick for the results to pop up. Am I the only one who thinks that? Someone please tell me whether or not it's weird! I apparently am not secure enough about it to have my own solid opinion.

My dad graduated with his Masters in Education. Go him!

We announced that we were pregnant. It was earlier than we were planning on but apparently no one told my brother to keep it a secret so he let all of Facebook know. I was also soooo sick that I had missed practically every other day of work that week so people were already suspicious.

As school whittled down a school talent show was held. A few of us teachers banded together and learned the dance from "What Does the Fox Say?" I only have pictures...no video but I'll bet it exists on social media somewhere.

And now summer is in full swing. I look around our house thinking how much it needs to be cleaned..and then I read instead. This one has been my latest. I actually liked it, which may be a bit morbid and probably makes me weird.

Love Week: Those Three Little Words

As Love Week continues, we're going to share with you our story of saying those seriously big deal words. If you missed our first date story, you can find it here and if you missed our DTR moment you can read about it here.

DaNae's Version:

After becoming "official" Dillon and I spent every moment we could together before he left for Christmas break. It was the longest break evvveerrrr. Nothing like starting a new exciting relationship to stall it for a few weeks. Although he did come back to Cedar for a weekend and I went to Delta for a weekend (where I met his family for the first time which should probably get its own post one of these days).

After the break was over (or maybe during?) we found out that our friends Kurt and Kaylyn had moved up their wedding date to January 16th. As the date drew closer, Dillon and I, and our friend Austin, made plans to leave school early and head down to Arizona for the wedding.

We were pretty enraptured with each other the whole trip, lots of snuggling and sneaking kisses. There was love in the air with it being a wedding. Dillon and I kept whispering to each other, "You make me happy" which, looking back, I'm guessing was our safe way of hinting at those three little words. The whole time we were there- waiting outside the temple, helping decorate for the reception, and all the other inbetweens - everyone kept teasing us about being a next. I think that it kinda caused Dillon to forget how to breathe but I was loving it and soaking it in.

We drove back to Cedar on the 17th and headed to Dillon's apartment to spend even more time with each other because clearly two days in a row was not enough. All of Dillon's roommates were gone. We had the TV on but didn't notice it much. Dillon was talking, I don't remember what he was saying (maybe something about having fun that weekend), when all of the sudden he mumbled, "Because I love you..."

I paused and asked, "What did you say?" Now, I had thought I heard him correctly but I needed to be safe. Let's all take a minute to imagine if I blurted back, "I love you too!" when that wasn't what Dillon had said at all. Collective shudder. Backpedaling. Asking Dillon that question, though, made him nervous and he wouldn't say it again (I'm sure he thought I was freaking out) but I finally coaxed it out of him a second time by telling him that I was pretty sure I knew what he had said. I told him that I loved him too with no hesitation. We had known each other for such a short time but I had fallen for him completely.

(**This is a complete side story but too good not to share. A few weeks after dropping the L-bomb for the first time I was at Dillon's apartment with him watching a movie when I suddenly felt dreadfully sick (I ended up with some vicious combination of the flu and bronchitis which turned into pneumonia). I rushed to the bathroom and threw up pretty violently. Between gasps I heard Dillon say through the door in a comforting voice, "I love you". I had to laugh; what a moment to remind me.)

Dillon's version:

Our friends Kurt and Kaylyn, who set us up on the blind date, were getting married in Arizona on a weekend in January. DaNae and I, plus a few other friends, were going to meet down there the night before the wedding. This was our first road trip together, so we were very excited. Plus our friend Austin volunteered to drive down, so we pretty much hugged and what not in the back seat the whole ride (poor Chauffeur Austin). We took the Vegas route to Mesa and apparently missed an important turn and ended up in Flagstaff. It wasn't a big deal just added an hour to the drive. The day of the wedding was a lot of fun. Outside the Mesa Temple Austin took a lot of pictures of everyone, including a couple of us that are our and our families favorites of the two of us. After the wedding, the reception, and spending the night at Kaylyn's parents house we drove back to Cedar. ( A lot of cuddling again. Did a man just use the word cuddling?) That night we were in my apartment watching movies and talking. I remember telling a hypothetical story to DaNae and at the end I mumbled "Because I love You." Honestly, it kind of slipped out (Even though I did feel that way. I was smitten. I was in deep smit.) and after DaNae replied "What did you say?" I thought "Uh oh! Reel that back in. Told you that you'd screw it up."(see DTR story) So I tried to play it off like I said nothing, but if you know DaNae she is more persistent than that monkey that won't let go of the banana inside the vase even though his hand is stuck. Anyways, she beat me down verbally, so I finally said it louder and she replied "I love you too!" very convincingly. Needless to say I felt very happy and relieved that she felt the same way.(It also shut that stupid voice in my head up for a while.) So we laid on my bed for a long time, both very mutually happy.

Love Week: The DTR Moment

Our second Love Week installment.. If you missed the first one about our first date(s), you can find it here. This second tidbit is about our DTR (or Determine the Relationship) moment which coincidentally is also our first kiss moment.

DaNae's Version:

After our initial dates, Dillon and I made plans for about three more dates- hot tubbing (where I was convinced that he'd wave goodbye after seeing me in all my albino glory), church Christmas devotional, and Monday night football with his man friends- over the course of the next week. Things were going great. No deal breakers had come up. Everything seemed easy and comfortable already.

The night of our fifth date (the Monday night football) Dillon took me to my house and walked me up to my porch. Once we were on the porch he started telling me how much fun he had been having with me over the last couple of weeks. I kept interrupting him like a dork. "Me too!" "I had fun doing that too!" I could tell he was getting flustered with my interruptions so I closed my mouth. He was definitely being fidgety and refused to make eye contact in the midst of his (what I can now assume was a) semi-prepared speech.

As he was winding down he ended with, "So I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend...". I answered in the affirmative and then he leaned in for a kiss. I had a brief moment where my brain went, "Uh-oh...it's been a while since I've done this. Are my skills gone? It's like riding a bike, right? Guess we'll find out".

We made yet more plans to see each other that week and he hopped in his jeep and drove away. I went inside and flung open my parents bedroom door loudly proclaiming in a singsong voice, "Guess who's got a boooooyyfriiieeeennnnndddd??". Poor souls. I woke them from a deep slumber. They managed a sleep-ridden congratulations and I went downstairs to my room where I'm pretty sure I fell asleep smiling.

Dillon's Version:

For our fifth date I asked DaNae to come to Monday Night Football with my buddies at Ryland's apartment. It had been a tradition for my friends and I to watch every Monday night game and I figured if DaNae could stand to be around me during football she was even more special than I thought. It was the Jets vs. the Patriots and I don't remember much about the game because I was really nervous. I'm not sure when I decided or if I even told anyone, but I decided that that night was the night I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend. Even though this was our fifth date there is always the voice in your head saying " she doesn't like you and even if she does you're gonna screw it up". So after football I dropped her off at her house again. We were on the porch in front of her house. I remember rambling and finally saying "So I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend?" she said yes so I moved in for a kiss, which was also very nerve racking(remember you're gonna screw it up voice.) It was awesome! I then went to my friend Austin's apartment and told everybody there "I gots a girlfriend." (DaNae here...Dillon thinks it's funny to purposely be grammatically incorrect. I've tried to tell him otherwise to no avail. Sigh.)