4D Ultrasound!!

For a Christmas present, my mom got us a 3D/4D ultrasound today. Kim, Sara, Brent, Braedon, and mom joined me ( and Hattie) for this very fun ultrasound. Braedon thought he needed a ticket for the " show": ) It was so neat being able to see her this way! She is so cute! Most of the time she was playing with her little hands. We have about 15 weeks until we get to meet her and we are getting so excited!

Hope you all have a very happy holiday!!

Christmas Letter 2008

Instead of sending out a Christmas letter, we decided to post an update of the year on our blog ( and sorry it's not a poem...I didn't inherit the poem writing ability like my mother). We might have some new readers since I directed more family and friends to the site. If this is your first time visiting in our blog site...I hope you enjoy it! We think this is the best way to keep in touch with our family and friends since we live far away. You can also go back in the archives and check out the posts while we were living in Puerto Rico!

Alright...let's recap 2008!!
It seems like looking back on every year, I think that each year has been filled with so many changes and new experiences. I think this year has topped them all ( so far!). We finished our second year teaching 2nd and 3rd grade in Puerto Rico. Those two years just flew by and the next thing we new we were saying good bye to some of our best friends we made down there. I never knew it would be so hard to leave Puerto Rico, but we left knowing we would stay in touch with our friends and always have awesome memories of our two years there!
In May we moved to Garland, TX! We lived with my sister while we searched for jobs and housing. After a few months we finally both found teaching positions and a new apartment. Brent is teaching Spanish at Hudson Middle School, and is loving middle schoolers! I am teaching 4th grade at Vista Academy of Garland. I have a great class, and really enjoy being at a small school!
By August we were settling into Texas and getting ready to start the school year. It seemed like we already had so many new changes in our lives, but we found out we were going to have another big change in April! We are going to have a baby girl sometime around April 9th! We are a both so excited to become parents. We are looking forward to all the new experiences 2009 will bring!

Happy Holidays!
The Dills

Our Apartment is Getting Too Small!!

Brent and I had a very exciting ( woohoo) weekend of organizing! Between all the boxes that his parents brought down from Colorado and all the baby things my sisters have given me....we had a huge mess in our apartment. It seems like we already have so much...but as we are figuring out...babies needs lots of things! I am lucky to have two sisters that have already had babies: ) Just like growing up as the baby of the family...I am still getting hand- me -downs!

Oh by the way...I had another ultrasound and the ultrasound technician said the baby is definetly a girl! Let's hope so with all this pink stuff: )


where do we put it all?

Is this a sign or what?? If Kelly and Courtney have a baby boy ( which my feelings are telling me it is) then they are probably going to name him Henry! I just happened to find this book at the bookstore! So cute! And yes, our little girl is going to be Hattie Jean!

Braedon the elf! I was so excited to finally get to go to Braedon's christmas program! It was adorable...little kids between 2 and 5...we were very entertained!

ON A MUCH SADDER NOTE....

Yesterday morning my nephew, Eric, lost his mom who had been batteling a very rare and serious form of cancer for the last couple of years. Cassandra was only 34. I can't imagine losing a parent at any age, but can only imagine how difficult it is for him being only 15. All of you who know my nephew know what an amazing kid he is! He is going to have many rought days...but I know how strong he is. He said that he is going to " live life to the fullest" each day, just like his mom did! What an inspiration!

My mom wrote the following poem:

A Tribute to Cassandra

“Living Life to the Fullest” was her goal you might say,
And of course she did this in her own special way.
In her battle with cancer there was no talk of quitting,
And to keep boredom away she took up knitting!

She made us laugh often with her humorous style,
And it was rare to see Cassandra without a big smile.
She loved raising son, Eric, and what a great job she did,
As it was with pride that she heard, “He’s such a good kid”.

Cassandra raced her Grand Prix when folks thought she should rest,
But going 90 mph is what she did best!
She was a woman filled with tons of ambition,
And loved her job with “Child and Adult Nutrition”.

To know she’s in Heaven brings a smile to our face,
For we’re certain she’s livening up the place.
We’ll miss Cassandra more than words can ever say,
But honor her by “Living Life to the Fullest” each day.

So Much To Be Thankful For....

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed having Brent's family down here for 4 days! Even though it was a short trip, we really did alot! Wednesday we took the Dart train to downtown Dallas. Kim and Braedon met us there and we missed the first train by 1 minute! We were all running, but didn't manage to catch it. Oh well...we waited a while and took the next train. We walked around downtown Dallas and saw where JFK was assassinated and then we went to the Dallas Aquarium. Braedon and Jaron quickly turned into best buds, so they just had fun being together. The aquarium is really neat we saw monkeys, sting rays, manatees, penguins, and many more animals. Wednesday was also my hubby's birthday, so we went out to a Mexian restaurant to celebrate his 28th birthday. I, of course, had to embarass him by having all of the waiters bring flan and sing to him! It is really easy to embarass Brent, but still fun: )
We had our Thanksgiving dinner at my sister, Kim's house. Cathy did most of the cooking ( I made the green beans!) and as usual, everything was delicious. We tooks some pictures and went for a walk in the woods behind Kim's house in the afternoon. The weather was so nice.
Friday Brent ( yes Brent) and I got up early to do a little Black Friday shopping! The rest of the day Cathy, Tracy, and I went shopping while the boys did other boy things. They did send us a picture of Jaron eating chips and salsa for breakfast at 10:30...thats what happens when you leave a kid with men!!
Rick, Cathy, Tracy, and Jaron left yesterday morning and the apartment felt really lonely after that. The good thing is that we will get to see them in about 4 weeks when we go to Colorado for Tracy's wedding!!


Jaron and Braedon getting ready to ride the train

downtown Dallas

looking at the sting rays

Brent eating his yummy flan

Kim and Marina

Brent with his niece

The Dill family....Kim got way better pictures of us, but I didn't scan them yet

Jaron and Cathy making their gingerbread house like they do every year!

Our Christmas tree all decorated!!

Sara and I were trying to get a good picture of us last night before going to Homer's birthday party....can you tell how crazy we are?

so funny

finally we got a decent shot...Brent was getting impatient with us, but we couldn't stop laughing: )

Our Blog is Back!!

I am so happy to have our blog back. We were having a few complications with our computer...but my husband seemed to fix them and now we can use blogger again!

I am sure many of you faithful readers have checked my babyjournal..but I will let you know what has been happening in our lives the last few weeks. Most of it has to do with a baby....crazy huh?

So we found out that we are having a girl! Hopefully two doctors arent wrong about that...but I have another appointment in 2 weeks...so I will hopefully confirm that. We are so excited to have a girl!! ( of course we would have been just as happy with a boy) it is just nice to know what the baby is and that she is healthy!! Suprisingly, I have been very good about not buying so much yet! Brent and I made a little bunny from build a bear, but that's it. However, this baby's aunties and grandmas haven't held back on the shopping from what I am hearing. She is going to be so spoiled! My nephew Braedon is also very excited about having another cousin. He said that next year he wants to take " baby Hattie" to a haunted house!! That should be interesting!

Kim and I went shopping looking for nursery themes today! We have some good ideas!! Hopefully we will be in a house before the baby comes..but we will see!!

School is still going great! We are also loving this Texas weather!


our bunny we made for baby girl

auntie sara already buying clothes ...they are so adorable!

almost 20 weeks! halfway!

getting bigger everyday : )

I went with the Crowders to a ranch where Braedon had fun riding a pony and doing other "activities"( when we were leaving he said " I wanted to do one more activity...I can't believe he is only 4!)

Funny Story!!

First of all our blogger has not been working right. I can't get picture uploading and the template is all weird. We'll see if we can get that fixed: ) My babyjournal is http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/babydill/ and there are more pics there!

So I have heard that when a lady is pregnant she forgets things easily. Well my story definetly fits with that symtom. On Thursday I was in my classroom talking with another teacher before the kids got there. I looked down and realized I had one black shoe and one brown shoe on! Completely different! Oh no! I was laughing like crazy until I realized all the parents would be at the school that day for a special event. Other teachers were looking for shoes, but only found really high heels that I knew I couldn't wear. Thankfully, my sister hadn't left for work and she was able to drop off a pair of her black shoes for me to wear!! Funny thing is the kids didn't notice the entire 20 minutes...and those kids notice everything!!
Atleast I gave the teachers something to laugh at!! I took pictures but I can't get them up.

Brent and I go to the dr. on Friday to find out if this baby is a boy or girl. I couldn't imagine if I had to wait until birth. I am so impatient and don't like surprises: )

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch!!

Yesterday, before my parents had to leave back to SD, we all went to the Dallas Arbortem for the fall festival. Sara, Daniel, and Marina weren't able to go because Marina was just getting over her first cold: (
This place was so beautiful, it is right next to a lake and it is covered with gardens and fountains. We spent about 3 hours walking around looking at the pumpkins, going on a hay ride, going through a kid maze, and taking lots of pictures. I saw so many little babies there getting their pictures in the pumpkin patch, it made me excited for next year...when we can be doing that!!


me and Braedon in the pumpkin house

Uncle Brent and Braedon going through the maze


Kim and Braedon

Kim and I didn't realize that they turned the bush into a pumpkin!! Of course, my dad had to turn this into a blonde joke: )

Me and Brent

I found the best pumpkin!!

we didn't get a good picture during our hay ride




Kim and Braedon walking through the gardens



beautiful view

Texas State Fair and Marina's Birthday!!

It was such a busy week! I am so glad we had three days off ( Monday was fair day). My parents got in to TX late Saturday night, and we have been enjoying spending time with them. Sunday was Marina's 1st birthday! She was adorable, as usual: ) She got so many fun presents. I can't believe she is already one!
On Monday, Brent, my parents, Braedon, and I went to the TX state fair in Dallas. It was a rainy day, which turned out nice, because there wasn't as many people there. Braedon loved riding the ferris wheel and playing games. I tried playing a couple of games too...because I swear I am like a little kid...I ended up losing the water squirt gun game 3 times! I told everyone that I would win...whoops: ) We had so much fun!
Last night the family stayed up late watching the Vikings! That was such an awesome game ( a little lucky too)!




Us with BIG TEX


so cute






on top of the ferris wheel




hilarious! I was parking the car outside a store, and this man needed help starting his car. He couldn't get down!



grandpa and Marina



playing with uncle brent



me and my cute niece


she loved her "patch patch"

wasn't too sure about the hat though

Baby Dill!!

Well I guess our blog name of "thenewdills" can stay for awhile! Brent and I are expecting our first baby in April! We are both so excited! We found out I was pregnant on August 4th, just before school started! Now that I am almost out of the first trimester I am feeling really good! I was sick early on. But don't think I have been very hormonal...but if you ask my husband, he might disagree! We are enjoying this amazing experience and we are so excited to tell everybody! We plan out finding the sex. My dr. tried today, but he couldn't tell..so we have to wait another 3-6weeks! We will let you know when we find out!


The first picture is the side profile and the second picture you can see the face with the baby's hand touching its cheek.



almost 13 weeks






Our very first sonogram at 11 weeks