Queen of Femininity

This past weekend, we attended the first annual Miss America Party at our friends' house. Jason and Marisa invited a group of us to get dressed up in our wedding best (complete with bridesmaid dresses and tuxes) for a night of food, fashion, and fun. There was a fierce competition involved: each party goer had to predict those women who would move onto the next round and there was a complicated algorithm for scoring points that only those that were math teachers or who had ever worked for CTY could possibily understand. After a tough fight, Jason took the prize, and here he is with his sash and crown, announcing the Queen of Femininity (an obscure line in the Here she is, Miss America song that everyone knows only the first line of...)



If Miss Georgia hadn't been shafted again (she never can quite pull through, shocking I know), BSax would have taken the crown. Maybe next year, at the second annual, Amoeba's first, celebration of this "scholarship" event for women.

For me, the highlight of the night was being able to get my bridesmaid dress worn in November zipped up for the night! Yes, I am only 13 weeks, but I swear I look like I have gained at least 10 pounds (thankfully the scale does not agree with that number). Yes, the dress was a little big at the wedding, but hey, it zipped and that is all the counts!

Unrelated to our fun night, it was a bit of a hard week since I had my first illness (just a cold, but it felt like I was going to die for a day there) while pregnant, but with the combined power of regular strength tylenol and non-medicated saline, I actually recovered faster than B did with his "real" cold medicine. I guess it goes to show you that with that bug, there isn't really much you can do but rest and drink your fluids. We both have made a recovery and are feeling good! Besides that I have been feeling fine and we are starting to read some pregnancy and labor books which are enlightening and scary at the same time! We can't wait to go to the doctor next week to make sure Amoeba is still going strong. In the meantime, we are just resting and relaxing in between work and school.

Please check out the gender poll at the top left of the blog. We should have our ultrasound in March sometime so take some time to vote before the big day about what Amoeba will be!

12 Weeks!

We are so excited to finally have made it to 12 weeks! After finding out we were pregnant in early December, it has been such a struggle to keep our pregnancy a secret the past month and a half. Amoeba, as the baby is affectionately called, is due August 4th, just a few days after Bryan takes (and passes, cross your fingers) the bar exam, and a few days before Laura's 2009 summer programs with CTY wind down. We did tell our immediate families our good news for Christmas. Bryan called his family to share the good news, and since we were in NC for the holidays, we gave my parents a frame with a "Hold for first grandbaby in August 2009" message enclosed. It took a few seconds for Mom and Dad Hayhoe to get it (well, actually just for Mom Hayhoe) but they are thrilled to welcome their first human grandbaby to the scene in late summer.


Bryan, Laura, and Maddie at Christmas

We had our first appointment with our midwife on January 9th, a few days before Bryan's final semester of law school began. Despite my denial up to that point that there was actually a baby inside me, we were lucky enough to hear Amoeba's heartbeat going strong at 162 beats per minute. Since we are electing not to have any extra tests done, we will only have one sonogram at about 20 weeks, so we have to wait another 2 months to see our little one! At that time, we will find out if Amoeba has girl parts or boy parts, since Bryan is desperate to know and there is no way I am letting him find out without me knowing too. We are really excited about our midwife too - she is the best of both worlds since she will be present throughout the majority of the birth (unlike most doctors) but will be delivering Amoeba at Hopkins. It is nice to know that a world class hospital has her back in case anything goes wrong!

We are hoping that the next 28 weeks are as easy as the first 12...I have been blessed with no morning sickness and have been feeling pretty good! Besides my desire to sleep 15 hours a day, and the lack of wine drinking, we would hardly know I was pregnant! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the coming months and check back frequently as we update this blog every week or so about our pregnancy progress as well as other exciting happenings in our lives!