'Twas in the Month of May

In May of 2003, Preston and I had been dating for about five months. The month before I had told him I loved him (he said it back, much to my seventeen-year-old relief), and I couldn’t wait for him to finish up exams and papers and come home to Richmond for the summer. I was about to graduate from high school.

2003: OH MY GOD WE WERE CHILDREN.

In May of 2004, I was finishing up my first semester of college at Middlebury. Preston and I were getting ready to spend the month of June together in Italy, where we ate Nutella straight out of the jar and travelled on a shoestring budget.

2004: Look!  We still got dressed up for dates!

In May of 2005, I was finishing up my second semester off from college. After taking a term off to “recover” from anorexia, I headed up to Princeton to watch Preston graduate from college. We drank a lot. And, you know, celebrated Preston’s accomplishments (he won the Old English Award!).

2005: Preston is a graduate!

In May of 2006, as soon as our exams were over (for his first year of graduate school and my second year of undergrad), we hopped in the car and spent most of the month on the road. We went to the Outer Banks with a group of my friends, then up to Groton for Preston’s five-year high school reunion, and finally to his grandmother’s house in East Hampton. We listened to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to pass the many, many hours in the car. Preston’s alternator died right before we left the Outer Banks to come back to Richmond, so once we’d had it jumped, on the advice of the AAA mechanic, we just didn’t turn it off the entire way home. Seriously. We even pumped gas with it on. Luckily, we did not blow up, and made it back to Richmond (and then to Groton and East Hampton in a different car) all in one piece.  

2006: MF is sunburned.

In May of 2007, after Preston’s second year of grad school and my third year of undergrad, we both graduated from UVA (with an MA in Classics and a BA in Classics, respectively). We’d been engaged for about two months at that point.

2007: Graduation Robes are not super flattering (or well-ironed).

In May of 2008, Preston and I got married. It was lovely, and best of all, now I never have to do it again. 

2008: Holy Matrimony! (Photo by Margaret Marshall)

In May of 2009, I finished up my first year of grad school, Preston finished up his second year of teaching, and we hit the road to spend our first anniversary at the inn where we stayed after our wedding. It was restorative and wonderful, and I can’t wait to go back.

2009: On your anniversary, you can drink lots of beer in the middle of the day and NO ONE CARES.

 In May of 2010, nothing exciting happened. We went to a wedding, saw our brothers graduate from high school, and both wound up our academic years. Boring. We also failed to take a single picture together (oops).

Moral of the story: we've had some pretty awesome Mays together. But I really don't think any of them will top May of 2011, when we’ll more than make up for the lack of excitement of May 2010 and welcome our first child! I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate three years of marriage. We are excited and terrified and humbled and most of all, completely thrilled to have this opportunity. We can’t wait to meet our little one.

Taken right after we found out we were pregnant.

I’m almost eleven weeks pregnant, and I’m due on May 18. I got my first positive test on September 11, right after I’d opened a bottle of wine (totally not kidding), we saw the heartbeat via ultrasound on September 27, and on October 18, we heard the heartbeat for the first time. So far everything has gone really smoothly – my hormone levels and progesterone did exactly what they were supposed to do, and I’ve just had one spotting scare (and believe me.  That was ENOUGH). 

I do not look pregnant; I look like I’ve eaten too much candy corn. Some days I can’t look at food, and other days I am a bottomless pit. It’s crazy.  

Yes.  I took this picture.  Are you really surprised?

So far we’ve told family (and I’ve told a few friends, because I cannot keep my mouth shut – seriously, please never entrust me with a secret), but no one else. If we know each other in real life, please keep this news to yourself (i.e. Facebook, my advisors, and our colleagues at work do not know). I can’t wait to tell you all about everything, but for now, I’ll leave you with this: 

Isn’t it just the loveliest little dot-in-a-uterus you’ve ever seen? This beautiful photo of my lady parts was taken about a month ago, so we’re hoping that it looks more like a baby at this point and less like a blob. FINGERS CROSSED.

 
So much more later. Squeal.