it definitely shouldn't be called morning sickness...

This...

has been my saving grace lately.

Turns out, for me, it's morning-noon-afternoon-late at night-every time I eat-whenever I get hungry sickness. Thankfully, no actual toilet-hugging moments but there is definitely nausea, all. the. time.

Nicholas does a great job of reminding me that feeling sick is a good thing because it means Marvin is growing & that makes me feel better for about 30 seconds until I'm reminded that I still feel like I'm hanging out on a dinghy in the middle of a hurricane. Just kidding, babe. You're totally right :)

We have our 8 week appointment on Thursday morning! So excited (& pretty nervous as well)! I really, really, really hope everything looks good.

much love, L&N

baby's 1st present!

Last week, my parents and brother were visiting my Nana & Papa in northern Alabama and on their way back home to Florida they stopped in Athens for a short visit. While they were here, we shared the news that we're pregnant and my mom was generous enough to buy Baby Wiese his/her first present. Even though it's still early, it feels really good to see that little outfit laying on the table when we walk past :)

adorable outfit and swaddling blankets!

Thank you Mom & Dad! We appreciate your love, excitement and involvement so much!

much love, L&N

telling the grandparents!

Last weekend we decided to spill the beans to our parents. We're not comfortable sharing the news with extended family or friends yet since it's still so early but it was getting really hard to keep the secret, especially with our parents!

We knew my parents were going to be here on Sunday for a quick visit so we decided to tell them in person but we wanted to tell Nick's parents on Saturday so we could send a Happy Grandfather's Day card for Father's Day without spoiling the surprise.

We actually used our blog and its inaugural post as our big reveal. It was really fun and it worked exactly like we planned! We called Nick's parents on FaceTime (like we normally do when we talk to them) to chat on Saturday night and as the conversation went on Nick casually mentioned that we had started a blog and wanted to show it to them. He emailed them the link to our page and asked them to open it and let us know what they thought. It was so great to see their reaction on the screen as they read the post and figured out the news! They were excited and happy for us and it was exactly the moment we were hoping for!

The reveal to my parents went pretty similarly except it was in person. We had just finished eating breakfast and we decided it was a good time to let them in on the secret since everyone was sitting at the table. I got my laptop and told my family that we wanted them to see our new blog. When I set the computer down on the table it took a couple seconds for them to figure out what we were telling them, but once they read the post's title there were hugs all around! My parents were happy and it was so fun to finally be able to talk about it with them. Even though my little brother, Austin, is a little shocked and weirded out by the news (understandable, it's weird to think of your siblings all grown up), I think he's excited too :) Love you, bud!

The blog really was a perfect way to share the news. It gave us the opportunity to see our parents' faces as they figured out the news and now we'll always have a record of the beginning of this journey. We are so happy to be able to share all of the little and big milestones along the way with our family and friends!

much love, L&N

6 weeks!

In case you missed this from the first post...

little Marvin at 6 weeks!

On June 15th we went for our 6 week scan and we were really nervous. The internet really can be a scary place...I read so many stories from women who went for their first scan between 6 and 8 weeks and ended up seeing nothing so I was really, really hoping we would see exactly what we had been waiting for. 

Turns out, we did! We were able to see the fetal pole (essentially the little blob of tissue that's turning into a human), get a measurement of the little guy AND see and hear the heartbeat! It was beating well at 95 BPM, which our doctor said was completely normal for this early but that it would get progressively faster as the weeks went by. It was such a relief to see that everything was going well and it's so comforting to have been able to see the heartbeat- I read that the chances of the pregnancy continuing on normally go up to 70-90% after you can detect a heartbeat. Needless to say, we were able to take a couple sighs of relief after the visit and it's starting to feel more real! 

It's hard to talk about without having a name to attach to it, calling it "It" seems really impersonal and always saying "the baby" or "baby" gets old. At the very beginning we found ourselves saying "little alien" pretty often since I learned in the book, The Female Brain (by Louann Brizendine M.D.), that the growing baby really does take over a woman's body. So, we've started to call it "Marvin", short for "Marvin the Martian" and we're pretty sure it's gonna stick around even after it's born (we have a tendency to hang onto nicknames- just ask our dogs who all have about 10 different nicknames). We just hope that if it's a girl she won't hate us too much for calling her Marvin all the time ;) Haha!

much love, L&N

baby makes three!

We're pregnant!!

We found out on May 29, 2012 and it was a wonderful Tuesday :)

We were able to get into the doctor's office the next day to have my blood hCG levels checked (145) and again on Friday (267) so they could get the 48 hour increase. Since the ideal situation is to have the level double every 48 hours and mine didn't quite make it (although it did get very close), my doctor had me do another blood draw on Sunday to check the next 48 hour interval. We were nervous to get the results but on Monday morning I got a call from the doctor and the levels were up to 567! Seems like maybe that tiny embryo was just a little sleepy on Friday but he made up for it by Sunday, for sure :)

We're so, so excited for this next chapter and can't wait to share all of the good, bad, amazing, and incredible pieces of this journey with all of you!

much love, L&N