Great news and big life changes..

So Thursday flashback:

We get home and go to the mailbox like we do everyday to see if Tanner has gotten any letters from med schools. We open it up expecting the usual nothing and there is a letter from the U. We tentatively open it and to our dismay find that Tanner did not get accepted. We are numb. We don't know what more he could have done, I'm going to brag and say that his application was amazing, he's been told that at all his interviews, and we were pretty devastated. So we go in the house and sit sadly on the couch for a few minutes. Tanner goes to check his email and begins yelling; to our utter amazement we find out some great news, Tanner has been accepted to the Medical College of Wisconsin!! In two minutes, we went from miserable to ecstatic. It hadn't even been a week since his interview there, but he is in!! He is still waiting to hear from a couple other schools, so it could still be a different place, but not the U. It is sad that we will have to move away, but we are more happy and grateful that he got in and his dream to become a doctor is now possible.
Our families were pretty sad when we told them, but we are just excited. The more we have thought and talked about it, the more we are grateful for this opportunity and know that this is what the Lord meant for us. It will be a great experience, even though it will be difficult to be so far from family, it will be so good for us and I know we will learn so much. And we will really rely on the church and each other. I know I will need the Lord's help, but I am optimistic and can't feel anything but happy about our new adventure together. And thankfully we have blogs and fb to stay in touch. Change is a good thing. This will be a huge change, far from friends and family, starting med school, a new little baby, and leaving my job that I absolutely love. There is the fear of the unknown, but everyone I know that has lived out of state has said it has been a great experience, and we have actually always wanted to. I'm just nervous for the -10 degree winters. Otherwise, I just know this is going to be great. Tanner laughed when I said I hoped we could take our dishwasher with us. Also, all you friends who have been just dying to visit Milwaukee in your lifetime, now you can come and visit us!
We won't be leaving for school until the end of next summer, so we'll still be here a while. It is nice to at least know where he is going and be able to prepare ourselves for it. So this Thanksgiving, you'll know one thing we're especially grateful for. The other thing we're grateful for is little Eric! He's growing and giving me that nice basketball look. He's kicking and strong. I had my appointment this week and sadly I was barely over on my glucose test, so I have to retake it this week to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. Did you know for that second test you have to eat a candy bar every day for 3 days before you take it again? If they're making me, I guess I'll have to force it down. :) So we're hoping that comes back negative, my doctor said it was so borderline, she thinks I'll be okay. Also, I've gotten a little too anemic so I have to take extra iron, mmm. Tanner and I haven't been able to find a time that works for both of us for a birth class, so we have a class on DVD. We started watching it today, it was so funny practicing breathing together in our living room. I was proud, he was very interested in all the info and excited to try out everything she was teaching. He's so cute, I just love him so much. Here is the latest shot of the baby bump:


28 weeks

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

After these past few years of marriage, Tanner and I had an epiphany. Our messy apartment problem always starts with the dishes. In our lives, they are the root of all evil, to put it overdramatically. Once they pile up and get all nasty, the rest of the house goes to pot. So we took the plunge and bought this beauty:

A portable Maytag dishwasher. It is just amazing. Dirty dishes go in and come out clean. I now understand why women get excited about appliances. Because they are amazing. Tanner is in Milwaukee right now for another interview and requested that I not do the dishes until he gets back tomorrow so he can start the dishwasher. Yeah, our lives are pretty exciting, I know. But don't judge, those of you that have lived dishwasher-less can sympathize.


Here I am at 27 weeks. I have finally invested in the stretchy maternity pants and am feeling good. Eric is constantly kicking and growing like crazy. Next week will start the third trimester and we're getting really excited to meet the little guy!

Pea buh

October flew by, we did a lot of fun things: Celebrated Tanner's 25th birthday, Noelle's 2nd birthday, Tanner went to Philadelphia for an interview, went to a good friend's wedding, and had fun with friends. This picture is the only one I got of Tanner and I at Christie's super fun Halloween party. We were bobbing for apples and Tanner was laughing because after two rounds, I never was able to get even one apple in my mouth. Not my most attractive shot, but it was funny.

So, for all you sleepy Tanner fans, here's another dream quote:

T: "Hey, it's [some weird word I can't remember 'cause it was the middle of the night] day."

N: "What??"

T: "It's in honor of all the oil production."

N: "And how do you celebrate that?" (I'm trying not to laugh)

T: "With lots of corporate vistas."

N: "What does that mean????"

T: "Don't know, but we'll figure it out."

I asked him to explain in the morning, but he still didn't know what a corporate vista was. But he was proud of himself for dreaming about oil. I'm not sure why, but that made him feel like he must have been dreaming about something intelligent.
In other news, only one month left of the semester, and I couldn't be more thrilled! And Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I LOVE Thanksgiving!
In a week and a half, I will hit the third trimester. Thrilling, yet terrifying.
Tanner is just the best husband ever. He is so cute, talking to my belly and always trying to feel him kick. He's going to be the most adorable dad. He tries to joke and say that he's going to give him spankings everyday. haha I just can't wait to see him hold him for the first time, it's going to be the cutest.
I know when I'm close to delivering I'll be ready to just have him out, but did any of you other ladies feel totally freaked about labor and delivery?? I wonder if I think about it too much. I know I can do it because women have been doing it since the dawn of time, but I can't help it, and I can't not think about it. Sometimes I get nervous that I'm nervous, thinking it's a bad sign of how I'll do. How can you prepare for something you have no idea what it will feel like and is supposed to be really painful? When I say I'm freaking out, I mean that I've been nervous about it for the past couple weeks and will probably be fine soon, but I don't freak out too often, so it stresses me out.
Lastly, to explain the title of this post. Tanner loves to tease me about this one time over a year ago, when he asked me to make him two peanut butter sandwiches to eat on the way to school. So I'm driving him to school and he's eating them and exclaims "Did you put JUST peanut butter??" "Well, yeah, that's what you said." He told his family and my family, he thought it was so funny. Seriously though, I always grew up calling it peanut butter and jelly, or PB&J. Who says just peanut butter sandwich? Anywho, on a totally random note he loves to recollect about a friend from junior high that loved to abbreviate everything (bball, McD's, even called football f-ball) and sometimes will do it to be funny. So a couple weeks ago he is abbreviating things that don't need to be abbreviated and asks "Do you remember the time you made a just peanut butter sandwich?" and starts laughing. Since then he has decided to call me "Pea buh," short for "Peanut butter." Clever, eh? Just a small insight into the weirdness of our marriage. I don't know whether to get frustrated at him for making fun of me or laugh at how silly it is. I usually choose laughing. I'm so glad I married him, he is definitely my favorite.

Have to laugh at myself

I have to make fun of myself when I think about how stressful life can be right now and I think to myself: "Life will be so much easier when I am done with school and work part-time and just have regular life and the new baby." Then I have to remind myself, regular life will be getting NO sleep, still having a messy apartment, and still working twice a week. It sounds like I'm complaining, but it actually helps remind me to be more in the here and now and be grateful for every stage we're in, because it's always going to be crazy, but it's always good along the way. :)

Random Sunday

Went to Region Conference today, I love hearing Pres. Uchtdorf speak

I have a super wiggly baby in my belly and I love him

Celebrated my niece's 2nd birthday today, I just love that little girl so much!

Tanner and I have started randomly singing each other Christmas songs, it's pretty great

This month it was 9 years since I was baptized

I love that it's so cold and windy outside, and so warm and cuddly in our ghetto little apartment

I love my family, they really are the best

We are so very, very blessed. Life is good.

It's me, Tanner Michael Fullmer

Last week I got up in the middle of the night to pee. I'm in the bathroom in the dark, and Tanner walks by the bathroom and scares me. I gasp and he creepily backs up, stares into the bathroom and puts out both arms and tells me, "It's me, Tanner Michael Fullmer. It's me, Tanner Michael Fullmer." I then laugh and ask him if he's even awake, to which he replies that he doesn't know and walks away.
We've been staying really busy as usual, but life is great. I remind myself when I feel overwhelmed how great things are and how much we have been blessed. I had another appointment today, 24 weeks! I can't believe how fast the time is going by, full-time work and school probably contribute to how fast it seems. Sweet baby Eric is doing great, everything looks just perfect! He is measuring a few days small, which they said is not a big deal. He is moving all the time, I love lying there before I go to sleep and feeling him wiggle around. I played some Fleetwood Mac once and put the speaker on my belly and he starting dancing around, he already has good taste in music, we're so proud.
I realized that next month will put me into the their trimester, which I have to admit, made me really nervous. I just feel so unprepared, we haven't really had time yet to think about getting things ready. I'll have a lot to do during the holiday break. I'm so excited to meet him, but nervous for what a huge change this will be in our lives.
Most of my feelings are good. I am amazed at how much I already love this little guy, I feel like I love him more every day. I can't wait to see his personality. I love seeing Tanner get so excited, he doesn't think about it as much as I do, since he doesn't have the reminder of it kicking him all day, but he is starting to get really into it. He loves to feel him move and says goodbye to him every time he leaves, it is so cute. I can't wait to see Tanner hold him. I will try to update more frequently, here is the latest baby bump picture, it's grown a lot since last month!!

Who thought getting kicked could be so much fun?

Seriously. I just started feeling little Eric's kicks and punches on Monday and I am so excited! It is a weird feeling, having something alive in your belly, but so amazing. I can't help but wonder what he's like in there and how much he has grown. I'm guessing he's grown a lot in the last two weeks, or I'm hoping, because my belly is expanding rather rapidly.
My favorite was tonight because Tanner has been sad 'cause he hasn't been able to feel it, but tonight he did! I wish I could have caught a picture of the look on his face, it was so cute. He is so happy he felt it, I love it. He got a huge smile on his face and kissed me. It's starting to feel a lot more real now, I'm realizing that this little guy is really coming, and quick. I'm so excited and a little nervous, because this is going to be a big change for our family. And Tanner says I act like a cranky two-year old when I'm really tired. I'm gonna have to work on that. Something funny he said was during our prayer one night, he said "please bless Nina's womb...that she will keep it secret, keep it safe." I couldn't stop laughing, it was so funny. Another night he was tired and said "please bless Nina's womb...her spare 'oom." If you aren't geeky like us, you won't get these, but they're from Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. It still makes me laugh, even now.
This last part is more about my feelings about pregnancy so far, because I want to have a way to remember how I felt. More than anything I am so excited and can't wait to meet him. I want to see his face and look into his eyes and just love him to pieces. I can't believe how much I love him already and we haven't even met yet. I don't want anything bad to happen to him and just sit and think about what it's going to be like all the time. I am a little nervous because I know it's going to be harder than anything I've ever done. It's going to be exhausting and frustrating at times. I worry if I'll be a good mom. I even had a dream before we found out the gender, that we had a little boy, and we got home the day after he was born and I realized I still hadn't even fed him. Then Tanner was sitting by him on the edge of the bed and he rolled off the bed! It was traumatic and silly, I know, but still sad.
I wonder what his little personality is going to be like. I have a feeling he might be a little hyper because both ultrasounds so far they have told us he is more active than most and now I am feeling him move all the time. I worry about having the energy to finish school for two more months when he is first born. I know it's only two months, but I'm worried about having enough time to take care of him and getting homework done.
I feel bad that I have no energy. I think Tanner is tired of hearing about how tired I am. :) He is so great and I couldn't ask for a better hubs. I have these days of feeling great and motivated and I do so much that I wear myself out I think. Then I have days where I'm so tired, just the thought of having more than two things to do in the day makes me almost want to cry. I haven't been sick for a while, so I'm very thankful for that, it makes life much easier and pregnancy a lot more enjoyable. Most of all I'm just so thankful that we have the opportunity to welcome this wonderful little person into our family. I feel so incredibly blessed just that we're having him, that it makes me see even more that the material things don't matter. It really is all about families and I'm so thankful ours is forever.