Summer 2013 Recap

 In usual blogger fashion, the pictures are all out of order. Here is a massive post to attempt to catch up on my horrible blogging. That very pregnant picture of me sums up how most of our summer went, me waddling around chasing Eric. It was a great one.

At Paul Bunyan's restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells

 Riley Sue's room, I was so anxious about getting it done and finally finished it just weeks before she came. I wish I was one of those women who got so into decorating their kids rooms, but I'm not, this is as creative as it got. Riley is the finishing touch anyway, right?

 Right before Riley came, Tanner's mom came out to help and be there in case she was born before my induction date. Sadly, she was stubborn and didn't come out, but Eric had SO much fun with Grandma Fullmer, I love, love this picture of them playing together, she was so sweet with him and we were so grateful for all the help, it was great having her out here.

Fun at the Fourth of July parade with Grandma

After a very quick labor of 6 hours, she was here, and totally worth the wait! Read the previous post to hear more about her birth story

Love that mess of black hair

                                             

 Eric wasn't so sure what to think about this new little baby in the house at first. This was when Ry was a few days old, because he did not want to hold her, he was never mean to her, just didn't care about her. Maybe hoping if he ignored her she'd eventually take the hint and hit the road, but he had to get used to her pretty quick. sadly i didnt get pictures on my own phone of all the famiky, but we had lots of familu come out to heop woth Eric after she was born and we are so thankful, it was a huge help!

1 week appointment for my little red baby

 Eric's second time holding Riley, he was definitely happy about it this time and decided he really did like her.

 Watch the mohawk evolve.....

Swimming at Fred's with Meg and Madi

First Brewer's game

One month old!

Enjoying our State Fair spoils, mmmm cream puffs!

Proof Riley was there with us

 We went to the beach lots this summer with friends, Eric loved digging in the sand, the water was too dirty to even swim in this year, oh well.

 I have absolutely no control over this hair and I love it!

 Lots of fun nights were had at Fred and Kathy's, with lots of yummy Sprecher's root beer

 Zoo day with friends are so fun!

 I love her sweet personality showing through in this picture.

 You wanna hide your post baby tummy? Just carry an adorable baby in front of you all the time and nobody will even notice!

A very silly bow from Grandma Fullmer, bigger than her head!

Ry at Holy Hill in the carrier

Grandpa carried Eric all the way to the top of the cathedral again!

 We did a day trip to Madison when Tanner's parents were here, this was at the farmer's market. They have the biggest local farmer's market in the country, it is so fun!

On top of the capitol building

 We had lunch at Ella's Deli, which is such a fun environment, but we wouldn't recommend the food, just go for dessert!

The deli carousel

Just shopping at Target with the Fullmer gals minus one (missed you so much Linz!)

 In August, we wanted to go camping at least once this summer, so we packed up with our toddler and one month old and went with our friends the Bagleys on an overnight camping trip.

 Riley basically lived in her carseat the whole time.

 So glad these two are buddies, they are too cute together.

 Ry's first Sunday at church!

 This was Riley Sue on her blessing day. She would not smile for anything, but she looked so pretty in her little dress and was so sweet during her blessing, Tanner did a great job.

This summer Tanner started his third year rotations, I can't believe we are more than halfway done, this time here has flown by! He is loving being out of the classroom and learning more about actually taking care of patients. He has his ENT (ear, nose, and throat) rotation this month and starts tomorrow. He is leaning towards that specialty, so this is a big month for him.
I am still working very part time and loving being home and taking care of the kids. Some days I feel like I miss the rush and busyness of working in the hospital and feeling more intellectual than I feel most days at home, but I know it is totally worth it being here with Eric and Riley. One of my old managers in Utah told me, my career will always be there waiting, but I can't go back and relive my kids childhood, so be there while they're young. I've always been grateful for that advice. Having two kids has been a pretty smooth transition, Riley is a very easy baby and Eric just loves her to death. Now it is hard to remember life before she was here. It is so busy every day, but I love it and feel so blessed!
Eric is growing like crazy and over the summer just started talking like crazy. He'll say things in full sentences that we have never taught him to say, it is so fun to see! He is the sweetest, sassiest, silliest boy ever and we love him so much.
Riley has a very mellow personality, we are still seeing it more and more. She hardly ever cries, and when she does, it is pretty quiet. She is very easygoing and handles all of Eric's rough loves really well. She is such a snuggler, which I love, I could snuggle her all day. She has beautiful blue eyes and smiles all the time!

There is a very broad update of our lives this past summer, hopefully I can recommit to blogging again, mostly so the family can hear about the kids more. :)

Riley Sue Fullmer

After a very long blogging hiatus, I decided to come back and try to be better for our family far away. To start off, I'm going to get Riley's birth story up before I forget too much about it.

     Riley's due date was July 12th, at the end of June my OB Dr. Lee started talking about the option of getting induced at 39 weeks so I wouldn't have to wait as long. At this point I'd been having frequent Braxton Hicks and lots of pressure and was dilated to a 2 and 90% effaced. I agreed with him, but I was so sure that I'd be having her on my own any day that it wouldn't happen. We realized 39 weeks was over the 4th of July weekend so I'd have to wait until the 8th for an induction date. But I was still sure I wasn't being induced.
     We didn't have family coming to help until the 8th and I was worried about not having anyone to stay with Eric. We were talking to Tanner's parents and his mom offered to cone help the week before. We were so relieved and happy to have her out. Of course she came and no baby. :) We had a wonderful time with her though and Eric absolutely loved all the playtime with Grandma.
     So on the 8th, Tanner got the day off of work and we headed to the hospital for our induction at 7 am. I went natural with Eric and was hoping to do it again, but I was feeling anxious and wondering if I could do it again. After checking in and getting changed into my wonderful hospital gown, my wonderful nurse Gerilyn started the pitocin at 8 am. Tanner and I talked and he played games on his ipad while I watched tv. After an hour, Dr. Lee came by to check on me, I still wasn't having any contractions, but I was dilated to a 3 and almost fully effaced. He decided to break my water at 9 am and told me he would be checking in on me as I progressed.
     Shortly after breaking my water, the contractions started. They weren't too bad at all, I had to do a little bit of deep breathing through them, but I watched a movie while Tanner went down and got some breakfast. Halfway through the movie, the contractions were strong enough I couldn't really pay attention to it anymore, I just had to focus on getting through the contractions. One of the best things about going natural is that you can get up and move around and walk yourself to the bathroom. And one of the worst things about going natural is that you have to get up to go to the bathroom. Tanner had a good laugh because since they were giving me fluids, I kept having to get up off the monitors every 15 minutes or so to pee. This was not very fun once I got into the stronger contractions because it's very painful to have a contraction when you're sitting on a toilet. But the good thing about getting up so much is I think it really helped me progress quickly.
     By 11am I was full on in labor, the contractions were strong and very regular. They still kept upping the pitocin because that is part of their protocol with inductions I guess. I can't say that the contractions with pitocin were more painful than my most painful contractions with Eric, but they came a lot earlier on in the labor at that level of pain, which meant going through that much pain for longer. I was feeling nervous and wondering if I had it in me to do it for the whole thing; I remember after one really intense contraction just feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Around noon the nurse came back in and told me I was doing a great job and asked if I wanted anything for pain. I used IV pain meds with Eric and they helped a little bit when the contractions were pretty weak, but not much after, so I was skeptical. But Gerilyn told me it couldn't hurt to try, so I said yes. Best decision ever, those pain meds are the reason I made it. Just like before, they didn't do anything for the pain during contractions, but all my worries and anxiety between contractions were gone. I was so relaxed and felt so great, it was like I felt recharged after each contraction and knew I could handle the next one because I was just taking them one at a time, which is what helped me with Eric.
     I have to add of course, this whole time, Tanner was a total rock star. He was right there with me, asking what I needed, helping me to the bathroom, rub my back during contractions and helping me focus. Up to this point, time was flying by, and the next two hours went even faster. By 2pm I was in transition and the contractions were right on top of each other and very painful. They decided to stop the pitocin because I had a few contractions that literally had a few seconds in between them and the nurse said they shouldn't be that close together. About 2:25 I was in the middle of a contraction and just knew Riley's head was starting to come down and I was feeling a faint urge to push. I was panting through each contraction, so I had to wait until it was over to tell Tanner to get the nurse and tell her I was feeling like I needed to push. Tanner pressed the call button and ran out to the hall to tell someone to come in a check me asap. Gerilyn came in and checked me, she said I was dilated to a 7 and I started to tear up and said "only a 7??!!" She told me not to worry and that she was going it call Dr. Lee now to head over. And just stay focused on not pushing. That was the hardest 15 minutes of my life, trying not to push. By the time Dr. Lee got there, my body was pushing involuntarily, I had no control. It was a weird experience, having all my muscles contracting without being able to stop it. The nurse told me to just keep talking, as long as I didn't help push while the doctor checked me. Thank heavens, he told me in that short time I had fully dilated and was ready to push. Just like with Eric, pushing felt soooo good. Even Dr. Lee told me it was going to be my favorite part after those horrible last contractions. On the fourth push, I felt her starting to come out and the contraction ended and I stopped pushing and I could actually feel her slide back in a little. I was frustrated but geared up for the next contraction. On my fifth push, I could feel she was so close and I felt that "ring of fire," where her head was crowning. Gerilyn told me to keep pushing through the pain, that I was almost done. I felt her head come out and let out a cry of relief, but too soon, her shoulders hadn't gotten through. They told me to just hurry and keep pushing, so I took a deep breath and pushed as hard as I could and man did it hurt (I now realize it was because I got a second degree tear), but it worked, I felt her slide out. At 2:57 pm, our sweet Riley Sue was born, 7 lb 10 oz, 19.5 in long.

     The second her body hit the bed, she just started screaming. It was so funny. Eric was still pretty purple when they handed him to me while they cleaned him up, but not Riley. She was red as can be and screaming like there's no tomorrow. I got to hold her for a minute while they cleaned her off, I couldn't believe it. She had a full head of curly black hair and looked so chubby, she was a pound heavier and an inch shorter than Eric; they couldn't have looked more different. The whole time they cleaned her up and weighed her, she didn't stop for a second. Once they got her wrapped up and let Tanner hold her, she calmed down. Once they finished stitching me up, I finally got to hold my sweet baby girl, and she was worth the wait. I couldn't believe she was here and how much I loved her already. Having another kid already, I now understand that she is going to grow and have her own personality and be her own little person, since I'm seeing that with Eric. I felt overwhelmed with love and gratitude and happiness. We are so happy to have Riley in our family, she is the sweetest little girl and I'm so thankful to be her mama.

Life with a 2 year old....

There are many things in our life that have changed since Eric came along. But this whole 2 year old business is an adventure all its own. Here are some things Eric is working hard to teach me:

-When you teach me something new, like "don't do that," or "it's not nice to push," I'm going to have to test you on it a minimum of 10 times a day, to make sure you really mean it, or are just saying it for kicks.

-If I am awake and you are cleaning, just know that part of the deal is for every room you get clean, one will be hit by a toddler tornado during that time. And I will throw a tantrum if you try to make me help clean it up, how do you expect me to clean up such a mess????

-If you leave any food or drink within reach, it is my duty to dump it on the floor, preferably the carpet.

-If you sit in my room with me, I will play with my toys and ignore you. If you try to sit and relax on the couch while I play, I will give you a few slaps in the face to bring you back to reality, that you really want to be sitting up and watching me play.

-If you get me to like a movie, I will want to watch that movie and nothing else 4.6 times a day. And I won't actually watch it while it's on, just play with it in the background, the same sounds slowly driving you mad. And when it is over I will immediately stop what I am doing and run bck to the tv screaming "more, more!!" until you turn it back on.

-If I throw a tantrum and hurt myself when I flop on the ground, it is your fault and you must feel bad for me.

-If you try cleaning the room I'm playing currently playing in, I will realize you don't really mean to do that, and will follow you, emptying everything back out that you just put away, and give you a look afterwards that says "you're welcome." I'm just a good helper, what can I say?

-Any toy I want is my toy. All your food I want is mine.

-When you call my name or are yelling as loud as you can "stop that!" or "come back!" I will not hear you. But if you open a Diet Coke at any time or in any place, I will hear it, and I will whine until you give me some.

With all this, Eric somehow still manages to be the cutest, most amazing little boy in the world. I wouldn't trade him for anything, he is so sweet and I love him so much! Thank heavens for those moments of slobbery kisses and random hugs, the way he smiles at me and yells "Mama!" so lovingly, and seeing how much he loves everyone around him. They make the rest all worth it and remind me to enjoy this age, even in the moments where I am wishing it would hurry up and get over with. I'm so thankful for my little (almost) 2 year old stinkin' nutcase!

Christmas 2012 and life with the Fullmers

Wow, it has been a very long time since I've blogged. I am too lazy to go back and play catch up, so I'll just start with Christmas. This first picture is actually of Eric at the doctor this month. He had a bad cough and was having a hard time breathing, so I got nervous and took him to urgent care. He was wheezing so badly it took 3 breathing treatments and a dose of steroid to get him breathing more normally. Each treatment took 15-20 minutes and made him so flushed, I felt so bad for the poor boy. Here he is between the 2nd and 3rd treatments, playing and so happy. At our follow up appointment, the doctor said he has asthma, which is why his coughs get him breathing so hard. He had to start a daily inhaler, which he hated at first, but he is so cute now, he helps me shake it up and helps hold the mask over his face. The good thing is kids at this age can have asthma and grow out of it, he hasn't had any major problems, so I'm not too worried about it.

 Here is Eric with Santa while we were in Utah. He was so tired from not getting enough sleep when we were first there, he was not happy at all. Thankfully we lucked out and got this gem with his sweet smile.

 While we were in Utah, Tanner helped Eric make his first snowman. Eric had a blast and loved watching Dada do the work and leisurely eating snow.

 He had so much fun with his cousins Mikey and Noelle, they were all cute together, it makes me so excited for him to have a sibling, he loved having someone his own age to play with.

 Blurry phone shot with Grandma, Eric loved seeing all his grandparents!

 Eating snow, he was so cute in his puffy snowpants, he could barely walk!

 Visiting Uncle Eric's grave. We loved sitting him down and telling him about his uncle and how much we love and miss him. Eric just sat and listened and recognized his own name on the headstone. He kept pointing at it yelling "E!"

 Our happy boy after eating an entire half and apple, core and all.

 Nana Manuel found these old roller skates from when I was a kid and Eric felt like such a big boy walking around in them!

 At Eric's grave with Dada

Coloring with Mikey and Noelle


We had so much fun seeing family in Utah. Sadly I was sick most of the time we were there, but it was still great to see everyone that we could. While we were there we announced to our families that we are expecting a new little one in July! We are so excited! We'll find out at the end of next month what we're having.

After we got back to Milwaukee, Eric was so happy to see his bud Jack Jack. This was the first time he saw him again when we got back, they gave each other 4 hugs in the first 5 minutes of seeing each other, it was so cute. I love that he has a friend that is like a brother to him, these two are inseparable. It is going to be a sad day when we move away from each other in two years. Luckily we don't have to think about that for a while.

In other news, Tanner scheduled his boards for June 15th. I can't believe how fast med school is flying by. I feel bad when it is so stressful for Tanner, but we are loving every minute out here and enjoying this time. He also got his first choice for 3rd year rotations, so he'll be on a pretty easy rotation when the baby comes. I'm excited for him to start working with patients because he's so excited about it, I know he'll be great.

Eric Update

Eric is getting so big, he's already 19 months! He just gets more and more fun every day. Here are some of the things he is up to these days:

He loves to dance. Any kind of music and he is right there, doing his running man move and bouncing up and down, twirling, raising the roof, you know it, he got the moves like Jagger.

He can blow kisses.

He loves being chased. He knows all the places we don't want him to go so he can get us to chase him.

He loves his buddy Jack, or "Guck Guck" as he calls him. They are the cutest little buddies and get so excited every time they see each other.

He can say his name, he points at himself and says, "Fafa." Close enough.

He can also say cracker, night night, mama, dada, Jack (pronounce "guck"), cheese, shoes, bye bye,  makes almost all animal sounds, says "vroom!" for cars, trucks, and motorcycles, five (for a high five), and lots of other little things I can't remember right now.

He is obsessed with containers. If he can find a little container and things to put in and out of it, he'll stay at it for a good half hour.

He loves brushing his teeth, we do it about 3-4 times a day, it would be more if I gave in. It's not an OCD thing, it's a fun/yummy toothpaste thing.

He loves keys and 'opening' all the doors for us.

He just started loving swimming and is getting good at holding his breath-which is good and scary for Mama.

He can throw a good tantrum. The violent kind that he ends up hurting himself by throwing his head against something. Super fun. Still love him lots of course.

He is a binky addict and there aren't any signs of that changing any time soon.

He gives kisses by leaning in and bumping foreheads. Cute, but painful.

His 18 month stats:  Head size-95%, no surprise there! I can barely get his shirts on!
                                 Weight- 27 lb 5 oz 75-90%
                                 Height-33 in 75%

He is so sweet and we just love this little boy to death!