New Visitor

Yeah! The Aunt Yoda has arrived with all her wisdom and a new play-gym for the little man. He decided to bless her with a gift in his diaper upon her arrival, but she chose to love and hug him nonetheless. We love our visitors!

Isaac Bath Time

Its bath time!!! Actually this was done a couple of days ago, so we didn't let our child wallow in his own dirt for 11 straight days. Still having fun with the late night crying spells, but he's starting to shift the cries to the 9:00 pm range which is good. More sleep for Mommy! That's all for now in the world of diapers and hiccups.

Fun times with Isaac!!

Little update for ya: Isaac didn't need any UV therapy. I think our walks helped and he's been a good eater-every 2 hours. Mommy is looking forward to this week when I can start to stretch it to 2.5 hours and even 3 hours at night!! woo-hoo!!

Isaac's Hiccups

our little bili baby =)

So he's still working on getting that yellow color out. He was in the 95% yesterday so we will see today what he is. He's gaining weight so we are positive that it will be okay. If not, the treatment is easy. His dad was under that light for 8 days when he was born so maybe it runs in the family =) What's really nice is there's a precious Beginnings group from teh hospital that does home visits so all of his blood draws have been here. I thought I'd add some pictures of our UV walks for you all!

Grandma Anspaugh and Aunt Steph (and Isaac)

Announcing Mr. Isaac!!!

Hi all!!! We wanted to share our big news! (actually it's little news!). Our baby, Isaac Thaine, was born into the world on Saturday August 2nd at 8:26am. Everything went well with the delivery and he looks good (just a little yellow but they're following that). He was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 3/4 inches. So hopefully he'll be tall like his daddy and not short like me ;) Thaine is a family name from my dad and grandpa and Isaac is from Genesis 21.You can go to http://www.kmcnetwork.org/wcs/babygallerykmc/menu/showbaby.cfm?id=12931 to see a picture from the hospital.

We feel pretty blessed with this little miracle and are so excited about it. He's adorable! I'll try to keep updated on some photos and maybe write some more. Those every 2 hour feedings sure do keep me busy but his bilirubin is going down now so that's good. We had his first Dr's appt today to check him our and it all went well. We really like our pediatrician, Dr. Sorauf. I know him well b/c I did my pediatrics rotations with him.

My mom and Stephanie are still here. My mom got here last Monday and I went into labor on Friday so she helped me out here for almost a week before. I think my entire house has never been so clean and we've had some great meals. Stephanie arrived Friday when I was in labor so we really didn't get to chat much ;) But I'm so glad that they both got to be here. My mom was in the delivery room and I'm so glad. She helped us get some great pictures and helped me during labor. I'll be so sad when they leave. We wish we were closer to home and hope that our families feel that they bond well with him.

He's just so much fun right now and these moments are precious!

Love,
Kristi and Mike (and Isaac)


When we first got to the hospital

Coming home!!!
My first car ride

Isaac and Aunt Steph Grandma Anspaugh and Isaac

Looking large!

Here we are working on decorating Sprout's room late one night. We're getting excited!! I'll put photos up of the room when we get it mostly done!

June 5th-8th, 2008: FUN visitors!!!

so the next weekend, no we didn't go anywhere but even better---we had some great visitors. my mom drove up with my grandpa to Ohio. my grandpa hasn't ever seen where mike and i lived since we've been married b/c it was difficult for them to travel to STL and KC. so we were so fortunate to have them visit. i have so many stories that i need to post. the best thing was talking to my grandpa and hearing stories. i hope it was refreshing to be here since he has had the worst week ever after losing grandma. we wanted to make it relaxing for them. i will write more in a bit about what we did that weekend . . .

sad weekend trip . . .

so what i didn't mention was that on our day on Grant's Farm we found out that my wonderful little grandmother passed away. i'm glad i was with Yoda when we found out. i think it made it easier to be with family. isn't it interesting that she passed away on memorial day, May 26th, 2008? i won't ever have trouble remembering the day. those of you who know me well, know that i was very close to my grandma. it's been hard but we can rejoice that she's in heaven having REAL communion with the Lord. it was hard for her at the end of her life to not be able to attend mass and have communion. sometimes father brought things over to her house but i know that was the hardest part of her illness for her. but i'm sure the REAL communion with the big JC has to be pretty amazing =) i know she's watching out for us up there and will be smiling down when Sprout is born.

so i went home the next weekend for her funeral. we had the memorial service on thursday and the funeral friday. i went home the next day but was sooo thankful my precetor (i'm on peds rotation now) was understanding and told me to take as much time as i needed. my grandma was truly a wonderful person. the hardest part is knowing that my grandpa lost the love of his life. they were married almost 63 years and i can only hope and pray i'm that lucky someday. i think the best thing they had going for them was their faith and love for God and then their love of family.

anyway, just wanted you all to know about my little grandma =)

May 25th-26th, 2008: Memorial Day Weekend in the Lou!!

So moving on to the next weekend . . . we met up with Jodie and Andrew in the Lou (that's St. Louis folks) and Charlotte and Ethan. Mike and I went up after his work on Saturday and stayed til Monday. It was a quick trip but Mike hasn't seen them since Christmas and won't see them again unless we meet halfway again after the baby is born. So that's kind of sad. We had a lot of fun with them though and it definitely gets us excited for our boy! Sunday was spent at the zoo, probably my most favorite place in the world. I LOVE the STL zoo b/c it's huge, fun, and free! So we all had a good time even though it rained while we were there. Monday was spent at Grant's Farm which Mike and I had never been to. Basically it's an outdoor zoo owned by Anheuser-Busch (as is like everything in st louis) but used to be the former President Grant's property. It's where they have the Clydesdales an everything. That was pretty cool and of course, free b/c STL is very family friendly =) We had a blast!!

May 17th, 2008: First Baby Shower!

So I figure I better at least start writing on this thing so that when I post pictures, I won't have to do it all at once. Of course, you'll see in my posts why I haven't written in awhile. It's been a little nutty starting off as SOMA President. There's a lot to do upfront but now its getting better. Plus we were gone soo many weekends! It's been fun but this was my third weekend gone. We had a baby shower at my parents house in Kansas City. My sisters hosted it. Jodie had a cute little cake made for sprout and my mom made my favorite meal, Christmas brunch =) complete with these famous butterscotch monkeybread rolls that we could eat a million of! I had so many friends there who I hadn't seen in awhile. My Alpha Chi friends even went in together on my car seat and baby monitor-that was such a nice surprise!!

Steph and Ethan =)

Kristi Bruce, June Manion, Me, Mom, Steph, Jodie

Pennsylvania

Our hotel at night

Us at the game

Me at 28 wks, it really looks the same as the last picture to me . . .

So now we have gone on our next weekend excursion. We are working on getting Sprout used to being transported all over already =) Mike and I went to Pittsburg to see the Pirates game on Saturday. It was fun and he can cross off one more of the stadiums on his list to see. I've kind of gotten into it too and like seeing all of the stadiums, more so for that than actually watching the game. Mike made it very special and we stayed at this fancimous hotel, The Renaissance, in downtown Pittsburgh. It was absolutely beautiful, all white marble, wonderfully decorated, and built in 1876. Sunday (today) is Mother's Day and I was so thankful to be able to be an almost mom today. Mike got me a card and we went to a Mother's Day Brunch in downtown Pittsburgh. It was delicious and they gave me a flower at the restaurant. I am just so thankful for little Sprout and can't hardly believe he'll be here in a couple of months!

DC!

US =)

Library of Congress

Capital and Cherry Blossom

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Well Mike and I just got back from a lovely trip to DC. I was there Wed through Sunday and Mike was able to come up on Thursday. I had to go for DO Day on the Hill and then for the SOMA convention after it (Student Osteopathic Medical Association) where I was inaugurated the National President =) You can read about SOMA at http://www.studentdo.com/, hopefully we will update it soon with the new officers.

Mike and I had a great time! He mainly went around by himself while I was at convention Fri and Sat. On Sunday we went around together and saw a few sights, the White House, the Eisenhower building, National Botanical gardens, and the National Archives (with the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution, etc)-Very cool! I always try to see new things each time I go. This is my third year and I'm already looking forward to next year. I love DC and the fact that everything is free and learning about all of the history =)

by popular demand!

Me at 23 weeks =)

the south . . .

so my friend, Tracy, and i just came back from the land of iced tea and sororities. wow. the south is a lot different than here! my friend, Nancy from KCUMB, just got married this past weekend in Oxford, Mississippi. it was interesting to go shopping down there and see all of the people. her friends were great and they explained a lot to us about Ole Miss. the campus was beautiful!! we had a great time seeing it and exploring the cute little town.
here is a picture since I was the only one who could make it from our class!

Our baby boy bedding from PBK =)

Herei s

IT'S A BOY!!!

Yay!!! Kristi found out first by one of the OB/GYN residents on her rotation. She surprised Mike at home with the news by the pie in the picture and the cookie cutouts. It was fun! So now we get to work on the name, which will be a surprise!

GUATEMALA

hey all, i hope that some of you have time to read this. i am going to write just a little about my experiences. i went to antigua, guatemala in February with a group of students from my med school, KCUMB. it was a great time! i love speaking spanish and practicing it! this counted as a rotation for my school and i'm so glad that i did it. we had the opportunity to visit the Mayan Tikal (pictured) while we were there and also to a hot springs water fall.

here are a few select photos . . .

Announcing Miss Charlotte Vivian . . .

My sister, Jodie and Andrew, just had their second baby, it's a girl!! Ethan will be a great big brother. After Guatemala, I was able to spend a week in KC helping them out. It was so special and I already love her so much!

2007 Year In Review

Pictures from St. Kitts and our house in Ohio!

Hi all! So we are finally going to start using this blog, feel free to check it regularly. We have a lot of friends and family who are interested in our lives and hope this helps us stay updated!Here's our year in review, briefly:

July: Moved to Ohio

August: Vacation to St. Kitts and Nevis

September: Mike started new job, optometry, and I started my third year of med school and am on rotations now

November: Found out we were expecting our first little one!!! This is the SAME month we were told we wouldn't be able to have kids on our own w/o IVFw/ICSI or adoption!! God works in amazing ways doesn't He =) We still plan to adopt someday though.

December: Waited. . . and finally told our families! They were sooo excited and we had a lot of fun sharing the news.

We are very blessed that God has trusted US to be parents! It's amazing to think about. It will be an exciting time and are truly looking forward to it. Miracles still happen every day and we have no doubt that all kids are miracles, including our little "sprout".