Match Day!!!

Well, actually match day was Monday which means we find out where we're going to be for residency! So I matched at Metro Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan for Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery (Ear Nose and Throat or ENT is what everybody calls it). I am very excited as this hospital was sooo nice. It's actually a new hospital and is a prototype "green" hospital. That means all of the paint, new carpet, etc, is all non-toxic and they do a great job of recycling stuff during surgery that isn't used, which is really great because you would be amazed at the amount of waste in our hospitals. The residents were all really great and they take one person each year so there are only 5 residents - it's a 5 year residency.

I'm so excited for this opportunity but I know it will be a lot of studying and very challenging. I've always been up for a challenge though. I just thank God for guiding my steps and directing me to a career path. I prayed a lot to make sure I was choosing the right way. It was hard to decide what to do once I had Isaac because it was so hard for me to go back. I interviewed all over and this was my favorite so I'm lucky they liked me too =) I feel very blessed to have such great family and friends who were praying for me during this whole process. I haven't written much about it because it's all kind of up in the air until match day but it has been so challenging. The traveling in Oct-Dec was very taxing and so was all of the uncertainty. It all worked out though!! Sometimes I wonder when I will ever get to the point that I can just totally not worry about the future and trust God to handle it b/c He always shows me that He is!!

So if anyone has ever wanted to visit Michigan, here's your chance! Now all we need to do is find a snowblower on sale . . .
Kristi

Kansan at Heart

Here are some of Isaac's 6 month pictures!! We love them and hope you do too!

Bubba

Here's our bubba 6 month update for ya:
So he's 27 1/8" tall (75%) and 20 pounds 8 ounces (90%)!!. He also has a head size in the 97%. We always kind of thought he had a big head but he really does! Poor little bubba, hopefully it's all brains =) I was actually kind of worried that he might have a problem (b/c that's my job as a mother and especially as a med student!) but he checked out fine today. We couldn't ask for a better bubba!

Isaac's a big kid now!

Or so he thinks. He is now graduating from his lovely organic brown rice cereal (he eats better than us) to pureed carrots. I spent a little time today making pureed carrots with my lovely food processor. We just got this food processor for Christmas and it just amazes me. I've never had one and I'm easily entertained so I like using it all the time now for random things. It makes making his baby food the easiest thing. The carrots I made today will last him for two weeks. He liked his cereal right away, we started that at 5 months but wanted to wait until 6 months for anything else. He is basically just being introduced one new veggie a week. His expression trying carrots for the first time was hilarious! He didn't seem to think it was so spectacular but he ate it. He has his 6 month check-up tomorrow so we'll see how much of a chunker he is!

He's doing really well sleeping now, from 9PM-8AM is the schedule we have him on. The problem has been getting him to nap as well at home as he does at Carole's. Finally we had success!! I thought that the reason he wasn't sleeping as well for naps at home was because it wasn't as dark. I blocked out his windows this weekend and it worked. I couldn't believe how great he has been sleeping now and problem solved!! For those that don't have kids, getting them to eat and sleep can be the most stressful part and once that's figured out, it's a big deal! I've spent many hours getting advice from Jodie, my sister, about all of this and it's nice to have people to share these experiences with. It certainly isn't always easy but having Isaac is just too wonderful!

God Bless!

First Food!!!

Funny stuff

Fun in the snow!!

Hmmm, do you think I could eat that . . .??

Its about time!!

So we have been quite delayed on updating the blog, but that doesn't mean it has been a boring month. Isaac is still living up to his name and laughs all the time. He has started his rice cereal and still eats like an offensive lineman. Today he decided to show off and get his roll on from back to front (I think somebody wants to be mobile!)

As for Christmas, I probably won't do it justice, but we had a wonderful time being home and seeing our families. It was also neat for Isaac to meet his Great-Grandpa for the first time. Isaac was also baptized with his cousin which was really special.

I'm sure Kristi will write more about her crazy schedule, but I'll let the pictures do the talking for now.

Our blessing from God!

Look I made a friend...maybe I should eat her hair.

Grandma doesn't realize that I'm going after the pizza next!

Maybe I need a bigger helmet!?

I look good...and I know it!

Great Grandpa, how I get those glasses off your head?!?

Which cousin is older? (hint: the one who likes to eat!)

Tree Trimming

HO! HO! HO!

We are such a lucky mom and dad to get to celebrate our first Christmas with Isaac! He just had his four month photos taken and hopefuly when we get them back next week we can post some. I'm such a sentimental mom. He had his pictures taken at the portrait studio on Santa's lap and it almost made me cry! It's just so cute to think that we have a kid to sit on Santa's lap this year =) So we did our traditional tree-trimming with egg nog. Here are some photos!

Four months already!

Yay for visitors!!!

Mommy's first birthday with her boy!!

Isaac has no choice as to who he's going to be a fan of. Just look at grandpa . . .

Isaac had his four month checkup today and he's a big boy! He's in 80% for height and 90%!!! for weight and head size. We have a chunker and we love it =) Isaac is so much fun right now and is laughing and smiling all of the time. We just cannot believe how much joy he has brought to our home. We had a great Thanksgiving b/c the week before the Manion grandparents came up to watch Isaac for a week and play. It was so nice for them to have that time to bond with Isaac. Then during Thanksgiving week the Anspaugh grandparents came up with Steph. That was so fun! My birthday was Thanksgiving day this year so it was nice to be able to be with family.

Ready for Spring Training

Kristi's Schedule

So I've been getting many questions about my life right now. Here is how it has been since I went back to "work":

Oct. 17th: Board exam, I took my other boards the week before in Philadelphia
Oct. 19th-22nd:Rotation in Grand Rapids, MI
Oct. 23rd-27th:Conference in Vegas (where Mike and Isaac met me there)
Oct. 28th:Back to Michigan for rotation, then drove to Ohio that night
Oct. 29th:In Dayton, OH for interview for residency
Oct. 30th-31st:Back in Grand Rapids for rotation, drove back to Dayton on Friday night
Nov. 2nd-6th: St. Louis for rotation, Isaac is coming with me and my friend is watching him!!!!
Nov. 7th-8th: Interview in Columbus, OH for residency, driving back to STL that night
Nov. 8th-14th: Finish rotation in STL and drive back to Dayton on Friday night
Nov. 17th: Interview in Grand Rapids, MI. Mike is coming with me to check it out and the in-laws are watching Isaac in Dayton. Finally, I'll have some driving company!!!

Confused??!! So maybe you will all understand if I'm slow in responding to you when you call me or something!!

Happy Turtleween!!

So the boy decided to be a turtle for Halloween (mainly b/c since he was a day old, he looks like a turtle when we burp him). We only had around 15 trick-or-treaters, but Isaac was thrilled to hand out candy.
This is what happens when Daddy is in charge...

Bless me!

Vegas Baby!

So Kristi had this great idea that Mike and Isaac fly to Vegas to meet her at a convention she was speaking at. Since our lives are always interesting, we decided why not!?! Kristi flew direct from Michigan where she was on a rotation, and the boys flew from Columbus after already spending some quality days together (sidenote; one morning Mike woke up to Isaac screaming, apparently the boy had an explosive poo and needed to have a full pit stop including a bath at 5:00 am, I'll (Mike) get him back one day for that!) As the journey began, Isaac did a great job on his first plane trip, even getting compliments on not crying. Meanwhile, I got some strange looks as the random dad taking a 3 month old to Vegas, but everybody was very willing to help (one lady even offered her breastfeeding services just in case Isaac needed a "quick pick me up"...weird!)

In Vegas, we had a fabulous time staying at the Palazzo. Kristi was very happy to see her boys and Isaac definitely missed her. He and I walked around while Kristi was at her meetings and saw the Lamborghini dealership, the shops at the Venetian, Ceasar's Palace, and lots of other cool stuff. Unfortunately they won't let you gamble with a child attached, so I saved that for later. Kristi and I also got to spend some good "date" time together and went to Spago (Wolfgang Puck's restaurant) for dessert and then to the club Tao, as we had another med student watch Isaac. The following night, all of us got to partake in dinner at one of Emeril's steakhouses, Delmonico's. Isaac did a great job of chilling in his stroller while we all ate together. It's pretty cool getting to go to different places while Kristi has to play SOMA prez.

One last tidbit, Kristi had her interview for her Dayton ENT residency tonight and we'll see how it went in a few days. Now she is off to Grand Rapids, MI for 2 days, then returns to Dayton for one day, and then off again to St. Louis for another rotation. Enjoy the pics!

I'm not afraid of heights!!!!

The little drummer boy
My first flight

1 down, 1 to go . . .

so i (kristi) just had a very interesting week. it's been hard! i had a board exam in pennsylvania wednesday. so i left Tuesday (got a $115 speeding ticket, thank you very much mr. officer of the dayton/columbus road o' many tickets, please spend your time catching REAL criminals, that's my advice) drove 9 hours to New Jersey. got to stay with some wonderful friends we met when we all lived in St. Louis AND got to see their baby which was great b/c i was missing mine!! drove 2 hours the next morning for my test in pennsylvania (craziness traffic!!) and took the test from 8-3:30. then drove another 9ish hours back home to dayton! i think God was definitely listening to my family's prayers b/c i wasn't sleepy at all. i got bored driving but i stayed awake well. i was worried about that after the stresses of driving and then taking the exam and having to think. but it went well. the hardest part were the days going up to it knowing that i was going to have to leave isaac for the first time. well, i made some dumb mistakes on this dumb test but hopefully i will just pass (it's pass/fail)!!! at least mike and isaac had some quality time. he was on call those 2 days but no patients came in so they had a nice time together at home =)

my next board exam is next friday and is in dayton, yay!

here are some 2 month pictures we took of isaac on Oct.2nd. he got his 2 month shots today (i couldn't watch) and has kind of been out of sorts. in this first one he is wearing one of mike's outfits again. we have a picture of mike at 2 months in this same outfit. isaac is a lot taller! he was in the 93rd percentile today for height at his appt. i don't think he gets that from me!!!

thanks for the cute outfit aunt steph!!

The Movie Star Returns

So here are a couple of videos that I have been waiting to put up. Enjoy!

Reggae Time!

I'm a stud runner just like my mommy!

Cuddle Bug

This is a picture of Isaac in one of Mike's outfits. The picture above him is Mike in the same outfit =) He really gets excited sometimes and flails his arms and legs like this!

Manion Grandparents

Mike and Isaac

Go K-STATE!!!!!!

dude . . . why is everybody always taking pictures? can't they see i'm tired?

Hurricane Ike Photos

One month photos!!

Here are some new photos of our boy's one month pictures! We were so happy with these pictures and the photographers were great. We went to Schwabe Studios in Vandalia for you Ohio people. We're going every month to get photos and I'm putting a one year scrapbook together for him. I got the idea from my friend Rachel when she made one for her daughter awhile ago. Hope you enjoy them!

Hurricane Ike, and we're not talking about our baby . . .

so we've had an interesting last week and a half. the other grandparents came up to meet Isaac =) Kent and June Manion came. Mike and Kent went to a Mets and a Yankees game last weekend. The game on Friday night was rained out so there were actually 2 Mets games to see that Saturday (the 13th) which is like a dream come true for 2 crazy baseball fans. I was so happy they got to see the game b/c it was one of the last games at the old Yankee stadium and Mike really wanted to see a game there. I also got a couple of cute shirts and some dark chocolate from the Hershey store.

Grandpa Manion and Isaac

While they were out galavanting around New York, June stayed home with Isaac and me. He was going through a growth spurt and was eating at 9PM, 12AM, 3AM, 5:30AM, and 7AM for awhile. I was glad she was here to help me with that! He is getting chubbier now and you can really tell he has grown a lot =) What's interesting though is that we had effects from Hurricane Ike that weekend. We lost power Sunday and Monday, it came on just before I picked the guys up at the aiport =) Isaac didn't like being in the dark. Now I realize I need to be more responsible and actually have an emergency kit or something. We need batteries, flashlights, and matches I discovered!

It was crazy here and when the manions send me pics I'll try to post them. We went to house church last night and made pizzas. Then we walked around giving out pizzas and cookies to the worker people. I even met some people from Missouri up helping =) There are still about 100 homes in Oakwood that don't have power after a week! I'm so thankful we do just for the laundry reasons b/c Isaac creates plenty of that!

He still loves his baths and gets this wonderful relaxed face during it. Ahh, warm water . . .

McCain Rally

Mike got tickets for the McCain rally. This is old news but of course, I haven't been doing a good job posting. Oh well, and now I'm procrastinating from studying. But he was glad he got to go b/c it's when McCain announced his VP. So he got to see that in person and hear Sarah Palin's speech. He was very impressed and liked her immediately! I'm glad McCain chose her and she appeals to our ideals. Anyway is a faraway photo.

yes there is a baby in here!!!

Isaac, daddy and I went to the Oakwood ice cream social. Everyone kept asking me if it was a dog in there or a baby b/c he was so tiny =)