Our Little Wildcat

Weekend Fun

So while daddy was working really hard this weekend, Isaac and I had fun. I can say for certain that Mike will never ever buy a house that has old wallpaper on it again. When Mike and Isaac went home for a few weeks in September, I decided I would be helpful and try to take down some borders. I lasted about 20 minutes, became frustrated, knocked over my ladder, and then realized my husband was/is a saint to have depapered the entire kitchen and bathroom. And then I decided since he was so good at it, that I would let him finish. You know, marriages are about sharing your strengths and weaknesses. ..

So Mike decided to tackle the second bath and the borders this weekend. Yes, it took him two entire days to take of two simple bedroom borders and one half bath paper. Now our house smells new though, like drywall and oil based paint. I actually kind of like it. Anyway, maybe I"m weird. Isaac and I took off to go pick some apples at Moelker farms. We picked a whole peck. Now if you're like me, you have to ask the people on the farm how much a peck is , it's a little less than a grocery size bag. But we got the whole peck for $4!! Apple pie anyone? Yum!!

I had to keep Isaac busy out of the house while Mike is working on it because he really prefers Mike over me right now. It's kind of sad to me but I have to realize it's a phase. Mike just ordered the kitchen floor and will be putting it down so we'll have another mom and bubby weekend which was good for us. It's one of those interlocking wood floors so hopefully it won't give him too much trouble! I'm excited because we bought a new mitre saw which he says I don't get to use b/c I might cut off my fingers and then how am I going to do surgery w/o my fingers? Humphf. We'll see. I'm sure we'll post photos of his great work when it's done in a few weeks =)

Yes, my child is eating a rock.

visiting mommy!!!

Fun in the Sun!

Since I haven't updated you all in awhile, I'm adding in a few old photos from early September. September was a busy month for us. My long-time friend Jenny Brouhard came to visit us from Albuquerque, New Mexico with her son Hayden. He's only a few months younger than Isaac so it was cute to see them play together. Isaac doesn't quite play well with others yet, it's more parallel play and keeping him from bonking the other kids heads or biting them. We really had a wonderful time just catching up, taking the boys to the zoo, and visiting the beach.

One funny thing Isaac does, is how he gives us "kisses". He opens his mouth huge like he's going to bite us and then licks us. It's so funny but kind of scary b/c I'm always afraid he's going to bite! Here's a photo of Jenny and I with Hayden and Isaac.

After 3 months of renovation. . . .

here's our final product!!!

We wish . . . .So when I lived with Jodie and her family during my first 6 mos of med school, I always went running by this home. I called it my dream home, though I've never seen the inside of it. Mike and I have both always loved it and still talk about it sometimes today. So Yoda (Jodie) e-mailed me and saw that it was for sale!! Unfortunately, it's about 3 million dollars(+) out of my price range =) But now I can finally see the inside of it and it's just as gorgeous as I thought it would be! So unless anyone has had recent visions of the next lottery numbers, I don't think we'll ever end up in this house . . .

Enjoy! Click on the Virtual Tour button on the site to see all of the photos, the house is just very unique.

http://www.reeceandnichols.com/Listing/ListingDetail.aspx?Listing=41972925&Image=1&edit=

Pumpkins and Potty

How's that for a lovely title for our first blog post in 2 months? I bet you all are hanging on the edge of your seat wondering what this is about . Well, nothing too exciting really. Just a quick update before I head off to surgery. I was on anesthesia last month which was nice to get more comfortable with the airway and intubating but I just do not see why anyone wants to go into that! I don't think I have any anesthesia friends reading this . . . but it's just so not exciting to sit there and watch a machine for hours on end.

So back to what's important, Isaac. We all went to the pumpkin patch this weekend. I tried so hard in Ohio to find a real pumpkin patch where you could actually go to a patch and pick a pumpkin. Shouldn't be so hard but I never did find a good one. Well Mike found this awesome one in New Salem. It was perfect! Isaac had fun seeing all of the farm animals, it reminded me of my Aunt and Uncle' s dairy farm. Good memories. Then we went on a wagon ride and picked some lovely pumpkins. I'll try to see if I can teach Mike how to put pictures on here or else they'll never get done =) It's fun to have a little boy who thinks everything is fun and the world is all exciting. We'll definitely go next year. They even have a great corn maze that I guess becomes a spooky corn maze at night that apparently is really scary. Not my thing but the decorations around the farm are pretty cool.

So we're thinking Isaac will be potty trained early. He's 14 months, tomorrow, and already seems interested in poo. What a lovely boy. He will poo his diaper and say "per" which is his word for diaper and lets us know he needs changed. What a genius?! He also loves throwing toilet paper in the toilet which unfortunately causes us to go through a lot of toilet paper when we're not paying attention.

He's definitely a joy!! I hope everyone is doing well!! I'm still trying to think of what to make Isaac for his Halloween costume. He might just be a pumpkin b/c he's awfully cute and round to me still =)

Explorations of an almost 1 year old

Ahh...If I use my own spoon, I can make a bigger mess!!

The beautiful bathroom..you have to come visit if you want to see the final result.

Two little sleeping bears


Isaac absolutely LOVES the water and sand... up next, bodysurfing!



What state/country am I in again????

Where the wind goes sweepin' down the plains...err dunes

Here is just a collection of pics from the past 2 weeks. We all went to Warren Dunes State Park (a little under an hour and a half away) for part of our anniversary and ate at Bob Evans...anniversaries are a little different with little bears!!

Kristi is still busy, but happy she is getting to do new surgical procedures and looking forward to ER where she doesn't have to take call. She definitely misses us during the days and long call nights. Isaac and I (Mike) have gone to visit her a few times which definitely helps her day go by better.

Isaac is really quite a mobile bear these days. He is starting to stand unassisted for longer periods and cruises all over the place. I walked out of the room today and left him in the family room and within less than a minute, the fridge was open and he was talking to the mustard. He is definitely a fun little guy and loves exploring EVERYTHING!!!!

His birthday party is coming up soon and we are excited that a few of Kristi's resident friends are coming since we still don't know many people here. One of the residents is making an amazing cake for Isaac which I'm sure Kristi will write about on the next post.

As for me, I have been redoing the master bathroom with new tile, paint, fixtures, and faucets. HGTV makes it look so easy and fast, but I guess that's b/c they don't have 1-2 hour increments restricting work schedule (thank the Lord Isaac is a good sleeper!). Actually it hasn't been that bad aside from changing our mind on the paint choice 3 times. It definitely going to look much better than the 80's decor it used to have.

Its Been a Long Time

My first car ride facing forward (Isaac wouldn't stop smiling about his new view)

So its been way too long since we have updated all that has happened in our lives. Obviously we have finally moved and now have connection with the outside world (ie internet). Thank you to all our family and friends that helped us move our stuff, its always a blessing to have that help.
This will be a brief post with mainly Bubby pics, but it has definitely been an eventful past month. Just a few highlights;
-Both sets of grandparents were here for about 3 weeks overlapping a couple of days, and it was great to see them and play with Isaac
-Kristi is fully immersed in her tireless intern schedule and starting to feel much more comfortable with her job and call schedule
-Isaac and Mike have been having lots of fun running/crawling around and have been to the beach a couple of times, listened to a steel drum band, been to the zoo, biked around the neighborhood, played in the sprinkler, and had lots of fun playtime our bigger house.
-Mike is now stuck renovating the bathroom after a slight faucet geyser mishap (it was going to be redone as is about everything else in the house, its amazing that someone can have that much hideous wallpaper!)
Enjoy the pics!

I LOVE my books

Maybe Isaac thought I was going to jump in Lake Michigan (he was actually crying because we stopped moving!)

Its a barrel of monkeys (also known as morning time with Grandpa)

Now which yacht is mine Grandma?

The Manion crew

Michigan Land!

We are excited to be in Michigan! Here is the bubby sporting one of daddy's hats. As we think about our move to Michigan, it's been fun to reflect on our time here. We are so fortunate to have made so many great friends through our house church at Apex. I've never been involved in a house church before and it's been amazing. Most small groups I've been in have either been all women, young marrieds, or with my sorority sisters. Mainly people of generally the same age group. This house church is interesting b/c it is like church. A great mix of people of all ages and backgrounds. I've enjoyed learning from the "wise" people and realized just how much I don't know about the Bible! It's so fascinating. I'll miss this house church a lot and appreciate all of their love and support they've given to us, which has been especially helpful when we had Isaac. I think it made me feel welcomed right from the start to have a community here support us. Anyway, those are my ramblings. You can pray that we find a church we love in Grand Rapids too and where we can be of service as well.

Shared photo book from Kristina

Click here to view this photo book larger

Graduation Weekend

Dr's Melissa Nevin (Family Med), Elly Riley (Family Med), Nancy Stewart (Internal Medicine, Me (Otolaryngology/Facial Plastics), Kimberly Irvin (Emergency Medicine)

Remember back . . . Melissa is one of the ones I went to Mexico with after our first yr of med school, Elly and I went to the zoo with Isaac recently, Nancy is newly married and her pics are in this blog, and I was a bridesmaid in Kim's wedding 2 years ago =)

Well, I'm finally posting about graduation. I graduated from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences on May 16th. Isaac and I got to go down to Topeka a few days before so that we could spend a little more time at home. Graduation stuff took most of the week and it was fun to see my friends again! We had an awards ceremony on Friday, the 15th. Fortunately, my parents and Steph were able to attend. My dad works in Dallas now due to his job changing locations so now he works in there and my mom still has to work in KC. So my dad drives home every weekend but he took Friday off to go to the ceremony. I knew I was getting an award b/c my family got an invitation to come but didn't have any idea what it was. What a surprise! I received the President's Award which was a really nice honor and the Outstanding Senior award. My greatest award of the year though has definitely been having a little bubba to share it all with = ) Mike and I are just so blessed to have him in our life. Mike came down the night before graduation (late!!).

The graduation day was really special and meaningful. The best part was convocation in the morning. The greatest speaker was a student from our class who has actually graduated from seminary as well. His speech was about how all of this is just pomp and circumstance but the real importance to our medical career is not the now, it's what we do with it for the rest of our lives and the people we can help by having this gift. It was extremely motivational, humbling, and completely appropriate. A great way to start graduation and reflect on what's really important. I appreciated having some quiet moments of prayer and reflection during convocation to think about the four years, how things have changed during that time,a nd look forward to the future. And give thanks to God for making this all happen. The graduation processional was nice and very long. We were all hooded and clapped for individually which made for a 3.5 hr ceremony but all very professional and nice.

We had a party at my parents house that night. I was so lucky to have my family and a few friends show up!! I imagine that I won't be back in Topeka for another year or so, so it was nice to see everyone. I only get 2 weeks of vacation and one week is Christmas and we are probably staying in Grand Rapids and the other week Mike and I will probably need a vacation together to give us the opportunity to see each other!! So we always would love to have visitors, we miss Kansas a lot =)

Isaac did great on the planes. It's harder now that he's older and wants to explore everything but we made it. The plane got in at 12:30 AM though so it was a long day for both of us getting there. It was a lot easier when we went home b/c Mike could fly back with us.

Enjoy the photos!

Weaver Auditorium on our campus

Kimberly Irvin (EM), Me, Jamie Hinkle (Pediatrics)

Isaac got these "Future D.O." scrubs from some of my friends at SOMA (Student Osteopathic Medical Association). So he had to wear them to the party afterwards.

playtime!!!

Daddy says we're trying to prepare Isaac for that Kansas wind in 5 years.

We've been able to spend a lot of time playing together now =) So here are some photos of our playtime. We are lucky to have Miss Carole, Isaac's nanny, live so close by. She stops by sometimes with her boys, Cameron and Lochlan, to visit and we always love it. Isaac just gets so excited when he sees the boys. He's probably just happy that someone else is finally entertaining him besides boring old mommy!




My mommy thinks I am the cutest bear in the world.











Isaac loves his friends. He probably thinks he's the same size as them. This is Carole with Lochlan, Isaac, and Cameron at our house.

Trip to the Columbus Zoo!!

Well, we are definitely still alive though you wouldn't know it from my lack of blogging. We've had a lot of fun things going on lately. I finished med school rotations on April 17th so I get a two month break until I start residency which is great!! I am enjoying being a stay at home mom and will truly miss it when I go back. So I get to do stay at home mom stuff which includes going to the zoo!! Isaac and I drove up to Columbus to meet my friend Elly, from med school, and go to the Columbus zoo. Isaac loved it. He wouldn't stop "talking"and laughing at the gorillas and made everybody in the place laugh. He just loves anything that moves, animals, dogs, squirrels and other little munchkins included. It's such a joy to see him laugh. I am kind of slighly obsessed with zoos and absolutely love them so this was a big deal for me to get to go to the zoo with him. So we had to make a stop at the gift shop, I did kind of contain myself. Isaac came away with a manatee and 2 gifts that he won't get until Christmas and I did manage to pick something up for his cousins too =) I figure the money goes to support protecting the wildlife anyway, right?=) The manatee was beautiful, I don't think I've ever seen one before and they are pretty spectacular.

Random comment. There is this art gallery that I just LOVE of nature photos. They had one on the plaza when we lived there and Mike and I would always stroll around and make it kind of a date night at the gallery. So if you ever have a few extra thousand dollars and think, hey I think I'll buy Kristi a really expensive photo, feel free to go by http://www.mangelsen.com/. J/K! They are pretty beautiful to look at though.

I think Miss Elly (actually Dr. Elly) is a lot of fun!!

I'm trying for my best gorilla impression

visitors!

We've had some fun visitors lately! Our lovely nanny, Miss Carole, ended up having to head back to Australia for some time. Isaac was watched by a friend of someone in our house church, Michelle, for a couple of weeks, and then by the Manion Grandparents for a couple of weeks. He has loved it! Michelle has two wonderful kids and I can tell Isaac enjoyed playing with them. They also have dogs which was good for Isaac to see and kind of get used to. We've enjoyed having the Manions here for a couple of weeks. It's fun to see Isaac interact with them and he just loves them!

Some beautiful daffodils near our house. It's a huge field of them and they are just gorgeous!

Easter day! Isaac changed into a new outfit after church. This one says "Little Sprout" and is from my friend Jenny Brouhard. So cute!!

Isaac loving on Grandpa!!

Isaac loves his exersaucer!!!

I had soo much fun being the Easter bunny! Isaac got some cute toys, yummy puffs, and nice books from the Easter bunny! We had a lot of fun going to church with him too. He just was so quiet and looked around and was really interested in all of the singing. He's such a good bear =)

I have lots to say!

This was supposed to be Isaac's big cameo while feeding himself yogurt and cheese, but we get to hear him talk instead which he does frequently. He is always a happy little guy! He even flirted with an older woman at the park today (she is turning 2 tomorrow). Gotta love that face!

7 months and growing!!

It's hard to believe that Isaac is already 7 months! He sure is growing! I've missed him a lot this week. I had my last conference for SOMA (Student Osteopathic Medical Association) where I did all of my outgoing Presidential stuff. There was a lot to take care of. It's been a good year but I'm glad to be handing over the duties. I've learned so much this year and it has all been fascinating. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics!

there's a noothgrush on my toothbrush

That my dear friends is a line from one of Dr. Seuss' book which Mike and I both have memorized =) Isaac had his first teeth brushing tonight. He seemed to enjoy it a lot so that's good. Mainly he just wanted to eat the toothbrush. That's my boy, eating everything in sight. So here are some photos!

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!