A Day with I-ya

So I've(Mike) been hiding out for the past month or so in the basement trying to finish it before Dosito arrives and the beautiful Michigan winter weather graces us. Its been tough to find time to work during Isaac's naps and at night (why can't I use a circular saw at 2 am?). Eventually I'll get the before and after pics up, but we're pretty happy with the way it has turned out.

The rest of the time I'm not working, I get to enjoy some pretty funny moments with Isaac (I-ya) that I thought I would share:

-So whenever he wants to do something he always says OK or ohhhhhh. Best example was when Kristi and I were driving and we saw a ferris wheel in the distance, Isaac immediately sees it and says OK, thinking that if he answers the question before we ask, he will get to go.

-Some of his favorite toys are little 2 inch baseball players that are actually cake decorations that I used to have. He makes sure that they travel everywhere we go and will often hold 3 in one hand while riding in the car or inside the stores. He also likes to line them up on the piano bench so that they can "watch" us play hockey, or line them up in front of the goal and use them as target practice.

-Some kids get excited about Toys'R Us...Isaac loves the hockey store. Yes in Michigan there are stores solely devoted to hockey and Isaac thinks its his playground. The people in the store think he is cute so it is a little easier to let him try on all the gear as he walks around saying the proper terms for the equipment. A minor tragedy struck about a month ago though as the store was locked and Isaac started bawling, he had to get out of the car and physically shake the door to make sure it was locked!

-Thankfully he also likes and is pretty decent at a more southern sport....baseball. It was fun when Kristi's parents were here and he hit off his tee outside for about an hour. Grandpa was most amazed at his ability to hit it where he was told to hit, with the exception of drilling Daddy in the mouth when he tried to hit it over my head.

-Random thing that happened yesterday; I had to tell Isaac not to put his tank and motorcycle in the toilet! I just thought it was a funny thing that I get to deal with on a daily basis, and have another boy on the way!

-Isaac and I try to make a daily trip to somewhere in the car, which is always fun to hear what random things he sees. For example, every time we get on the highway, he knows there is a certain silo which is on the way to the hockey game which then leads to the following conversation every time.
--Isaac "Ahgee, Ahgee"
--Daddy "What about hockey buddy?"
--Isaac "Ahgee see all duh" (which is hockey season is all done)
--Daddy "When do we get to go to hockey games again?"
--Isaac "Nose" (which is his cute word for"snows")
I had to come up with the snow explanation bc he used to get really sad knowing we were going over by the arena and not going to a game, so I really hope it doesn't snow before Oct. 8.

-Continuing with the car stories, he often wants me to turn up the "meek" (music). One day I was listening to some Spanish song and he started speaking his equivalent of Spanish (sounds like gillallliillilillll). Most of the time I listen to 80's and classic rock, and the other day I changed the station to something else, and Isaac says "aseydesy" (which meant he wanted me to turn back to AC/DC... ie drums and guitars)

-He loves to ride his tricycle up and down our sidewalk. We are quite well known to our neighbors now, since he takes about 30 minutes to go about a tenth of a mile. He does get a chance to go see his little friend Claire on the way which is always a fun time since they are the same age. One of my favorite moments though was after we had been to the Harley store (Isaac loves motorcycles!). He stopped his trike and was making his motorcycle sound, "mmm-MMMM", I wondered if he saw one in the distance , but when I turned around I realized he was trying to kickstart his trike, like some motorcycles do!

So after almost 2 years I have realized that we have a motorcycle riding, guitar loving, hockey playing, analytical observer (ie engineer), who never stops laughing. That could be one interesting teenager, huh!?!?!

Deal of the Day

Our neighbor told me about this block garage sale that sounded kind of promising and Isaac and I decided to go today. It was a perfect day for it, not too hot, and he had a rough night (we are trying to get him to sleep in a toddler bed and he keeps getting up in the middle of the night). It was good for him just to ride around in the stroller since he was kind of tired.


Anyway, I just posted about our pink carpet and wasn't really planning on doing much about it but they had this at a garage sale for $20!!! and I couldn't pass it up! All I really needed was the rug which originally was hundreds at Pottery Barn and she had it for $10. The rest of the stuff, a custom made lampshade to match, crib bumper, bedskirt, and valance was all thrown in for $10. I'm super excited to have some "new" stuff for Dosito's room, especially excited about the five foot round rug. This picture is from ebay and it was selling for $599 but included a quilt and mobile which we don't have (or need).



Oh, and I also managed to pick up some brand new tall black leather boots from Ann Taylor for $10!! Very fun!!

Snips, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

I can't believe I forgot to update this! I was just talking to my friend on my the phone and realized I never posted. But we are having another boy, yay! God's going to keep me on my toes with all of these boys running around =) We are keeping Dosito's real name a surprise until he is born but definitely couldn't keep the gender a secret, we are too excited! It will be nice though b/c he can share most of Isaac's stuff since he will be born in September and Isaac was born in August. The only difference is that its a little colder here. We also have some lovely pink carpet in Dosito's current room but I think it just might have to be that way for a little while. Hopefully it won't scar him forever to be in a pink room =) Isaac's nanny, Miss Carole, had him in a pink room when he was a baby and he seems okay =)

We just had a wonderful time with Mike's sister, Kristi, and niece visiting from Kansas! Her daughter is just a couple of months younger than Isaac and they had a great time together. Isaac actually cried when she left and I think it's the first person he has cried about leaving him besides Mike. It made me sad that he was so sad. I ended up with a great schedule while they were here and got to see them a lot too. It was rainy but Kristi said it was a nice change from the 90 degree KS heat.

Green Thumb

Or at least I hope so. Again, one of my goals this year was to plant a garden. I've always wanted to and just never have. So Isaac and I got up this morning and worked on it. I don't really know what I'm doing. I'll actually be pretty proud of myself if something green sprouts up out of all of this. My friend had some leftover seeds she gave to me yesterday so I decided there's no time like the present! I planted some heirloom tomatoes, roma tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon, green beans, and various lettuces. I'm pretty sure I planted it all too close together but we'll see. I'm going to wait to invest in a wire cage for my tomatoes before I actually see if it starts to grow!

I'll keep you posted!

Raise the Roof!

Or ceiling that is. Mike just finished putting up the drywall on our ceiling using one of those fancy drywall lifter things you rent from Home Depot. Now he is going to tackle the mudding/taping part of it which we hear is not too much fun. So if any of your home improvement gurus out there have suggestions, we'll take 'em!

I think they should invent paint that smells like the new house smell. I like the way our basement smells now with all of the lumber in it, reminds me of a new house. Maybe we'll just stick some random pieces of lumber around our house or under the couches to get the effect . . .

Saving the world, one milk jug at a time. . .

My effort to participate in saving the world started today. I made a resolution this year to start recycling and I've been saving all of my lovely trash so that I can drive 20 minutes to drop such lovely trash off to a place where they will make it into something better (hopefully). I'm hoping the fuel requirements don't discount my efforts. I have a million excuses as to why I've never recycled before, mainly where to store it. Now I found a place in Kent County who will take my used plastic/paper/glass for free!!!

Less trash for me, more recycled plastic benches for you and your kids in the park. How lovely.

Missing My Boys

Mike and Isaac have been in Kansas now for about a week and are coming home on Sunday. I'm VERY excited to see them! It was a good decision b/c I basically come home sleep til 4:30 in the afternoon, get up, and go to work at 5:00 so I'm glad Isaac is getting to see his grandparents/greatgrandpa/and cousins.

Last night was a pretty easy night at work and I had lots of time to myself. Sometimes as a mom, it just seems like kids grow up so fast. I was really thinking about that last night and had a lot of time to just pray too, and it was perfectly quiet, peaceful, and I didn't even get any interrupting pages.

I know people always say kids grow up fast and they really do. I feel like all I can do as a mom is pray that Isaac knows how much I love him and hope that he grows up to love the Lord. I think that is my strongest desire for my children. No matter what they do, where they live, what job they have, as long as they are happy, love others, and love God, I think that is the only thing important in life. We spend so much time doing things that aren't to glorify God, that sometimes it's hard for me to realize that me working is important and what God wants me to do. I guess somebody has to work in our family =) But really, I think for any working mom, it's a struggle to find a balance between working and being at home.

It's nice to have this time to recollect and make sure my life and my family's life decisions are focused on Jesus. I have to say, it's very hard. It's hard when I get grumpy being on call, hard when I miss my kid(s), hard when I feel like Isaac wants to spend more time with Mike b/c he's home more, and just finding a couple of seconds to myself to read the Bible and try to grow in someway. I know many people can relate, including stay-at-home moms/dads. Anyway, these are a lot of ramblings but it sure is nice in a busy, loud world, to appreciate a quiet moment and I certainly did last night.

I still can't wait for my boys to come home though- I wouldn't want it quiet for too long!

Photo Time!

Here are some new photos. Mike and Isaac went to the Whitecaps baseball game together. Isaac seems to like hockey more though . . . but daddy's working on that =) Hockey is more interesting for little bears b/c of the fast pace but I'm not a huge fan of Isaac playing hockey b/c I don't find it that interesting to watch! Maybe if my own boy was playing I would like it?

"Mother's Day"

Our little family has such a wonderful weekend. I am so happy with how it turned out. I was really grumpy going to call on Friday night b/c I knew that I was going to be missing my family for the next couple of weeks and was trying to get ready for Mike's 30th birthday party on Saturday night. Fortunately, I had the best call night ever and actually laid down for a bit so I was up by 11:00am on Saturday, enjoyed the day and had time to get ready for the party.

The party was so fun. I made a few things but the highlights were smoked cheddar burgers wrapped in applewood bacon, goat cheese and roma appetizers (yum!), and german chocolate cake. The cake was new for me but it is probably my new favorite recipe, though it used about 12 eggs to make the cake! My frosting was a little dry but I will try it again and I think I can make it better next time. It was so nice to get together with our friends. I have a few good friends from my intern class who are married and who Mike (and Isaac) have gotten to know really well. We also had our neighbors over and they have a little girl Isaac's age so it was fun to see them play together and get to know them better.

Today (sunday) was an absolutely beautiful day. Mike worked on the basement today a bit and Isaac and I played outside, reading books outside, playing ball, and just having fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then all went to Holland for the Tulip Festival. It was nice just to be outside and the tulips were pretty, not quite as many as I was expecting to have a whole festival named after it, but a fun experience. I pretended like it was my Mother's day because Mike and Isaac will be in Kansas on Mother's day. I really wanted to do a Mother's Day run pushing Isaac and carrying Dosito but maybe next year =)

Mike and Isaac are going home because I start block nights this month (actually I'm on nights right now), so if you feel like praying for us, you can pray for me to have a good attitude, get sleep during the day, and not get depressed about working so much. Block nights are hard for lots of reasons. It's lonely. It's ~ 80 hour work week, which isn't out of the ordinary, but it's packed into 5 days so I basically go home and sleep and go back to work. So since I don't see my family during this time they are using the opportunity to go home and see extended family which is great! It's also just not fun, handling call and admissions all night. Additionally, I have 6 other calls this month on top of my 10 nights so it's just kind of a lot to have ahead of me this month. Oh well, only 2 weeks and then never again!!

So onto more happy stuff! When we put Isaac down to bed and he thinks it's so funny to roar like a lion at me when we leave the room and then I have to pretend that I'm scared. He started doing this at lunch and loves watching me jump at the scary lion! He's also a pretty sweet boy. Of course, he's testing his limits as he should but the other day we were getting into the car which he was not happy about. (He wanted to play at "hard worker store" a little longer, that being Lowe's) He kind of hit me on the face and I said, Isaac that hurt mommy, that's not very nice. So he said "Sor" and then patted me on the cheek and gave me a kiss. He was so sweet to me =) We are working on the sorry word and I think he's getting it. He's kind of a tough boy and he has a lot of war wounds today to prove it. Today he fell down the deck steps, fell on the steps on the shed, I accidentally popped him in the head with my foot, Mike dropped a 2x4 on him (seriously!), and he cut his lip and nose on something else. You would think we were bad parents but he's just quite the explorer!!

Anyway, I could probably keep typing since I'm just trying to keep myself awake now. At least when Mike drives home at 3am on Friday morning, I'll have somebody to talk to.

Have a happy day!

Kristi and Dosito

Isaacisms

It's fun to see the world through a child's eye sometimes. I was cutting off the tops of the strawberries and Isaac kept repeating a work and pointing to them. The word kind of sounds like "umbiga". Then I realized he thought the tops of the strawberries looked like umbrellas =) What cute way to view a strawberry top.

He got a hair cut this week and was so proud. He could say the word "haircut" perfectly clearly and loves his new word. He does look like an older bear now with shorter hair. We'll have to put up a picture soon.

He can point to my belly now and say "Dosito" and doesn't quite understand what's going on but it's still cute to hear him say it.

I'll write some more down when I think of it =)

Public Service Announcement

This is to save all guys from being hit over the head by another female or for other socially inept individuals. The title of this is,"what not to say to a pregnant woman".

"Yeah, I wondered if you were pregnant b/c you were looking kind of "fuller" in the face."
The above has been said to me by THREE DIFFERENT people. Okay, so maybe it's so but come on, really, is that necessary? Just say, congratulations. Now I almost want to tell people I'm pregnant so they don't think I just randomly started gaining weight the end of my intern year. Trust me, I get it, I have a round face. Sheesh people.

"You are going to be one of those pregnant people who gets really big all over, aren't you?"
That one takes the cake. Um, no, I'm going to be one of those pregnant people who struts around in a bikini at 8 mos and has my picture in a magazine-"of course I"m going to get big and by the way, you're not so small yourself"! Of course, that's only what I was thinking. Is that bad? Surely God would understand.

People, people. And it's been such a good week too, I only puked in my surgical mask once this week . . . Good thing babies are so wonderful and it makes it all worth it!! We just can't wait to meet Dosito!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I hope you all are having wonderful family time and celebrating the resurrection today! I am in spirit-I'm at work today from 7a Sunday to 7a Monday and I worked til Midnight on Good Friday so I completely missed our Easter services. We only have to work like 5 holidays a year or so and this is one of mine but it's the last holiday I work so that's great!

Mike and Isaac just came by after church and we had lunch together. It's nice now that it's a little warmer and Isaac can run around in the garden we have out by our cafeteria. This hospital really is great for things like that, good for families.

So what have we been up to? Well, I've enjoyed working the later shift the past week b/c the weather has been so nice and Isaac and I can play outside. I also have to take an on-line stats course this month-ick!! Mike just finished putting up guttering on the outside of our house. I'm still amazed with what he can figure out how to do and it sure was needed. It's crazy how a lot of houses here don't have guttering, it's bad for our foundation and leave huge trenches a couple of feet away from the wall of the house in the yard. Weird. Mike's working on figuring out how to finish studding off the basement to start refinishing it. We are going to just put in a family room and guest bedroom since our new baby will be in our current guest bedroom =) We want to encourage visitors!!! Isaac constantly asks to play hockey with Mike's two friends, Joe and Eddy (and us of course). I was even in the grocery store yesterday with Isaac, he turns the the guy behind me and says "hockey, joe". They all went to a hockey game one night when all us wives were working (Joe and Eddy's wives are OB/GYN interns). He has a huge vocabulary now, definitely about 200 words, too many to count, and is starting to put a couple of words together. Isaac loves playing outside, of course, street hockey, but also tee baseball, and with sidewalk chalk.

So that's us in a nutshell in the past week! Thanks for all the e-mails. I love to hear how everyone is doing and thanks for the prayers for out little one on the way! Of course, let me know how we can pray for you too!

Kansas Trip

We had a fun trip to Paradise Park. It's a really neat place just East of the Royals stadium where kids can do creative play, like face-painting, "cooking", splashing each other with water, pretend play, crafts, and just all sorts of fun things. It has activities for all ages and all of the kids really enjoyed it. Here are the Anspaugh grandkids cooking: Ethan did great, Charlotte just kept eating the sprinkles, and Isaac could really care less b/c he didn't realize it was a cookie =)

We went to Topeka and Isaac and Ella hung out. It was great b/c it was finally a beautiful day and we could have an Easter egg hunt outside, which Isaac was really into. Mike's Aunt Renee and her daughter came over too who we haven't seen for forever so that was really special. It's fun to see as much family as we can since we don't make it back very often.

Isaac and Ella with the staredown. This photo was taken right after Ella gave Isaac a kiss

Why We Love Our Church

Today's message was so fun and interesting. I love it how we are always engaged at Mars Hill in whatever the Pastor in saying. We are lucky to have found a great church in Dayton and now a great one here. Rob Bell, the pastor, just got back from traveling as a guest speaker to a few places in Ireland and England. It was interesting to hear how many people listen to the Podcasts that he does all over the world and how all of these people in other countries feel like a member of our "little" Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids. Pretty cool. Some of our Dayton friends were wanting to come up and listen to him and we would definitely love to see you! I'm not a very good writer and just can't describe how engaging and interesting he makes learning the Bible so I guess you'll just have to hear a Podcast yourself. Today we had a lesson on Jonah, I've never really paid attention to the last sentence in the book before and he did a whole lesson on that, it just kind of ends where you expect more. Isaac was funny today because he gets so excited about playing with the blocks at church that he practically jumped out of Mike's arms into the playarea and said, "bye, da". It was cute =)

Unfortunately I have to work a 24 hr on Easter Sunday so will miss church but I'm sure it will be excellent =( I'll have to listen to it online or something.

Hope you all are having a great Sunday!

1 Kid and Counting . . .

Well, we're not exactly up to Duggar numbers with 19 kids, but we do have one more on the way!! I am 14 weeks now and we are expecting our next little one on Sept. 20th. We are so excited about this new bundle and are curious what God has in store for us now. We are so pleased He has blessed us with another little one. We call our new baby, Dosito, "dos" for two in spanish and "ito" meaning little one. We will change it to Dosita if we find out we are having a girl. As for the real name, we'll keep that a surprise until due day =)

We just went home to visit the Kansas families for a little bit. I had a few vacation days left so we used it to go home and tell our families. I think it will probably be another year until I come home again with the new baby coming and needing to use my vacation for maternity. I'm sure Mike and Isaac will make a few trips back though. They are already planning to go back for a couple of weeks in May because I'm working long night shifts and don't ever see them anyway. I'll post some latest pictures of our trip home when I get a chance.

Just wanted to share our news real quick!

Team USA Hockey 2030!

So this is what happens when you grow up in Michigan!

Ahh...I can see so much better with shades on! (proud moment for Daddy)

Who had more fun building the fort?

This was actually in late Jan. and all our snow melted!


Umm...excuse me Sir

I'm an old-school hockey player, no shirt needed

Sitting on the bench waiting for the next line change

Live Action!

Isaac absolutely LOVES hockey! We've been to a couple of games here and he sat on my lap for the entire game. We even tried to walk around but he wanted to go back in where the action was. He actually loves anything that has a ball and is also a big fan of reading Sports Illustrated (gee I wonder why he likes sports so much!) Every day with Isaac is a fun time and it is great to hear him learn a new word each day. He loves to imitate just about everything I do and makes some pretty good airplane, truck, and motorcycle noises, as any boy should.

He just had his 18 month check and was still in the 90th percentile for weight and height, so I think his chances for being a hockey defenseman are much higher than taking after his speedy marathoning mommy. Hopefully by 2018, the Sprint Center has a hockey team, or else we may have to start working on throwing a curveball soon.

Mr. Manatee

Sorry I haven't been the best on blogging lately. I think I logged the most hours of any month in January and just ran out of time. We did take a wonderful vacation the second week in January to Fort Myers. We went for a week with Isaac, of course, and stayed with Mike's parents in Fort Myers. The only problem was they set records lows! I mean, we were trying to get away from the cold and it's the cold there EVER! Crazy. Oh well, at least the company was fun and there still wasn't snow on the ground.My favorite part was visiting Marco Island though. Mike and I really needed some time together and were able to sneak away for 2 nights to Marco Island while the grandparents watched Isaac. The warmest days were while we were there and we were actually able to lay out by the pool and beach and be bums like we wanted to. Our room was just beautiful and were had a bedroom that opened completely up to the ocean. There' s nothing greater in the morning than waking up to the sounds of the ocean.

It was fun to see Isaac explore the sand. I don't really know if he remembers the beaches in Michigan last summer. We also went kayaking which was fun and saw a lot of manatees. Fortunate for us, but unfortunate for the manatees. They were in the river because the Gulf was so cold. The cold weather may have been bad for us but it was certainly worse for the wildlife. Thousands of fish died and so did hundreds of manatees. They are such beautiful animals to see in the wild though. It was truly a wonderful break for all of us!

On the river in Fort Myers where we stayed with the Manions

He is VERY excited about these oranges. Isaac is obsessed with fruit so seeing a citrus store was like a dream come true for him.

Mike and I on our balcony on Marco Island.

Isaac loved playing the ABC game with grandpa.

Diggin' for gold

Christmas!

We had a wonderful family Christmas at home. We decided not to go home this year since it's been such a busy year and we just wanted to relax at home. My family, parents and Steph, came up to visit us for 2 days which was wonderful and it feels more like Christmas when you get to spend it with your extended family.

I think Isaac's favorite thing about Christmas was having Mike and I home together for 6 days! The theme this year was transporatation. He is obsessed with airplanes, trains, cars, trucks, and basically anything that moves, especially planes. So he got a lot of neat books and plane toys from family. It was also fun for us to start our own Christmas traditions. I am working on perfecting our Christmas brunch menu and found THE casserole for our brunch this year. Oh, it was sooo good! My friend, Jenny, bought me the Junior League recipe book from Western Michigan and we decided to try this recipe. My family loved it, so it's a keeper! And Mike has requested homemade "Mrs. Powell's" imitation cinnamon rolls which take me hours. They were delicious but definitely a once a year thing for me. (Mrs Powells is a cinnamon roll food chain that is waaaay superior to Cinnabun, in my professional opinion)

Okay, have to get back to work but now I'm hungry thinking about cinnamon rolls!

Isaac's First Haircut

Isaac was so serious during the whole ordeal. I was not so excited about him getting a haircut but some lady in the grocery store thought he was a girl so Mike is making me. He looks so much older and like a little bigger boy now. When Isaac is unsure of what's going on around him, he gets really quiet and still, like when he got his haircut. It makes it nice for the stylist and for people looking in his ears =) Of course, last night at a basketball game Isaac wasn't so sure about the mascot. The mascot (a knight) tried to give him a high five and he started crying. Oh well, we'll work on that one.

Kitchen Remodel

Here are some detailed pics of the kitchen. Now I know that you all are going to be fighting over the saloon doors and bungee kitchen table light, so we'll just have to go with the highest bidder ; ) Feels much homier now!