New Videos on You Tube

Brian posted 2 new videos on You Tube. If you want to see them and don't already have access, email us at spratke@blueskymi.com !

:)

New pictures!

Brian posted "3 months" and "Holiday" pictures of Isaac...

...and also yesterday, Brian and I went with some local CMU alumni to the Motor City Bowl at Ford Field. Central played Middle Tennessee State University...and won 31-14! The pictures for this are on our website under "Spratke Adventures".

We had a great time while Gma and Gpa Spratke got to babysit!!!!

Christmas in Flint

Christmas in Flint....we had an untraditional holiday this year. We celebrated Christmas Eve at my brother's house - merging the Freeman's and Compton's for the first time on a holiday....Christmas morning we still had our traditional breakfast with Mom, Dad and the siblings (minus Tim and Missy who were at her parents)...then we came home for Christmas Dinner (lasagna!) with Brian's parents. Tomorrow, B and I have an exciting day of heading to the Motor City Bowl with some other CMU alumni to cheer the Chippewas on! We are very thankful to have B's parents here to watch Isaac so we can go!

Michael, Leanne, Mom and Isaac
Perry, cook extrodinare!
Mmmmm....
El-franko, The baby whisperer
Mom, Isaac and I

New arrivals!

Belated Congrats to Chris and Mindi on the arrival of their little one, and Brian's newest god-daughter - Kayla Nicole! She arrived December 14th!

Also, we owe belated congrats to Brian and Christine on their new little boy - Chase Alexander. He arrived on December 16th! We hope we will get to meet him sometime soon!

Random Isaac Photos

Just a couple random photos from the last month... the top is of Issac in the hat from Rita, our neighbor...the second is on Christmas Day...the third is on the couch at Dad's house...

Faux Christmas....

Faux Christmas was a success this year. For the first time, we had an "alternate" christmas gathering to accomodate everyone's schedules...Everyone was able to squeeze into Mom's house - the kids went wacko with presents, the white elephant presents were a hit, and fun was had by all.
As you can see, Michael is already enjoying his gifts.... :)

He rolled over!!!!

Today, as I was trying to address a few of my EXTREMELY behind Christmas cards...Isaac decided to ROLL OVER! Just like that. So, I put him back on his belly again...and he did it AGAIN! Now, overall, he is being sort of fussy today, so I don't know if that aided in his wiggliness...but still...how cool is that!?

We had a good weekend....after Linda's funeral, we returned home for my company Christmas party at my boss's new house...which was loads of fun. Then, Saturday morning, we returned to Flint for "fake" Christmas with the family. We had a great time and Isaac got some wonderful gifts!

Sad news....

After fighting lung cancer for almost a year, my Dad's girlfriend, Linda passed away yesterday. My heart goes out to her daughters who are now parentless - having lost their father when they were young. Her funeral is Friday, so we are heading to Flint tomorrow.

Isaac and I visited with Linda for the last time just before Thanksgiving. I think I will always remember her holding him and repeating over and over..."such a beautiful baby". I am glad she got to meet him.

I truely hope when people say "they are in a better place" that Linda is. I don't think she was ready to go...and she was still young and had a lot of life ahead of her yet...so a better place...I hope.

Monkey, anyone?

For those of you who know me well enough, you know I call babies "monkies". Alas...here is my little monkey, doing his "monkey thing".

:) 

Three months...

It's hard to believe that this little guy has been in our lives for 3 months. He has more and more of a personality each day! Isaac is approx. 12lbs now and has just moved into his 3-6 month clothes. I was so sad to retire his preemie and newborn clothes...but 0-3 month too!!! He is growing so fast!!!

This past weekend, we put up our christmas tree and did chores around the house. It wasn't too exciting of a weekend, as I have been down with a cold, but it was a good one. One of the best parts was that Brian brought me a bouquet of roses, for absolutely no reason at all! :)

We are starting plans for our 4th semi-annual new years party. In the past, we have had such themes as "mardi gras" and "happy new beer"...however, this year, we will have a slightly more family friendly theme...yet to be decided on, but definitely focused on kids! It remains to be seen whether kids will make more of a mess than the infamous confetti incident of '01...ha ha.

That is all to report for now... :) 

Weekend with Moyle's

We spent the weekend with Jon, Dawn and Sam....fun was had by all. Isaac slept through the night a couple times, got to meet Audrey (aka, "Grandma B" and had his first experience in a restaurant! 

Visit with Ethan!

Tuesday we went to visit Heather and Andy's new arrival Ethan. He is so tiny and sweet - hard to imagine Isaac was ever that small...or smaller! 

Welcome Ethan...

As of 12:37am this morning, our friends, Heather and Andy are the proud parents of Isaac's future softball buddy, Ethan. He was 7lbs, 1oz and 19 3/4" long (if I remember correctly). Mom and baby are doing well. Congrats!

Isaac Smiles!

Here is Isaac at 11 weeks - smiling and cooing! 

Will at Thanksgiving...

Will, 14 months.

I just love this picture! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We spent Thanksgiving in Flint with our families this year. It was so nice to see everyone. We spent the holiday at Mom's house drinking cosmo's, cooking turkey and playing with the wee tykes- Will and Isaac. Will is all over the place and becoming more of a little boy each day! I will download the pictures and try to get them posted by the end of the week!

As I write this, Isaac is sitting next to me in his boppy, chatting up a storm with his red crab rattle. Yes, he now smiles and chats like you would not believe. He is 11 weeks old today and it is amazing how much he is getting interested in the world around him. He notices the color red a lot (funny, because that is my favorite color!), laughs, gruns, coos and smiles.

As of today, he is 11lbs, 10oz. Can you believe it!? He is still gaining about an ounce a day. At this rate, he will be a giant!!!...or at least a really fat little monkey. hee hee.

I have started back to work a little...yes...a little - only about 8-10 hours a week for now. In December I will start to do slightly more, ramping up to part time. In January, I will return to the office 2 days a week, while Isaac goes off to a place where he will break some other women's hearts...(I am convincing myself that is what is going on, not day care).

Also, Congrats to Barb and Paul - a cyber friend from CMU and her husband, who live in the Flint area, who just had their twins this weekend!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Pictures From Christine's Shower

Here are some pictures from Christine's baby shower on Oct 7th.You can see how tiny he was at the time! Janet (as shown below) was kind enough to email them to me!

New Pictures!

As I write this - Brian is putting up more pictures on our webpage!! Check it out!

Weeks 7-9 - we had Halloween, a visit from "aunts" Courtney and Kathy, dinner with friends - after which we got perhaps our last "prego" photo of Mindi and Heather, and of course, Isaac being a rock star in his NIN onsie from Kev and Mon.

Baptism - St. Matthew Church, Flint MI, Nov 11th, 2006. Father Frederick Taggart officiating. Godparents Michael Freeman and Molly Proctor. Afterwords, we returned to Mom's where Perry made an awesome meal! Everything went perfectly!

Last week, Isaac had his 2 month wellness check. He was 10lbs 8oz, 21" inches long! Meaning, now, he is over 11lbs! So hard to believe that he has gained more weight in 9.5 weeks than he weighed when he was born!

This weekend, we stayed home. We were supposed to go to my brother's house so Brian could hunt, but they caught a nasty bug. We stayed in and watched the UM vs. OSU game with friends.

This week is Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday!!!! Since I am off work, I will be heading to Flint early to get things ready, and B will come when he gets out. It will be so much fun to see Will and Isaac have their first holiday together!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Isaac's Baptism!

Isaac Joseph was baptized at St. Matthew Catholic Church on Saturday, November 11, 2006.
His godparents are Michael Freeman and Molly Jones. We had a wonderful party after with friends and family! :) More pictures to be posted soon!

Visit with Courtney!

Courtney came to visit us on Thursday! She brought us the soon to be infamous christmas carol screetching monkey. :) Ha ha.