Merry Kwanzakah!!

Happy Holidays one and all! Sorry it has been so long since we have entered a blog entry but boy have our lives been non-stop (in a good way).

Santa once again shimmied his fat sack of toys down our chimney, with presents for Isabelle and me. Michael however recieved a flaming bag of....things that aren't nice. It's because he is not very nice and has been a bad boy ALL year long. But Izzy and I love him all the same. (can you guess who wrote this entry and who edited it-LOL)

Izzy was very excited for Christmas (even though it will be a few years before she really knows what it is). She was up all night kicking and moving around and keeping her mom awake.

On Christmas day Izzy, mom and dad enjoyed a quiet morning alone before heading off to Grandma and Grandpa Ilich's house for more presents, dinner and posing for the above "prom picture". Izzy really enjoys Grandma's cheesy grits and slept soundly during, like our Thanksgiving Day movie tradition but also our Christmas Day movie tradition, Night at the Museum.

All in all it was a....CRAZY holiday and we can't wait until next year!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday and hope the New Year brings you peace, prosperity and happiness.

Happy Gobble Day!

Thanksgiving...turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and to finish off the festivities, A MOVIE!
After gorging ourselves at Mom and Dad's, and as an annual Ilich tradition, we were off to the movies to go and see Casino Royale; Dad is a HUGE James Bond fan and since his birthday is on Sunday, we let him choose the flick. A time to "veg out" on triptaphan and and loosing ourselves in mindless entertainment until someone decides to wake up. You got it, our little one decides to start moving and kicking about during the movie. So, I took the liberty of grabbing Michael's hand and placing it on my belly for her to give her Dad a little kick which surprisingly, she did! This was the first time Michael got to feel her kick :) He smiled and whispered to Grandma and Grandpa Ilich that Isabelle loved Thanksgiving dinner and is letting me know it.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

I am ready for my close-up Mr.DeMille

18 weeks and 2 days!
We had our "half way" ultrasound appointment yesterday which consists of the technician, Michelle, taking 50 pictures of our little one to check and make sure everything is right where it should be and what is or isn't there.

So after downing a large bottle of OJ (my doctor, Dr. Ramirez, said that sugar in juice usually makes the baby more active) I went in for the "long ultrasound procedure". With Michelle and I in the room, it took about 20 minutes to make sure she got all of the pictures needed for the doctor (and about 20 more minutes once we brought Michael in). Suddenly she asked if we wanted to know what the gender of our baby is. I smiled and told her that we REALLY want to know. She said, "well, I just got a great shot and know what you are having but I will wait until we bring your husband in". She then asked if I had any suspicions on what it is. I proceeded to tell her about the hair strand and wedding ring test which said it was a boy, how 65% of our friends think its a boy and the other 35% say girl or aren't sure.

Once she had all of the pictures she needed to get, she went out to get Michael. She had saved a great profile shot of our little one on the screen that Michael saw when coming into the room (which is a feat in itself since he has major anxiety in hospitals, especially little hospital rooms) then proceeded to search and share everything our baby was doing inside of me. It was waving, kicking, sucking its thumb and at one time we think it had the hick ups! It was so amazing!! However the one thing it wasn't doing for us was showing what is or isn't there...stinker! So, Michelle went back to the pictures she had taken for the doctor and pulled up two of them. She told us, "well, those old wives tales are not always true because you are having a....GIRL!" Michael and I both smiled at one another, started laughing and hi-fived each other (yes, right there in the ultrasound room we hi-fived each other, like kids at a ball game). Michelle laughed at our excitement. She printed up a dozen of the ultrasound pictures for us, which Michael so delicately accordion folded so when he brings them out to show someone, they will be overwhelmed when he unfolds them to show all 12 pictures at once, when all they may have wanted to see was one!
"Daddy's Little Girl" syndrome is now officially in full gear! :)

It's really in there!

I can't believe it really happened! They tell you it comes all of a sudden and unexpectantly but I can say, it truly threw me off guard.

This Tuesday (10/17) I was sitting at my desk typing away at an email when all of a sudden i felt something weird going on inside of me. It was as if I swallowed a butterfly and its wings were frantically beating at my insides. Then all of a sudden I realized...it was our little one, our little one moving around. An ear to ear smile came across my face as I pranced out of my office and downstairs to share the news with my Mom (I love having her agency below our company) and with tears in my eyes, I told her.

It's crazy...I have an actual live being growing inside of me. How amazing life truly is!