A Star Is Born!

Almost "GO TIME"!

So I had my 40 week appointment today, yes 40 WEEKS, and I am 2 cm dilated and my cervix has thinned out which means it could be any day now!! However should little Ms. Isabelle not want to come this week, she will have no choice next Wednesday because that is when I am scheduled to be induced.

So keep those fingers crossed and good thoughts coming! We are hoping to have Cubby come out of hibernation sooner than later :)

Papa O's Debuts

As most of you know, Michael was in an independent film last year shot in Malibu called Abe and Bruno. I have been trying to get my hands on a copy of the movie however, since it was automatically released in Europe and not the states, as well as me being out of town both nights they screened it, I haven't seen it yet. Last night I googled Abe and Bruno (after posting our "Bad Blogger" post) and this link to the trailer came up...I was so excited that I had to share it!

Take a look see...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8939850307017816276&q=Bruno&pr=goog-sl

Speaking of debuts, this past Wednesday Michael was called in to be an extra on one of our new favorite shows, The Riches! With his super charm and dance moves (which I have yet to see-LOL) , he was moved up to be a forward extra giving him a lot more camera time than the other folks. We will be sure to post a blog when that episode comes up but just in case we fall behind, like you know we can and have, the episode you should be on the look out for is the one where Eddie Izzard's (Wayne/Doug) boss gets married.

Look out world, it's Izzy's Dad....the superstar! :)

Bad Bloggers!

We know, it has been FAR too long since we had an entry and we don't want to have anymore comments from certain friends (who mind you, are wonderful weekly bloggers that we just cannot compete with-you know who you are!) on visiting our blog site and seeing the "Wings Crap" again. Gosh...and to think, our little one isn't even here yet and we have fallen this far behind. We will make up for it, we promise!

So to get everyone caught up, we thought we would summarize the last few months with some highlights and pics of things/events we have been up too! Here it goes...

At my first appointment of the new year the ultrasound above was taken. It was truly an amazing shot and so weird, but totally awesome to think, that this little one is inside of me. Since then, we have had several more (as you can imagine since this is my 39th week). We have been going to the doctor on a weekly basis since week 34 and each time, she (and I) are growing a little more. As of last Wednesday and this past Wednesday, I am a whopping 1-1/2 cm dialated-WHOO HOOO. For all who live out here, this weekend you will see me hiking up the hills behind Summit Park so hopefully when I go in next Monday my doctor will say I am ready to go! :)

Now we go into February...a busy month for one and all! The REP held its annual fundraiser, Evening with the REP, in its own house this year where we raised just over $5,000. The night was a memorable one with great food, awesome silent auction, romantic and quirky romantic scenes from plays and movies (including one of my favorites from Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan's movie, "French Kiss") performed by our "Company" and dancing until 2am, followed by a trip to the Saugus Cafe...Mama was hungry!

Also in February, my Mom (Grandmama Ilich) and some of my girlfriends (Steph, Amy and Sarah) hosted my Baby Shower! It was held at my parents clubhouse with adorable onesies and sock clotheslines decorating the room along with a "Welcome Isabelle Anessa" welcome mat cake! It was a great time and I/we thank everyone who came.

The nursery is on its last leg of being finished, yes we know that Isabelle is due next week and could have been here already, It has been a challenge with a few things like the changing table we finally received that had to be sent back and re-ordered because it had two broken pieces. Well, we got the new one today and all the pieces are in tact :) That is actually what Papa O is doing tonight.

For those who have been to our place, we actually had the loft upstairs turned into the nursery about two months ago. The half wall was built up into a wall with a window (on the stairwell wall) and a door. We chose lavender and green as the colors to paint the walls with white furniture to go with all of the new trim. We will post some pics once its completed.

Well, that is all for now until we get some more pics...maybe of Isabelle this weekend, if we are lucky! Everyone keep your fingers crossed because we are sooo ready for her to be here and meet all of you!

Hugs to all!!

GO WINGS!

What an awesome surprise we recieved for Christmas from our best friends, and Isabelle's godparents, April and JP...tickets to the January 6th game of the LA King vs. the Detriot Red Wings!

We started our evening by slipping into our Red Wing "sweaters" (jerseys as April and I call them) and driving out to the Odyssey restraunt to sit on thier patio overlooking the valley and watching the sunset. We then proceeded down the street to El Presidente for a quick bite to eat, thinking we would miss the game if we stayed and waited as long as we did for our drinks at the Odyssey. Deep fried appetizer platter...Izzy loved it!! But I was missing my Purple Cadillac Margarita.

The game was awesome...amazingly there was lots of red, since we were on the Kings playground. The Wings started off on top but unfortunatly were taken over in the last 15 minutes of the game. But we held our heads high as the Kings fans walked by booing the Wings or telling us they suck because all we had to proudly say was "10"..."10 Stanley cups" and they couldn't touch that :) Our boys celebrated regardless trying to keep with the Michigan tradition of...too much beer!

All in all, it was a great evening and we can't wait to take Izzy to her first Wings game. Who knows, it could be this winter when we are back on thier turf! GO RED WINGS!!

Welcome 2007!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!!

And what a better way to ring it in then with all of our friends at our theatre celcbrating Carnivale di Venezia!!

To bring in 2007 we (the REP) hosted our very first New Years fundraiser and transformed our theatre into the hottest dance spot in SCV (which most people know is pretty much a feat in itself).

Full of fun, music, new faces to meet and lots of great food and drinks (sparkling water for me with a champagne sip at midnight). It was a huge success and we can't wait to host it again this year. We already have our babysitter lined up...thanks Mom and Dad! :)

For the full story you can visit our full page write up in our local paper, the Signal, at http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=45384&format=html .

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!