Dad and Daughter Night!

I totally forgot to post a quick comment about the first ever "Dad and Daughter Night" which was held at our place two weekends ago that included Michael, Isabelle, Travis and Mackenzie.

It started off with Michael staying home with Isabelle, since he had been at one theatre or the other for the past 3 months, while I had an adult night out at a fundraiser that my friend Courtney invited me to (thank you again, Papabear). Amy and Travis were also invited and brought Mackenzie along with them (who is two months old and luckily, is still sleeping a lot). We had the baby table that night with Courtney and Mike's newest little one, Cavanaugh, and The Wiese's and Mac! And yes, I missed my Isabelle!

As the night progressed, it was apparent that Amy and I did not want to leave when others began to take off. There was still plenty of dancing and wine to be had! Plus, the lead singer from Foreigner was there and what a performance he put on (LOL!). With Mackenzie asleep and Amy and I off gallivanting, Travis decided that he and Mackie would go and hang out with Michael at our house...thus the very first "Dad and Daughter Night". They were playing with the girls, hanging our by the firepit and doing "Dad" things while Amy and I hung out at the fundraiser until the second encore finished. At that time, we decided that our night was still not over and headed over to the Greens (a putting green/bar where Amy's brother, Matt, works) in our formal wear and finished our night off there.

When we got home, the girls were out! We all smiled and thought that this is just the beginning...there are many more nights like this to come :)

Pic: Travis taking a cat nap with Mackenzie!

Look Out!!

Get the outlet covers out and baby proof the house...today is the day that our little one is not only sitting up on her own but is now mastering the "army crawl"! We cannot believe it! Grandmama Ilich was watching her this morning (while Michael is trying to get rid of this horrendous cold/flu he has-at least his 103.7 degree fever broke yesterday) at her house and was so pleased on how good she was sitting up on her own. She got her back to the office, where we do the "hand off" and as I came down the stairs, there was Isabelle, army crawling towards a toy that Grandmama had given her! I couldn't believe it. I called her name and asked her what she was doing and she just looked at me and smiled her two teeth grin. So I proceeded to rattle my keys (her new found toy) and placed them just out of her reach and sure enough...there she went until she got them! I was so excited to get her home to show Michael, thinking that this would cheer him up for sure and boy did it! She starts with a roll to get onto her tummy and forearms then she digs those little monkey feet of hers into the carpet and pushes off towards victory!

What's new in Izzy's world?

Like we had previously mentioned, Isabelle's pediatrician wanted her to start on rice cereal at 4 months, green veggies at 5 months, fruits and sweet veggies (sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, etc.) at 6 months and meats at 7 months. Well, you saw how the rice cereal went and truth be told, she loves it! It has to be Cream of Wheat style though, not too runny or else nothing doing.

So the week before her 5 month birthday, Dad decides he wanted to try out peas with Isabelle to no avail...she doesn't care for them one bit (just like her mother)! But a week later on her 5 month birthday he tried green beans (aka: her birfday beans-yes, that is the way it is said-hehe) and boy oh boy, what a difference that was compared to the peas! She loves them! Grandmama was so excited to break out the highchair at her house to feed her. It is a whole new "food world" for everyone.

Also as of August 23rd, exactly one week after she cut tooth #1, we had a sighting of tooth #2! Yes, our little one now has two chompers in that little mouth of hers which Mom has felt on several occasions...no making her smile or laugh when I am nursing her :) She became a little irritable but not at all like what we thought she would become after reading about teething. Maybe she will be a monster child when the others, especially her molars, come in. Thank goodness we have awhile to wait for those.

As part of her teething process we have noticed some new "things" she likes to do, besides putting EVERYTHING she gets her hands on into her mouth. While sitting with someone or at the table in her carrier, she grabs for a glass with whatever it may be in it; beer, wine, water, it doesn't matter, and she chews on the rim. It must feel really good on those gums! Michael found out the hard way not to let her do this shortly after she has eaten. Imagine this...Michael holding Isabelle who just ate maybe 20 minutes before, chewing on the rim of Dad's glass of Cabernet Franc...and blau...ruined!

Here is another new thing...

The nurses said from the minute Isabelle was born, that they couldn't believe how alert she was. When she would finally go to sleep, they would whisk her away to the nursery for her hearing test, but the moment they got her in there, there Isabelle was, eyes open and checking out the world. Needless to say, after 5 attempts she had her hearing test done while she was awake. Well now, this "alertness" that we have been so proud of is posing a problem. For the past week and a half, she is fighting teeth :) and nail to stay awake because we believe she thinks she is going to miss something. She gets completely cranky and starts crying and fussing and fighting the fact that she is tired. Just today when I came home from work, there she was pitching a fit, rubbing her eyes and fighting going to sleep; Dad and her were not friends when I walked in. She hates to be cradled but I have found that this is the only way to get her to calm down and go to sleep when she gets into these tizzies. I give her her pacifier, cradle her in my arms, sway back and forth while lightly patting her back and after a few minutes, off to la-la land she goes. Dad and everyone else will learn their own technique or hopefully won't have too because our fingers are crossed, that this growing pain won't last too long.

She is rolling around all over the place as well; front to back and back to front...maybe she has ADD? LOL! We have to keep our eyes on her all the time. We have her on her gym mat on the floor and then, no kidding, a few minutes later, she has rolled of it and is about a foot away, sitting up on her elbows looking at you. She is a wiggle worm!

We shall see what next week has in store for us. Perhaps she will like another green veggie like spinach or sit up on her own (she is getting there) or maybe she will figure out the mysteries of the unknown...you never know whats next with our little Isabelle.

By the way....we want to welcome to the world our friends Courtney and Mike's new son, Cavenaugh Henn. He was born on Labor Day :) at 10:50pm weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21.5 inches long!! He is the first boy of the group and we have his party dress all picked out for the first tea party :) We love you guys!

HOLLYWOOD!!

The week before last we received a phone call from Michael's Aunt Diane, who lives in Michigan, saying that her, his cousin Sarah and her man Tom, are going to be in Torrance for a wedding and would love to see us (we think it was mainly to see Isabelle-hehe). So, this past Monday (August 20) it was decided that we would meet in Hollywood for lunch, since they haven't visited this part of the west coast before.

We met in front of the Mann Chinese Theater and continued being "tourons", as Michael likes to say, from there. In the 90 degree heat (and we thought it would be sooo much cooler over the hill), we checked out the Mann Chinese and all of the ghetto characters walking around trying to get you to take pictures with them (their costumes were truly awful that day and Darth Vader was no where to be found so we didn't take any), the stars on the walk of fame (can you believe Godzilla has one? Seriously!), the Kodak Theater and all of the fun souvenir stores! In the Kodak Theater mall, there was a great photo op of the Hollywood sign so, as "tourons", we had to stop too and get our own pics!

We proceed to a cafe in the Kodak Theater mall where we had an awesome lunch and great conversation getting ourselves caught up on everything since our wedding (we think we have Sarah and Tom talked in to moving out this way). Sarah brought Isabelle a bib from her Alma mater and Michael's favorite college (NOT!), the University of Michigan :) and Aunt Diane made Isabelle an adorable quilt that goes perfectly with the colors in her nursery! We thought Grandma and Grandpa O had told her what the colors were :)

It was a wonderful afternoon and we can't wait to see them again at Christmas!!

Oh Captian, My Captain

Finally got the rest of the Alaska pics back from the disposable camera. Here is the picture we promised to post of Isabelle and our captain on Isabelle's first flight on board Alaska Airlines from LAX to Vancouver.

Holy teething ring, Batman!

YES, it happened...our little Isabelle cut her first tooth today! There were none of the "usual signs"; grumpiness, fever or crying just a WHOLE LOT of drooling (which has been going on for over a month so we really didn't think much of it).

This is how I found it:

I was sitting at the computer today, finishing up some work from home, and had Isabelle sitting on my lap. Needless to say, our squirmy wormy child of ours was moving around so I switched her positioning on my lap, which didn't work because she was trying to get to the phone, a pen, some paper and my laptop (she has found out she can grab things and loves to get her hands on everything) but finally sat still when she found the knuckle of my index finger. Now usually we don't let her suck on our fingers, let alone her own since she has found her thumbs (that is a whole other story), but this time it stopped her from squirming. All of a sudden I felt something hard rubbing on my finger, immediately thinking I had something on my finger that she was getting at but come to find there wasn't anything there. I stopped and thought for a second, there is no way, there is just no way, she is only 4 and a half months old! Then low and behold, I rubbed my index finger across her bottom gumline and sure enough, there was the jagged beginnings of her first tooth!

Our baby is growing up way too fast. What's next, walking?

Our new favorite photo...

My friend Becky and I went to see The Spazmatics (an AWESOME 80's coverband) tonight at our city's Central Park and we caught my little stinker doing this, since the moment we arrived...

Needless to say, we had a great time with Isabelle being the ham that she is, up to our gourmet dinner from Ralphs consisting of a shared turkey club, macaroni salad, carrots, pretzels, hummus, twizzlers and 24oz Miller Lites! YEAH BABEH :)

Best Buds!

Need we say more? :)

Hey...look what I found!

Well, our little one has found her feet. She has yet to realize just how tasty they may be but definitely knows where they are. She especially thinks they are fun to grab and move around during diaper changing time or while Mommy pushes her around in the jogger :)

MMMM....cereal!

We went to the doctors yesterday for Isabelle's 4 month check up and she is right where she needs to be. She is holding her head up when she is held or on her tummy, cooing and making all sorts of fun sounds, grabbing and holding onto things and is still as curious as ever. She weighs 13 lbs. 3 oz, is 24 1/2" tall and get this, her head it 16" in diameter! Guess who she gets that from? :) She is taller than the average infant at this age and average but on the lighter side for her weight. Izzy had a slight fever today from the shots but all in all, she is doing great.

Isabelle's doctor told us that he would like to have her start rice cereal this month as early as today (granted it is only one teaspoonful, twice a day) so, Michael decided she needed a little morning snack to tide her over until I got home this afternoon....do you think she likes it? I don't think she is quite sure of it yet :)

Do "Juneau" Alaska? Isabelle does!

Our little one officially has her first set of wings on Alaska Airlines and her first set of sea legs on Regent Seven Seas as she joined us for my work's 29th Annual Advisory Board Meeting.

Last Wednesday morning (4am in the morning) we were all set for Isabelle's first flight to Vancouver. First off, can I just say, traveling with an infant requires a whole LOT of things! Isabelle's stuff took up half of our largest suitcase and, as a reminder, it was just the two of us that I had to pack for! Mom and Dad Ilich came to pick us up at 4:15am but upon their arrival to our place, we realized that the biggest trunk between our cars was my Mom's and there wasn't nearly enough room for all of our suitcases and her travel system stroller (we cant wait until she is a little bit bigger and can fit into the oh so compact, umbrella stroller). So, Papa had to take Isabelle and I to the airport separately which, besides getting him up at 4am, was fine :)

We all got to LAX safe and on time...showing off Isabelle's new passport, using the elevators to get up to the gate level and collapsing EVERYTHING to go through security. Man, that was an adventure in itself! I just thank God that Grandmama and Grandpa Ilich were there with us.

The flights were wonderful, not a peep out of her. I nursed her each time we took off and she was pretty much sucking on her pacifier or asleep when we landed. We got pictures with the captian, which I will have to post later since its on a disposable camera because my battery was completely lost its charge and I had to buy a new one in Vancouver. On the fight over, Mom and I were handing her off to one another to eat, use the restroom, etc. but, the flight home was a different story.

Isabelle and I left in Sitka on Monday, Grandmama and Grandpa Ilich stayed for three more days into Anchorage, and flew into Seattle with our friend (and an Advisory Board Member) Kathy. I was very lucky to have her there to assist me through Sitka's tiny, scrutinizing everyone who went through, security gate and getting us settled in. It was quite funny, though the tickets were booked through separate travel agencies, we were seated right next to one another. That flight was great. The leg from Seattle to Burbank however, was just the two of us. Thank God, once again, for preboarding!

As the other first class passengers started boarding right after me, I noticed "the look", which I hadn't before since I was preoccupied with Isabelle and my Mom or Kathy. I suspect they were probably thinking, "Oh crap, a baby. AND she is in first class!" And the person who got assigned to sit next to us, was probably thinking the same thing. Boy, did Isabelle throw all of them off. She slept the entire flight! After about a half an hour after take off, the lady next to me started talking with me and even offered her tray to put my drink and dinner on. She actually opened my dressing and cut portions of my dinner so I could eat with one hand. She is itching for the day her boys give her grandkids. One is married but just got shipped off to Iraq a month ago (sending him best wishes for a safe return home). I said I would keep my fingers crossed for her :)

As for the cruise, Isabelle was the star of the ship! She had everyone saying hi to her, passengers and crew alike. Only one 10 minute meltdown in the cabin with Grandmama after we left Ketchikan and that was it! I was soooo happy :) We cruised the Inside Passage and Tracy Arm and visited Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and disembarked in Sitka. We went shopping and found silver bear earrings for Isabelle and saw a Lumberjack show in Ketchikan (Isabelle slept through it until the super charged chainsaws came out). We went whale watching in Juneau where we saw two Orcas as well as two Humpbacks, one was a mama with her calf, and a bunch of sealions. As for Skagway, at 76 degrees, we took a nice leisurely stroll around town then back to the ship to relax. All in all, it was a great trip and, although without her papa, a wonderful first time adventure for our little one :)

4TH OF JULY!!

Our 4th of July started off with dinner and a movie the night before...a 10:20 showing of Pirates III! So we arranged to drop Isabelle off with Grandmama and Grandpa Ilich at 8 so we could meet up with everyone for dinner around 8:15. Here is the clencher...the night before, Grandmama came over to babysit while I went to the gym (I was gone 1.5 hours) and when I got home, come to find, she had a total melt down. Michael and I have been saying that her "witching hour" is between 6-7pm and Grandmama go stuck right in the middle of it. Having said that, we proceeded to have her Grandparents watch her for what turned out to be a 5.5 hour stretch and were somewhat worried that the night before scenario may happen again. We called after dinner while walking to the movies (such a new parent thing-it was funny) only to hear that she has been sleeping and guess who got her to sleep? GRANDPA! I guess the "bond" he was searching for has officially been put into place.

The following morning we proceeded to get our butts out of bed at 7 to get ready for our local Santa Clarita Valley parade with the Rotary's pancake breakfast that I have not had in about 15 years. Michael headed over to the theatre to reserve our seats...a couch from the lobby pulled out in front of the theatre with mimosas flowing freely :) People walked by commenting that this was the way to watch the parade and boy was it! Isabelle missed the first half while snoozing on my lap.

After the parade we headed home for our now 2nd Annual BBQ! We had a bunch of friends over, including the other "new kids", went swimming (which was Isabelle's first time and after she got in, loved. No crying or tears-YEAH!) and then ended with watching fireworks over Town Center at the Summit Park (aka: our backyard). She slept right through those as well.

(Pics above : Grandmama and Isabelle at the parade, Isabelle eyeing my mimosa :) , Isabelle's "fairy cubparents"- April and Jason Price in the parade for the Goose, Papa, Izzy and Mama, the newest member to the Jaycee kids club...MacKenzie! and Isabelle taking the plunge)

All in all, it was a wonderful first 4th of July!

SHE IS HERE!!

Well, as you all know, our little Miss. Isabelle Anessa arrived almost on her due date (37 mins late), on March 28, 2007 at 12:37 am and was 6 lbs, 8 oz and 20.5" long. The delivery was a piece of cake...once I got the epidural :) We checked into the hospital around 5:30ish and 7 hours later, we had our beautiful little girl in our arms. Michael (Papa) did great, considering the fact that he said he would be no where near the delivery room and actually stayed right outside the door behind a curtain until she was here. I did have one of my best friends, Amy (who was also pregnant at the time), and my Mom with me through the delivery itself "rooting me on". My other "coach", April, who is also Isabelle's Godmother, couldn't be there. She was laid up on her couch with what we found out a few weeks after Isabelle got here, the picklettes...yes, twin girls! We had several visitors at the hospital but mostly the day we got home until about 2am!! Everyone was so excited to meet her and Michael and I were on the biggest adrenaline rush ever that we didn't mind staying up. She just slept right through it all.

Since then Isabelle has met many "milestones"; She had her 2 month shots (the very first time we have heard the most heartbreaking cry/wail come out of our little one's mouth and there was nothing we could do about it), holds her head up, starting to roll herself over to her back when she is on her tummy, almost sits up without falling over (see my MySpace page for a great video that Michael caught of her while at the theatre-http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=20218509), blows bubble (yes, that is a milestone), smiles the most beautiful smile, coos, giggles and almost laughs (especially at her Papa), focuses on pretty much everything, grabs things but not intentionally just yet and so many other things. She is a wonderful (knock on wood) and very alert baby whom we hear, has set the bar pretty high for all of our friends who are having kids.

She had her first road trip up to Lake Tahoe two weekends ago for our friends Kremer and Adriann's wedding and did wonderful! Uncle Steve and Aunt Vicki came over the hill (about an hour and a half drive) to babysit her while we were at the wedding. It was a great time!

Speaking of traveling, Isabelle will be going on her first flight with her Mom, Grandmama and Grandpa Ilich on July 18 to Vancouver. Once we are in Vancouver, we will be boarding a ship and sailing to and through Alaska for an Advisory Board Meeting for my work. Unfortunately Papa cannot make it, the REP's summer fundraiser is that weekend, but we know that she will be in Grandmama's loving hands while I am in meetings. My Dad swears that when my Mom cut the cord, she reconnected it to herself...she loves this little one just as much as we do! So with flying into Canada, you know what that means...we have to get a passport which entails getting passport pictures done. Oh was that a hoot! We went to AAA yesterday waited for about 5 mins until they called my name and when they found out the pictures needed to be taken of Isabelle, no joke, 5 ladies immediately came over to assist with the pictures. Needless to say she was an angel, hamming it up for them and we got just the right shot. Now lets see how quickly her passport will be turned around even with expedited shipping!

Here are a few more pics...


2 months in the brown dress that Ash and Grandma O gave her, 1.5 months with Papa in their Red Wings jerseys & only 3 weeks old in the pink sweater and the picture with Mom and Papa below. Isabelle was a little under 2 months in the pic with the build a bear from Jackie and Randy & 1.5 months with her sis, Bear.

Lake Tahoe pics from Kremer and Adriann's wedding (June 21-24) at almost 3 months and in the Princess Las Vegas onesie from Sally, she is 3 months!

Well, there is the quick Izzy Owston update!. We will be sure to add more blog entries as the days progress. Meanwhile, we wish everyone a very happy and safe 4th of July!