emre turns eleven months!

emre celebrated his 11 month birthday today, while his cousin carolyn celebrated her 4 month birthday. all of this resulted in a seriously cute dual-birthday photo shoot.  

can't believe next month we'll celebrate ONE YEAR!!!

the rehearsal dinner shot, as julianne called it!

merry christmas, from madrid!

here's how we've been celebrating... hope this finds you enjoying a very merry christmas with your loved ones, wherever you are!

spanish christmas cake

kathryn, patiently awaiting her christmas eve breakfast of sweets

a spanish christmas nativity

christmas eve manchego fondue, with all the fixin's

adam & julianne enjoying the spread - everything was delicious, especially the champagne!

our best christmas gifts - emre, kathryn & carolyn - on christmas morning

elf emre

emre's favorite gift was the wrapping paper, naturally

pretty girl in her new dress, enjoying her new doll

lincoln, doing his best to be festive

merry christmas from kathryn!

47 weeks

tomorrow we are off to spain to celebrate emre's first christmas with the price family.  

more from madrid... but for now, some photos from the week!

first taste of mandarins

skeptical at first

hmmm... i suppose i could eat this (he loves 'em)

new water bottle? new TOY!

just try & take it away from me

who knew a plastic bottle could provide hours of fun?

merry christmas!

thinking back

hard to believe how different our lives were last year at this time.  we were spending christmas eve with the mentz family - this year eric will return to ankara for a happy reunion with his family after three months away, just in time for the holidays.  we're so happy they will be together & we'll get to spend some time with him during his visit home.  this year we'll be spending christmas with our other ankara family, the price family, in spain.  it was just two years ago that we last spent christmas together, here in ankara, when we were childless and they only had one little girl.  funny how much those images of baby kathryn remind me of emre - they could be siblings!

last year, not only was the house decorated (still haven't gotten around to hanging so much as a wreath!  but being away for the actual holiday gives me a little excuse, at least), but wow, look at that baby belly i was carrying around!  funny how you so easily forget the aches & pains (and, let's face it, puke) of pregnancy, and replace those memories with the magic of having had your baby with you 24/7, feeling him move constantly inside that belly!

i remember going to the mall every day to walk, to feel better - and hoping that all that walking would coax him out (no such luck - born a week late).  i also remembered this morning as i zipped up my boots that ben was doing that for me last year - i couldn't bend down or reach them.  none of my maternity clothing fit properly (hence the lovely outfits i was coming up with, like the one pictured), and i really just wanted to stay home in my pj's which were at least comfortable.  but what i remember most is the feeling of anticipation, of excitement.  i so enjoyed celebrating christmas, knowing that within a few weeks (or, as it turned out, over a month) i'd be getting the best gift of all.

and here we are, a year later, celebrating emre's first christmas with us!  i'm sure i'll post more on this past year in the coming month leading up to his birthday, but for now i just wanted to bask in the memories of our last christmas as a couple, even though emre was very much WITH us at that point.  such a unique time in our lives, one that we'll always treasure... almost as much as we treasure our little boy!

since i haven't decorated, here are some of my favorite christmas tunes to make up for it (and more here that i posted last year).  they've been playing in our house non-stop this week, much to emre's dancing delight!

46 weeks

emre's now 46 weeks.  his favorite activity is dancing - he gets better at it every day.  he now sways back and forth, but also will squat down & jump back up with the rhythm & clap along.  he'll stop whatever he's doing as soon as he hears music (either on the stereo or from a toy, or even if i sing to him) to get his groove on, mid-crawl, or standing up, or sitting in his high chair.  it's awfully cute.  he also talks all the time, though we have no idea what he's saying.  ben insists he's calling me when he says 'maaaaaaam!' since he often does it when he wants me, but he also says it to inanimate objects, so who knows?  he's gotten better at sleep, much to our relief, and is working on a second top front tooth from what we can tell.  he looks to be about ready to stand on his own - will do it for a few seconds at a time if he's not thinking about it.  loves to crawl everywhere, at a good clip.  kid keeps us BUSY!  but boy are we enjoying him.  

here are the only 3 pictures i took this week... tgif!

such a big boy in his plaid, vest, jeans & sneaks

fun during a power outage

too bad we couldn't USE the flashlight!

a trip to the us & emre turns 10 months

we arrived back from the states on monday and have been recovering since.  let's just say it's been a looong week, with not a lot of sleep.

hanging with mom in the middle of the night

emre's now ten months - we had his checkup this week and found out he's gained 1.5 kg's (now 21 pounds), and grew 4 cm's (he's now 28.7 inches!).  most importantly, the doctor agreed with us that he is showing signs that he's pretty advanced for his age (we're not just crazy parents!  yay!).  needless to say we're incredibly proud of our boy.

ten month old cutie

we had a WONDERFUL time in the states, though it was very short between holidays and ben working the second week.  it's always good to spend time with family - especially now that we have emre to share with them!  here are some pics from our stay.  

reunited with the mustache man.  their first order of business was a beer run!

out to lunch with mom & dad - seems like a good time to take a dump.

the street of sarah & jeff's old apartment that was flooded - cleanup crews were still working away.  note the freedom tower in the distance.

water-logged cars still lined the streets.  as we pulled into town we followed a tow truck, and didn't realize why he was towing the two cars on top until he turned a corner & water started pouring out of them both!

heading into the apartment for a tour of the destruction - hard to describe how bad it really was

hanging at sarah & jeff's NEW place - a beautiful apartment!

ready for his road trip - dad took the obligatory road trip shot

spent lots of time at the park in mom & dad's neighborhood where emre loved the swing

he also loved the slide!

seemed like a good idea, until halfway down they were stuck

my cava pomegranate punch & the apps at thanksgiving

thanksgiving fun - too bad this was the only pic i took!  dad, please send more pictures.

fazil can joined us from boston - emre was glad to see him!

of course they made time for video games (yep, they downloaded apps on their phones so they could use them as game controllers).

fun with grandpa & aunt sarah

making good use of his new walking toy

all that fun wore him out

good morning, sleepy face

almost every day i took him for a walk so he could nap - it was great being in a neighborhood where you can do that.  we walked to wegman's several times - even better!

we had to.

among all of his new toys, it was the box that he liked best.

could not get over that box.

making friends at parker's

can't get the food in fast enough?  do a face plant.

only in america - ping pong balls in the beer aisle

a quick visit with uncle serdar enroute to nj

sleeping on the way to nj 

enjoying bathtime back at home