42 weeks

emre has officially been outside of the womb longer than in now.  that's pretty wild to think about!  my love for him continues to grow as i watch this little person emerge day by day.  he's such an amazing little guy!

the pecan pie didn't happen - no pecans in turkey.   this is the fig & almond cream galette - slightly over-baked.  i was disappointed by the lack of flavor, could be the figs were past their prime? but everyone seemed to like that it wasn't too sweet.  don't think it'll make the cut for t'giving though.

hangin' with his greek grandma

sunday night dinner: an amazing feast prepared by my friend christina - chinese goddess and cook extraordinaire!

blues baby!

good morning mommy

studies every object he can get his hands on

crunching numbers, just like daddy

sitting on top of each other, yet playing separately

emre, conrad & talia having a playdate

sleeping beauty

my sweet boy

first time on the swing!

we're gearing up for our second trip (with child, that is) to the us, to spend thanksgiving with my family.  we leave on saturday morning - can't wait to see everybody and enjoy some time at home.  wish us luck on our journey - we're gonna need it!

for the moms out there

You are in the trenches when you have a baby. To the untrained eye it seems pretty straightforward and easy – you feed them, you bathe them, you pick them up when they cry – but it’s more than that. It’s perpetual motion with a generous layer of guilt and self-doubt spread on top, and that takes its toll.

an excerpt from this blog post, which i feel is entirely spot on.  enjoy!

41 weeks

some pics from emre's 41st week:

he can read!

action hero, eating some puffs

visiting with great aunts hilal & ayfer

waiting for obama's acceptance speech!

food face, fascinated by a tiny dimple in the tupperware lid, allows mom & dad to eat their dinner in peace.

fall is finally here

or, at least that's what the weather forecast is telling me:

rain, rain, and more rain.

so this weekend i plan on getting my baking groove back by trying out this and this for possible thanksgiving desserts - that is if i can find the necessary ingredients for both.  i might have missed the figs, but let's hope not because just looking at that galette is making my mouth water.  i'm also planning on making martha's mac & cheese with some irish cheddar i brought back from dublin (if it's good enough for jefferson, it's good enough for me).  i've not baked or cooked in such a long time, i really look forward to getting back to it as the weather turns cold.  nothing like some comfort food on a rainy weekend!

the past week has been such a tough one watching my sister & brother-in-law deal with an impossible situation: losing their home to superstorm sandy.  a big blessing has been all of the support and love they've received from friends & strangers alike.  thank you to all of you who donated to their site to help them start over again.  sometimes i really have to wonder if jenni isn't responsible in some way for the kindness we receive during our most difficult times.

yesterday i woke up to good news followed by great news:  obama was re-elected president, and sarah & jeff found an apartment!  this is the best possible scenario, as the items they did salvage need to dry properly and cannot do that in a storage unit.  they'd left them in a u-haul in front of their old place, and luckily on tuesday found a nice apartment in a large, modern building to move them to.  it felt like a weight had been lifted when i read that news.  ben took emre and i out to celebrate last night with a fish dinner - you've got to celebrate the successes!

after we got home from dinner, we were bathing emre when the power went out.  faced with a pitch-black apartment, we grabbed emre from the bath, put him in his pj's and brought him to our dark bedroom where i nursed him until he fell asleep.  well, in that quiet, dark apartment, ben and i quickly fell asleep too!  we slept nearly 11 hours all together.  woke up this morning feeling like a brand new person (but regretting not having taken my contacts out), surrounded by my family.  definitely a great end to a great day - and a wonderful start to a new one!

40 weeks, halloween & one bad, bad hurricane

emre is nine months/40 weeks old!  ok, so he turned nine months while we were in ireland, but i just got around to taking his nine month shot... 

adorrrrable!

he also celebrated his first halloween this week.  although it was rather uneventful (they don't know about halloween here in turkey), we did our best to make it festive by donning all of the clothing grandma got for him.

 halloween pj's

my first halloween!

taking a dump in his skeleton pj's - note the face

i feel like a bad mom because he didn't have a proper costume, but really let's blame ben.  i found an adorable monkey costume while we were in the states and he told me i was crazy if i thought he was going to pack that in our suitcase. so... next year?

maybe he'll be a leprechaun

on another note, it's been a really tough week for my family.  everyone by now has surely heard about hurricane sandy.  my sister, sarah, and her husband jeff had a really scary experience, but thankfully made it out of their jersey city apartment safely along with their two cats and dog.  unfortunately their apartment did not survive the storm: it flooded to within inches of the ceiling and they lost everything.  they are now homeless, staying with friends until they can find a new place to live.  if you'd like to contribute to a fund we have created to help them get back on their feet, you can do so by clicking on this link.

your thoughts & love are appreciated!

ireland

we had a fantastic time in ireland & northern ireland.  

not-so-patiently awaiting his flight.  we kept him busy with tea bags.

happy to have made it to istanbul airport

it was such fun being back in my old stomping grounds (i studied in belfast in 2000), with my husband and baby.  we even visited the place where i lived!  

my apartment was the top right - place has not changed.  they've even still got the same curtains!

we flew into dublin and drove up to belfast the first day - the foliage was beautiful against the green backdrop.  we stayed north of the city, near my old neighborhood, at a country club.  it was gorgeous, peaceful & quiet.  which was good - emre went to bed at 7pm - and woke at 6 each morning, as did we (ok, we stayed up slightly later than 7, but only slightly)!

ready for bed

visited a starbucks so i could have a pumpkin latte

loved this quote

my eskimo baby in his new hat

it was great fun being back in belfast, though i could barely recognize the place.  it seemed everything had changed, with the exception of the parliament building!  losses from an economic downturn were evident everywhere.  ben pointed out too that my 20-year-old-self and my 33-year-old-self probably have a slightly different perspective on what makes a city 'cool' (i disagree).

we ventured up to belfast castle for spectacular views of the city, as well as some beautiful grounds.

emre & daddy in front of the castle

emre & mommy.  emre could not care less about the castle.

for mom

and we had a delicious lunch in my old neighborhood at 'bureau.'  another place that has totally changed - it used to be the jordanstown inn, a pub, that i took my parents to for beers when they visited.  it's much nicer now though, i must say!

yum!

we took it slow and spent plenty of time relaxing at the hotel... something that's become routine during our travels since we became parents!

our little prince, happy to be on vacation

on the third day we drove down the coast back to dublin.  unfortunately, i took barely any photos, but it was a beautiful drive through several coastal towns.  

doing his 'look, i'm funny!' face

keeping warm & kinda cranky

low tide with green pastures across the bay

can we get back in the car now?

we stopped off in dundrum for a break where we had coffee and scones at a lovely little cafe.  it was such a tiny town, everyone who walked into the cafe knew each other by name!

downtown dundrum

emre made friends wherever we went using his signature wave

all that socializing wears him out 

we arrived in dublin in the late afternoon, with enough time to settle into the hotel and then set out into the city to find some dinner before e's bed time.

e's welcome at the hotel

our hotel was adjacent to st. stephen's park, a beautiful spot for a morning walk!

st. stephen's park at sunrise

it's cold! and my mosquito bites have STILL not gone away.

we toured the city & ended up at the guinness brewery.  i was disappointed to find it has been completely commercialized since my last visit, but they do at least still offer free pints at the end of the tour (though the tickets weren't cheap!).  oh well, at least we had our guinness.

chillin' with mom at the gravity bar

wondering why we didn't give him a taste

great views of the city from the top

our last day was a rainy one, so we hung out at the hotel in the morning before venturing out for lunch.  we found a cozy spot in temple bar, gallagher's boxty house, where we had a delicious traditional irish meal (though, ben thought our dinner at unicorn was better.  let's just say we ate well!)

stout or the food?  decisions!

little ham

mine: corned beef with champ & an amazing parsley sauce, ben's: shepherd's pie, with a side of caramelized onion cooked with smoked paprika.  emre's: butternut squash & pear puree with rice cereal.

emre spent pretty much the entire trip staring at people.  he would literally sit with his back to us to people watch at restaurants (reminding me of my mother), and as soon as he caught someone's eye he'd either give them a big grin & snort or wave to get their attention.  at this pub he became good friends with a couple seated behind us and refused to turn around.  what a nut!

eyeing his friends

another one for you, mom!

we finished the trip off with a visit to the jameson distillery, where i got ben a spot in the whiskey tasting at the end of the tour.  they still do it - and they still give out certificates to the 'official' whiskey tasters at the end.  fun!

ben's now an official irish whiskey taster - just like me!

it was a loooong (12+ hours) journey home, mainly due to a marathon taking place in dublin the morning of our departure, so we had to leave super early for the airport.  but emre was a trooper, and we are so happy to have finally made it to ireland!

emre's favorite pose (note the feet)