she's here!

this morning aunt aydan arrived in turkey, allll the way from australia.  she's in izmir now, and we'll get to see her on friday, when she'll meet emre for the first time!  it is a wonderful and unexpected treat for us all.  she & ben have been counting the days via 'sleep & wake up's. we're down to only two more sleeps!

in the meantime we're keeping busy by keeping up with emre.  he's now talking constantly & picking up new words every day ('no!'  he says, pointing to his nose.  'mot!' he says, pointing to his mouth. 'miiik!' he says, when he'd like some milk).  a special time of day is bedtime, when we read his 'bo' (books).  'doggies,' by sandra boynton, is his absolute favorite.  that one we save for last and read all together, each of us taking turns making the doggy sounds (oof oof! is emre's part).

here are some pictures of our adorable & quickly growing little boy... enjoy!

hmmm... removing the books from my basket and putting ducky inside makes for a comfy seat!

half cook, half musician... this kid is going places.

oh yeah, and a couple packs of wild dogs have moved into our neighborhood. yay.

he grew overnight - again - and he's now a little boy, no longer a baby.  i have no idea how or when this happens.

pampering daddy at the barber with a facial.  it's how we roll in turkey.

opening his kinder egg, a post-haircut treat from his barber, latif.

sweaty baby waking up from a nap.  i think he really resembles his aunt sarah in this profile shot.

my boys, buildin' stuff

he's a genius! (phrase/tone borrowed from lydia bright)

look what we built!

you can dust faster if you use two cloths, ma

it's 6:30am, and yet another week has begun.  ready or not.

counting down

with our departure for the states just over two weeks away, we're fully in countdown mode.  each night when we take our walk, we talk about what we want to do while we're there.  where we'll go, what we'll eat, where we'll shop... all the little things we're looking forward to.  yes, it's that big of a deal to return to the states when you're an expat!  luckily, we've got little e to keep us busy and make the time pass, 'cause we cannot WAIT to see our family and friends.

playing with his two main pals, bumble bee and alligator (although, for now, he refers to both of them as buh-beeee!).  every morning he goes to the cabinet where (he's figured out) we store these noise-makers and asks for them.  we explain that they are still sleeping and will come out later - our poor downstairs neighbors need SOME peace and quiet, after all!

there's no end to the fun of having a paper bag over your head (sidenote: his nanny selected this outfit)

7am and worn out already...

...but only for two minutes.

 morning snuggles with mommy

psyched to be drinking milk from his 'special glass.'  it's the little things.

sleepy eyes

all in the world seems right...

...when we wake up in a good mood.

playing at the mall on sunday afternoon with dede and daddy (mommy was home, sick with food poisoning.  yuck.)

how i prepare for an outlet mall shopping spree in the us:  photo inventories of emre's clothes by size.  i think he's set for size 18-24 months pants, yes?

some funny pics of our funny little guy

emre is so much fun these days (when he's not in the middle of a tantrum, of course).  he's constantly making us laugh, and here's proof:

doing some early morning work at his 'desk'

saying hi to his 'abi' in the park (this is the original abi - the guy who maintains the park by our house - and emre now calls every older man or boy he sees 'abi' - which means big brother in turkish).

so we were out on an evening walk last week for about an hour before we stopped at the fruit truck by our house.  it was then that ben noticed a bird had taken a giant dump on our son's forehead.  poor baby!  we have no idea when it happened.  luckily, emre seemed oblivious to it.

um, can someone please remove the bird shit from my head?

they say it brings good luck...

mr. serious, working on his mega blocks

love that concentration face

smoothie 'stache

more smoothie!

trying on daddy's shoes

hangin' with moms on a sunday morning

making his 'mis mi pis?' face.  this is a game he plays with daddy - daddy asks if his feet smell good (mis) or bad (pis), and emre always claims 'mis' with this look on his face while trying to entice daddy to smell them, then daddy finally smells them and yells 'piiiiisssss!'

a demonstration on how to wear your shorts as a hat, or scarf.

celebrating in bodrum

on thursday morning we jetted off to bodrum for a long weekend in celebration of our 3rd wedding anniversary & the fourth of july.

i'm leavin' on a jet plane...

by noon we were in parardise!

the view from our room at casa dell'arte

ready to hit the beach

it was truly the perfect getaway - we so enjoyed the family friendliness of the resort.  each day was all about play, relaxation & loooong naps.  and plenty of delicious seafood, of course!

napping with daddy

emre got his first taste of the ocean - he loved it!

dipping his toes for the first time

i love it!

we also spent lots of time in the pool

water baby

the grounds were the perfect place for emre to run free (sort of)

exploring with daddy

running... everywhere

my lil' monkey

chillin' at the beach bar.

the grounds were immaculate.  the hotel is located in our favorite bodrum bay, torba, a yet-undeveloped (though not for long, we fear) bay.  it does host a number of gorgeous villas, which were fun to look at and daydream about on our walks.

wouldn't you like to live here?

walking on the beach to dinner

the best part of the location was that it was a short walk to our favorite restaurant, gonca balik.  we went last year with the mentz family & fell in love, so it was great to be able to return and again enjoy the amazing food with an even more amazing view!

balkayas on the beach

grilled octopus... yum.

emre enjoys a bite

sunset view from the deck

each morning we were the first to rise at the hotel, which was great because we had the whole place to ourselves for a few hours.  it's amazing what late risers turks are!

first time playing in the sand

king of the beach!

swimming in the aegean

this kid loved the sand

beach baby

relaxing with daddy at the end of the day

emre could not have been happier with all of the activity and fun.  each day he took a 3 hour nap and was exhausted by bedtime - from all that fun!

running back to the beach... again.

he was serious about the sand play & demanded that i refill his bucket with water about every 2 minutes

soooo busy

there were several other children & babies staying at the hotel, which was great fun for emre.

loungin' with his new friend who was happy to share her toys

ben's favorite part was definitely swimming with emre in the sea.  a dream come true for him!

back in the sea with daddy

this friendly dog decided we were his family for the weekend & barely left our side.  but he barked at everyone else!

the kiddie pool was fantastic because it was large & shaded in the afternoons, and emre could stand in it, which gave him quite the thrill.

chillin' with mom in the kiddie pool

emre also enjoyed alllllll of the food. 

 trying to bite through the banana peel.  this kid must be having a growth spurt.

rice cakes ...lounging with more snacks after a swim.

dried apple... he loved reaching into the beach bag to pick out his own snacks.

naked baby! the bar tender was nice enough to provide him with an unlimited supply of straws.

still loving the calamari!

casa dell'arte is just that - a house of art - which contains the collection of a (very wealthy) turkish family.  this one was my favorite installation - it reads 'the people you love become ghosts inside of you and like this you keep them alive'.

all in all it was an awesome (and much needed) get away.  today begins ramazan, so we'll be lying low for the month as we prep for our trip to the states.  counting the days!