Dinner Time with Mom and Dad

We have discovered a way to eat dinner with Calvin awake that gives us both hands. Apparently our stroller is multi-functional, we usually put him in his stroller and use our foot to move him around, while we eat. It works like a charm and even gives us a little leg work out. Last night he was so comfy he fell asleep. We can't wait to get home as we have a swing there that would come in so handy for these little moments where he isn't content just sitting or laying down and both our hands need to be available.

Sleepy Boy....sometimes

The other day I put Calvin on the floor to "play"and went to get some lunch, he was fussing so I quickly finished and by the time I got back to the living room he was asleep (seriously this was only 3 minutes). It's amazing how quickly he can fall asleep sometimes and how other times it takes him several hours. It was pretty chilly in our house that day so I covered him up and snapped a picture.

Speaking of sleep, Calvin has been sleeping great at night, but the problem is it takes him a while to fall asleep, apparently we have a little night owl. Lately he has been wide awake from 9-12/1ish then after I feed him again he will sleep until 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning, (of course he wakes up to eat in the middle of the night). It's great that he sleeps in that late, but it we would like him to go to bed a little earlier so we could have a little time together in the evenings while he is asleep. Any ideas????

Little Blessings

Calvin wanted to wish our Family back in the States a Happy Thanksgiving. We have certainly enjoyed his new little coos. We enjoy our little conversations we now get to have with him.

As I think over some things that have been blessings lately I have to laugh at a few of them, so I thought I would share a few you:

Dryer! Soft socks and towels, we certainly feel pampered being able to use one while we are in Istanbul. I can also do more than one load of laundry a day, it's amazing.

Tortillas! It makes Mexican food so much easier. I don't have to go through the long process of making tortillas in order to have Mexican here because you can buy them. When we first got here Marvin suggested having quesadillas and I had to laugh because we could finally have them. It seemed like such a waste when you made tortillas because you have to use two for one quesadilla.

Arby's! It just hits the spot sometimes, we will certainly miss those tasty Roast Beef Sandwiches when we go back.

Nutella and Peanut Butter! Okay I discovered an amazing dessert, if you haven't had nutella I highly suggest trying it, what's not to like about a spreadable chocolate! I created a new concoction using a tortilla, if you spread some peanut butter on one side and nutella on the other and roll it up it is scrumptious.

New friends! We have been so thankful for everyone we have met here, they have made us feel right at home and just accepted us into their families like we have known them forever.

Sitting all by himself....with the help of his chair!

We had my parents bring us this Bumbo Chair and the other day I put Calvin in it and to my surprise he fit perfectly. You are supposed to use it once they can hold their necks up, but since he is still so short the back of the chair worked as the perfect neck rest. He was so quiet and just looked around the whole time he was in it. He really liked it.

Now just because it worked once doesn't mean it will work again. He was talking up a storm this morning and I thought, lets try the bumbo and get a good picture. He was having none of that and let me know it was time to end this little photo shoot.

Please Feed Me!

We had a request to post a video of his cry. So here is Calvin telling us he is hungry. It certainly has gotten a lot stronger since the last video we posted, no more little squeaks, he now lets us know what he needs.

Tummy Time

Calvin is starting to figure out this tummy time stuff, but once he finds his hand it is all over. He suddenly becomes very comfortable and we can forget about working on those stomach muscles.

Thankful for Family

We took this picture the last night my parents and sister were here and it took quite a lot of effort to get it done as we used the self timer. We probablly took around 15 pictures before everyone was in the picture or I wasn't blinking. What great memories, it is hard to believe that has been almost 2 weeks ago.

My Sleepy Boys

Sometimes Calvin likes to do be awake for long stretches of time, 3 hours, but then he is so tired and sometimes just can't quite fall asleep very easily, poor guy. Last night Marvin got him quieted down while I was in the kitchen and when I peeked in the living room I found both of my guys resting comfortably on the couch. I was certainly picture worthy.

One Month Old!

Calvin is growing like a weed! We knew he was growing but we weren't sure how much he had grown. We had his one month check up today and he weighed in at 9 lb. 4 oz and now is 21.7 inches long. He is certainly getting bigger. The doctor was pleased with his weight gain.

We also asked her about his excessive gas issue and she thought it was normal, but told us to give him some drops regularly to help his little digestive system handle the gas better. I had stopped drinking cow's milk and eating dairy products and that seemed to help the painful uncomfortable gas. But after talking to her she encouraged me to start drinking milk again, since he didn't show any signs of colic, so we shall see how he responds. He has been doing great lately, I hate to try milk again, but my body has been craving it.

He also took his shot in stride today. He certainly turned extremely red and let out a good wail, but quickly calmed down. I think this shot wore him out as he was been asleep since we left the doctor's office.

We also got his metabolic test results back today and everything is normal. We are thankful for a healthy baby, but we still don't have an answer to why I had excess amniotic fluid, I guess it will remain a mystery. PTL for a healthy growing boy!

Fuss Buster!

Marvin certainly gets an arm workout when Calvin starts fussin' as most of the time he quiets down if he holds him like pictured above and then moves him up and down. Apparently this technique only works for Marvin, as I don't have the touch.

Love it!

Okay, seriously this nursing cover is awesome. I have used it so much it is crazy, it lets me feed Calvin when others are around so I don't have to miss out on the conversation. I highly recommend one to any nursing mom. (THANKS SO MUCH JESSI)

Trip to Greece

Since we have been here a while we had to leave the country to get new visas. After some thought and research we decided to take a train to Greece. It was a long short trip, we left early Monday morning and returned around 9:30 Tuesday night. The train arrived at the city we spent the night around 5:30 at night and we headed back to Istanbul at 12:30 the next day.

Calvin was did great traveling, the motion of the train lulled him right to sleep. We aren't so sure that was a good thing as he did decided it was time to wake up around 4:00 in the morning. We decided he wanted his Dad to get to see a Greek sunrise! Thankfully Marvin did catch up on sleep on the train ride home. We were very thankful to have a cabin all to ourselves both ways, it was nice to be able to spread out and at least change his diaper without people staring at us. We did have a little wait at the border but there was a sweet man who made the smokers leave the non smoking waiting room and he turned up the heat for us. It made the wait much more pleasant.

We caught him in one of his few awake times on the train. It was crazy how much this kid loves motion because almost every time we would make a stop he would start stirring or wake up, only to go back to sleep as we started moving again.

Yes that's Calvin sleeping for the first time in his travel bed. We love how compact it folds up, and we were even able to pack his clothes in with the bed, talk about multi-functional.

Before we left we were unable to book a hotel online. The only ones with that option were out of our price range. We did find a list of hotels on a website so we knew there were plenty of other options but as we looked at the list one place intrigued us, Hotel Erika. We were surprised to find that it was just a block away from the train station and fit our budget, so we couldn't resist staying at Hotel Erika.

The small building in the middle of this photo is the train station seen from out balcony. It was so convenient.

We could also see the sea from our balcony, unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy so we didn't see the area in it's finest state.

A little square near the water. Overall we enjoyed our little trip and an added bonus was that we were able to enjoy a couple of great meals along the way.

Root-a-toot-toot

Calvin has become our source of entertainment now. For such a little guy he can sure produce some big sounds. I guess we will have to work on being a gentleman!

Our Sweet Baby Boy

I came into the living room today and this is what I found, a sweet sleeping baby boy. It certainly made my heart melt!

We also want to wish Calvin's Grandma S a Happy Birthday today! You are loved and in our thoughts today!

Bye Grandpa, Grandma & Aunt Natalie

We had such a good visit with my parents. It is hard to believe that their time here has come to a close. It seems like just yesterday they were thinking about coming to visit and now they are making their way home. Living so far from our family made this visit extra special and are so grateful that they were able to make the trip, even though we are a sad to see them leave. This is the hardest part about living overseas. Sure we miss a few tastes from America, but we would give it all up to have a few minutes with our family. We know the rest of our family would love a chance to squeeze him so we will do out best to keep the pictures coming. We will continue to tell Calvin all about his family and friends in the states and we will give him lots of kisses from all of you.

Calvin wanted us to tell his Aunt and Grandparents thanks for visiting him!

All tuckered out in Aunt Natalie's arms

Staring at Grandpa!

So cozy in Grandma's arms!

Who can resist dressing up a baby?

My mom picked up a cute little Halloween outfit for Calvin. Thankfully we snapped a few pictures of him in his outfit before he spit up all over himself and Grandpa. But don't worry we had a second Halloween outfit on hand thanks to my cousin. Here are a few pictures we took of him decked out for the holiday.

I love this picture. Calvin looks like he is showing everyone his hat.

He had these little pumpkin booties that were a bit on the big side, as you can tell in this picture. But since they went with his outfit we had to wear them, it was pretty cute.

Outfit #2