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

Christmas in October

Last night we celebrated Christmas together, we turned on some Christmas music made a little paper tree and boom it's Christmas in October. Marvin's mom made Calvin a stocking and it has a little history behind it. The fabric came from Marvin's kindergarten naptime mat. We love the fact that Marvin used it when he was little!

One of the highlights of the evening was when Marvin opened a gift from his mom, Pfernilssees. They are a staple snack during Christmas at Marvin's family. He was so excited, and they made a great breakfast this morning, yum!

Seeing the sights

Since my parents & sister made it all the way around the world, we thought they needed to see a few things while they are here. So far we have hit a few markets and seen a few historical sights with them. Calvin has been a trooper through all this sight seeing, he loves is baby bjorn and stroller so it makes taking him out with the family a lot easier. Surprisingly I have only gotten scolded a few times for having him out, well I think I was getting scolded a few older ladies scowled at me and shook their finger at me. Oh well it seems like they are having a good time. We will make the most of the last few days with them.

Close & Cozy

Thank You Marvin's family for the carrier. Calvin absolutely loves it, it puts him right to sleep. I highly recommend this little thing to anyone. It has been perfect for when we want to go out to crowded areas and it has been amazing when we have to use public transportation. I know it will see lots of miles.

Sweet Sounds

We love all the sleep sounds Calvin makes, so we thought we would share a few with you.

They're Here!

My parents and sister arrived Tuesday and we have enjoyed their company. Right now they are out checking out a little region close to our house. We took a little stroll down the the weekly market this morning and they enjoyed all the new sights and sounds. It has been a little rainy the past couple of days, but it is suppose to clear off tomorrow so we will be ready to hit the more tourist geared areas of town once the rain stops.

Grandpa got to hold Calvin first, but only because he made it to the door first. Grandma quickly swept him away as soon as she walked in. My sister has mananged to hold him a bit, but only because we place him in her arms.

Amazingly they made it here with all their suitcases and boxes still in tact. Last night we opened all of the baby things everyone sent. Let's just say our cup is overflowing right now. We appreciate everything everyone had taken the time to send. Calvin is certainly going to be warm and well dressed! It took over an hour to look through everything people had sent. We had a lot of fun looking through all the sweet clothes and we can't wait to read all the books.

This morning my mom helped me sort things into sizes. Here are a couple of pictures of the piles of clothes. We are certainly blessed. I hope to get some good pictures posted of Calvin with his Grandpa, Grandma & Aunt in the next few days.

I love my Stroller Great Grandma & Great Grandpa!

We tested it out yesterday and Calvin loves his new set of wheels, it put him right to sleep. It is the perfect width for maneuvering around the streets of Istanbul. We all want to thank his Great Grandpa & Grandma for such an amazing blessing!

Crazy Hats!

Shortly before we put Calvin to bed the other night we had fun trying on a few of his hats. The blue one was the one I made and the other was made by a pretty cool girl we know. We think he looks pretty cute, and provided a bit of entertainment for us

First Real Bath

Calvin's cord fell off last Friday which meant we could officially give him a real bath. It wasn't that pleasant, but we think we had the water a bit too cool for his tastes because the other night we had it a bit warmer and he was pretty content. We are continuing to catch on to his likes and dislikes.

Hi Grandpa & Grandma!

First trip to Europe

We had to make the long trip to the US Consulate yesterday. Marvin was able to find out that there was a fast ferry which could take us to within a 5 minute taxi ride from the boat docks, which left at 8:00 am. It was truly the fasted way to get there, unfortunately there wasn't a boat coming back to Asia at the time we needed so we had to take a taxi to a different boat dock.

We had planned out what time we needed to wake up, feed him, and leave the house but that didn't go as planned as we both slept through the alarm. Thankfully Calvin knew we had places to go and woke us up a little later than we wanted, but it all worked out.

Everything went very smoothly and Calvin nestled right in my arms the entire time. We were able to walk to a shopping center down the hill from the Consulate, sit down in a little cafe and feed him before we headed back home.

Our first excursion out took 6 hours, he was such a trooper through it all. We also were very thankful that we were able to get a document that we needed to apply for our visas yesterday. We weren't sure if they would let us do it since he didn't have his passport, but after asking they said it was okay. PTL we are so thankful we don't have to make that trip again.

Mr. Bright Eyes...well sort of

We needed to apply for Calvin's passport as soon as we could, but first we needed a picture with his eyes opened. We had the camera ready and a white sheet in place at all times and thankfully Monday we finally got a picture that fit all the right dimensions, so Tuesday we were able to head to the Consulate and apply for his passport. They said it would take 10 days or so before he recieved it, but we have heard it takes around a week. This is the first of many steps we must take before we head home!

Sleepy Boy

We were hoping to go to the consulate today to apply for his passport but unfortunatley the best picture we had taken with his eyes open didn't quite meet the guidelines. So we had to wait until he opened them today to get a new picture, this was harder than you think. It looks like we have a big trip ahead of us tomorrow, Calvin will have his first ferry ride and his first trip to Europe! We are still new at this so we hope everything goes smoothly.

His Name

Many people have asked about his name so I thought I would explain it here. Calvin is a the name of a dear friend of Marvin's family, who essentially has been a grandparent figure in Marvin's life. He was married later in life to a sweet woman and they never had any children and Marvin family welcomed them into their family. Over the years Marvin has watched this man display amazing faith and dependency on Father. He has committed his life to serving him and has filled his heart with the Word. To this day it is the most beautiful thing hearing him quote huge pieces from the Word. We hope that one day our son will grow up to be an example of a faithful servant like our dear friend Calvin.

Jacob of course was chosen from the OT and his story has touched my heart this last year. We hope that someday our Calvin Jacob displays some of the same character traits of both these men of faith.

Sponge Bath Time

Calvin certainly does not enjoy being naked and let us know as we attempted to give him his first sponge bath at home. Here are a few shots of the festivities! Last night went much better as Marvin suggested that I hold him while Marvin washed him, he didn't pitch quite the fit, but he certainly didn't enjoy it.

He has Stolen our Hearts

We have been blown away at how this little tiny baby can just capture our hearts. It truly is a blessing to get to hear all of his squeaks and little noises. We have enjoyed getting to know him these first couple of days after his birth. He still remains pretty tired most of the time and we have had to set an alarm at night to wake him up to eat, I am sure this won't last long. Last night he woke up 2 times right around the time the alarm went off, but it still took a while for him to wake up enough to eat!

We have also decided he is our little koala bear. He certainly is a snuggler and will curl right up on your chest and tuck his little legs ups and grab on with his arms. It's pretty sweet and both of us have enjoyed our cuddle time with him.

The first picture I posted is of Calvin getting ready for his first outing to the hospital. We wrapped him up in a blanket, caught a taxi and we were off to the hospital. The end of Ramadan was Friday and it is a big holiday here, so Saturday everything was dead. The hospital was down to only essential personnel, so it made it a bit tricky making an appointment for next week, but we were blessed to run into a pro basketball player from America who was at the hospital with her translator and they helped us communicate. He is good to us.

His doctor's exam went well. He has a bit of yellow tinge in his face, this is not found on the rest of his body and the test results came back negative for jaundice. He dropped down to 6lb. 6oz. which the doctor said was normal. We were reassured talking to her about how he was doing and had a great chance to ask her a few questions. We are very thankful to have such great medical care here. We go back again on Thursday and hope to find out the results of some test in a week.

Home from the hospital

Less than 24 hours after he was born we were released to go "home". We were very thankful to be able to be dismissed so quickly, which means he is a healthy baby boy. We do have a follow up appointment for Saturday morning to check and make sure he is still doing well. He will have a couple of tests to see if they can figure out the cause of the extra amniotic fluid. We will keep you posted on any news.

We are enjoying our son, Wednesday Marvin was beaming after he was born and he made this comment: "I haven't smiled this much since the day we were married." He was a great coach and I couldn't have make it through labor and delivery without him. The whole process went incredibly fast, my doctor's husband's grandfather died and she needed to leave on Thursday to be with his family. So she called and asked me to come into the hospital to induce labor on Wednesday. She knew I would deliver any day, and honestly I think I we would have had him that day or the next without inducing. So here is the timeline of what happened

• We arrived at the hospital I was almost 4 cm, 9:00 a.m.
• 11:00 they started a slow pitocin drip.
• At 3:00 I was at 6 and still not experiencing too much pain.
• 3:30 my doctor broke my water and the game began.
• After this time escaped us and labor went quickly. When the doctor asked if I wanted any pain medication I was almost to 8 cm, so I got a shot of something, but honestly it made me pretty sick, I don't know if it helped a single bit?
• Finally at 5:40 He was born!

I am mending right now, as I tore pretty severely, but overall am doing great. We are all adjusting to each other and learning as we go. He is a pretty heavy sleeper and the hardest thing so far is waking him up to eat! He enjoys his sleep that is for sure. Here are a few pictures of the little man how has captured our hearts! Thanks for sharing in this experience with us, we have enjoyed all of your e-mails, we are certainly blessed!

Our first family photo!

At home this morning shortly after he has eaten, we love his little hand positions.

Trying to wake up to eat at the hospital

With Dr. Deniz our amazing doctor!

Where are we?

Well Marvin and I have been finding little parks to sit in and enjoy the beautiful weather here. I took along some language material to study and quickly found out that flash cards are a bad idea when it is windy. Marvin was great at helping me run after the ones that had escapes my reach. But the weirdest thing happened when we were going home. We actually stood in a line and waited for the bus to take us home. We were shocked to see that people waited for their turn. After living in a place where it is survival of the pushiest it was certainly a beautiful sight.