The End of the Year Post

I think I'm neglecting this blog business a little bit. I got a little disappointed when I learned that Blogspot website is actually banned in Turkey! You'd think I'm from North Korea, or China.... It's crazy. Anyway, so I will add some photos/videos here, and talk about what has happened since the last blog on Dec 2nd. More photos will be available on my Facebook account for those who are in Turkey.

What's happened since the last blog?

First, and most importantly, DERIN EGE is now 3 MONTHS OLD! We celebrated that by going to the Turkish cafe/restaurant Gulluoglu on the upper east side. This was his first trip to a restaurant. He completely behaved :)

We also took him to see Santa, but no photos on his lap yet. Maybe next year. Maybe not. We'll see. But we took a few photos with the Xmas decorations in the mall. As usual, he didn't know what we were doing :)

We built a Xmas tree in our apartment, as my mother loves the Holidays. We bought it for her as a surprise, then enjoyed it all together. Celebrate Xmas or not...this is the 'most wonderful time of the year".

Yuksel's soccer team Galatasaray played their last match in the old, home stadium (they're building a bigger, better one outside of the city center). Dad and son dressed up in team gear in support of this last match. You'd hope for a great game, where GS wins, and the fans remember for ever. Not quite. They lost...to a club whose name I don't even remember. So sad. But, both of my guys looked great in Cimbom clothes.

I don't know what we were thinking, but we took Derin (actually, my mom) to NYC to see the Xmas tree and the store decorations on 5th ave and Madison ave, a week before Xmas, on a Saturday! On top of it, we took the stroller with us. It was impossible to walk, let alone steer the stroller. So, my mom and I left Derin Ege with his dad somewhere relatively quieter, and we went to the very near of the huge tree. My mom loved it. And I must say, so did I. Then we got together again, and watched the light show on the walls of Saks Fifth Ave. Marvelous.

Continuing with the holiday outings, I took my mom to see the decked out yards of the houses in our neighborhood. Some of them were pretty crazy. I love it when the folks in a neighborhood race each other for the best decorated house. I hope they spend at least that much money to help the needy. I'm sure they do (yes, seriously, I am sure).

Then, there are those few pics of Derin Ege, during our regular morning conversation (no, he doesn't talk, but he tells so many stories with his aahs and coos). He's just delightful in the morning. The last photo with the hand gesture....bonus for those who know what he means :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

More blogs to come in 2011.

November Happenings / Kasim'da Olanlar

It's been a few weeks since the last update on Derin's life. We've been a little busy: First, my little sister came to visit us, then our very good friends from Turkey. We had a wonderful time with all of them, and time just flew by. 

 - Derin'in hayatindan guncellemeler vermeyeli birkac hafta oldu. Biraz mesgulduk bu zaman icinde: Once kucuk kizkardesim bizi Turkiye'den ziyarete geldi, sonra da cok sevdigimiz arkadaslarimiz. Hepsiyle harika bir vakit gecirdik, ve gunler su gibi uctu gitti.

 

 

 

My mother, my sister and my little Derin enjoyed their first Thanksgiving celebration  (yay, Turkey Day!). We made Derin wear big boy clothes :)

 - Annem, kizkardesim ve tabii ki kucuk Derin hayatlarinin ilk Sukran Gunu kutlamasina katildilar (Sukran gunu burada ayrica Hindi Gunu diye de bilinir, yani "Turkey Day"). Yemek sirasinda Derin'e abi kiyafetleri giydirdik, cok buyumus gorundu gozumuze :)

 

 

I made a killer turkey and a special rice, while my mom cooked all the other side dishes that made Thanksgiving dinner a feast. When we were in Seattle, we would always celebrate this day with close friends, so we were happy this year that we weren't alone again. Even though this American tradition isn't something we grew up with, we have really come to internalize its purpose of showing what we are thankful for in life. It's good to remember how lucky we are to have a great family and friends that we have, and be thankful for it.

 - Ben harika bir hindi ve ic pilavi yaptim. Annem de kalan diger bir suru yan yemegi yapti. Tam bir ziyafet oldu. Biz Seattle'da otururken Sukran Gunu'nu hep arkadaslarimizla kutlardik. Boylece yine yalniz kalmamis oldugumuz icin cok sevindik. Bu Amerikan gelenegi olan Sukran Gunu'yle ilgili elbette ki bu ulkeye gelmeden once pek derin bir bilgimiz yoktu. Ancak nasil kutlandigini gordugumuzde biz de bunu cok sevdik, ve bu gunun Amerika'li arkadaslarimiz icin tasidigi anlami, sukran duymayi, bu vesileyle biz de benimsedik. Amerikalilar bu gun de tum aile olarak bir araya gelirler, ve masada tek tek dolasarak herkese ne icin sukran duydugunu sorarlar. Biz de aynisi yaptik bu sene de, ve bir kez daha bu hayatta boyle guzel aileler ve cok degerli arkadaslara sahip oldugumuzu dile getirerek sukran icinde hindilerimizi yedik.

 

 

Thanksgiving day wasn't only good for dinner and thankfulness - we also enjoyed our first ever Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC. Despite the fact that we were able to find parking very close to the start of the parade, we couldn't get a first row seat to the show, and had to enjoy it behind a whole bunch of people who'd been there since 7 AM in the morning (we got there just before the start at 9 AM). Thanks to the huge and wonderful floats, we didn’t miss much (although I must say I was looking forward to seeing the dancers, but hey!...)

 - Sukran Gunu sadece aksam yemegi ve sukran duygusu icin guzel degildi - bu sene ayrica ilk kez Macy's magazalar zincirinin son 84 yildir organize ettigi Sukran Gunu Gecit'ine de katildik. Cok yakininda park bulmamiza karsin gecidi on siralardan degil, oraya cok daha erken gelmis olan yuzlerce kisinin arkasindan izlemek zorunda kaldik. Ama gecitteki bir cok dev balonunun yukarilardan serederek gecmesi sayesinde pek birsey de kacirmadik (gerci ben gecitteki danscilari izlemeyi cok istiyordum ama, saglik olsun).

 

 

 

1001 Faces of Derin (almost) / Derin'in (neredeyse) binbir yuzu

Derin Ege is 6 weeks old today!! Other than the gassy issues mentioned at last week's blog, things seem to be fine. A 6th-week milestone is achieved: He's started to smile (consciously!). It's such a joy to see him like that. During a Skype conversation with grandfather Zeki last week, he mentioned that almost all his photos are taken when Derin  is sleeping. Understandably, grandpa wants to see Derin when he's awake (he's also rarely been awake during these Skype calls, which didn't help). So, all photos of Derin added below are taken when he's really awake. Enjoy!!

_______________________

Derin Ege bugun 6. haftasini doldurdu!! Gecen hafta bahsettigimiz gaz sorunlari disinda hersey normal gorunuyor. Bu hafta guzel ve beklenen bir gelisme oldu ve Derin Ege bilincli bir sekilde gulmeye, bize tepki vermeye basladi. Ayrica, gecen hafta icinde, dedemiz Zeki Derin Ege'nin neredeyse butun fotolarinin uyurken cekildigini soyledi bize (ne kadar hakli). O nedenle bu haftanin blogundaki tum fotolar Derin uyanikken cekildi. Nice 6 haftalara Derin Ege!!



A few extra pics taken after daddy took Derin's passport photo (he's just a little monkey!!)/ Babamiz Derin'in pasaport fotosunu cektikten sonra eklenen birkac foto daha (maymun!!!)




Hanging out in mom & dad's bed (while waiting for a change of clothes after peeing everywhere) / (Her yere cis yapip kiyafetlerini degistirmek zorunda kaldiktan sonra) anne ve babanin yataginda keyif yaparken



Mommy to Derin's tummy gas: "Come out, come out, wherever you are!!"

Derin just finished his 5th week outside of the womb. He's adjusted pretty well to a lot of things, but his little intestines still couldn't adjust to digesting food really well. Poor little thing goes through episodes of gas pain, sometimes so bad that he cries for a few hours. It breaks your heart just to see him like that.... The good part? When that gas finally comes out of him (you wouldn't believe, sometimes as loudly as an adult's would :)), it's bliss. He sleeps for 4 hours straight, mostly because of pure exhaustion from all the crying.

Stuff other than the little man's bowel issues also happened in the last couple weeks, of course: We went to our 4-week check-up, and saw that he gained more than 2 lbs and got taller by 3 cms. The sleep-eat-poop cycle seems to be working. Yay for mom and dad!! We took him out a couple more times, to nowhere really exciting (BB&B, TJ Maxx, BestBuy, Target).

Enjoy the photos from the last 2 weeks. See you next week!

_______________________

Derin gectigimiz Ptesi 5. haftasini bitirdi. Zaman cabucak geciveriyor. Hayata bayagi alisti aslinda, ama onun minik bagirsaklari nedense henuz rahim disi yasantiyi pek anlamamisa benziyor. Canim Derin hemen hemen her gun belli gaz nobetlerine giriyor. Zavallimin cani oyle aciyor olmali ki, cigerlerinin derinliklerinden bagirarak agliyor. Oyle zamanlara onu teselli edememek, aglamasini durduramamak insanin yuregini parcaliyor. Ama o kahrolasi gazlar oglumun bagirsaklarindan neredeyse bir yetiskininki kadar bir gurultuyle ciktiginda oglum rahatliyor, ve o acili birkac saat aglamanin verdigi yorgunlukla 4 saat deliksiz uyuyor (bilmeyenler icin soyluyorum, 4 saat yeni dogmus bebekler icin bayagi uzun bir uyku).

Neyse, tabii gectigimiz iki hafta icinde oglumun uyuma-yeme-kaka dongusunun disinda da seyler oldu: Onu 4 hafta kontrolune goturduk. Doktorumuz bize onun 1 kilo aldigini, boyunun da 3 cm uzadigini soyledi. Bizi cok sevindirdi tabii bu. Zaten kol kaslarimin yeniden calismaya baslamasindan anlamaliydim :). Onun disinda, Derin'i birkac kez daha disariya cikardik. Anneanne ve annesiyle beraber alisverise. Tabii en cok ona yariyor her zaman, her ciktigimizda bir-iki sey aliniyor Derin'e...o hicbirseyden anlamiyor tabii ya, neyse.

Bu son iki haftaya ait birkac fotograf ekliyorum asagiya....Haftaya yine gorusuruz.

King of the Crib! (sorry, no idea how to rotate this image with blogspot's inadequate software)

Lion is roaring!! / Aslan kukruyor!!

This lion isn't that scary! / Bu alsan pek korkunc degil!

Peace out!!



Sleeping with mommy / Anneyle uyurken

 

This is one of those 4-hour post-gas-episode sleeps (yes, yes, I only let him sleep on his tummy when I'm next to him, watching)



This is one of those sleeps, too. Dad and Derin both exhausted from the #$%^&*! gas.



 

Derin's First Trip Out / Derin'in Ilk Gezintisi

(Turkce versiyonu asagida)

Derin left home for the first time since he was born (except the doctor's visits every week) this last weekend. Of course, he was pretty much asleep the whole time, and we can't say that he actually saw and enjoyed anything, but it was a gorgeous day outside and he did enjoy a peaceful sleep and a stroll on that lovely fall day.

We first went to see the changing foliage at the Pelham Bay Park...but to our disappointment, all trees were still green. Seems like they need a little more to turn to those beautiful orange, red, brown, etc. colors... Then, on the way back, we drove by the ocean, and came across another park. There was an event going on, and we stopped by to see what it was. It was a local Car, Truck & Cycle Show to benefit The Children's Cancer Fund and other local charities, organized by the New Rochelle Fire Fighters. We were there at the very end of it, but still got to see some cool cars and trucks. And although Derin didn't get to understand what was going on, we thought that he might grow to be a "car guy", since his first trip out was to a car show. Who knows.
__________________________

Gectigimiz Pazar gunu Derin'i ilk kez disariya cikardik, daha once yaptigi birkac doktor ziyareti disinda tabii. Kendisi pek birseyden anlamasa da, havanin cok guzel olmasi dolayisiyla nefis bir uyku cekti bizimki. Mukemmel bir sonbahar gunuydu.

Ilk once Pelham Bay Park'a yapraklari sonbaharla birlikte renk degistiren agaclari gormeye gittik. Ama ne yazik ki henuz butun agaclar yesildi. Birkac hafta daha gerekiyor anlasilan. Oysa ki bu tur bilgileri veren bir web sitesine bakip da gitmistik, o parkta agaclar renklenmis diye. Neyse artik. Daha sonra, eve donusu okyanus kiyisindaki yoldan yaptik. Yol uzerinde bir baska parka rastladik, ve orada bir aktivitelerin oldugunu goruk. Iceri girdik, ve guzel bir araba sovuyla karsilastik. New Rochelle'in itfaiye ekibi cocuk kanserini yenme amaciyla yardim toplamak icin boyle bir aktivite duzenlemis. En sonuna yetismis olmamiza karsin bircok guzel ve ilginc araba gorduk. Oglumuzun da ilk gezisi boyle bir araba sovuna olmus oldu, bakalim buyuyunce arabalarla cok ilgilenecek mi? Kim bilir...

I thought I'd add a few more photos of Derin's 3rd week / Asagiya Derin'in 3. haftasindan birkac fotograf daha ekliyorum