Who knew? (Exciting News)

I've known since college that I wanted 3 kids.  Two boys and a girl.  I didn't think I could handle all the girlie-ness.  I was pretty much a tomboy growing up.  My dad used to tell me when he coached me in softball, that I spent more time in the dirt than the lines did.  I also always knew that I wanted to be a stay at home mom.  I loved that my mom was one. Even  when I was older, the job she had was always during school hours.  She dropped us at school every morning and picked us up after school.  She ran my brother and I to all our activities all over town.  Sometimes at the same time on different sides of town.  I couldn't have had a better life growing up.  We traveled, had a nice house, and cars.  I had a car in high school and a cell phone (a huge rarity then).  I'm sure my parents spend a fortune on baseball, softball, basketball, cheerleading, soccer, track, piano lessons, and dance.   I wanted my kids to have the same opportunities.


So when I met Joel, everything just fell into place.  He agreed with my traditional viewpoints.  Because he is 5 years older, I was pretty young when Jocy was born.  Back then, it was a bit of a bummer as most of our friends weren't even thinking about starting a family.  But it worked for us.  I'm grateful for it now.   I'm the young mom at school.  And I can tell you, pregnancy is a LOT easier in your 20s that 30s.


About a year after Nate was born, Joel and I were talking..... are we really done?  I was almost 31 when he was born.  3 kids in 5 years.    And Nate was such a wonderful baby, could we do it again one more time?  We gave it some thought for a while and finally said what the heck.  We tried and failed.  We had no issues getting pregnant with Jocy and Nate.  Elly took about 6 months.  Must be those even numbers.  I was so frustrated.  Our neighbor got pregnant when we were trying.  I was really happy for her since it was a struggle for her but sad at the same time. In fact our whole neighborhood was a baby boom!!  There was at least twice I was sure we were pregnant.  Now that I look back, I know it was NOT the time for us.  I was unhappy, Joel was unhappy at work, lots of stress.... I'm sure that was the problem.  I so needed out of Liberty.  Small town life seems nice.  But I'm so NOT suburban girl.  I love being in the city.  I hated driving 40 minutes down to the fun stuff.  And come the weekend (if Joel wasn't working), I was too tired to want to make the drive.  My highlights of life at the time were MNO and my bi-weekly kickboxing class.  I swear that class saved my sanity.  And our house..... was getting smaller by the day.  It was great when we moved in with one kid but with three, I was suffocating.  Plus,  I missed our life in Detroit.  I know we could never do it again with kids.  And truthfully, I'm glad we aren't still there.  But I need to be close to stuff like that.  I need more!


So once we were happily settled into Istanbul, we had the conversation again.  We decided its do or die time.  If I didn't get pregnant by spring, we were done.  That was my true New Year's resolution!


And lo and behold.....  

   We are expecting the 4th and FINAL baby Beckerman!!!

I've been very hesitant about announcing, I'm not sure why.  Are people really going to care about the 4th one?  We are very excited.  Our family now feels complete.  And yes, this is it.  I know this is what I can handle.  We can afford it, our new place is big enough, and with three kids in school next year, I can really enjoy the last baby.  I always joked I wanted the last one conceived in a foreign country.........

Wouldn't it be lovely...

to wake to this everyday? 

 This is what I did every single morning in Praiano. I am so envious of the people that call this beautiful little village home. Every morning, after a delicious breakfast of omelet, potatoes and bacon (yes I ate bacon EVERYDAY), I would take my cup of tea and read. I read 5 books that week! I can't remember the last time I got the chance to read that much!

 I have been working on blog posts but Blogger hasn't been giving problems uploading pictures. So I'm going to try a different way. I really wish Live Writer would create a Mac version already!

End of Spring Break

Yesterday was the last day of a two week Spring Break for the girls.  I thought it was a little too long but I'm glad we got that extra week home.  A week to recover from our wonderful trip!  Joel was in Germany all last week, this past weekend, and will be home on Friday.  This is the longest we have gone is a long time.  I used to be the veteran New Models wife.  Heck Joel was gone most of my pregnancy with Jocy, including many weekends.  In the last 5 years, those trips have been few and far, and I liked it.  Joel has traveled more in the last 8 months than those 5 years.  For the most part, its no biggie.  Just by 7pm, I ready for bed!

Sunday, I had declared it was going to be a nice relaxing day.  We talked of a movie marathon and popcorn.  Ordering out for dinner and not doing any chores.  LOL, yeah right.  The morning had been a bit rainy and overcast, but I got motivated to work on the living room.  I had just mopped and vacuumed the living area and scrubbed every nook and corner, but you couldn't even tell.  The dining room didn't get finished because I ran out of steam.  So I thought lets just get it done!  I had been wanted to rearrange the living room furniture again.  I'm not loving it right now... but I'm liking the new way a bit better.

Then the sun came out and we all got distracted.  Out the door we all went.  While the kids were happily playing, I wanted to finish the last little bit, so I went inside.  Not too much later, Elly and Nate coming running in.  The next thing I know Elly is on the floor screaming and blood is running down her face.

Let me mention this little tidbit.  Elly always manages to get hurt when Joel is gone.  Back in August, Joel had a wedding in Seattle.  So what does Elly do, busts her head on the headboard.  Took out a nice little gash and has a scar that doesn't grow hair.  Thankfully, the Hilton has a doctor or nurse on staff.  Elly has spent more time at a hospital than any other of our kids.  And truthfully, I'm shocked that is it.  She had two trips with the hole in her heart (which has thankfully closed), then another stint when she went thru her drug abuse stage (got into Grandma's child proof drug case which she scaled furniture for) and then again yesterday.

I've dealt with a few head injuries with Jocy, but it will never get easier to see that much blood coming out of your baby.  She was holding her eye, so that scared the shit out of me.  I thought she just hit the corner of the wall.  When she finally calmed down and I cleaned up the blood, I could see she had a good two inch gap in her forehead.  I had Jocy start getting her and Nate ready and I called Murat.  His phone wasn't working, so I started freaking out.  I called his wife and she didn't answer.  I tried Murat again then thankfully Ilknur picked up the second time.  I just lost it.  Ilknur calmed me down and tracked down Murat.  He was out playing soccer, but was now on his way.  The 30 minutes it took him to get here calmed us all down and I got the bleeding to almost stop.  Elly was pretty upset.  She thought everyone was going to be mad at her.  Poor kid.

I know I could have attempted the ER by myself.  There is always some the speaks English and most doctors seem too.  But I knew Murat would take care of it.  And that he did.  Elly had a bed in seconds and was taken good care of.  The first doctor said at least two stitches but he wanted her to be seen by a plastic surgeon.  When he came down, he decided that some glue and tape would be better to prevent a scar.  They didn't want a scar on her pretty face.  It was quick and painless and we were out of there in no time.  We are so terrible blessed to have Murat and his family.  Its hard enough when you kid gets hurt or sick at home.  But being in another country where the medical system is nothing like I know, and still haven't come close to figuring it out,  it is a sanity saver that we have someone who happily does everything he can.

Elly is absolutely fine.  Back to her old self by the time we get home.  We spent the afternoon outside, I reading and the kids playing with the neigbhors.  I let Elly pick dinner and she happily picked McDonalds.  We watched a movie and snuggled on the couch for the rest of the evening.  And she happily got out of her shower.... just until Wednesday.  Of course, nothing in this house is uneventful!

Busy life

The last few weeks have been a crazy whirlwind.  And I've been such the slacker posting.  I just don't have the time.  Sitting down now while I'm eating my breakfast, is the only time today I'll probably get a chance.  And I really  have so many thing to update!  But the downside to all of this.... is that time is flying by so fast.  It's hard to believe we have been here 8 1/2 months already!

The girls school have also been busy.  Jocy had her class spring show about the Rain Forest.  And right before break, they had a big Easter Egg Hunt and a Bonnet Parade.  I love that private schools can still chose to celebrate religious holidays.  And they both had Parent Teacher conferences.  Jocy struggled a bit first term.  Trying to adjust to the British system and get caught up.  She was so upset to have received B's on her report card.  This has never happened to her before.  We just had to explain to her the a B at BISI is equal to an A++++ at Manor Hill.  She was so upset, we talk to her teacher about it.  BISI's standards are so much higher than Liberty's.  I thought Jocy was getting a pretty decent education there... the keyword is decent.  I'm so glad the girls will be 3 years here.  They will be so far ahead of their peers when we return to the States.  Then it will be the question if public school be be good enough.  Sigh.   Elly is doing wonderful.  She knows all her letters and their sounds.  She's reading really well and is beloved by everyone in the school.  Both girls seem to know everyone!  Elly's teacher was so happy with Elly.  She's completely all the requirements and their next steps.  Elly is also officially enrolled in Kindergarten! Can you believe it??  It seems like yesterday, we moved into our house on Fawn Ln and was hurrying to finish the nursery!

We have been involved in our first car accident in Istanbul.  Nothing big, just dinged up the front of the car.  We were driving home from school and this lady pulls out in front of us.  Not unusual here, since most people don't follow stop signs.  But right then, I knew she was a crazy driver.  She kept speeding off and then slowing down.  Finally, she just slammed on her brakes.  FOR NO REASON!   She did it around a sharp curve so Joel couldn't stop.  I knew we were going to hit her.  But thankfully, I really didn't feel it.  Everyone was quiet and I looked at Joel and asked if he was OK.  All of a sudden, all three kids start screaming.  It was kind of funny.... such the slow reaction.  It was a long annoying processes. And thank God of our driver, he was there in 10 minutes to help.  The lady made up all kinds of lies, but it was obvious she screwed up.  Her dad was in the car with her and as soon as he saw the kids in the car, he would never look at me again.  So I'm hoping they all felt like shit.  I was a bit sore in the morning and we kept the girls home from school to just make sure all was good.  Murat took our car in the next day.  Still waiting on it to get fixed, because the local dealers don't carry parts in my color.  Thats fine, because I got a nicer C-Max!  Too bad I can't keep that one!  But I will say, the C-Max handle the accident with grace.  I couldn't be happier to put my family back in that car.

Of course this all happens days before we leave on vacation!  So excited!  Finally going to Italy!  Joel had been before (like most places I want to go) but he hadn't been to Naples.  And I always want to go to the Amalfi Coast.  Well it turns out that finding a hotel room in that part of the world for 5 people is extremely difficult.  I was frustrated beyond belief trying to plan this trip.  So I gave up and booked a Villa in Praiano, Italy.  It was such a wonderful week.  I will post pictures later.  There are so many to go through!  There are days that I miss having the kids at the Community Center, Cheerleading, Soccer at the Y, not having struggles with life.  But as I sit eating gelato on the little side streets of Sorrento, I am so happy we left all that boring stuff behind.  I'm a so grateful to have the opportunity to see the world.  That in 2 hours I can be in Italy.  3 hours to France, and hour to Greece!  I really wish we could go on more trips!  But I guess Joel has to actually work to keep us here. :)

So this is my mini update on life.  So much more to follow.  I'm hoping once Spring Break is over (its 2 weeks here), I can get my blog fully updated.  I have a big surprise to announce too!  Now time to get back to the kiddos.  Poor Nate still sounds like an old man.