Sick… yet again

Well its that time of year in our house. Joel has been sick for weeks, Nate is finally getting better, and Elly didn't get anything as usual. Jocy of course got it the worst. Poor girl. Saturday was just miserable for her. And she works herself into a panic attack, which just makes it worse. So she is on day 2 home from school. I don't mind it, because its rare that we get alone time.

 Milly has been a little hoarse. I know she's unhappy but its so cute to hear her little hoarse cries. And me.... UGH. It started with a sore throat one more and have progressed to a lovely cold. This morning, my voice was completely gone. It's so much fun trying to get a 3 and 5 year old ready for school with no voice. So today I do not plan on doing much besides laying around. Our big holiday party is Saturday and I don't want to miss that! And my darn toe is still hurting. I swear it might be worse. The pain seems to be spreading. I have so much to do this week and do not need this.

 Wish I hadn't eaten that last can of Chicken Noodle.

 

This is about how I feel today.

and some cuteness for today

Thanksgiving

In the Beckerman House, we celebrated Thanksgiving the following Saturday.  Since the kids were at school and Joel at work, there was no point in fixing a big feast and not eating together.  So this past Saturday was the big to do.

I've been in charge of the cooking for a few years now.  Basically since we moved to Kansas City. 9 hours was just too far for a 4 day weekend and once we got to two kids, it was just too much. Some times we had family and some times friends.  I've had my wins and failures of the years, but I think my grandma and mom did a good job teaching me good Southern cookin'.

This year we invited our driver and his family.  This is the first time in 4 years that they have all been in Turkey as a family. The old two kiddos were living in Australia with grandma.  The oldest boy is back for good and their daughter is here for a visit.  It's been great to finally meet them.  It's been fun getting to know them.  Joel also invited his Director to dinner.  His wife and kids are still back in MI, so we couldn't let him miss Thanksgiving.

Between my broken toe, dress shopping, a leaking ceiling, and a broken dryer, my shopping plans got put off until Saturday morning.  I managed to get the LAST whole turkey at Carrefour.  Guess we have a lot more Americans around here than last year.  Carrefour has also started carrying jars of the green beans we are used too.  So besides sweet potatoes, everything should turn out like home.

And did it ever!  This has to be the BEST Turkey dinner I have ever cooked.  The Turkey was beautiful and tasted wonderful.  I didn't even brine it and it was so juicy!  The green bean casserole was so tasty!!  Much better with the right kind of green bean.  I couldn't keep Joel for stealing the crispy onions.  I've finally managed to perfect my knockoff French's Fried Onions.  The stuffing has never been a problem but it seemed to look much prettier.  Probably just the high of my beautiful dinner.  I had a big can of Pumpkin that I brought when we moved.  I made two different kinds of Pumpkin Pie - regular and Apple butter (made the apple butter too) and a couple lofts of Pumpkin Bread.  Pumpkin is not readily found around these parts.  And from my secret stash, Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce.  I have heard myths about bottles of Cranberry Juice but never seen one.  Or Cranberries or can cranberry sauce.  Such excitement to be able to eat things that you haven't had since leaving the States.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.....  until Nate puked.  Yep, never calm in my house.  Jocy followed by wanting to put and then having one of her allergy induced asthma attacks.  Which turned into her having a meltdown and is now sick.  Sigh.  I think she made it a few week later in the year before getting this.  Sunday was spend recovering from two days of cooking and a super busy Saturday. Did a mention that along with grocery shopping (two trips) and cooking, the girls had gymnastics and Jocy had a bday party?

Unfortunately, I was too busy to take pictures.  I think Yeshim did so I will have to get them from her and post.

I hear someones tiny cries.... Milly has lost her voice a bit too.  Now to decorate for Christmas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I can't believe it is Thanksgiving already! It really doesn't feel like it since Thanksgiving is an American Holiday. Joel's at work and the kiddos are at school. We aren't celebrating Thanksgiving until Saturday. These are the few times that I am homesick. There have been very few times that we didn't have a full house, last year being one of them.

When we lived in Liberty, we either had family in or shared it with our neighbor Rich and his family or both! We had some amazing holidays together! I thought about inviting a bunch of people over this year but after Milly's party last weekend, visitors, and Milly not sleeping well…. I'm just too tired. I'm actually kind of dreading the cooking I'm going to do. We are just having our driver and his family over but that is still 10 mouths to feed. And add in a birthday party, trip to the Pazar, and gymnastics on top of cooking. I'm hoping to get my shopping done tomorrow and find a real Turkey this year.  Last year we just had a turkey breast.  Truthfully, I'd rather be going to my moms and let them do the cooking and I get to be lazy! I want to watch the Macy's Day parade with the kids. I want sweet potatoes!

 We only have one more Thanksgiving here. I can't believe that we are almost halfway thru. Even though I miss these days at home… this has become our home and it will be hard to leave. I really don't know if I will be ready to go back to the States. If we get offered another overseas assignment, we will take it. I know that sucks for our parents, but these are once in a lifetime chances. I have seen and experienced more in the last 16 months then I thought I would my whole life. And there is still plenty to do in the next 20 months!

 So while everyone else is stuffing themselves and watching American football, I will be shopping in Eminonu for the 2 work parties and a Christmas party. I'm so excited that our social calendar is full. We even have a New Year's Eve party with our good friends. So though I am having a moment of sadness, I am thankful for all that we have been given. Being here has really been a huge growing experience for me.

 Happy Turkey day to all!! 

 And PS…. today Milly is 2 months old!!

Thankful Day 21

Saturday, when I opened the cabinet where I keep my baking stuff, my stoneware sheet pan feel out and shattered on my foot. It hurt like heck but I was more upset that I just broke my well seasoned pan. That was the first piece of stoneware I got when I started selling Pampered Chef. We used that thing all the time. After I got over that, I realized one of my toes hurt like crazy! I finished up what I was doing and grabbed some ice and heading for the couch. Once I got my sock off I saw how swollen it was. And it was already turning black and blue. Ugh. I broke my toe! In all the years that I played sports and danced, I never broke anything. So here at the rip old age of 34, I do this. Sigh. I'm just going to blame my lack of sleep and that Nate was bored and bugging me while I had things to do. So today I am thankful that all I have ever broken is my 4th toe. Truthfully, all the back and hip issues I've had over the years, never hurt as much as this! LOL. Guess it doesn't help that I didn't get to stay off of it until Tuesday.

13 days of Thankful

I know, I know, I am so behind on this thankful thing.  But the last two weeks have been a bit crazy.  It started out with a power outage.  This is not a unusual occurrence in Istanbul.  Just a part of life. That’s why we live in a complex with a generator. But this Friday, the generator seemed to be on the fritz.  It started about 3ish.  I was napping with Milly and the power kept going on and off.  I knew this because all the noises of everything rebooting in the house.  This went on and off for hours.  Blew our circuit breaker twice.  But finally it seemed to stop.  The kids got home and just as we were talking about dinner, full blown power outage.  Sigh.  So we lit candles and turned on flashlights.  The kids had a great time.  The generator booted up again.  And it seemed to be working.  So I thought I would start making dinner.  When I switched on the kitchen light, I blew the lights under one of the cabinets.  Then I noticed it was a little too bright.  And that when I turned my lights on my neighbor’s kitchen lights dimmed.  Hmm… power surges.  Great.  I turned the lights back off and called Joel.  He was going to have to pick up dinner.  He suggested I unplug everything but I could leave the TV in the living room on.  I just decided to turn it all off.  If it lasted too long we could just watch the laptop.  About that time, there was a mass exodus from the complex.  Turned out the new complex next door was the problem yet again.  The construction trucks had managed to collapse the concrete at the entrance damaging all the lines in the ground.  No idea when the  power would be back.  And no one knew what was wrong with the generator!

Finally around 9pm, the generator was repaired and working properly!  Yay!  It took till the next evening to get the power back on. And we find out that we were very lucky thru the surges, we are the only ones in the complex that didn’t lose some electronic device.  Our neighbors across from us lost 4 TVs!

Downside, our internet didn’t come back on.  UGH.  I have a bunch of stuff that needed to get done.  And I’m getting to old to be able to see anything on my iPhone.  LOL.  Finally, it came back but then we had other issues.  Our password was not working… blah blah.  Finally a new screen popped up and it log in!  Ya!  But it had completely reset the router.  And since its all in Turkish, I didn’t know if I could restore it or how to reset it up.  So I did what I could.  But because the router renamed itself, I had to reset everything wireless in the house.  Wow, we have a lot of it!  So now we are finally back online!

So day 8 – I am thankful for electricity and internet!

My in laws finally visited this past week.  I’m glad they could squeeze a visit in because Milly is already changing so much.  Joel even took two days off work.  We took them to the Grand Bazaar and Miniaturk.  Plus out to eat at some of our fav. places.  It was a nice week.  I was a little worried since they decided to stay in a hotel, but they did a good job handling taking a cab.  Well between the hotel and our security guard, it wasn’t too hard.

Day 9 – Thankfully for a stress free week with family

This past Sunday, we had Milly’s welcome party.  When I finished the invitations, the guest list was over 70!  I told Joel I think we need a bigger house!  Thankfully, it was a nice day and we could open the doors and use the patio.  About half the people came, which I’m kind of glad.  It was hard enough to socialize with everyone.  Even Joel had coworkers come from Izmit.  It was so nice to get to spend time with our friends.  Elly got to spend time with one of her BFF that has changed schools.  And Milly received so many lovely gifts.  Such a wonderful group of people we have met here.

Day 10 – I am thankful for friends old and new.  Without them I’m sure Istanbul would not be as wonderful

Day 11 -  I’m thankful I had someone else to help with setup, keeping food on the table and clean up afterwards!

Day 12 – I’m thankfully for the Korkmaz family, who has become our Turkish family.  They really make life so much easier for us here.

Day 13 – I’m thankful to my husband that works hard and puts up with the long commute everyday. 

Day 14 – continuing from 13 – that gives us the opportunity to spoil our kids rotten

Day 15 – I am grateful for our opportunities to travel.  Excited about Christmas in Barcelona!

Day 16 – I am thankfully for an awesome sister in law

Day 17 – I am thankful for my daily snuggle time with Milly.  It’s nice that even though she is #4, that she can have the attention that #1 got.

Day 18 – I am thankful for the nights that Milly sleeps 7 1/2 hours

Day 19 – I am thankful for the days that Joel get home from work early and I go pick up the girls from gymnastics alone.  40 minutes of me time!

Day 20 – I am thankful that it is middle of November and it is in the 60s today!

Thankful Day 7

I am beyond thankful that my cleaning lady started today!! In the first ten minutes she had started laundry and folded two laundry baskets and picked up the girls room. She rocks.

Thankful Day 6 and 5, 4, and 3

As a mom of 4, I really don't have the ability to blog everyday. So here is my 4 days of Thankfulness!

 Day 3 - I am thankful to have a husband who is my best friend and together we can do anything

 Day 4 - I am thankful for first smiles, coos, and first giggles. Especially when that first laugh is in her sleep and I happen to see it.

 Day 5 - for an amazing group of expat friends. That support and friendship is such an important thing when you are so far from home and family. And very thankful for Charlotte and her helper for finding us a new housekeeper!

 Day 6 - Since it is election day, I am thankful for the right to vote. And that I can do it anywhere in the world.

Photo Bomb of Cuteness

Yesterday Milly had a really good day. Naps went well and she was really showing her personality. So here's just a bunch of cute pics!

Who could say 'No' to that face? Not this momma!

30 days of Thankful

I am seeing people all over Facebook and blog world doing this and I thought I would jump on the bandwagon.  The past year we have had so much to be grateful for. Since I am a day behind, I will post two for today.

 First and foremost, I am blessed with the most amazing kids. They are beautiful, smart, fun, kind and have big hearts. And I couldn't be happier with the addition of Milly this year.

 Second, I am so thankful for the year we have spent in Istanbul. Something I never thought I would ever do… thanks Ford!

Who needs sleep?

Well for one thing, this momma!  You’d think being #4, I’d remember all the fun parts of having an infant.  But my lack of brain function is making me feel like a first time mom.  For the first month, I felt great.  Tired yes but doing great.  The past week or so, I have felt the mommy blues catching up with me.  I figure this would be like the last two times that I was so busy that I would barely even notice.  I don’t even remember having it with Nate.  Maybe its because we had a week off for Holiday and lots of downtime or maybe because the three are in school full time.  But whatever it is, its much more noticeable. 

Then the night before everyone returns to school/work, Milly decides its time to party all night.  I had great hopes of a good bit of sleep.  After a bath, Milly can sleep a good 5 hours.  Well, for some reason, that night it was a sign to party.  I finally got her down around 1 am and she continued to get up every hour.  Let me tell you, it was hard to drag myself out of bed to get the kids up that morning.  You’d think she would want to sleep the whole next day.  NOPE.  She would only sleep while being held and only for about 20 minutes at time.  And she was eating all the time.  That night and then next day weren’t a whole lot better.

I managed to survive those two days.  Dinner was made and the house slightly cleaned. Plus having to pick the girls up from gym.  I’m hoping this was just a growth spurt.  Because functioning on that amount of sleep with 4 kids is difficult.  And forget about trying to drive.  I really don’t know why I thought having one kids while sleep deprived was hard! LOL 

Today was back to the good stuff.  A sleepy girl that wanted to do nothing but cuddle and take a 3 hour nap.  I almost feel sane,,,,, until Elly and Jocy have their slumber party tomorrow night.