Snippets of My Weekend

Every time I think I'm going to have a chance to catch up on blogging, life gets ahold of me. Studying Turkish for 20 hours a week while Shannon works and has language classes along with being pregnant in a city this size seems to be taking its toll on me. I feel highly unproductive and like I spend so much time trying to do normal "life" that I don't have time for anything fun.

I think that having just moved (eek, like six weeks ago already?) is also taking its toll...all the loose ends from moving are slowly getting accomplished, they just take time, you know? So here are a few snippets of this weekend for me...and maybe it will help me justify why we still don't have light fixtures, why there are still plastic totes full of random things lying around to be put away, and why I still haven't cleaned most of our windows even once since moving in. One can hope, anyway.

Park time! The best time to go to the park on the weekends is before 10:00, since there's nobody there. Lane has free reign and we have no worries of her being bullied/knocked over/spit at (and yes, all of those have happened to her here).

Pizza: it's what's for dinner! I actually made pizza twice this weekend. I discovered that it doesn't take much longer to slice double the veggies, make double the sauce, and make double the crust. It made for about 20 extra minutes of work the first go around, but no extra work (apart from shredding cheese) the second go around.

We've been transitioning Lane to her "big-girl" bed. She has no problems at night, but for naps I lay down with her until she (and sometimes I) falls asleep. We'll fight the battle of getting her to lay still and fall asleep without me...later. I'm not up for it this month. (She currently has a thing for socks and wants to wear them all the time...hence the "nothing on except for socks" look.)

Yogurt-kiss marks on my pants (courtesy of Lane).

Dessert for after church. Brownies (these, without the "mocha" since I didn't have any instant coffee) on the left, the glaze for them on the right. We don't have a microwave, so I have to melt things and warm things up on the stove.

Every momma needs a break sometimes. Lane's new favorite show: Signing Time. She's already learned about five new signs (socks, flower, train, baby, doll, wash hands) in the ten or so days we've had two DVDs.

Ahh, Turkish. How I love thee (you're easier than Polish) and yet loathe thee (you're harder than Spanish)!

Nice days just beckon for us to play in water on the balcony.

One of my favorite pastries around here: a çikolata açma: a chocolate croissant. Few places have them, but one place, Ceviz Ağcı (The Walnut Tree-man), has fantastic croissants, warm on Sunday mornings, for only 1.25 lira (currently about $.70). I consider one my treat for pushing Lane the 1/2 mile to the park, the 1/2 mile to the bazaar, and the whole mile back.

My view on the way back from the park and Sunday bazaar. Our new stroller loaded up with my haul: bananas, grapes, zucchini, green beans, carrots, fresh basil, and eggs. We also stopped for three liters of milk on the way home. I bought less today than usual since we're (insert excited noises here) going on vacation later this week.

That girl has got some CRAZY bed-head!

Last but not least, what weekend would be complete without a load of cloth diapers to wash, hang, stuff, and put away? We wash every three days and are lucky to have a large enough supply (now that Lane only uses about five per day) that we can start the load after Lane goes to bed at 8:00 and not worry about hanging them until the morning. The first cycle is about 30 minutes long. We start the second cycle before we go to bed, and it finishes 2-3 hours later. I hang them first thing in the morning and fold them that evening or the next morning.

***Can you please, please go vote for me, if you haven't already? I'm only 12 votes away from the person in first place...***

By Best Family Travel

All in a Doctor's Appointment...

Today I had two doctor's appointments back-to-back, since they were both in the same area of town. It takes me about an hour to get there, so I figured that I'd try to knock them both out on the same day to avoid an extra two hours of traveling later in the week.

My first doctor's appointment was scheduled for 10:00 with a doctor who specializes in cardiac ultrasounds on babies in utero. My regular doctor gives me an ultrasound at every appointment and said that she trusts herself to detect any defects in the brain, lungs, liver, etc., but she says that there are so many things that can be wrong with the heart that she likes her patients to see a specialist between 20-22 weeks for an ultrasound of the baby's heart. No problem.

So, I left my apartment at 8:45 this morning. Out the front door and walk up this (killer) hill:

Up the hill and through the gate at the back.

Turn left behind the post office and walk up some more stairs.

This is only half the flight of stairs...

And then through a big parking lot.

Funny that we looked at an apartment up here on the left.

About seven minutes after leaving my front door I reach the main road, where I catch a minibus to Kadiköy. 15ish minutes later, I reach this insanity:

One of the bus depots in Kadiköy.

Here, I walk another 10 or so minutes

getting views like this

until I find the correct dolmuș.

A dolmuș: a shared taxi. You pay a set amount for up to a certain distance, and they only go on set routes (like a bus, but less crowded).

The dolmuș takes me another 10-15 minutes and I get off near Göztepe Park. My doctors are on Bağdat Caddesi, which is a one-way street going the opposite direction than the direction the dolmuşes go. So I get out and walk through the park.

Ahh, greenery in the middle of 18 million people!

I turn right up Bağdat Caddesi, walk about 10 more minutes, and I've reached doctor #1. Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

I arrive just in time. I look at the board to see which floor my doctor is on, since I've never seen this doctor before. I don't see his name so I ask at the information desk, which floor is he on? "He's not working here today." "Huh? I have an appointment." "You have an appointment?" "Yes. Today is Tuesday, August 16th, right?" "What's your name?" And she proceeds to confirm that I do not have an appointment, that the doctor is not working today at this hospital or at the other one I was told he worked at. Now I'm wondering if I have an appointment anywhere today, and why I don't have an appointment here. Plus, I'm thinking that I'm going to have to travel the 1 hour, 10 minutes again later this week, since I'm almost to 23 weeks and will be out of the window of time that this doctor does ultrasounds. Sigh.

I ask to use their phone and call the call center where I made my appointment (in English, by the way, so there was no misunderstanding on my part, at least, the first time around). I explain the situation to them and they say they'll call back once they know something. Five minutes later they call and confirm that I don't have an appointment. Thank you. I figured that much out. Why not? What happened? Do I have an appointment somewhere else? "We'll call you back."

Meanwhile, the receptionist disappears. She reappears 20 minutes later and informs me that there's another doctor there who can do an ultrasound. Ok. But I don't want to pay for any ole' ultrasound. Is it a specialist? So I call my doctor on my cell phone while talking to the call center on the hospital's phone (trying to make an appointment for tomorrow with the original doctor) and ask her to talk to the receptionist, since by now my brain is fried and my Turkish is definitely not good enough to handle this. I hang up with the call center and tell them I'll call back later if I need a new appointment.

My doctor confirms that this doctor can indeed do this special ultrasound. Great. So I go and have the ultrasound done. But Baby Girl doesn't want to cooperate. She won't show the doctor her face, and he wants to make sure she's not blind and doesn't have a cleft palate. I get up and walk around, drink a cup of hot chocolate. Go back in. Nothing. They make me eat cookies and tell me to drink some coffee. Walk around some more. I call my doctor and make sure it's ok that I'm going to be super late. No problem. I walk around. Eat some cookies. Drink two cappuccinos from the machine. Finally she cooperates. No blindness. No cleft palate. Thank goodness.

I try to leave but they need to process my insurance claim. It takes forever. I finally leave. It's 11:45. I'm already 45 minutes late and I haven't even left yet! I leave, turn right down Bağdat Caddesi, and walk about 15 minutes until I come to my doctor's building.

Finally! Only an hour late...

I go up the elevator, get the doorbell to work for the first time ever, and tell them I'm there to see my doctor. They tell me to sit and wait. A lady comes and asks me my name (in Turkish). I tell her. She asks again, in English. I tell her again. She laughs. Brings me some initial paperwork to fill out. I'm confused because I've been here before...why am I filling out this paperwork again? I fill it out anyways to the best of my ability and read Turkish magazines while waiting. Finally, at 12:30 I get to see my doctor. She looks at the report from the first doctor, says all looks fine. Gets me weighed and is happy that I've finally gained weight: FIVE kilos in a month. She is happy at my weight gain but warns me not to gain five kilos (eleven pounds) each month from here on out! Takes my blood pressure. Prescribes me some iron pills. And lets me leave without even paying, since she didn't do much (ha, like THAT would ever happen in America!).

Out the door. Try to catch a dolmuş, but they're all full and passing me. Walk to the bus stop. Catch a normal bus.

Ride the bus 10-15 minutes. Nobody gives me a seat, because my belly isn't big enough yet.

I get out near the train station. Walk about seven minutes. Grab a döner kebap from a street vendor because it's after 1:00 and I'm pregnant and starving. I eat it while walking down the street, not caring that it's Ramazan and I'm being rude by eating in front of everyone who's fasting. I am pregnant, after all. Stop staring. I walk another 10ish minutes, up another hill. Catch another minibus.

Minibuses. Their only redeeming quality is that they'll drop you off anywhere on their route, not just at bus stops.

Ride the bus 10 or so minutes. Get off and walk back through that parking lot, down all the steps, down the big hill. And I get home right in time for my by-then-postponed-twice Turkish lesson.

I was so glad when this morning was over.

My Day in Pictures

Back by popular demand...my day in pictures.

Warning: photo overload is about to commence.


6:45. Unfortunately this is about what I look like that early in the morning!


7:15. After a shower and some mascara. A bit better.


7:15. Coffee, a vitamin, and checking email.


7:30. Bambino's up!


Taking her overnight 'sposie to the trash.


Breakfast.


Mama's multitasking: making the grocery list while Lane eats.


Reading post-breakfast.


Ugh...make the bed.


Made!


8:15. Breakfast and Bible time.


9:00. Chores.


Fold these.


So we can wash and hang these.


Daddy's work station.


9:45. Heading to the park.


Ahh. I love this view.


Run on the track at the park.


Play in the dirt.


Bum a balloon off another kid.


Noon. Home. Leftovers for lunch.


Dessert. Thanks, Sarah!


12:30. Stories and nap time.


1:00. More chores. Clothes are hung.


Thaw a chicken for dinner on Thursday.


Dinner prep.


Mmm.


Making buttermilk bread.


Snoozing hard!


Cookie dough.


Clean up the mess!


3:30. Lane's up! Play a bit.


She loves these guys.


Going to the bakkal for our groceries. They're bribing Lane with a mandarin.


It worked. But she's more interested in the strawberries.


4:45. Daddy's done with work! Heading to the park. Again.


Climbing.


Swinging.


See-sawing.


Sliding.


Daddy went too fast and landed on his bottom!


6:05. Home. Dinner.


6:45. Brushing teeth.


Bible story. Singing. Bedtime.

And here is where the photos end. Photos of me working on the computer are boring, as are photos of me unclogging our bathtub drain.

We're going to have family worship and head to bed ourselves!