1 building 3 newborns!

We had 3 new blessing delivered in the past month. Our downstairs neighbor's son came a little early, so he's pretty small. Anastasia dwarfs him a little, but he'll catch up. Our doorman also had a daughter, but hasn't let us see her yet. We're kinda out of the loop, I guess. It's a treat that we got to see our neighbor's new son. Luke's mom even got to hold him, which she may or may not have realized how out of the ordinary that was. However, we're really good friends with the family now, so maybe it wasn't that unusual. All the same, they served us sooooooo much food! Luke's parents got a really good dose of Turkish hospitality. If you see them, feel free to ask them about it, they're probably still full!

Protest on Istiklal

Luke & his parents were touring along the famous street of Istiklal in downtown Taksim when they came upon a large parade of protesters. Although we couldn't figure out most of what they were protesting, we knew they were pharmacists who were disgruntled with their pay & benefits. Different place, same problems...

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

This church is in Taksim, a very modern part of the city. It used to be home to many Greeks. The caretaker almost didn't let us in, but eventually opened up the sanctuary. It's view really was amazing!

More by Brittany. The zebra is for Sierra. The baby blanket was also Luke's baby blanket.

Luke's parents came for a week and a half visit. We had a great time while they were here and had a few chances to take some pictures. These are by our friend Brittany Smith.

Kurban Bayrami

Today is a holiday, the Feast of Sacrifice. It commemorates the story from the Koran where Abraham goes up Mt. Moriah to sacrifice his first son, Ishmael. It is one of the major holidays, as families and friends often spend much time together eating the animals slaughtered (bulls or sheep).

This video is a little graphic, but it's only the cleaning of the bull after it's been slaughtered.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with some of our friends here. Everyone brought their favorite Thanksgiving food and everything tuned out great.
One of our friend's kids gave up his spot as youngest around to Anastasia. He was entranced by her.

My first bath at home

So I was all warm and ready for bed after coming to this nice new place. And these people who have taken me there suddenly grabbed me and put me in this wet stuff and kept rubbing me all over! I told them to stop. I told them over and over and even started to scream at them, but unfortunately I left my mace at my last home so I was completely defenseless. Eventually, it was over and I got to go back to life as usual in my nice warm bed.

Grandparents!

Luke's parents, Walter & Sue, made it in just in time before Thanksgiving. They have really enjoyed geting to kknow their new granddaughter.

I wasn't aware of the time when I was making this video, but it was around 6 AM the next day. That's about 9 hours after she'd been born. Everyone remarked about how she was so alert right after she'd been born--came out with her eyes open! Once she woke up again, she was right back to taking everything in.

Anastasia Zoe!

We'd like to announce the birth of our daughter, Anastasia Zoe. Her name comes from John 11:25 meaning "resurrection" and "life."
She was born at 8:13 PM local time, weighing 7 lbs 12 oz/3.52 kilos, measuring 19.5"/50 cm long.
She's very healthy and was very alert for her first 2 hours.

In the hospital

So we have internet access and nothing better to do. Here are a pic while we're waiting.
The nurses are getting a kick out of helping us. They have been great--even bringing tea!

Baby countdown...

We went to the doctor today and the doctor said...no more monk...
Sorry, wrong story. Anyway, there probably won't be any monkeys jumping in a crib for at least another 4 or 5 days according to the doc. Still looks like there's some more days coming beyond that, but patience is needed!
Nov. 16 is the due date, Nov. 23 would be the latest day for the inducement if necessary.

Here's a shot from when our friends Al & Izzy came over. They love them some Wii!

EEEN--GEL--ISH

Illiteracy is such a rampant problem among affluent American tourists...
I think I'll start a fund to help the poor souls.

Texas is missing a couple of stars...

We had a visit from Eric and Ife as they passed by on their way east. We had a great time with them and they with us. Eric's favorite part was being "water-boarded" by the guy at the hamam--as he couldn't catch a breath for all the water being dumped on him. Despite that, he still enjoyed the experience.
Thanks to Lake Arlington for their continued support and for treating us to a meal or 3! and for the shoes...and for everything!

Our Love!

Natural Pics

If you'd like to see the "normal" photos of us for Robyn's pregnancy, look at the older posts.
However, these are more fun ;)

Preggy Pics İki (2)

As of now, our daughter is due Nov. 7. We're thinking that it may be closer to the middle of the month, but that's what our latest trip to the doc revealed. We'll have more frequent trips now that we're only a little over a month away. Robyn's doing very well.
Odd fact: Robyn has a space heater living inside her, so our roles of cold-natured hot-natured have reversed.

Preggy Pics!

We made a visit to a local park to take some pre-parenting pics. (I know we're already parents, but it's a cool alliteration.) Much gratitude to our good friend & fotoğrafçı, Brittany!

Under 2 Months

Robyn's almost done! Or I guess I should say our daughter is... Her time in the oven is coming to a close really soon. We didn't get any good pictures from the inside on our last visit, so we'll offer a few from the outside.
As of our last visit, she was almost 2 kilos (a little over 4 lbs). She's still very active and likes kicking her mommy in the ribs.
We're sorry you can't see her, but the images we saw on the sonogram looked really cute! Her due date was moved to Nov. 7, but who knows...

Iftar!

Many places in our city offer free meals during Ramazan for the evening meal which breaks the fast. Robyn an I attended one of these with a friend of ours to get the experience. We waited a while in line, but there was PLENTY of food to go around. There was soup, a main course of beef (usually very expensive) and rice, sweets, a roll, and ayran (a salty milk drink like buttermilk).
We enjoyed the experience and got to visit with some of the folks there. The atmosphere was very friendly and mostly relaxed, but the business of food was definitly the first task of the evening! It's understandable as many people don't even drink water from sunrise to sunset.

We were surprised about the range of how much people adhere to the fast. Some people we thought were very conservative didn't fast at all, and others we thought didn't care about their religion at all held tight to the regulations of no food or water.

A little fishy

It's a small, small world! One of our friends here visited one of her friends in Europe, where some of our friends happened to be staying as well. As soon as they realized the connection, they hit the market and our friends got both Robyn & baby some beautifuly pearl earrings. They have a secret way of making these pearls out of fish scales which makes their opalesence even greater. It'll be a while before our daughter can wear her pair, but they're gonna look great one day!

Thanks Summer & Greg!

Our little Mavs fan!

Our new little teddy is modelling our Mavs onesie from Luke's cousins, Chris and Randa. Our daughter may be conflicted and confused when it comes to what school to root for, but she's gonna be a Mavs fan for the NBA and a Saints fan for the NFL! We're leaning toward the Rangers for baseball, but if anyone ever gives her any baseball gear (other than the Yankees) it probably won't be shredded.
We're also proud of Chris and Randa's daughters for giving their little cousin some of their own clothes!
Thanks Chris, Randa, Avery & Anika!

Let's make beautiful music!

Robyn's family has been busy! They've been sending a steady stream of baby goodies over the past few months: onesies, twosies, headsies, booties...
When they went on vacation in Tennessee, they had a cd made with her name put into the songs...pretty cool!
We've also gotten some blankets and sheets with the style we like that go with our Noah's Ark/animal theme for her room.
Her sisters also made a cute Eeyore blanket that will fit right in with some of the other Pooh things we've got.

Thanks for everything Huffs!