01/31/2009

An uncomfortable arrangement
But we had to make do with because Iza was already having a hard time falling asleep. So once she drifted off, we didn't feel like moving her too much.
Toys R Us was only the one time that I remembered to take out the camera and take a picture. We also had an EC workshop again at MetroMinis (where, I am now recalling, I was supposed to ask Bianca which colorway the OMT was made out of, darn!) and had dinner at Handi on Lexington Ave. The Pakistani food was so oily and greasy, Harun and I were literally falling asleep on our feet. We're still trying to shake off the dizziness.
Off to drink some green tea, dissolve some of that grease out of my system..ugh.

01/30/2009

Prunes Today
Iza's favorite fruit? She'll eat anything that's mixed in with prunes. Unfortunately, they didn't work for the reason we first had Iza try them. I rushed to the bathroom several times the two hours following a lick of the prune puree, but it had no effect on Iza...hardy little booger!

I couldn't take a picture of it, but tonight she had a very noisy little gathering and didn't freak out once! This is a great milestone. It also means that now I can rejoin the Sunnyside Moms' group and their evening play groups.

01/29/2009

Making up over cupcakes
We made a late night trip to the Buttercup Bake shop tonight. As you can see, I could hardly keep my teeth out of the chocolate-chocolate cupcake and totally forgot about taking a picture before attacking the goodies. Point to be noted here: I usually don't like anything chocolate that is not an actual block of chocolate- can't tolerate chocolate ice cream, shakes, cakes or toffees. This is the first chocolate baked dessert that I actually wanted to savor every last whipped frosted lick of. Watch and drool.

01/28/2009

Mommy got her first Turkish ID
Harun took a break from work to drive us to the Turkish consulate in Manhattan. It was practically empty due to the ice storm outside. Iza was so loud that the staff inside the offices were peaking out of their cubicles to see her.

01/27/2009

The culprit
The exercise ball that Iza is so scared of. Her loser parents didn't even consider Miss Iza's preference in colors when trying to chose one. We should have bought the bland silvery-gray color that would have quietly blended in the background. I tried to put myself in Iza's place, looking up at this huge pink blog that sometimes moves on its own (because the floor dips in one corner), even I would be terrified. No wonder it gives Iza the jeepers creepers!

01/26/2009

Dancing Baby

I spent most of Monday morning and afternoon getting Iza to clap and dance as we caught her doing the previous night. Here is a little clip of her teasing me with pretending to dance. The same song got her to squeal and jump in delight before, but now she seemed a tad bored with it.

01/25/2009

Sunday-night Gelato
There was no Desperate Housewives on and we were glad we got at least one guilty pleasure under control.

01/24/2009

Chilling with Imran Mamoo.
This is what I get for forgetting my new camera at home...a blurry snap that can be used to defame iPhone's camera quality. Regardless the camera quality, you cannot ignore the chemistry in there! Imran mamoo has another little baby girl to fawn over.

01/23/2009

So Many People Asked to See This
Iza using her Little Potette. She can balance herself well enough that I don't have to constantly hold her, I can sit at an arm's length and let her finish her business. For the record, she's 8 mo here.

01/22/2009

My latest batch of babylegs completed
Now to find people to buy them. It disappoints me everytime how inconsistant I am in keeping their lenghts same. Oh well, they sell for only $5 a piece so it's not like I'm overcharging even though I do spend a lot of time hand stitching them.

01/21/2009

I'm ashamed to say...
It was just plain old laundry day today. I'm beginning to get disappointed in my mundane life. I had such high expectations from it. I guess I just tend to ignore the boring days and focus on the fun times. This blog is keeping me real; I DO have boring days too!
Or am I just not using the camera enough? Iza DID try Prunes for the first time today. She also climbed down the couch today without assistance for the first time. Harun brought home a piece of cake from the bakery that should rank in the class of addictive substances. He watched Lost with me, for the very first time and even deigned to try to catch what was going on so he could fill me in whenever I had to go soothe Iza every time she woke up from her light sleep.
I promise, I'll try to be better. Tomorrow and the day after are promising to be better weather, I should definitely take advantage of the warmer air.

01/20/2009

Watching the Inaugral Ceremony of President Barack Hussein Obama with Iza.

01/19/2009

Masal Cafe, Sheepshead Bay Marina, Brooklyn
MKL Day, had breakfast with Asli, Ercan abi, and their two daughters. After breakfast, we strolled over to the marina where Ahsen fed the geese and the ducks (and pigeons).

01/18/2009

Mint tea and rice pudding...
is how we celebrated Iza's turning 8 mo. Dinner was at Kabul Cafe in Flushing...a delicious affair of chicken and lamb tikkas and baklava on the house as the manager turned out to be Iranian-Turkish. Yay for contacts!

01/17/2009

Got to try on an Octified Mei Tai

At Metro Minis, thanks to Bianca. I'll update the post once I find out what wrap it was converted from. I also tried a didy indio naturale....oooh, it was so yummy and cozy! If only I could afford to have one..so sad, that will never happen. The wrap would cost as much as $200 and then $90 to convert it! Are you kidding? Thankfully, Bianca hinted that she might get some Girasol wraps converted and stock them in store. Maybe I'll wait for a display OMT to get all used and worn out by the customers and then buy it off of her.

01/16/2009

There were lilies in my anniversay bouquet and I didn't know until...

A very pleasant smell welcomed me coming back home and I found these beauties blooming among the roses. This was an anniversary gift with a double hit!

All but two lilies have bloomed since I first put these in water on Jan 10th. Aren't they gorgeous?

Also, digressing from the photo a day rule, I want to post a picture of Iza here too. She's been following me around all day lately.

Of course, in terms of beauty and attractiveness, my daughter wins hands down. And she doesn't even need weekly water changes!

01/15/2009

Iza's Diaper Stash
My mom: "Did you have to buy new diapers yet?"
Me: "No, she's still in the infant prefolds and I had to buy two new covers in the next size up."
My mom: "How much did that cost?"
Me: "Around 20 dollars."
My Mom: "How long will they last?"
Me: "Hmm, I'm betting on till she's a year old at least."

So, currently in her stash are the following:
1 Thirsties cover
1 Bummis cover
30 indian prefolds
20 Chinese prefolds toddler size, that get used as piddle pads and overnights
3 BG 3.0 OS
2 Fuzzi Bunz
A few hemp, microfiber inserts here and there.

And of course, I've already put away her new born and infant sized covers. I also saved the small size gDiaper covers and keep the medium size covers in our current stash for outings.

01/14/2009

Iza's Passport Picture
After several attempts and little less than kicking Baba out of the frame, we managed to get Iza to look in the camera and snap a photo for her passport application.
This is going to be on her passport until she begins to get embaressed by it, haha.

01/13/2009

That's what's for dinner tonight...
Burgers :) Yum! I wonder why I never made these before...Oh yeah, we didn't eat meat! We have a few too many pounds of beef in the freezer and not enough recipes for me to make food out of them without repeating at least a few.
This was a surprise! Who woulda thunk making hamburgers would be so easy he he.

01/12/2009

One wakeful baby+sleep deprived mommy=COFFEE!
Who would have thought that the 3 mo baby who excelled at going to sleep without any help, would 5 months later become a pain in the ass at going to sleep and staying asleep?
I would have collapsed today had it not been for two cups of coffee in the first two hours of the day's beginning.
For the record, that's Maxwell House coffee in that cup, not Starbucks. Unfortunately.

01/11/2009

Fun Fun Fun!

My sweety! She caught me washing her new diapers in the bath tub and she got so excited thinking she's about to get a bath. That meant of course, an early bed time hehe.

Mommy got proper splashed trying to keep an eye on her though.

01/10/2009

Another Boring Night...?

Actually, we did go out to Gulluoglu for desserts but I forgot my camera and it didn't occur to me that I could have used husband's stupid iPhone. Then again, he and I spent half and hour in the car trying to remember Ford's new SUV's name and it occured to us much later that we can just google it on 3G. Yeah, we're dorks!

Tonight we're just goofing around with the new Keffiyehs we got.

01/09/2009

Just a regular night at the Ozturk household
Not doing much at home tonight. Friday is time to sleep late and just lounge about. Even Iza gets to hang out with us later than usual.

01/08/2009

She might kill me when she's a teenager
but I'll take my chances anyway. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion kept me from noticing Iza's trip to the bathroom and back. I wouldn't have even realized her little truant little butt had she not dragged back a trail of toilet paper. I hope this is not an indication of her life to come: I'd rather she's a bit less of a klutz than her momma had been. January 8th, it was our 4th anniversary yesterday. And I celebrated by involuntarily falling asleep with Iza at 9 p.m; hence the lack of a post yesterday. I'm trying to get out of Forks, Washington in my head to take today's picture. *Reading Twilight*

01/07/2009

Shoes, my darling shoes! They came in yesterday while Jenny and Ben were visiting. Colin Stewart ankle booties in Hot Tamale *sigh* Sadly, they've got to go back because they have nasty bruises on the back of the heel. I tried to convince Harun to get them fixed instead, but no go. I have to wish them farewell. *sob* NYC sucks today, rain, sleet, snow and ice. The birds are afraid to chirp. Even the dogs are walking under bulky plastic rain coats. And Iza is still lounging around in her sleeper. No use getting her dressed today.

01/06/2009

Ben and Jenny come to visit. It's been a long time since we met. The last time we got together was at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens way back in July (was it?)

Zafer, our former Turkish instructor, was planning to join but was held back at his job. We missed him... Hopefully, we'll be able to arrange another social once Zafer is available and even again when Olga is back from Germany. It'll be good to have the entire gang together again.

Besides this, Iza also met our good friend Annie and her 1 yr old, Bea this afternoon. Also there were Katie and her 11 mo Helen. We're trying to get in the neighborhood babysitting coop. *Fingers crossed* I'm pretty confident at least 3 already in the coop trust me well enough to leave their kids with me. They love Iza too and I'm sure wouldn't mind looking after her once in a while so Harun and I can get a date night out.

01/05/2009

Just look at that smile!!!

Day at the park with Cynthia and Laura (in the next swing): Temps here in NYC got up to lower 50s and in January, that calls for a day out!

01/04/2009

The Ozturk's Family Bed

This is what a sleepless night ends up looking like in the morning. Iza must be going through a growth spurt because she was up and down all night and decided at 4 am that it must be time to play.

01/03/2009

Breakfast at Panera Bread with Christine,
Harun's boss from MTA days. It is a lot of fun going out with Iza now that she can sit in her high chair and amuse herself, with of course, a little bit of help from us and our guests. Christine was great with her and Iza looked quite smitten.

01/02/09

Yum...Peas!

Day 2 of 365 blog, and I'm torn between what pictures to post. Actually, I woke up early this morning, looking at a gorgeous pink morning sky and the first thought that came to my head was "This should be my picture for today!"

I remembered then my plan on getting Iza to feed herself peas...since Harun once caught her elbow deep in her bowl shoving the puree in her mouth just the previous day. I wanted to catch the moment I missed and share it here.

Iza's being very clingy and cranky today. Will have to stop here.

And so it starts...

Here is my first entry for the year 2009. Harun my darling husband, who in normal circumstances, has a lot of faith in me, right away snorted away when I announced my new year's resolution of maintaining this blog.
"You won't be able to do it, I'll tell you now." said the duffer.
I know what he means...we might be away a lot since we're always vacationing, or getting away on long weekends, and on many such getaways we don't get internet service. So, it IS quite possible that I won't be posting for weeks any pictures. However, I have made this commitment and I'll keep it even if I have to log away pictures every day with the intention of posting them all at once AND as soon as I get the chance, I will!
I don't pretend to be good at photography ha ha. So the pictures may be grainy, out of focus or just plain bizzare. But that IS my life! And it's my daily life that I am blogging so I guess it should be ok.

01/01/2009

New Year breakfast