Do you guys feel neglected?  Sorry to leave you with no new news for a few days.  Some days there's just not that much going on that's exciting, you know?  I mean the last time I wrote about the mundane details of a typical day, I caught a lot of crap for it.  I've been spending a lot of time making funny faces at Sophia trying to get her to smile at me.  I think she has smiled at me a couple of times, but I'm not 100 percent sure and Esen won't believe me until I can get her to do it in front of him.  Yesterday I sang TV show theme songs to her trying to get a reaction out of her.  Nothing... even though I sang the theme songs to The Jeffersons, The Love Boat, and so on (I even hummed Magnum P.I.!).  Esen laughed at me a little, but Sophia gave me nothing.  She didn't cry, however, so I take that as a compliment.  :)

 

What else is new?  Well, Sophia has gotten some baby acne... little red bumps all over her cute chubby cheeks.  I read online that about 50 percent of babies get this in their second month (she's right on schedule) and that you just have to wait it out.  Most theories talk about how this is her body finally getting rid of all the hormones that she got from me in the womb.  She's gotten a little camera shy as a result.  :)  Actually, she doesn't seem at all bothered by it.

 

After looking at cribs last weekend, we finally bought one tonight.  I found a used one online... a respected Italian brand that is supposed to be well made.  We still have to buy a mattress (which is the important part) and the bedding.  I've started looking at crib bedding sets online and am positively SHOCKED at how expensive this crap is!  I mean, I want it to look cute and all, but I'd really rather not drop hundreds of dollars on a sheet, a bed skirt, and a bumper.  I'll find a set that is bright and modern (no pastel teddy bears!) at Target or something and reward myself for being thrifty by indulging in a cute outfit for her from Gymboree.  One last aside in this rambling entry: if you have access to a Gymboree, you have got to check out the adorable spring/summer collections they have... seriously tempting!  I think it would have been cheaper to have a boy... little girl clothes are too damn cute!

We receive so much fan mail and most letters ask, "So, what in the hell do you do all day?"  OK, I'm exaggerating a bit... we don't get any fan mail and nobody really inquires about the day-to-day.  I'm going to tell you anyway.  :)

 

8am:  Sophia is up.  Well, technically, she was up at 6am and I just brought her into bed with us to nurse and doze off a little bit.  I get up, change her diaper, and put on a robe and slippers (looking like a movie housewife with a messy ponytail and this outfit).  I leave her on the bed with Esen while Suzy and I head out to the backyard to open up the garage door for the kitties (in case they want to roam around the yard, which they generally don't).  I also eat a bowl of cereal and check my email while Esen walks Suzy. 

 

10am:  Some how 2 hours have elapsed and it's not clear how.  I've tidied up the kitchen a bit, restored some order to the living room (in the hopes that I'll get some time to vacuum the carpet in there), oh - and I've made some coffee for us (very important!).  I feed Sophia and then, because Esen is working from home today, sneak off for a shower (a long enough one that I actually get to condition my hair AND shave my legs!).  She is snoozing peacefully enough in her bouncy seat that I take the time to put on a little make-up and some non-pajama clothes and then I put a load of laundry in the washing machine.  I sit down with my laptop to learn some Turkish.  Esen bought me Rosetta Stone for my birthday and learning this way is like being on a game show... it reads off a Turkish word or phrase and then I have to click on one of four possible pictures that the word/phrase describes (when you get it wrong, a big red "X" comes up like on Family Fued).

 

noon:  Esen leaves to run an errand and the still-sleeping Sophia allows me to vacuum the living room and respond to a few emails.  When she wakes up a short time later, I throw her in the sling so that I can take wet laundry out to the dryer (in the garage).  Of course Suzy accompanies us and the cats meow for our attention.  I put another load of laundry in and return Sophie to her bouncy seat.  She makes it clear that the bouncy seat is NOT preferrable to my arms, so I pick her back up again and feed her.

 

1:30pm:  Esen returns and cheerfully agrees to make us lunch.  I've been reading another Turkish-language book and we chat about some rules and some vocabulary.  It is helpful to have him around when I am learning things so that I can ask my questions while they are fresh in my mind.  After we eat lunch, Sophie wants hers so I feed her once again... she is FUSSY and requires a diaper change in order to get her to keep eating (she's like a diaper princess... zero tolerance for anything remotely wet/dirty).  I fold some clothes and then it's back to tending to the crankiest baby on the block. 

 

3pm:  The only thing that shuts her up is when I told her in front of an open window.  It's rainy today and there's a nice cool breeze blowing in and it is clearly enchanting to her.  I finally tire of this and try to set her down.  When that doesn't fly, daddy comes to the rescue to walk her around and lull her to sleep (finally... through some sort of Turkish magic no doubt).  This respite allows me to start this blog entry (before I forget the details of the first half of the day) and finish up the laundry I started earlier.  I should also mention that Suzy has been watching all of this action sleepily from the couch... she clearly wishes that we'd all just shut up so that she could get in a good nap.  Esen finally gets Sophia calmed down and the winning position just happens to be laying on the couch with her on top of him (how handy... they BOTH get a nap!  See picture below.).  I go back to my Turkish lessons, but guiltily feel like I should be doing something else around the house (or that I can't do when I have Sophia all to myself).  I get rid of the guilt by taking some meat out of the freezer for dinner.  When Esen wakes up, he helps me with some Turkish and we also look at cribs online for a bit.  Then, low and behold, the milk monster wants to eat again!

 

5pm:  Sophia enjoys some tummy time in front of the mirror.  She still isn't enthralled with her image, but supposedly she will be shortly (and that love affair will likely last her well into her teens).  I watch the national news and Esen and I bargain over who gets to walk Suzy in the rain.  I lose and head outside with the dog who hates water.  While we walk, I contemplate what to do with the chicken thawing in the kitchen.

 

I could continue this entry, but really, aren't you bored enough already?  I mean, it's all pretty predictable from here on out... I feed Sophie, we eat dinner, I feed Sophie, we watch some TV, I feed Sophie, we head to bed.  The only detail missing from that brief summary is the 5 or so diapers that also get changed in between.  Now how many of you are jealous of my maternity leave?  :)  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  I'm just saying that it's not particularly glamorous or exciting.  It is pretty rewarding in the sense that she's gaining weight and growing and is generally healthy.  I'm still thinking that I'll be more than ready to get back to work in the fall.

 

 

 

 

So, we watched a movie last night (Stranger Than Fiction, for those who are curious... not bad, not great) and Sophie fell asleep pretty soundly during the movie while she was laying on top of me.  At the end, as the credits were rolling, I was trying to wake her up so that I could feed her.  Well, it got a little out of hand as you will see in the video below, but the little bugger still didn't wake up!  We got a severe case of the giggles making this video and watching it afterwards... too good not to share.  :)

 

Hard to believe that four weeks have elapsed already!  Sophia celebrated her one month birthday by sleeping for FIVE hours straight last night... let's hope that she chooses to repeat that miracle.

 

To document Sophia's growth, I'm going to take the advice of a friend who photographed his son with the same stuffed animal every four weeks.  I've chosen this pink pig since Sophia is roughly the same size as it right now.  Should be fun to look at pictures of her with it over the course of the next few years to see how she grows.  :)

Wow... just back from the doctor.  Esen and I placed a bet about Sophia's weight (I said just over 9 pounds, he said just under).  We were both wrong... our little sumo wrestler weighed in at a WHOPPING 10 pounds 4 ounces!  She doesn't eat for very long stretches, so she must just be a really super efficient sucker!  :)  Esen also noticed that Sophia's trend so far is to weigh in at weights that mean something else (i.e., first doctor's appointment she weighed 7-11, second doctor's appointment she weighed 10-4... do you see a pattern here?).  That's pretty funny, huh?  We still maintain that most of her weight is in her cheeks.  At this rate, she'll never hold her head up on her own. 

 

OK, I'm off to pick up the cats from the vet.  They have collars and flea treatments waiting for them in their new roomy garage accommodations.  Hopefully they'll adjust to the move... keep your fingers crossed.

Just thought I'd update everyone on the status of our cats and our furniture (and our mental health) after that last post (which made me sound a little psycho).  Cats are still at the vet where the doctors have ruled out any simple health problem that might explain their sudden desire to urinate on the couch (diabetes, urinary tract infection, brain tumor).  That means that the problem is behavioral (surprise, surprise) and probably related to Sophia's arrival in the house and the stress it generates for them.  The vet is going to start them on a drug called amiltriptiline (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitriptyline), which is an antidepressant and anxiety-reducing drug that is also used to treat chronic pain in people apparently.  The drug is supposed to chill the cats out enough that they are no longer so stressed that they pee in inappropriate places.  I'm hoping that it chills them out enough that they like living in the garage / backyard.  It takes about three weeks to take effect, and I'm sure as hell not letting them back into the house during that time.  Good thing for them we live in such a temperate climate, huh?  The downside of the drug is that it requires giving each cat a pill EVERY DAY.  Like I need this task in my already full and somewhat stressful day?  Oh Esen... I *LOVE* a man who can wrestle a cat (or two!) to the ground and jam a pill in it's mouth.  I guess another downside might also be the price... I haven't even asked about that yet.  Anyway, Lucy and Ethel are spending another night at the vet's office so that I can fully recover my sanity/patience and do a little rearranging in the garage, I mean, their new kitty efficiency.  :) 

 

As for the furniture, I currently have two nice gentlemen from Sears working on the couch and loveseat.  They're also cleaning my large area rug in the living room, which has never been cleaned and seems reasonable to clean now that it won't have any more cats walking on it.  :)  With the pet stain pre-wash, the special pet enzyme treatment, the actual uphostery cleaning, and then the stain-resistant coating, the whole bill is only $475.  What a bargain, huh?  (For all of you who were considering having your furniture cleaned and are shocked, relax... the cat pee essentially doubles the cost of this whole process.)  Add the vet bill to this and we're probably looking at a grand total of $750 or so to deal with this mess.  Might have been almost as cheap to just kill the cats and buy new furniture.  :)  Sorry, that's cruel (but sadly true).

 

As for Sophia, she is taking this all in stride (must take after her father in this regard).  We are currently holed up in the bedroom (with Suzy) to escape the noise and the fumes in the living room.  I feel better knowing that everything will be clean and new for her (assuming the special pet enzyme treatment is actually able to remove the odor).  She is currently enjoying some "tummy time" on the boppy pillow.  She spends so much time on her back (which is safest for sleeping, of course) that we are advised to lay her on her stomach when we can observe her and make sure that she's able to breathe.  Suzy is also enjoying some tummy time, but that's nothing new for her.

 

OK, I promise to post some pictures of the good-as-new furniture and of Lucy and Ethel in their new habitat tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a nice St. Patrick's Day... ours was uneventful (surprise).  Esen finally got around to smoking ribs on his new charcoal grill (a day-long extravaganza involving spicy rubs and savory mops and whiskey-soaked wood chips and continual tending of the coals).  The end product was delicious, but not worth all the effort in my opinion.  I will continue to support his quest for smoked rib perfection, but I don't have to understand it, do I?

 

Some friends of ours adopted a baby girl from Guatemala recently (their second adoption from that country) and there was a nice brunch in the park to welcome her home.  Her birthday is the day before Sophia's, although she is already a year old.  A few pictures of our little family were taken while we were there, so I figured I'd share (see below).  It's quite a process to go anywhere with Sophia... gotta make sure the diaper bag is stocked (and not just any diaper bag, but the one that is appropriate for the outting... big, small, easily carried, better for stroller, etc.), gotta time things so that she eats and gets a clean diaper just before leaving, gotta strap her into the car seat (which she does not appreciate) and time that ordeal such that you can whisk her into the car and get moving almost immediately to limit crying, and so on and so on.  We're still just getting the hang of this process and now I have a much clearer idea of why people with kids are always late to things.  I detest being late, but I guess I'm just going to have to let that go.

 

This morning, however, we were met with a new challenge... a new obstacle in our endeavor to get out of the house looking appropriate for public consumption.  Cat piss.  That's right... cat piss.  One of the cats decided to pee on the couch.  Normally they (might be Lucy, might be Ethel... our bet is Lucy) choose to pee on something that can go into the washing maching (like the blankets in Suzy's crate or the blanket that she sleeps on), but this morning they chose something that is not only unwashable, but nearly impossible to even spot clean.  They got both the cushion and the back of the seat (a part that can't be removed).  Funny how a little thing like cat piss can take a person like me and totally put her over the edge.  That's what happened this morning.  Both cats got scooped up and thrown into the back yard, where they have been meowing horribly ever since (literally... they have NOT SHUT UP!).  I tried to clean the couch before leaving the house, but the war against cat pee is a losing one unless you can throw the peed-on item into some hot water with bleach.  Not really an option for a 7 foot long micro-suede couch.

 

For those who aren't aware, I've been only modestly attached to these cats for years.  I've hauled them across the U.S. three times now (and dug them out from under every hotel bed along the way).  I've put up with their fur and bad attitudes and health issues.  Some of you will remember Ethel's "unique" health problem from this fall that nearly caused her to be sold to the circus as a freak-show act.  There's a mile-long list of reasons why these cats should no longer be with me.  This morning's event might just be the deal breaker.

 

I feel like I need a bit of a cooling off period.  I mean, I could kill them with my bare hands right now and that's *probably* not the right thing to do.  If I can find a way to not kill them tonight, I can take them to the vet tomorrow and board them for a few days while I figure out what to do.  Not sure what to do with them tonight, however, because leaving them outside to meow incessantly will only cause the neighbors to call animal control.  Plus, I don't think it is both cats... we strongly suspect Lucy, who seems to like to sit in all the places that have been peed on.  Is it fair to kick out poor scared-to-death-of-her-own-shadow Ethel along with the likely culprit?  Are they better off if they're miserable but together?  If you have the answers to these questions, do share!

 

Now this blog is supposed to be about Sophia not the cats, but my current rage against the cats is part of my new-found desire to have a clean house that is not toxic to our dear daughter's baby lungs, to have clean surfaces and air... is that too much to ask?  What happens when they start peeing on her things?  The thought makes me so irritated that I'm back to wanting to kill them with my bare hands.  OK, I better start coming up with a plan for the evening... it'll be dark in another 3 hours.

Yesterday?  Not such a good day.  Neither was the night before.  Think those things are correlated?  :)  I thought about blogging on yesterday's challenges, but I had completely lost my sense of humor fairly early in the day and worried that you guys would send me to some sort of postpartum counseling for mothers who are losing their minds.  With very little sleep from the night before, Wednesday's challenges were overwhelming even though things don't seem that bad in hind sight.  To give you some idea of just how pissed off at the world our little angel Sophia was, I made a brief video (*someone* asked for more videos... here you go!).

Esen suggested that we blog about all the silly nicknames that we already have for Sophia.  Some of the things that we call her are a little bit embarrassing (to us), but in the interest of honesty, I'll try to list them all here (with brief explanations where necessary).

 

1.  Fussy McFussypants:  Remember that email that went around a few years ago that had you "translate" your name into things like Snotty Bubbletush and Fluffy Applepants?  No?  Well here's a link to that fun... http://board.muse.mu/archive/index.php/t-1042.html.  Anyway, this nickname is related to that silly little game and also a tendency of a friend from grad school to make any name Irish by adding an "Mc" (or in Esen's case, adding an apostrophe... O'nur).  Incidentally, Sophie is being a Fussy McFussypants right now!

 

2.  Sanjay:  This one is a little bit mean, but I couldn't help myself.  We had this professor (named Sanjay) in grad school who had an INORDINATE amount of hair that grew on the backs of his ears.  I'm talking long enough that you couldn't miss it even if you were trying very hard.  Sophie has a little bit of hair on the back of her ears, so I couldn't resist making the comparison.

 

3.  Sasquatch:  Now this one is just completely mean, but again I couldn't help myself!  It's really common for babies to be born with fine hair all over their body (it's called lanugo... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanugo).  This is surely what's on her ears (see previous nickname), but it is also on her back and shoulders.  Do I need to continue this explanation.  For those who might not be familiar with Sasquatch (or Bigfoot), here's a picture to help you out... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot.

OK, those are all the sort of mean nicknames (I think).  The rest are a little nicer.  We have a whole line of nicknames that are milk-related... given how much time she spends eating, it's just too easy.

 

4.  Milkface:  Pretty self-explanatory, no?

 

5.  Milky-Milk:  My take on Marky-Mark (actor Mark Wahlberg's name back when he was a faux-rapper, but still hot).

 

6.  Milkshake:  This nickname is based on the Kelis song ("My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...") which was turned into a very funny commercial (which THANKFULLY is posted on YouTube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x27ZOVEiXr0).  Esen started calling *me* Milkshake near the end of the pregnancy (and he also threatened to do to me what was done to the cows in the commercial)... the nickname just got transferred to Sophia.

 

I think that's about it.  After a particularly bad night, Esen called her Satan's Spawn, but I'm hoping that one won't stick.  We also occasionally refer to her as "Monster" (as in, "The monster is alive!!"), but she more angel than monster most days.

You all have been surprisingly silent about who Sophia resembles more.  Perhaps it's hard to tell in the pictures or perhaps it is just that you're waiting until she's alittle older to cast your vote.  I'm still not sure myself and I get to study her features any time that I want.  While you guys are still busy making up your mind, I thought I might insert a little science into the conversation.  I don't want my brain to atrophe completely while I'm on maternity leave, you know? 

 

Researchers (no, not economists... mostly psychologists it seems) report a greater facial resemblance between fathers and their children than mothers and their children.  These claims were made by evaluating one-year-old kids and their parents, which is obviously subjective but probably old enough to say who the kid looks like.  The biological argument/story behind this claim is somewhat interesting.  The evolutionary rationale is that mothers can be absolutely certain that a baby is theirs (regardless of appearance), while fathers can't be sure and will only stick around and "invest" in the kid if the child's appearance makes him more certain of his paternity.  Historically, the stakes were really high, right... a father "investing" in the infant meant the difference between survival and not (i.e., a daddy who believes he is *my* daddy brings me food!).  I sort of like this story, although I should be honest that not all researchers agree.  Like any good line of research, different empirical studies come to different results.  Some other researchers find that infants are just as likely to look like mom as like dad.  That's not surprising.  Some of the evolutionary need to look like dad has perhaps disappeared as sheer survival has become less of an issue.  Perhaps if you had a sample of cavemen/women/babies, you'd see more of a father/baby resemblance than you do today.

 

I share this little biology tidbit not to get all intellectual on you, but to find a less boring way of discussing the fact that I'm beginning to think Sophie resembles Esen more than me (at least her face).  She's definitely got his chin and I think his eyes.  Although the chubbiness of her cheeks masks her face shape quite a bit, I also think she has this in common with Esen (the face shape, not the chubby cheeks).  :)  Others have commented that she has my skin coloring (which is a shame because I love Esen's slightly darker skin), but perhaps skin tone is one of those things (like eye and hair color) that takes some time to settle.  Only time will tell us the truth about these things, but it's hard not to make some comparisons when you stare at her as much as I do every day. 

It's not that we haven't been keeping her clean, but she just doesn't get that dirty!  Anyway, we finally gave her a real sponge bath (video of part of it is below... the top half!).  She tolerated the attention pretty well.  Esen threatened to let Suzy give her a bath... probably would have been just as effective, but she might not have smelled so good afterwards.

So, it wasn't such a good night last night.  It started off OK, but then Sophia started "crying wolf"... that is, waking up crying like she was hungry, but then not actually eating.  Now, I'm not one to mind getting up to feed her in the middle of the night, but if I get up and she *doesn't* eat despite my efforts, that's a little troublesome to me.  This happened twice last night, so that by 5am I was about ready to do some force feeding.  Fortunately, my threats woke up Esen and he saved our lovely daughter from me.  :)  We're all hoping for a nap later this afternoon to recover.  I strongly suspect that Esen will post a comment regarding his take on our night... perhaps he'll even admit to the name he called her.  :)

 

I meant to post yesterday about my first solo outting with Sophie and Suzy.  I used a new baby carrier that I got (the Ergo carrier... http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/).  It's got more padding than most and has an insert that allows it to be used with infants now and bigger babies and even toddlers later.  The infant insert makes her look a bit like a Sophie-pita (see pictures below and you'll understand why Esen suggested adding tzatziki sauce and taking a bite), but it keeps both of my hands free so that I can easily handle Suzy's leash.  I've also inserted a few pictures of her in her stroller (with proud papa pushing).

OK, so I added a picture of me as an infant so that you all can judge whether there's a resemblance.  I've gotten a request for baby pictures of Esen, too.  While I don't have any pictures of him as an infant, I do happen to have a few pictures of him as a toddler and young boy.  My apologies to Kaan and Ilke who are also immortalized in some of these photos.  Esen will probably kill me later for posting these, but I like to live dangerously.  He's just so darn cute (they all are)... I couldn't resist!

 

So now you have some pictures of both of us... which of us does Sophie look more like?

One of the real reasons that I wanted to start a Sophia blog was to have a place to post videos easily.  To see if this actually works, I've attempted to embed a video of Sophie being weighed about an hour after she was born.  She's delivering a classic baby scream (one that THANKFULLY we don't hear all that often or for extended periods of time).  Let me know if you have trouble watching it.

Well folks, I'm not sure about the answer to this question, but my hunch is that all you grandparents and aunts/uncles in far away places might be interested in keeping up to speed with Sophia's activities.  I'm game, but first let me institute a few simple rules for this blog.

 

(1)  At no time will I speak for Sophia in first person baby talk (i.e., "Today my mommy took me out for a stroll to the post office.")  I've seen other baby blogs that pull this sort of crap and I'm just not that kind of mommy.

 

(2)  Feel free to post comments, but (for all you blog virgins out there) please realize that anyone and everyone can read your posts.  Keep it clean and keep it nice.  I do want to hear your comments, particularly because it lets me know that you are reading and gives you an opportunity to let me know that I'm providing too much information (TMI) or perhaps not enough.

 

(3)  I reserve the right to add more rules in the future.  Although I read plenty of blogs, I've certainly never maintained one and, as a result, can't easily predict what other rules might come in handy.  As you may know, I'm a fan of rules (I see some of you nodding).

 

OK... let me figure out a few other things, like posting pictures and whether or not I can post videos on here.  I promise to add posts when Sophia does something exciting.  Right now, that's just extremely unlikely.