Saturday, March 13, 2010

Thorin Tate is ONE - 3.12.09

Wow, where do I begin?
The joy of Thorin is indescribable!!! The smile that he continues to flash freely is a contagious delight!!! And his giggles make us crazy!!!

According to my home measurements he is...
19 lbs
&
28 inches
...these measurements put him in the 3rd percentile for both height and weight....he always has been and continues to be a little guy!

  • Thorin is in no hurry to walk!!! He'll do it holding on to furniture or me and he can stand on his own but refuses to most of the time.
  • He's also in no hurry to talk! He has been saying 'dadada' couple months but we've only heard him say 'mama' once and laughs when I try to get him to say it! In spite that he is quite 'talkative'. When he want's something he's not hesitant to say so!!
  • He has gotten extremely independent when it comes to eating, to the point that he pretty much refuses to allow himself to be fed. He loves feeding himself and will eat copious amounts of what ever food I put on his tray!!!
  • He weened himself probably about a month and a half ago - he just didn't have the patience for it anymore! At the end he was only nursing once a day and that was only if we were in bed, in a quiet room with NO distractions!!
  • He has been sleeping through the night since about 9 months and is an amazing sleeper!!! There is no snuggling at bed time! When he's tired he tugs on his hair then when we're in his room he reaches for his bed and once he's flat on his belly, thumb in the mouth, and covered he doesn't make another peep!!!
  • He generally sleeps from 7 pm to 8:30 am
  • He naps from 10 am to 1 pm and then again from about 3 to 5
  • He and Sterling play really well together!!! It always tickles me pink when I hear them cracking each other up...which is quite often!!! They play hide-n-seek in the living room and with their toys in the kitchen. Sterling is great at looking out for Thorin, always making sure he has a toy!!
  • Sterling pretty much only ever calls him Fo-in (long 'O' sound) Tate, or Fo-in Tatertots (uncle Ty, you'll appreciate that one : )!! It makes me laugh just typing that out : )
  • Thorin is sensitive about his space and is pretty easily frustrated when Sterling crowds in on him.
  • He's actually really sensitive and a bit dramatic in general!! Whenever he hurts himself the tears flow quickly and freely!! But he's also pretty easy to distract which means he gets over stuff quickly!
  • He is very ticklish all over and will even belly laugh at the anticipation of being tickled!
  • He loves it when Tim plays with him!!! All of it - the tossing, the flipping, being thrown on the bed, having pillows thrown at him - what ever it is he just squeals and giggles with delight! It drives him nuts if Tim is playing with Sterling and he can't get in on the action - he'll squeal and kick his legs just watching them!

Love this face!!!!

These are the heavily debated curls : ) I love them and Tim really wants to cut them off!!


The weather has finally been warm enough to play outside in the water so that's what we did all afternoon on Thorin's birthday!!





Hangin' out with friends who joined us to celebrate and help us eat cake!
I love the look on his face in this one!!!
He wasn't too sure about the cake at first...
...and decided he really didn't like it at all!!!! This makes me laugh every time I see it!!
That is, until after I helped him discover how wonderful it could be....
He and Sterling had a blast!!!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Byzantium - Constantinople - Istanbul

After much deliberation we decided to do a day tour of this ancient city! We are not really 'tour' type people but with our limited time and the distraction of the kids, we decided that it was the best way to get a lot of ground covered! And cover a lot of ground we did!!! The tour ran from 9 to 5 and half of it was a bus tour while the other half was a lovely boat tour of the Bosphorus!
Here's a bit of what we saw...

Aqueduct of Valens
Built by the Roman Emperor Valens in about 368 A.D. to provide Constantinople with water.
He looked board already and we had only just set out for the day!!!

Part of the ancient city wall
This was the oldest church with-in the city walls - it has since been turned into a mosque.
A view overlooking the Golden Horn from one of the highest points in the city...




Turkish Coffee...

Man! What a good lookin' brother!!!




This guy fell in love with Thorin!!!

Thorin enjoyed some freedom crawling around on the deck and a break from being held..
...and some time at the wheel with the captain : )
These are really old wooden houses.
Clearly Logan was a huge help with Sterling!!!!
Rumeli Fortress - built in 1452 at the narrowest point on the Bosphorus to control passage to and from the Black Sea.
An ornate palace gate.

A view of the city from the Bosphorus...

Sterling finally gave in and took a nap on Tim's chest around noon!
Another cute one of Logan and Sterling!!


Unfortunately I can't remember the name of this place. It's another church that was converted into a mosque.

Close-ups are the best!!

These mosaics were fantastic!!! I am left wishing that these next few pictures could do justice to the scale of intricacy and beauty that they possessed!!!
Please know that everywhere you see gold in the mosaics, it's real gold!!!
This first picture is an attempt to capture some of the detail close up - click on the picture to see a larger version.
Christ's first miracle; turning water into wine!
Christ feeds the five thousand
The empty tomb - pretty creative how they chose to depict it with an actual hole in the wall!
This was Sterlings favorite part of the whole day; we found a playground at the very last stop!
A big thanks to my mom for this coat and hat for Sterling!!! It was so cold that he/we would've been miserable with out it!!