Nate Latte

Nate hasn't had his first taste of coffee yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. He's obviously dying for a sip.

Wild Man

Nate's hair seems to only be growing on top. Doesn't he make the mohawk look good?

Last week

We spent last week at a conference on the southern coast of Turkey. We made it outside for about ten minutes one day - long enough to take a few pictures and for Nate to see the Mediterranean for the first time.

Nate obviously is in awe of the beautiful Mediterranean.

Relaxing after a long, hard day in childcare.

The many faces of Nate

Stephen took these pictures a couple weeks ago, but put them together in this collage yesterday. Sadly, this isn't the Nate we've known this week. He's been sick with some kind of infection (some things get lost in translation) and pretty lethargic. Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon. In the meantime we can look at these pictures and be reminded of healthy Nate. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Six months old!

Our little goober will be six months old tomorrow! Some days it seems like he should be off to school by now, but other days it seems like just yesterday that he laid next to me in the hospital bassinet with his eyes wide open all night long! Nate is becoming more and more fun each day. He loves to laugh, watch the fish swimming on the TV music channel, play with the musical fish on his play mat, put anything and everything in his mouth, and his newest trick is rolling over from stomach to back. We thought he'd never do it! His first tooth even popped out last week, and Stephen is so sad that the sweet toothless grin will soon be gone. Here are a few six-month pictures of our growing little boy.

Just chillin'. We don't always dress him this funny.

Playing hard with the fish.

Our little contortionist - in the middle of rolling over.

Super Bowl Sunday

Stephen had very good intentions of getting up at 1 am to watch the Super Bowl here. We get a sports channel that showed it. However, after a very exhausting week, when the alarm went off at 1:15 am I wasn't about to drag myself out of bed and Stephen gave in as well. Evidently he missed a good one! We did dress Nate up for the day though. Thanks for the Bengals outfit, Grammy. Who dey!

Nate and Bengi Bear

The next Bengal Cornerback? Okay, so he was just falling over,
but he'd still be an upgrade for that sorry Defense.

My two biggest fans - Bengals fans that is.

Nate's second meal

Since Nate had been eating rice cereal for a week I decided it was time to try a new food. I settled on avocado - chock full of healthy stuff, not sweet to turn his taste buds towards sweets, a pretty green color, etc. Here are some pics.

Excited to be sitting in his new booster seat...

Excited about the pretty green color of the avocado...

Not excited about the non-sweet taste of the avocado.

Cute Picture

My sister took this picture the day we left America. Sadly, Nate has been sick for almost two weeks now. He has a terrible cough and I'm wondering if he will ever be the Nate he was in this picture again. In the meantime, he ate his first rice cereal today and couldn't seem to get enough. He didn't spit it out or anything, so the video is pretty boring. Maybe once we get to the sweet potatoes we'll get some action!

Dukies

Nate and Stephen are getting geared up for another Final Four run. Thanks Camo and Kate for the hand-me-downs. Nate will wear it well. Go Dukies!

Hoş Geldin Umut! (Welcome Umut!)

Our friends were much more excited about seeing Nate than they were about seeing Stephen and me. The kids even made gifts for him to welcome him home. Remember that he goes by his Turkish name, Umut, here.

Welcome Home

We arrived back home today, and this is what happened to my pretty pink Crocs within just 5 minutes of being here. I knew that not doing my normal cleaning in the winter could be dangerous, especially for over a month, but I didn't realize just how bad it could be. Evidently my house is covered with layer upon layer of coal dust. I don't think my shoes would be this black even after wearing them outside for months in America. Welcome home!

Giggles

Sarah's cousin Jon won the award for Nate's funniest relative.

Iles Christmas

Here are a few pictures from the Iles family Christmas. We skipped the gift-giving this year and spent the time relaxing together.

With Aunt Liza

Nate met his Uncle Nathan for the first time.
Cousin Sam will be here in just a few weeks!

Aunt Liza loves baby feet!

Blan Christmas

A few pictures from the Blan family Christmas:

Jolly old St. Nicholas . . .

Cameron loves to fix Aunt Sarah's hair. It was much less painful
this time than it was 2 years ago

Nate loves his Bengi bear. He's a fan already! Thanks Uncle Tim.

Camo couldn't get enough of baby Nate!

Neither could Aunt Annie
(Special prize for the best answer to "What is Nate thinking in this picture?")

Three generations:
Stephen's cousins Chase and Ryan, Granddad Spaulding,
Tim, Stephen, Camo, Kate, and Nate

More pics

Nate has been enjoying his swing at Grammy's house and has learned how to make the bear and seal make noise.

Evidently Nate ate too much and had to unbutton his pants.

Made in Turkey

Hopefully he's better quality than most things made in Turkey.

Grammy and Nate Reunited

Grammy was there for Nate's birth, but wouldn't have recognized him in a baby line-up. It was a sweet reunion.

Meet Nate

Nanna and Granddad made a special trip up to Northern KY first thing on Tuesday morning to meet their grandson for the first time. He was just as excited to see them.

Coming to America

After a very smooth journey, and only one flight delay in New York, we arrived in America late Monday night. Of course we had to make a stop at Starbucks to welcome ourselves back home. Home sweet home, latte sweet latte!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving from the Blans! Here are a few pictures from our day.

Our first Thanksgiving as a family of three.

Did somebody say turkey?

Nate got a little bored with the game.

Klaire patiently waiting for us to join her at the table.

Lesson #1 in parenting -
When the child is quiet for too long, it means trouble.
While we were preoccupied with our game, Klaire snuck into the kitchen
and chowed down on a tomato. Sadly, her clothes got more of it than she did.

Asleep

I was busy all morning cooking for our gathering tomorrow. When I left Nate to start cooking he was propped up on the floor pillow chatting away. I got so wrapped up in cooking that I forgot about him. About 30 minutes later I realized he was quiet, so I went to check on him. This is how I found him - on the floor, sound asleep, with his pacifier at his side.

Mad Nate

Sometimes when I put Nate in his swing I put a blanket behind him so he's more cozy. The other day both Stephen and I were out of the room and we heard Nate fussing. We figured it was his normal fussiness, so we didn't go to see what was wrong. When Stephen finally went in, this is how he found Nate. There was a reason he was fussy. Like any good dad, instead of helping him out and fixing the blanket, Stephen took pictures!

Mad Nate

Angry Nate

Snow on the Mountains Pictures

Here are some pictures to go with the last post. You can see the snow on the mountains in the background. There's more now than there was a few days ago! I've also added a couple other pictures that show the view from our apartment windows.

The big mound in the background of this picture is a 2800 year old castle.

Snow on the Mountains

The impending doom of winter is upon us. Last week snow appeared on the mountaintops that surround our city, and we'll dreadfully watch it make its way down the mountain until it reaches us. The word on the street is that it's going to snow tonight. It's going to be a long winter!

Happy Halloween

There's no Halloween here, but since Nate's Aunt Annie sent such a cute "My First Halloween" outfit, we decided it was time for a family photo.

Bobble-head

Nate is doing so well holding his head up now. As you can see in the picture, I can hold onto his arms and he'll do the rest. No more bobble-head Nate.