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justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

Hehe. Bone tired. I don't really know what I'm doing. Not as fun as getting drunk, though I do get to wear pajamas all day...

tekirdag · Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 505

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

Yeah, haven't broken him yet, and he's still the smallest baby I've ever picked up. Fortunately he has no previous experience with parents, so he doesn't know what spazzes we are!

yaramaz · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 12:22 am Post subject:

Ah, he must be small because you starved him to death during your remarkably slender pregnancy, didn't you? And he has no tears because you dehydrated him, right? Just make sure you don't mess things up further by nursing him whilst barefoot (either of you!!!)

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

We foreigners engage in constant baby torture, that seems to be the general consensus. The poor baby is always on the verge of freezing to death or starving to death. Can you believe how cruel I am, that he doesn't wear his mittens? I put on his socks and pants when guests come, but sometimes the baby cries and that's also because I'm so mean and cruel. If I go to him when he cries, it's because I know nothing about babies and I'm spoiling him. If I don't go to him instantly when he cries, he's starving and I'm so bad, leaving his side for a pee break (which means if MIL is over, she has to stand with him squalling outside the bathroom door going 'Hurry! Hurry! He's hungry! What are you doing in there? Hurry!' It's really clever and wonderful and helpful of her).

Don't even get me started about the obsession with washing him. I got so sick of hearing about that I bawled out MIL. She replied, quite reasonably, that if I don't wash him all the time, he won't grow.

When clearly what they're all missing is that he's about to explode from gas because I cruelly ate garlic, or oranges, or hazelnuts, or.... It's a wonder the human race outside of Turkey has survived this long, with all the gas and frostbite and filth and myriad deprivations, plus the slippers and socks thing.

And now he has the sniffles, and oh my god this is UNHEARD OF in babies, requiring many distressed phone calls and sending over of medicines which I would never use on him because I'm so cruel and don't try to kill the sniffles with adult strength medicine, and the choices of the MANY ways I could have caused the sniffles is absolutely endless but needless to say I'm very mean and cold and heartless with the approxiamte intelligence of a turnip, no offense to turnips because they're in şalgam which is very beautiful.

Compared to the family and friends here, taking care of the baby is peanuts. He's much less demanding.

Not that I'm bitter or fed up or anything.

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

when my daughter was born and i was nursing her, my motherinlaw, who had had 4 children and never nursed one, asked me how i knew the baby had eaten enough. she stopped eating! what a concept.

you might consider starting a mothers' group. i joined one the day i went into labour (first joined, then went into labour), and we are still a group, though this member is very far away. we got together to share trials and tribulations and offer support to each other. most of us did not have mothers close by, so it was supremely helpful. as a group we went on to have members experience more babies, divorce, abortion, one death, and just generally group friendship. now we talk about menopause and retirement when we get together, and some of the mothers have grandchildren now. it has all happened very quickly! so hang in there justme. your kid will be a teenager in no time!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

yaramaz · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:10 am Post subject:

Justme, shall I bring the beer and brownies next weekend? Try not to kill the kid before I meet him Very Happy

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

You're absolutely right, Molly. In fact, I got lucky in that 4 of my foreign friends had babies this year, so I had great support, not only for having a baby and becoming a mommy, but for finding resources in Istanbul and keeping everything as un-scary as possible (meaning, avoiding Caesarian-happy docs and finding ones who speak English). It was a good year for babies here!

Out of the 4, though, I win for most insane and meddling-est MIL. Today's obsession withy gas was funny-- she tried to burp Ender for a full 20 mins with nary an expulsion and even that got her all worried, at which point my husband and FIL shooed her out the door before madness took hold...

Mmmm. Beer and brownies. Wish they were special brownies but don't think Little E is quite ready for that.But I'm sure he'll be alive and kicking, and if you're lucky he'll fart for you!