Q & A

Over the last several weeks I've received emails and have been involved in "chats" with friends and family who all asked me some of the same questions. So, I thought I'd write those questions and answers here in case some of you out in the blogosphere were also curious.

Q. How is this pregnancy going?
A. Praise the Lord that I'm now in the 2nd tri-mester is all I can say!! I get physically sick during pregnancy so the first tri-mester is UNCOMFORTABLE. I wasn't sick quite as frequently as my first pregnancy but I was WAY more tired. Like "watch out Mommy's a monster" tired. But, things are going pretty well now and we'll find out the sex of the baby on the 26th of this month.

Q. Is it different being pregnant in Turkey?
A. Aside from the 37 stairs that I have to climb multiple times a day to get to my apartment... Nah. Just little things. Like no Dairy Queen. And here I eat more fresh foods and more foods made from scratch. I go for a checkup once a month, only here the waiting room isn't crowded and the doctor is always on time. I don't know why. There also aren't huge mega baby stores here so I don't go browsing and come out with 50 things I didn't intend to buy. That's nice. Ask me this question again come July when I'm 9 months pregnant and we have no air conditioning.

Q. Since your baby will be born in Turkey, what will his/her citizenship be?
A. Since Zach and I are both Americans our child will be full blown American too :) He/She will receive his/her American passport within weeks of birth.

Q. Is Eli picking up Turkish at school?
A. Yes. His teacher says that he understands everything she says, he just doesn't speak back in Turkish very often. He does sing some of the Turkish nursery songs and spouts off with sporatic phrases and words like I am well, hello, goodbye, etc.

And at home he's beginning to speak a combination like:

"Mom, where's my düdük?" (Whistle)
"I have to put on my terlik." (Slippers)
"I had makarna for lunch." (Pasta)

Those are the main questions I'm asked. If you've got any questions about life/pregnancy/children in a foreign land, feel free to ask them in the comment section.