October 21, 2010

Derin's First Trip Out / Derin'in Ilk Gezintisi

(Turkce versiyonu asagida)

Derin left home for the first time since he was born (except the doctor's visits every week) this last weekend. Of course, he was pretty much asleep the whole time, and we can't say that he actually saw and enjoyed anything, but it was a gorgeous day outside and he did enjoy a peaceful sleep and a stroll on that lovely fall day.

We first went to see the changing foliage at the Pelham Bay Park...but to our disappointment, all trees were still green. Seems like they need a little more to turn to those beautiful orange, red, brown, etc. colors... Then, on the way back, we drove by the ocean, and came across another park. There was an event going on, and we stopped by to see what it was. It was a local Car, Truck & Cycle Show to benefit The Children's Cancer Fund and other local charities, organized by the New Rochelle Fire Fighters. We were there at the very end of it, but still got to see some cool cars and trucks. And although Derin didn't get to understand what was going on, we thought that he might grow to be a "car guy", since his first trip out was to a car show. Who knows.
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Gectigimiz Pazar gunu Derin'i ilk kez disariya cikardik, daha once yaptigi birkac doktor ziyareti disinda tabii. Kendisi pek birseyden anlamasa da, havanin cok guzel olmasi dolayisiyla nefis bir uyku cekti bizimki. Mukemmel bir sonbahar gunuydu.

Ilk once Pelham Bay Park'a yapraklari sonbaharla birlikte renk degistiren agaclari gormeye gittik. Ama ne yazik ki henuz butun agaclar yesildi. Birkac hafta daha gerekiyor anlasilan. Oysa ki bu tur bilgileri veren bir web sitesine bakip da gitmistik, o parkta agaclar renklenmis diye. Neyse artik. Daha sonra, eve donusu okyanus kiyisindaki yoldan yaptik. Yol uzerinde bir baska parka rastladik, ve orada bir aktivitelerin oldugunu goruk. Iceri girdik, ve guzel bir araba sovuyla karsilastik. New Rochelle'in itfaiye ekibi cocuk kanserini yenme amaciyla yardim toplamak icin boyle bir aktivite duzenlemis. En sonuna yetismis olmamiza karsin bircok guzel ve ilginc araba gorduk. Oglumuzun da ilk gezisi boyle bir araba sovuna olmus oldu, bakalim buyuyunce arabalarla cok ilgilenecek mi? Kim bilir...
I thought I'd add a few more photos of Derin's 3rd week / Asagiya Derin'in 3. haftasindan birkac fotograf daha ekliyorum

October 19, 2010

Cord Stub Tradition / Gobek Bagi Gelenegi

(Turkce versiyonu asagida)

Back in Turkey, there's a tradition about the cord stub of a baby that falls off: Parents usually bury the fallen stub in the ground somewhere that they'd like their kid to be when she/he grows up, or somewhere related to what they'd like their kid to become. According to tradition, if a stub is buried at say, a university, the kid is believed to study something important in the future at college, if it's buried in your own backyard, the kid will be "homely", and be close to parents all the time, etc. They also say that not only where it's buried, but who buries it is also important - that the kid will have very close ties with the one who buries it, too. Is it true? I have no idea....but it's a fun tradition regardless.

So, going with this tradition, when Derin Ege's cord stub finally fell off a week ago, Yuksel and I talked about burying it at Harvard. Now that Yuksel's teaching there for the year, it's no problem at all. We'll need to wait for about 18 years to see if Derin will make it to Harvard, but who knows...he just might.

When thinking about this tradition, I asked my dad about where he and my mom had buried mine. To my disappointment, he didn't remember. I was hoping for some cool story, but oh well. We asked Yuksel's parents. His mother said that she threw all her kids' (3 boys and a girl) cord stubs in the Aegean sea, so that their destinies will be "open", that their lives would not be hindered by limits, or borders.... The she added: "Then they all ended up leaving me...all went some place and left me alone".

I've added some photos of where Derin's cord stub is buried. Enjoy.
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Yukarida, bizim gobek bagi gomme gelenegini bilmeyen ABD'li arkadaslar icin biraz bilgi verdim. Turkce bilen arkadaslarimin hepsinin bu gelenegi bildiginden eminim, ama bizim ve Derin'in gobek baglarina ne oldugunu sizlere de anlatayim.

Bizim bu gobek bagi gelenegi, Derin'inkinin dusmesini beklerken aklimiza geldi. Dedik ki, madem ki babasi bu sene Harvard Universitesi'nde ders veriyor, Derin'in gobegini de oraya gomelim, belki buyuyunce o da Harvard'da okur, adam olur. Nitekim bugun Yuksel Boston'a gittiginde ilk isi Derin'in gobegini calistigi ofisin penceresinin onune gommek oldu. Birkac da fotografini cekmis, asagida ekledim.

Bu gelenek aklimiza gelince, bugun ben de telefonda babama sordum, acaba benim gobegim nerede gomulu diye. Hayal kirikligina ugrayarak babamin bunu hatirlamadigini ogrendim. Soyle ilginc bir oykusu vardir benim gobegimin gomuldugu yerin falan diye umuyordum oysa ki. Sonra Yuksel'in annesine de sorduk. O da "hayatlari denizler gibi engin olsun" diye dusunerek Izmir'de Ege denizine atmis dort cocugunun da gobek bagini. Hatta dedi ki sonra: "Sonra da hepsi beni birakip gittiler uzaklara" (henuz ufaklik Merve Selin evde ama, o da gidebilir uzaklara yakinda).

Asagida Derin'in gobek baginin gomulmesi ile ilgili babasinin cektigi fotolari ekledim...

The little thing in the middle is the cord stub / Ortadaki minik sey gobek bagi



The window that the cord stub is buried under / Altina gobek baginin gomulu oldugu pencere


Yuksel's office at Harvard / Yuksel'in Harvard'daki ofisi

October 12, 2010

Week 2 Photos / 2. Hafta Fotolari


Here are some more photos and videos of the little guy. Enjoy!
Minik beye ait birkac fotograf ve video daha. Iyi seyirler!









October 5, 2010

Derin Ege: The Meaning


Many of my friends who know that pretty much all Turkish names have a meaning, asked me about the meaning of Derin Ege. Happy to explain: Derin means “deep, profound”, and Ege is Turkish for the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece.

The reason we picked DERIN is two-fold: First, it’s pronounceable in English (like “Darren”, even though its pronunciation isn’t quite the same in Turkish, it’s totally acceptable), so that the little guy doesn’t have to go through the same things his mom and dad do (my name has been pronounced in many different ways starting from Gock-see, to Gocks, to Gotcha, to Gurk-check, to goat-cheese... And his dad’s isn’t as bad, but he frequently gets called “yuck-sell”. There’s nothing yuck-y about my wonderful husband!). The other reason we picked Derin, is its meaning. We like what it communicates, and hope that Derin will have a deep, profound personality and live up to his name.

His middle name, EGE, has a special place in our hearts, too. Yuksel is from Izmir, a city on the Aegean coast. I have also spent 7 years in Izmir when I went to boarding school there, and always thought that it’s that city that shaped me to the person that I am today. I basically “grew up” in that city. On top of that, my parents also live in a town that’s about an hour’s drive from the Aegean coast, and have a summer house on the north Aegean. The Aegean means a lot to both of us (not only as a place, but also as the region that brings us the wonderful cuisine, the olives, figs….mmmm….). (Side note: I should also write some time about our honeymoon in the North Aegean area, on an island called “Gokceada (Gokce Island)”…but that’s a whole other blog for some other time…)

Funny enough, my OB-GYN wasn’t available during the day Derin was born, and we had a very experienced and nice Greek doctor who delivered our little Derin Ege. During labor, I explained to him that our son’s name would be “Ege”. He liked it a lot, and said “Egeas”, which would be the Greek version of his name. I loved hearing that! Egeas….sounds even better than Achilles! Ha ha!! (looks like I feel very “highly” of my son already!!! OMG, I might just be one of those moms! Hmmm..).

Oh, one more thing…. When Yuksel and I went to Italy this spring, one of the cities we visited was Siena. It was great, like many other places we’ve been to in Italy. What struck both him and I, was the extremely proud stories our guide told us about the Siennese, and also their ages old conflict between them and the Florentine. Anyway, she told us that the Siennese are so proud of their city, and that it’s so important to be born on Siennese soil, that if a mother-to-be is for some reason not in Siena while in labor, they would bring a little bit of Siennese soil and put it under her birthing bed, so that the kid is born on Siennese “land”. While a little exaggerated, this story felt very good to us. And with me being 5 months pregnant back then, we thought we’d bring some Aegean soil from Izmir, and have Derin Ege the same way the Siennese did. Yuksel’s parents got the soil (sand, actually), and my parents brought it when they came to visit. And indeed, Derin Ege was born on Aegean “land” (not quite “on” it, since it was under my pillow…but who cares).

And that’s the story of Derin Ege’s name…. Hope you liked it.

October 2, 2010

First Week of Derin's Life

From mom:

We came home from the hospital on the night of Sep 29. It was an unusually quiet ride, as we were no more 2....but 3. Felt great.

First week of life with Derin is full of new questions for mom and dad: How much do you feed him, should he really sleep the whole day, oh my gosh that diaper is full of #$%@, was that a burp....

Thankfully there's grandmom in the house, who helps bring some expertise to the whole experience. Otherwise, we'd be spending all day googling the answer to these questions.

I can't say we're stressed out really. It's just trying to get into the new rhythm of life with the little guy. And it's a lot of fun.

Enjoy some photos below....







































Labor & Delivery: Welcome Derin Ege!

From mom:

It was 05:10 on Sunday, Sep 26, when my water broke (very funny feeling, by the way). We made sure we picked up a few things that weren't already in the "hospital bag" and got in the car. After weeks of stressing about a possible gridlock on the way from our home to the NY Presbyterian Hospital, the early Sunday morning trip proved to be the shortest ever: 25 minutes!




We checked in at the hospital, while the staff was looking at me a little funny, with comments like: "you seem to be too happy to be in labor". Yes, I was - as my contractions hadn't started yet. The doctors had to put me on Oxytocin, and eventually the contractions came.




After 25 hours (yes, it's not a typo), it was time to push now. And following another hour of pushing (with the help of the great delivery team), our Derin Ege joined us at 7 AM on September 27, 2010.

His weight was 7 lbs 3 oz (3.3 kgs), and 19.7 inches (50 cm) tall.

Things seemed just fine, but it turned out that he had developed respiratory distress, and they had to take him away immediately.



























I didn't even get a chance to hold him, but thankfully his dad got that chance for about 30 seconds.