Welcome Rachel!

Rachel Leyi was born on October 2, 2009 at 5:22 pm, after about 15 hrs of labor and just a few pushes. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 15 oz (just 2 oz more than her brother) and was 20 inches long.

I hesitate to write this down, because I am sure that as soon as I do, things will change, but so far things are going great. Rachel is very easy going - eating and sleeping well, as well as can be expected for a 10 day old.

We're very excited to have her as a part of the family. Sam adores her. I no longer get hugs first thing when he walks in the door. Now it is "Where's my baby sister? Where's Rachel?"

Hopefully it stays this way.

And for anyone that was wondering, being on Team Green (i.e. not knowing the sex of the baby before delivery) was one of the hardest things I did, but it was so worth it. I got one of the best moments of my life out of it. I got to tell the world that she was a girl. I will never forget that moment.

almost there

39 weeks, 6 days.

Tomorrow is my due date.

I am still pregnant.


And now for an "awwwww" story:

Sam and I were outside watching the painters work on the house. One of the neighbor girls came over to talk about the new colors, and Sam being Sam started to get defensive. No not over the colors, because I am his mommy.

"This is my mommy."

So I looked at Sam and said "Yes I am your mommy, but you know, pretty soon, you will have to share me with the new baby."

Sam's reply "Why-a?"

"Because I will be his or her mommy, too."

Sam paused for a few seconds, looked at my belly and said "That's ok. I like her." and proceeded to hug my belly. Awwwwwwwwwww.

(He always refers to the baby as her, unless you ask him directly if it is a girl or a boy. Some days he says boy, other days he says girl.)

And then there was one...

I am officially the last pregnant lady waddling through the hallways of the office. My other two coworkers have officially started their maternity leaves. Now it is just a "race" to see who will have the baby first. Mom #1 was due August 24 and will be induced August 31 if the baby doesn't arrive by then. Mom #2 isn't due until September 9, but has a strong family history of going early.

Surprise!

This weekend was one of those weekends where everything went right. I'll be honest, I was pretty cranky and tired most of the weekend (my first trimester nausea seems to have kicked back in, but is appeased by grilled cheese, or anything with melted cheese on it), but the events of the weekend just shined through!

Thursday and Friday were tough because I was in panic mode over getting ready for the baby, not sleeping well due to weird dreams and contractions, Sam was being a handful, and work is getting a little crazy again. But I was really looking forward to Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, we had planned two things - a visit to the hospital/birth center where the baby will be born and shopping for some of the last things I felt I absolutely needed to buy before the baby was born. On Sunday, I had a prenatal massage scheduled. What I didn't know about was something planned for Saturday night.

The tour of the hospital was good, but it definitely drug up some emotions about Sam's birth. It was nice to go back and remember that I feel safe there, though, which is the feeling I walked out with. I also remember to pre-register for the hospital.

We had my mom babysit for the tour, since it was supposed to be Adults Only, and shopping. It was so nice to have just YY and I out running errands. It wasn't anything particularly fun (though I did get a new purse), but it was so nice to have it just be me and him. Plus everything got done about 2 times faster than normal.

We got home just about the same time that Sam woke up from his nap. YY had mentioned that since it wasn't so hot, he wanted to go for a bike ride this weekend. I suggested that he take Sam with him, but he didn't want to. I couldn't really say no, I figured that he won't get to do too much biking until next spring. Plus he promised to bring dinner home.

While at the park, I got a phone call from YY. It went like this:

YY: We have a problem.
Me: Is Matt's closed? (side bar - Matt's, where he was going to get dinner, has been closed in the past during one of these biking/dinner excursions)
YY: No it is bigger than that. My chain broke.
Me: Ok, I guess you need me to come get you? Can I just bring the Civic?
YY: Well if the car seat wasn't in there, I would say yes.
Me: Well, you're just gonna have to wait for me to get Sam, get home, get the rack on the Xterra, and leave. It is going to take a while. (another side bar - to be fair, the bike rack is heavy and I am almost 35 weeks pregnant, hence the grumbling)
YY: Well the good news is that I was planning to bike next week, so I have already put the rack on.
Me: Oh ok, I guess that's fine then. Let me get Sam.
YY: Wait don't you want to know where I am? I am at Alki at the far end, near the Statue.
Me: Alki? Why?
YY: I was going to make a loop there then stop by Matt's on the way home.
Me: Ok, see you soon.

So I pull Sam away from the playground, which was easier than expected when I told him we had to go rescue Daddy. Went home, made the car switch, and headed to Alki.

Alki, for those that don't know is one of more visited Seattle beaches. It is ALWAYS busy. So I am sitting in traffic, grumbling because I had to come and get YY, trying to keep Sam happy and answering twenty gazillion questions about WHY we were rescuing Daddy, and trying to figure out how I can convince a sweaty YY to go out to dinner at Alki, since we were already there and where this pregnant lady wanted to eat.

We finally get to the far end and there is YY standing on the side of the road in his regular clothes without his bik. I was a little confused, but figured that he had brought them for going to Matt's or something (which looking back should have been a clue). I pulled over and asked where his bike was and he told me to get out because they were having a surprise baby shower for me!

I couldn't believe it. In fact, I didn't believe it at first, then I saw my friends at the picnic table.

It was great, and totally what I wanted. Totally low key, no big expensive gifts. My close friends and just fun. The only not so great part was that YY neglected to bring sweat shirts for Sam or I, but someone else had brought blankets, so it worked out.

I left there feeling very loved and still totally in shock that they had pulled this surprise off. I don't know how they did it (I am really hard to surprise), but they did.

I heard it on NPR

I don't get to listen to NPR much these days because my radio time was always in the car.

Today, I had to go to the other office, so I gladly turned off the Mr. Doug CD and turned on NPR. I got to hear this story - Earth Science From The Sky.

Now this fascinates me for two reasons:
#1 It is related, in general, to my field of work
#2 The concept behind the program is to encourage students to enter the field of Earth sciences as researchers, solving the future problems of rising ocean temperatures, new pollutants, etc.

So I listen intently, well as intently as I can while driving.

The whole story is about how they are taking graduate students into a plane to perform experiments. Not mock ups of experiments, but real experiments, like real scientists.

This made me go "hmmm..." When I was an undergraduate, I was encouraged to do my own research, working with a professor, of course. When I elected to do research over the summer after my sophomore year, I was behind the pack as most students had done research projects the year before. I was in charge of designing the experiment, setting it up, running it, and analyzing the data. It was up to me to do the work - I was doing real research that a real scientist would do. Many of my friends published papers based on their summer research.

So this led me to think, is this something special about Caltech? I know in our Info Sessions, we stress that you can do research with professors while you are an undergrad. I guess I just always assumed that you could do that at other places, too.

Then I heard these students - graduate students, remember - and they sounded exactly like I did when I was talking about my research, just a little older and a little more articulate.

I guess this is why we have so many students going on to get their PhD's, because Caltech encourages students to engage in research at the beginning of their education, and not as a skill to be learn at the end?

(For the record, I am one of the small percentage that didn't go on to get my PhD. For my field, I would be pretty much unemployable, except in academia, if I had a PhD. So doing research so early on doesn't mean that you will get a PhD, it just might help encourage you on that path.)

Pregnancy Stuff

So I am almost 28 weeks, almost in my third trimester. I can't believe it. The second trimester just flew by!

I am finally ready to start prepping for this baby's arrival. After tons of fruitless searching, I decided to make my own crib skirt (material cost = $30, cost to have someone custom make it = $100 minimum) and curtains for the baby's room. I've ordered the wall stickers (no repainting this time) and finally found the crib sheets I wanted, without buying the entire crib set. My mom has plans for a room decoration, and we'll buy the pieces when we go to Vancouver in August.

We've convinced my in-laws to take the giant conference room table out of our basement for their new house. I am getting a new sewing table, made from extra wood in the garage and $5 table legs from Ikea. We purchased a toy storage unit (also from Ikea) for the toys that are stored in the basement. I would still like to clean out the closet so guests can use it, but I am not going to push that one. We'll have some friends help us move the futon down to the basement after the in-laws leave. It is all slowly coming together.

Once that is done, I will be happy to start washing clothes and getting things out for the baby. I seem to have been on hold mode for a long time and it feels good to be in action mode. :)

Other stuff - This has been an interesting pregnancy overall, maybe because it is the second time around or maybe it is because it is just different. My weight gain is FANTASTIC this time around. I have that baby belly that just sits on the front of me. I am a bit bigger in the hips, but not much. I just had lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in months and she thought I looked great. :D

I am loving that the hair on my legs is growing super slow - even in the summer, I am only having to shave once a week! I am wearing skits all the time, which rocks. I do wear shorts or jeans if I am going to be out with Sam at a playground or doing a lot of walking. Skirts and dresses are so much more comfortable right now.

The heat is hard to take, but swimming seems to be the cure all for that. I wish we had a closer pool, but I will take what I can get. We rotate between going to my parent's house and swimming in their complex's pool, going to the beach on the really hot days because the lake is really cold, and going to public pools where we have to pay to swim and the swimming times aren't that great for us. I love being in the water though, so I am willing to pay or schlep myself all over the area.

That's about it for now. I am sure there will be plenty of posts full of me complaining about being pregnant in the coming months. :)

Bus Musings

So I've been taking the bus to work for almost a year now. (I can't believe it has been that long!) I am still enjoying it, for the most part. I have my schedule worked out, but know how I can change it up if I need to run an errand downtown, go to the doctor, or if I just want to go home early (or late, boo!). I even figured out all the complexities of transfers and the "Ride Free" zone.

I've learned some interesting tidbits about the bus system from my afternoon bus driver. Every few months, they rearrange the bus drivers' routes, except for a few people (like my afternoon bus driver). The concept is that the more drivers that know more routes, the less chance that they have to stick a newbie driver on a route in an emergency. This explains why I can see the same driver just long enough for them to learn to recognize me before they disappear. I also found out that buses aren't considered late until they arrive 10 mins after their scheduled departure time. This was hard for me to grasp because 10 mins can mean being late for work or not for a lot of people.

My favorite thing to do on the bus (besides play solitaire on the iPod Touch) is to people watch. It is quite interesting to see who rides the bus and what their riding style is. I've heard some rather interesting conversations (some I didn't want to hear).

I've decided there are three kinds of riders:
1. Those that don't want to sit next to anyone unless they have to, so they jump seats as soon as one where they can sit alone opens up.
2. Those that don't care where they sit and will sit anywhere.
3. Those that think that moving up a seat or two, when it comes open will provide them with better positioning. (for getting off the bus? I am not clear why, to be honest.)

I am rider of the #1 style, BTW. I like my personal space, but I would rather sit than stand the entire ride, so I will sit next to someone and let someone sit next to me. I do get a little aggravated when a seat opens up, and the person on the aisle seat next to me won't move. :)

My bus ride home is an "express" route, so you get a lot of people that are on the bus for quite some time. I get on at the first stop, and off at the first stop in the "express portion" of the route. (The bus goes through that pesky "Ride Free" zone, which means that it stops all through downtown.) This means that I get my pick of seats when I get on and sit by the window, leaving the aisle seat open for someone else. Lately, by about the third stop on the route, I have someone sitting next to me. Fine no biggie, unless a) I have to wake the person up to get off the bus by physically touching them or b) they won't move out of the seat to let me off the bus.

The second one really drives me batty. (Well so does the first because I don't want to invade their personal space, but if you fall asleep enough that I have to touch you, that's your problem.) I am 6 months pregnant, just sliding over or swinging your feet around is not enough room for me to get out of the seat without me smacking you in the face with my belly or my butt. I had to ask a lady three times yesterday to move. Ugh. I know I am not the most obviously pregnant person in the world when I sit down and have my bag on my lap, but when I have to say "Can you please get up because I won't fit?" it makes me feel like crap. I think it is time to take one of the seats along the side of the bus.

Otherwise, I am feeling good about the whole bus thing. When I am back from maternity leave (and not dragging a pump with me), I plan to start biking home from work, which means taking the bike on the bus in the morning. That will be a new adventure!