Chinese Name for Chris

Chris is 1 month plus now and it is time for me to finalise on a Chinese name for him. I used to be one of those annoying classmates who teased my friends if they have names which sound similar to something else or have double meaning(I was notorious for giving others nicknames.... those were the days...), so it is very important for me to give my children names which they won't be teased about.

Sometimes I come across names which makes me think what their parents were thinking of when they name their children. I used to have a classmate when I was in primary school (primary 1 I think) and her name was Cha Bo, which literally means "woman" in teochew or hokkien (dialects)! Luckily her surname is not "Xiao", otherwise she'd be one crazy woman! I hope she has changed her name now. I've also came across someone whose name is Monica Cheng. I think she was one of the applicants for a job vacancy. My colleague and I had a good laugh over it 'coz it sounded like "Feel your backside" in teochew or hokkien! I also had a classmate named Daniel Tan and I always called him 大鸟蛋 because it sounded like "big bird egg" in Chinese! I think that was why he always avoided me in school... I even gave my best friend, whom I knew since we were 13yrs old, a nickname which stuck with her till now!

Naming children is a very difficult task. Not only must the name suit the baby (which you'll know once you've seen the baby, if you know what I mean...), it has to be meaningful, sounds nice and most important of all, it must not have double meaning in any languages. Hubby told me before once he had a meeting with some Taiwanese guys and one of them introduced himself as F**k you (I think it must be his Chinese name which is probably "Fang You" or something) and hubby was stunned for a few minutes before realising that that was his name and he wasn't being offensive! He also met a "Dick" once and agreed that that wasn't a nice name.

All our kids names are carefully thought through and decided. Jovan is my first baby and I was thankful, so his name means "God is gracious", thank God for this wonderful gift. My second pregnancy turns out to be a girl. I was thrilled that God sends me one of his little angels, so she is named Angelina, which means little angel. Many years later, I married a wonderful man, who loves kids (he told me again just last night!). After the medical issue I had, we were doubtful if we would have any. We tried in vain for many months and just when I had given up hope, miracle happened! So Ivan's name also means "God is gracious" (can't thank God enough for all the wonderful gifts!) and this time round, we had to make sure that this name works in Swedish as well and Ivan works great. And with Chris, we had 2 names in mind, Michael and Christopher. The minute he was out, hubby knew that he'll be Christopher, which means "He who has Christ in his heart", keep the faith my friends and He will answer!

Oh, I'm so off-tracked! Suppose to be talking about Chris's Chinese name but ended up babbling about English names! I had a post on the Chinese names for Jovan, Angel and Ivan, so I won't repeat myself again. This time I already had a name in mind before Chris arrived. I have decided to name him "劭齐". 劭 remains the same as what Jovan and Ivan has and 齐 means together. God's little angels all arrive and gather together in our house!

陈劭齐,妈妈希望你健康快乐的成长! 你，你姐姐和你哥哥们都是妈妈永远的宝贝!

Chris is 1 month old!

Yes, our youngest member of the family is 1 month old today! We went for his checkup yesterday and he has gained 1kg within 2 weeks, he now weighs 4960g and is 56cm in length! Well, it must be the holidays!

In Singapore, Chinese usually will celebrate when the baby is 1 month old. I'm not so sure about how the tradition came about. Typically, Chinese women has to go through the "confinement" month after child birth. They are not allowed to shower (oooohhhh...imagine the smell after 1 month! ), not allowed to have the air-condition or the fan on (it's like living in Sahara desert when you live in Singapore without air-condition or fan! ), not allowed to go out and if you really need to, you have to come home before 7pm to avoid the "dew" in the air... I'd say it's more like the month of torture! Most friends or relatives will not visit the mother and the baby during the confinement month, since the family needs time to adjust to the new member and they also need to catch up with the lack of sleep. So after the confinement month, they usually will invite friends and relatives to come visit and have a small party to introduce everybody to the new baby.

Since there is no such custom here, we try to arrange to have our own small celebration. We had pizzas and bought a cake to celebrate Ivan's first month. We also bought a cake for Chris's first month.

The "0" candle is a "hand-me-down" from Ivan's first month! Th cute milk bottle candle is from my brother (he bought me some cute candles since I started baking cakes).

Sharing some recent pictures of Chris. He is growing to be a charmer like Ivan (all parents think that their baby is a charmer!).

His favorite pose now - Superman!

Such a cutie!
Cool guy in the making!

We all blew the candles and enjoyed the cake, except for Chris who just wants milk!

Looking forward to celebrating Chris's first year!

31 Dec 2009

5 years ago this day, hubby and I were in Singapore, walking along the waterfront beside Esplanade after dinner in Marina Square. We found a place to sit and enjoy the breeze. In the middle of our chat, hubby got down on his feet, looked at me seriously and asked, "Will you marry me?" I thought he was crazy. Why would he marry me, divorced with 2 kids, in the middle of a custody fight and in debt? But I was selfish, he is a good man and I wasn't planning to let him go, so I said yes.

5 years later this day, we're happily married with 4 wonderful kids and living in Sweden.

Hubby bought me flowers today to celebrate this day.

As we were having our New Year's Eve dinner,

I commented that we have 2 things to celebrate today, that the new year is beginning soon and that we have our first customer who bought WebTrust. Hubby added that it is also our engagement anniversary date. Jovan asked, "So what will happen if mommy said no?" Hubby replied,"Then we won't be here today. Ivan and Chris will not exist. You will not be in Sweden." Jovan continued,"What if mommy said yes then?" .....

And while we were having our silly conversation, Ivan was focusing to poke the corn kernel with his fork...


After dinner, hubby, Jovan and Angel went to set off the remaining firecrackers which was left over from last year. (We only managed to set of 2 or 3 last year coz Angel and Ivan ended up crying...) This year, Angel is really brave, she didn't freak out from the loud bang, instead she wanted to light the crackers too!

After that, they came home and we watched tv. This is usually the most difficult time for the kids, especially Angel, since she usually sleeps quite early. She has not been able to stay awake till the countdown for the past years and she was determined to make it this year. And they both did!


Year 2009 has ended and we all looked forward to 2010, hopefully it will be a year filled with good news, pleasant surprises and opportunities to learn, so we can all be better person!