Baby naming challenge... Part Deux

Ryan and I have always thought coming up with a girl's name would be easier than coming up with a boy's name.  But we were proven to be wrong once we began the baby name search effort for Saria.  

We started with the middle name first as we had some idea what it should be like. We wanted something similar to Avery, Lucas's middle name; beginning with an A and comprising of our first initials, "R" and "V".  We came across the name Avril, and instantly fell in love with it.  We loved its spelling because it has our family in it -- Not only does it have A, V (Vivian) and R (Ryan), it also has an L (Lucas).  We also loved its meaning.  Avril is the French word for the month of April.  But in the ancient Roman calendar, Avril means "second" as it was originally the second month of the calendar before January and February were added.  Both Ryan and I thought it was a name made for our second child and were sold on it.

Next came the bigger challenge -- The first name.  We did not have any particular name in mind but we had to somehow narrow down our choices.  We first looked at names beginning with an L and names rhyming with Lucas.  We thought it would be cute for the brother and sister to share something in common, either same initials or rhyming names.  But unfortunately, nothing really stood out after browsing through thousands of names on various websites.  Then one day, Ryan asked "What do you think of the name Saria?" (pronounced as SA-REE-AH).  It was a name he came across some time ago while at medical school.  I have never heard of it myself but thought it sounded very cool and girlish.  It was short, simple, yet very unique.  Out of curiosity, I googled its meaning and below was what babynamefacts.com said: 

• Hebrew meaning of the name SARIA for a girl:
  
  • a princess

They also said Ryan means "a little king".  Then another interesting fact was that Saria was a character in the famous video game, The Legend of Zelda: http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Saria.  In other words the daughter of Ryan, the "little king" and an aficionado of videogaming, is Saria the cyber princess.  How can mama Viv not love the name!

Here, let me introduce to you our little girl, Saria Avril Lum!

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Happy one month with my two monkeys

Time goes by fast when you're busy taking care of a child.  It goes by doubly fast (and chaotic) when you have two kids and they only have a 15-month age gap.  

The past month has been one of the busiest and most challenging as Ryan and I worked to adapt our lives with the new addition to our family.  Not only did we have to re-adjust ourselves to a new sleep schedule, we also had to somehow make time and energy for our active toddler, Lucas.  There was practically no real start and end to each day, just short breaks here and there if we got lucky with both babies asleep at the same time.  But with all that said, I think overall we were still pretty lucky.  The delivery was smooth and recovery was fast (really fast!)  Ryan's mom was in town to help with Lucas during my hospitalization and 2 weeks after so we could focus on Saria and afford to "power off" every now and then.  And most important of all, Lucas was a sweet big brother with no sign of jealousy at all and Saria was a relatively easy baby.  Phew!  Can't really ask for more to be honest.  

It's amazing to see how much Saria has grown over the past month.  At 4 weeks now, she eats anywhere between 3-4 oz of milk every 2-3 hours, and sleeps soundly the rest of the time.  She has big eyes, a cute little mouth, and a dimple on her left cheek.  She looks different by the day and her neck seems stronger each time I hold her.  Now, I just can't wait for her to be around 3 months old so I can tell who she resembles more.  

As for Lucas, he's 16 months old and has become more communicative and interactive.  He babbles a lot and attempts to repeat words after us.  His favorite words these days are "Apple", "Bubble", "Daddy", "Wo Wo" (i.e. dog).  He points at what he wants, shakes his head to say "No" and follows instructions such as "clean up", "put your friends into the tub" as we go through our daily routines.  He smiles when he sees other kids in the playground and loves to approach and play with them.  At home when he sees Saria, he reaches out to touch and kiss her.  Frankly, I wonder if he knows Saria is his baby sister but his action and sweet-looking face definitely show that he enjoys being a big brother.  

Ryan and I have noticed very early on that Lucas is an observant child.  After coming home from the playground today, I was really hungry and wanted to grab some quick munchies.  Knowing how Lucas would throw a fit seeing me snacking on something he couldn't eat, I decided to hide the bag of "Hello Panda" snack in the pocket of my hoodie.  As I fished for a piece of snack from the plastic bag, Lucas quickly heard the noise and ran over.  I pulled out a handkerchief and asked "Did you want this one?" He shook his head and pointed at my hoodie.  I took out the keys and asked "This one?"  He shook his head again and got a little more frustrated.  Finally, he looked away briefly when nanny May distracted him with a toy.  I took the chance to shuffle another munchie into my mouth.  But just when I started chewing, he turned to me and quickly babbled some words pointing at my mouth!  Haha, sorry Lucas.  When you get older, mama will let you try out those munchies for sure.

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A nice day out at the SF Zoo

Last Wednesday, Ryan and I brought Lucas to the SF Zoo.  We had wanted to bring him there for some time now but we decided to hold off till he could walk better on his own.  With both of us on leave and the little boy showing readiness, we couldn't think of a better time to go than on a free admission day when Ryan's mom was in-town to help us with the little one.  So there, the three of us went and spent a nice afternoon at the zoo.

Lucas was fascinated by everything he saw.  He was interested in not just the hundreds of animals but also, every little fixture, plant and person he ran into along the way!  It was an eye-opening experience for a 15-month old, and a nice break from newborn duties for Ryan and I.  


We will definitely be back again, perhaps together with Saria next time.

Saria is 2 weeks old

Ryan and I took Saria in for her 2 week appointment today.  We have been waiting for the moment of truth as the little girl has been in an eating-and-sleeping spree since her birthday on Jul 21.  And without further adieu, here's her latest statistics: 

Weight: 7lb 10 oz. (compared to 7lb 1 oz. at birth, 6lb 14 oz. at 2 days old)

Height: 20 in.

Head circumference: 35 cm

In terms of percentile, the little girl is right around 30% across the board, a little smaller than brother Lucas when he was 2-weeks old. But nonetheless, Dr. Lee confirmed that she's growing steadily and definitely in good proportion.  So I guess that means she can continue to live like a little piggy until we are told otherwise :)