Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oh! Thanks for remembering about it! It was a few weeks before I could type with it or use the mouse, and the fingernail separated from the skin on one side almost all the way down to the cuticle, but it's almost completely grown out now!

My RL name is unusual too (although it's become more popular in recent years), and the spelling is unique too... (my name is "Randie") ... so I understand the originality of names (I like the fact that it's unusual) but those parents who call their kids something truly whacked out and/or unpronounceable yet expect everyone to understand the name/meaning... eeep! Kinda like a kid who was called ESPN... yes: ESPN as in the television channel... rolleyes ... but at the same time, I know kids who have names like "Stone" and "Rhythm" too...

Speaking of names, I still need a little inspiration for a girls name I'm happy with. There are several I'm thinking of, although I feel like there are more names out there that might suddenly sound good if I heard them and thought them over. Jade suggested Ashley, Jasmine, and Jessica, and she didn't even realize those would fit our A and J trends (which I'm not strict about adhering to, but it'd be cool!) and I'd likely spell them Ashlee and Jazmyn. Ruby seems to fit with the Jade/Amber trend because they're all stones, easy to spell, and colors as well. But I keep changing my mind about how much I like it. And this weekend we watched Babylon AD with my favorite actor Vin Diesel in it, and the girl's name in it was Aurora, which I liked. But when I mentioned it to my mom she said the r's are hard for Chinese people to pronounce.

Jade brought up that same phenomenon the other day, where a word doesn't look right when you see/use it too many times! 4laugh

Jenni had picked the name Savannah for her baby until a girl who was over kept patting her tummy and calling out "Savannah! ... Savannah!" She lost interest in it and changed to Ella. I like the name Savannah, but it's the name of Jason's brother's dog, so he says no. rofl

Jade was going to be Isaac had she been a boy, and halfway through pregnancy we changed our minds to Micah. Amber was going to be Micah, and then halfway through pregnancy, we changed our minds to Tristan.

I like Amethyst too, with the nickname of Amy, but Amber and Amy are too darned close, and I already say Jade when I mean Amber, and vice versa!

Lots of people seem to like Ruby, especially with the last name, making it somehow sound like she's supposed to be famous, and I like that my dad called her Ruby before he even knew we were considering the name. He said he used reason, logic, and deduction, and one day asked my mom "So how's Ruby?" and my mom said "Who's Ruby?" I thought maybe he'd heard Jade say I was thinking of it, but he didn't!

I went to a site yesterday with 27,000 baby names, and looked at a few letters of the alphabet that I thought I might like. My list is now

Ruby
Alena/Aleena/Alina
Jazmyn
Jazmari
Ashlee
Aurora
Ariana/Aryanna
Aubrey
April
Sierra
Sophie
Kira
Sadie
Sariah
Lacey
Aspen
Juniper

I asked Jason what he thought of them and he named about half of those as ones he liked. The one that stuck in my head all day that I kept thinking of over and over is Lacey.

The more I think about the name Lacey over the last few days, the more I like it! It's the first name I've felt as sure of as Amber and Jade. 3nodding

Jason started telling people about it too, so it'll be hard to change our minds now! Not that I think we will. I think this one's it! Lacey Xia-Hui.

We got to see all of Jason's family at once last night (on a weekday!) because his youngest brother Alan decided all of a sudden to get married, and he gave 5 days notice, and picked a Monday night of all times. We decided it was important enough to get off work/school for. They'd been debating getting married for years, and he wanted to be SURE sure, but what baffles me is when he IS sure, why not start planning it for several months in advance rather than booking the church a.s.a.p.!

I was surprised that they got everything together properly, clothes, decorations, DJ, food, cake, location in just a smattering of days! And they did everything traditionally, although the ceremony was very small, during the day when everyone worked, and they didn't care who attended or didn't attend that, the reception dinner felt like any other! Amber LOVED the dancing and threw a fit whenever she was taken away from the dance floor, and was constantly seeking out partners among her dozens of cousins.