Friday, January 8, 2010

naming the baby...

i just figured i'd make a little trivia post:

Dava Danielle
when i was 18 and childless i swore that if i had twins i'd name them david (dah-vid) and dava. this was all thanks to the cutest little low-voiced 2 year old: lani, who couldn't for the life of her say david and davida. so when i finally did get pregnant (though not with twins) i decided to hold true to my word, and name the soon-to-be-girl dava. (thankfully it was a girl, as i don't know how well dah-vid would've gone over). there was a lot of debate as to how it should be spelt, like daeva or dayva. but finally, thinking ahead into the future (like teaching her how to spell her name) i decided dava would be the best, simplest and easiest bet in this case. the danielle part came about because i wanted "deedee" initials, and danielle was the only other decent "d" name i could think of at the time...or she would've been dava deborah or something like that, and that was really not the vision...

Aileen Christiana
dava started coming up with all sorts of strange names that we could call the baby. names like limendria or limo (both with the long "i" sound). finally she hit upon a half way decent possibility for a nickname: linny. sam had previously suggested the name aileen, and i thought that would be perfect for linny. and because sam's second name is christian, i wanted her second name to be christiana. so, aileen christiana it was, with every intention of nicknaming her "linny"...but, such was not our luck. in my ninth month of pregnancy dava changed her mind about the baby's name for the millionth time and started telling everyone that the baby would be called liney. though it sounded repulsive at first, much to my shock and horror it actually started growing on people so much so that they actually thought it was cute. and, to this day, sam and i are still trying to break the "liney" spell.

Samantha Mira
we barely even had time to think about the name, as naturally, we thought we still had a couple months to go. it was only after she was already born, and i was sitting in the hospital bed waiting for sam to come back with some dinner that i decided on a name, subject to sam's approval, of course. but he's always wanted one of his kids (preferrably a boy) to have his name...and he got it with this little premature miracle. and so last, but not least (and perhaps, not even really last), we have samantha mira.

just visiting...

a very pretty place. visiting some friends and spending an afternoon on their beautiful property...
liney and the bushbaby

play places, family and friends...

pretoria is a very family and children friendly area. play places everywhere, and in practically all restaurants makes for happy children and a time for parents to sit back and relax...

dava and arwen all happy to get those wet-on tattoos
lunch out with the family (yeah, some people aren't in the picture)...
family, relatives and friends reunions. getting to meet all of sam's childhood friends and buddies, and the kids all having fun playing together...

new year 2010

new year was very long...
on the 31st we had a nice family dinner at home, by the pool. then went to another home for an overnighter new year's party. guess who i saw? guess? chon-chon! yay! heheh...
didn't take much pictures. little naughty fatty stayed awake til 1 am, we went to sleep at 4 or 5 am, and little naught fatty decided to stubbornly still wake up at 7:30. then there was a braai and a volley ball game. and we finally got back home in the evening.
it was a little nice and a little odd not having 3 kids for a whole day...but that was definitely a first kinda new year's...

the last moon of 2009
setting up our "room"
new year's parties are NOT the time to take pretty pictures
like trying to prove that saying "cheeese" really can work
or just trying to prove the "no pretty pictures" point
cinderella's missing shoe
good morning 2010
we are very tired
and she is very pleased with herself

Sunday, January 3, 2010

december 28

at the zoo

these lazy bumbum kids got these little push cars, so they didn't have to walk. the zoo was quite hugenormous though...but they're still lazy bums.
checking out the cable cars, which unfortunately we didn't get to ride, cuz soccer was of the essence...
have a break, have a kitkat...or an icecream...

- various animals -

aileen overjoyed to see the horses
i thought it was very interesting that the ostriches and the horses were kept together
that's a long-haired monkey in the back. looked like a pharisee with his black and white coat.

- habitats -

check this out, these are the lions and tigers "cages". such cool fortresses. there are about five of these tower/fortress like things, and the wall is the great barrier for the different "gentle giants" as they called them
couldn't see the bear (hiding in his cave) but his habitat was definitely picture worthy
- wild cats -

those are tigers in the background. sucks when your zoom is broken. god bless my camera.

- reptiles and water creatures
-

checking out some lizards jabba the hut
for my mom's sake, i decided not to post any very obvious pictures of snakes. but this is all them checking out a nice big one.
evolution
checking out the shark