Ava...Meiying

Nothing like a "Name Intervention" hosted by your girlfriends to get a name selected!

Homemade sangria, hummus & pita, oatmeal berry bars and lots of laughs...

They arrived with many books on names only to confuse me more...

their point was made and taken...

Fortunately, Derek and I had already decided...

(updated July 12, 2009...)BUT...YET AGAIN...

WE CHANGED THE NAME!
:( We're having an identity crisis...LOL

too many Anna/Anne variations already in our family...

so it's just not feeling right...

she deserves that individual name in our family...

Sorry Meiying; I hope this will be funny one day.

Though Ava has gained popularity in recent years,

in Meiying's birth year,

it wasn't that popular...

Ava means "like a bird"...

Next post will be on the significance of that!

June 8
Happy Birthday Meiying!!

Passing out candies, looks like she's counting out an exact amount for each friend...
Beautiful b-day cake; the chocolate piece on top says "Mei Ying, Happy Birthday".
Art supplies, stickers, colored pencils...candies.
7 candles...7 good wishes!
She feels special today and so big!
Look at her smile and that braid...I can't wait!!!!!!!
Can you imagine how curly and thick her hair must be; she's so pretty; such a sweet face.
Yummm....
Happy girl...no time to stop eating for a picture...
Enjoying that cake...that's our girl; she'll fit right in!!!

Name? Name? What does Meiying look like? An "A", "L", "M" or "K" name?



Name? Name? ....

Just to update you all...the naming of Meiying continues to evolve. As you know, Nina, has been a favorite of mine from the beginning; not so much the rest of the family. I've always considered the fact that Meiying is old enough to be speaking Mandarin and wanted to choose a name that I thought would flow with Meiying and also be easy enough for her to pronounce. What I didn't consider was how some of the names might sound and translate in Chinese. It has come to my attention by a 4-time China adoption mom that:

"NE NA (pronounced Nina) in Chinese means like: You too? Like you'd ask someone how are you? They would answer, good, and then say NE Na? Meaning and you? How are you? It is an inclusive word... it works for various phrases or questions anyone asks you..."

And so, she followed up that paragraph with: "Don't know if that is significant to you." Well, yes it is and of course, Allie has had a good laugh over this one since she's been objecting to Nina all along. She continues to remind me each day how Meiying will feel if we call her Nina Meiying during those early days over in China. Per Allie, "Do you know how confusing that will be for her? She'll keep thinking we're asking how are you Meiying, all day long!" Oy!!!...Name? Name?