I started this post about 3 months ago and I think today is the perfect day to actually complete it. Tary and I just got back from a full-day child-birthing class. It started at 8:30 AM this morning and it taught us what to expect during the whole child-birthing process. Baby Trinh will be here soon! 5 weeks, 3 days if Baby listens to what my iPhone app is telling me. We still don't have a name finalized for Baby yet. We better get crack-a-lacking!
There a gazillion names to choose from. But how do we narrow down the choices? Well, there are a few things we must keep in mind. Pick a bad name (e.g., rhymes with male anatomy, sounds like an old person's name, has a weird spelling, initials form a bad word, is a fruit, etc) and kids will tease him while he's growing up (until our height genes can kick in). One thing that stinks is a "foreign" or "ethnic" name might limit his opportunities as an adult. We are living in America after all.
Let's start with what we do have. Baby's last name will be "Trinh". That part's a given. Tary and I are traditionalists and Tary took my last name when we got married. I'm actually very proud of that fact. The practice isn't as common as it used to be where you would just assume the wife took her husband's name. It's definitely not common in Asian cultures. It's just a name. Why is it such a big deal? By taking my name, she gave up something of her own. In a me-first society, Tary did the opposite of what the world would have her do. Instead, she wanted us to be united with one mind, one body, one soul, one family, with one name.
So we have a last name. It's a Vietnamese name. But Baby isn't just Vietnamese. He's also Cambodian. Beyond all that, he's also American. His name should represents us, our multiple cultures, and how we plan on raising him.
My given name at birth was Phúc Thanh Do. Say it phonetically in English and you can imagine the kind of childhood I had. Thankfully, someone recommended that I be given an Americanized first name, Paul. Now that sounds more like it. My brother Nguyễn was given the name James.
Paul and James. Two awesome names from the Bible. I can't believe I never realized this until much later in life. My closest cousin is Joseph. My other cousins' names: Steven, Andrew, David, and Daniel. They are all great names found in the Bible. When we started thinking about first names for Baby, we definitely wanted a Biblical name.
The core of our family's values are clearly defined by the truth of God's Word. I am thankful that most of my immediate family are Christians. I think it's starting to be a family tradition to give our boys biblical names. Maybe we will be the first to make it official. Whichever biblical name we choose for Baby, just like how we're putting God first in his name, we're hoping he grows up to put God first in his life.
That's why we really love the name Daniel. The name Daniel means "God is my judge". The prophet Daniel was best known for his fidelity to God. Despite facing persecution for his faith, he remained in God's service. We want to raise Baby to be a light in this world. We want him to be able to stand up and still do what's right. We want him to love and respect others and more importantly, to love and fear God.
So that leaves us with the middle name. There are a bunch of Cambodian names to consider. We want a name that has a good meaning. We also want the name to be relatively easy to pronounce so it's easy for both of our parents to say. I also don't want a name that has "harsh" sounds in it. Names (and words in the English language) with the letter "k" often have a very hard "cuh" sound that I'm not real fond of.
Here are some names that I like. Heng means lucky. I like the way it sounds. It also resembles my father's name, Hung. My father-in-law really likes it too. Another name I have been considering is Arun which means sun. I guess it's pronounced similarly to Aaron. Another name I kind of like is Odom (or Oudom). It is pronounced like Adam and it means supreme, magnificent, or excellent. I also like Dara which means stars.
Ahhh...I can't decide. So many names to choose from. I guess sometimes when you are indecisive, people say to trust your first instinct. Hmm...Daniel Heng Trinh. It does have a nice ring to it. What do you guys think? /discuss.
Showing posts with label Baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Weekend Recap - Part 3
It was now Sunday. We had so much food left over from this past Friday that I decided to make some Vietnamese beef noodle soup called "Pho" to help cook off the rest of the sliced beef. I figured that since I was making it, I should just go all out and have everyone over again to enjoy it with me. We ended up having a BYOB Party...Bring Your Own Bowl. I didn't have enough large bowls to serve everyone so I just texted my friends to bring their own. Hehe, what a great idea!
I went to the Asian grocery store and picked up some ingredients. When I got back home, I got started on the broth. It takes a long time to prepare the broth and we were on a limited time schedule. In a large pot of water, I threw in some beef bones, some chunks of beef shank steak, some star anise seeds, cloves, an onion, a cinnamon stick, and some salt and fish sauce and then let everything just simmer.
Tary and I then briefly left the house to drive into Boston for our 3D/4D ultrasound appointment. It was a bit of a hike to get there and parking wasn't that easy to find through the downpour. We were both very excited though to take a sneak peek at our little guy! The whole experience was definitely worth it.
When we got there, we had to wait about a half hour for the previous couple to finish up. When it was our turn, we went into a large room with a bed, the ultrasound machine on the far side of the bed, a sofa on the other side, a projector over the bed which was displaying an image on a screen toward the foot of the bed, and a computer monitor on the wall next to the sofa.
Tary hopped on the bed and the nurse (attendant?) started with some normal ultrasound imagery and we got to hear Baby's heartbeat again. The sound is distinct, a little weird, but it never gets old. We also got the nurse to confirm that Baby is a boy. Finally, some actual confirmation!
The next part was unforgettable. The nurse switched on this 3D/4D mode and I was pretty much speechless. I can't fully describe how we felt as we saw various images of Baby but I guess the closest thing is an overwhelming feeling of love for him. I can't wait until he's finally born! Tary kept commenting on how much he looked like me. Hehe, hopefully he only has the good parts.
When the session was over (which flew on by), they gave us a DVD with a recording of the entire session. They also gave us some still photos of Baby that they took throughout the session. It'll be exciting to show Baby one day when he's older what he looked like before he was born. It's kind of crazy for the mind to take it all at once. Haha, my friend says it's like Total Recall.
So back home we went and when we got there, I quickly started simmering the Pho broth again. Normally you would let it simmer for many hours. We only did it for about 3 or 4 hours due to our time constraints. I was a little worried that the broth wouldn't have a chance to extract all of the flavors out of the bones and meat.
Well, my friends started showing up. Actually, I think 12 people showed up in total, each with their own bowls in hand. They all waited patiently for me to finish cooking everything. I was being a little bit of a Pho snob when my friend A.D. kept trying to suggest things to cook in the broth and I kept refusing. Cambodian people call this dish K'tieu and I often find that when Khmer people eat it, they often add things to the broth to make it much sweeter than how it's typically made. Pho is all about the savory broth and the thinly sliced meat that goes along with the noodles. When you are given a bowl of Pho, you are supposed to taste the broth first and then you add fish sauce, fresh lime juice, hoisin sauce, and hot sauce to taste. When you add all of this extra stuff to the broth before even tasting it, I think it is slightly insulting to the person who worked so hard to make the broth.
Anyways, my friend A.D. was really helpful in other areas (when he wasn't trying to K'tieu-ize my Pho). He helped me cook the rest of the noodles while I precooked the sliced beef. When that was all done, everyone came and ladled the broth into their respective bowls. Then everyone found a place to eat, whether it was around the kitchen table or standing by the counters. I was pretty nervous how the Pho would be received. It was only my second time making it...ever. And this was a lot different than the last time I made it. But from the sounds of everyone slurping the noodles and broth, I think it went over pretty well. Hehe, hopefully they weren't trying to spare my feelings. I know where I can make improvements next time. Just remember to BYOB!
I went to the Asian grocery store and picked up some ingredients. When I got back home, I got started on the broth. It takes a long time to prepare the broth and we were on a limited time schedule. In a large pot of water, I threw in some beef bones, some chunks of beef shank steak, some star anise seeds, cloves, an onion, a cinnamon stick, and some salt and fish sauce and then let everything just simmer.
Tary and I then briefly left the house to drive into Boston for our 3D/4D ultrasound appointment. It was a bit of a hike to get there and parking wasn't that easy to find through the downpour. We were both very excited though to take a sneak peek at our little guy! The whole experience was definitely worth it.
When we got there, we had to wait about a half hour for the previous couple to finish up. When it was our turn, we went into a large room with a bed, the ultrasound machine on the far side of the bed, a sofa on the other side, a projector over the bed which was displaying an image on a screen toward the foot of the bed, and a computer monitor on the wall next to the sofa.
Tary hopped on the bed and the nurse (attendant?) started with some normal ultrasound imagery and we got to hear Baby's heartbeat again. The sound is distinct, a little weird, but it never gets old. We also got the nurse to confirm that Baby is a boy. Finally, some actual confirmation!
The next part was unforgettable. The nurse switched on this 3D/4D mode and I was pretty much speechless. I can't fully describe how we felt as we saw various images of Baby but I guess the closest thing is an overwhelming feeling of love for him. I can't wait until he's finally born! Tary kept commenting on how much he looked like me. Hehe, hopefully he only has the good parts.
When the session was over (which flew on by), they gave us a DVD with a recording of the entire session. They also gave us some still photos of Baby that they took throughout the session. It'll be exciting to show Baby one day when he's older what he looked like before he was born. It's kind of crazy for the mind to take it all at once. Haha, my friend says it's like Total Recall.
So back home we went and when we got there, I quickly started simmering the Pho broth again. Normally you would let it simmer for many hours. We only did it for about 3 or 4 hours due to our time constraints. I was a little worried that the broth wouldn't have a chance to extract all of the flavors out of the bones and meat.
Well, my friends started showing up. Actually, I think 12 people showed up in total, each with their own bowls in hand. They all waited patiently for me to finish cooking everything. I was being a little bit of a Pho snob when my friend A.D. kept trying to suggest things to cook in the broth and I kept refusing. Cambodian people call this dish K'tieu and I often find that when Khmer people eat it, they often add things to the broth to make it much sweeter than how it's typically made. Pho is all about the savory broth and the thinly sliced meat that goes along with the noodles. When you are given a bowl of Pho, you are supposed to taste the broth first and then you add fish sauce, fresh lime juice, hoisin sauce, and hot sauce to taste. When you add all of this extra stuff to the broth before even tasting it, I think it is slightly insulting to the person who worked so hard to make the broth.
Anyways, my friend A.D. was really helpful in other areas (when he wasn't trying to K'tieu-ize my Pho). He helped me cook the rest of the noodles while I precooked the sliced beef. When that was all done, everyone came and ladled the broth into their respective bowls. Then everyone found a place to eat, whether it was around the kitchen table or standing by the counters. I was pretty nervous how the Pho would be received. It was only my second time making it...ever. And this was a lot different than the last time I made it. But from the sounds of everyone slurping the noodles and broth, I think it went over pretty well. Hehe, hopefully they weren't trying to spare my feelings. I know where I can make improvements next time. Just remember to BYOB!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)