The kidzes' smiley first names!

Once again, I'm behind in my posts. Behind being defined as photos in post being posted long after they were taken... In this case now... about 2 months. Pictures here were taken on dated 4th March 2010.

I always know I am behind in my posts when friends/colleagues/family see any of the kids and go "Oh! They look so different!" or more tellingly "Eh??? This is Isaac? He looks so different!" They don't even recognise him. HAHAHA.
Initially, I used to internally react like "Huh, of course different lah, you last saw them weeks/months ago!" Then later I realised that they were comparing what they see now, to what they see on my blog ;p For despite me religiously stating the the dates which the pictures are being taken, I guess it's natural that people tend to think that that is the 'current state' of how the kids look like. Well, all I have to say is... where kids are concerned: Change is constant!!!

Look at my Shawna :) smiley ain't she? Hehehe... yes, Cin, the two small ones are as smiley as Smiley. I love these pix of Shawna, but they look kinda grainy. I've been griping about the picture quality of my pictures lately... which caused hubbs to say to Asher last night:"You see, Mummy is trying to justify buying a new camera..." ;p bleeeaaauughhh - hummph, buy already don't let you use, then you know.
I started this post thinking that I should quickly just post it, to get the posting going to try to keep up... and then I started talking. hiaz. you see lah.

Oh did I tell you that Asher & Shawna both have very long and sharp tongues? We realised this even during confinement month, when they stick out their tongues, it's like very long and sharp. Confinement nanny said they'd grow up to be "very good at talking." hubbs says:"yah, just like Mummy. Mummy, retribution coming..." ;p
I love putting Asher & Shawna together and see how they interact. They don't seem to mind each others' flailing arms and legs and would not cry even if one kicked the other or their arms hit each other. Instinctively, they tend to link arms, or even to hold each others' hands. Even when they topple over and 'crush' each other - they don't mind, and won't cry.

I'm so glad the twins are as smiley as Isaac. Oh that reminds me, I haven't told you how I named them, did I? You all know what "Isaac" means, right? It's a biblical name (name from the bible) that means "He who laughs". And laugh and smile Isaac did. Which is why Cin calls Isaac "Smiley" (I love it! :p).

 And so when I was naming the twins, I wanted something in a similar vein. I found Asher! Asher, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, means "Happy". So long before I even conceived Asher, he had a name already :) My second son was always to be named Asher.

I had a tougher time looking for a girl's name though. I wanted a biblical name, with a good meaning, 2 syllables... I wanted the meaning to be along the lines of Laugh/Happy like Isaac's and Asher's... but then it was like 'Abigail' which is like no-no for naming your daughter with...
The biblical criteria was also very tough - coz there're very few female names in the bible. The obvious ones were far too common, and were almost all associated with people we know. None really caught my eye. So I decided that I'd relax my 'biblical' criteria to include variants of biblical names - this widened up possibilities quite a bit, especially since I may now consider female variants of male biblical names.

Was flipping one of my many name books (started collecting them when I was 16 - when I was searching for a confirmation name for myself)... when I came across 'Shawna'. It is a female variant of Shawn - alternative spellings are Shaun & Sean - which are essentially the Irish version of the biblical name 'John'.
Thus the name Shawna shares the same meaning as the name John - which means "God is gracious". Which is a good meaning, and biblical, and pretty unique and has 2 syllables. Perfect! And so that's how Shawna came to be called Shawna.
To tell the truth, the only misgiving I had about the name was that it didn't have a meaning along the lines of 'laughter/happy' - I was afraid that Shawna wouldn't be as smiley as Isaac was. But it was the best name I could find... so I went with it... perhaps, I thought, the gracious Lord would be a smiley one as well? :)
Looks like I needn't have worried! Shawna's plenty of smiles! :) In fact, she started smiling and laughing before Asher did. She did so from 1 month plus onwards, Asher, from 2 months onwards. Isaac started smiling in his first weeks! Look at my Isaac below :)

pix taken on 4th March 2010
Isaac @ two days to 2 yrs 7 months
Asher & Shawna @ two days to 2 months