The Perfect Baby Name

by Rick Epstein (Albemarle Family Magazine)

Naming a baby is like selecting the perfect title for a book when you don't even know what it's about.

Here are a few tests:

1) The Playground-Taunt Test.
Any 5th grader can identify the biggest smart-alec in the class. That's your consultant. Give him 5 bucks to work his magic with your likeliest names.

2) The Personalized-Toothbrush Test.
Little Ulysses or Zephyr will be dissapointed when they go to the store and cannot find that little personalized bike-sized license plate with thier special name.

3) The Front-Porch Test.
Take the name you're considering and yell it form the front porch as if summoning a child to dinner. Consider carefully before barking, hooting, or hissing: Mark, Ruth, or Seth.

4) The Follow-up Question Test.
Think twice before giving a child a name that will require a follow-up question or discussion every time it is said.

5) The Are-We-Looking-For-Trouble? Test.
Try to picture the kind of person who would be named what you want to name your child. (i.e. Freedom Rose, Buck Johnson, etc.)

Birth Order Test

I stole this quiz from a friend of mine, and although I'm an only child, it pretty much pegged me here (although what if I really am a first born, and there's some dead scary brother/sister out there that is going to haunt me like in the scary movies? :)

http://www.blogthings.com/birthorderpredictorquiz/

You Are Likely a First Born

At your darkest moments, you feel guilty.
At work and school, you do best when you're researching.
When you love someone, you tend to agree with them often.
In friendship, you are considerate and compromising.
Your ideal careers are: business, research, counseling, promotion, and speaking.
You will leave your mark on the world with discoveries, new information, and teaching people to dream.

Christmas and New Years

Christmas 2008 was a wonderful time. It was a time of learning.....

Doni does not like strangers.

Some people have too much time on thier hands.

And Doni will not look that good in a mustache.

And we went downtown for First Night on New Years Eve, just like we do every year, but this year it was freezing and extremely windy. We rented a hotel room near the mall, and due to the gloriousness of AARP, we got a 2 room suite, so the kids got to have thier own room, and John and I got some peace and quiet. HAPPY 2009!!!