I haven't blogged, because I've been so busy. And not feeling well since yesterday. Body aches, sinus problems. But I feel better.

We had some friends over on Saturday night, and we had a wonderful time. Anna and Chris came with their 2 little kids, our 2 grandsons. Thiego and Xabi. Different names, but they are the cutest kids. Thiego is pronounced Tiago, and Xabi is pronounced Shabi. Parents have the privilege of naming their kids whatever they want.

When we were thinking of names for our 4 children, we came up with some different names. Our first, Anna, or Annalisa, was going to be Anna Verushka. What was I thinking! There was a popular supermodel by that name, and I thought she had a cool name. I think Anna's glad now, that I didn't name her Verushka. Anna Lisa is a nice name (I think). Our second daughter, Mia Lindsay, was supposed to be Sophia, if Dennis had his way. But I've always thought Sophia sounds too much like a sofa, so I nixed that name. We went back and forth, he suggesting something, me not liking it, and vice-versa. Finally, I said, do you like "Mia" and he said, "it's OK", so I said, it's Mia. Then, when the nurse came in to ask for baby's name, I said, "Mia", then (since Dennis wasn't there), I said middle name "Lindsay". I hope Mia likes her middle name.

Our third child, a son, we had decided on "Matthew", I guess there were no arguments there. We did not know if it was going to be a boy or girl til he was born. Middle name: we went around on that one. We thought of "Dante", I thought of "Milano" a family surname. Finally, we settled on "John". After Dennis's Dad. Matthew John is easy, there's no explaining to do, or spelling it for the rest of child's life.

For our fourth and last child, I compiled a list of 10 names, for the other three kids and husband to decide. Actually, Matt was still a baby, so he didn't have a say in it. Everyone liked "Lauren" from the list. Middle name: I wished I had named her "Alexis", but for some reason, I settled on "Alexa". Lauren Alexa. She likes it now, Alexa, I mean, but for a while, she wished I had picked "Alexis". Oh, well, picking a child's name does not sound like a difficult task, but a person has to live with it the rest of his or her life.

Personally, I always disliked, and still do, my name, Elia. Although a lot of people tell me it's pretty. I always wanted to have a simple name, like "Mary", so that I would not have to spell it out, or explain it. It is what it is, as they say.

I just remembered, that in a friend's blog, he also wrote on the subject of names. But that's what people will do when talking about how Anna and Chris came up with their son's names. But, I will admit, that I am liking those names now. And I love those 2 little boys!