Sydney Update: November 1, 2006

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the well wishes. Sydney and mom are doing great. This is literally the first break that we’ve gotten… man, I just can’t believe how demanding the first few days have been (apologies to Bridget, Doug and Kara for not checking work at all…). Sydney came home yesterday, an interesting drive home on Halloween. Her weight dropped only 7% so she’s in good shape, and Geve’s milk is just (I mean just) starting to come in so the feedings are increasing in frequency. That’s good news for Sydney and bad news for the parents. Mom’s doing well. She still says that she feels like she’s just gotten off of a horse-riding marathon, but she’s in good spirits and Sydney’s already following the sound of her voice.

So, two requests to fulfill. First, Sydney’s full name is officially: Sydney Gar-Wai Huynh Le.

Sydney was a name that we had on a short list for a girl. After dad’s overanalyzing of names, we went with Sydney for a few reasons (warning: these are very dad-centric points :):
1. A Special Relationship to mom/ Geneva’s name. I really wanted a relationship to Geneva’s name. Over the years, the two things that standout to me that make Geneva’s name special are what people have said about it and a how to spell it. In the time I have known Geneva, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people say to her, “Geneva, that’s a beautiful name.” As well, the other thing that I’ve heard a lot of people ask her is “how do you spell you name”, to which Geve always replies, “like the city.” I love how Geneva and Sydney share so many things in common. Of course, they are both named after great cities of the world and are names that rare (i.e. not like Paris re: Hilton or Black or Singer) but not weirdly unique (i.e. Apple, Peekaboo). And being a numbers freak, there’s an interesting factoid: if you count “y” as a vowel (and it’s half a vowel), Geneva and Sydney are a) both six letters long b) have three vowels each, including one pair (Es and Ys) and one single (A and E), c) have one “N”. Plus, the name has a “D” in it which is great for daddy David. Above all, it was important to me that Sydney’s name have a special relationship with her mom’s name, without it being transparent or unimaginatively obviously. The highlight of my life that I’m waiting for is when the two of out together one day and for some reason someone asks them both for their names and how to spell them, and Sydney says “you spell them both like the cities.” Yeah tacky, but really aren’t I totally tacky all the time?

2. Personality flexibility/ Christina’s name. Obviously, it’s hard for me not to think of Christina when I look at Sydney. Christina in so many ways has prepared me for fatherhood over the last 21 years. Moreover, it was those nights babysitting Christina at home, with Geve when we were younger, that really allowed me to get a glimpse of the great mom Geve would be. One of the best things about Christina’s name is the flexibility of the name. I loved how when she was younger, her name didn’t pigeon hole her personality development. When she grew up as a tomboy (remember the days of baseball cap-hat hair?) she could go by just “Chris”. But when mom wanted to dress her up, she could be “Christina or Tina”. We like the idea that “Sydney” or “Syd” gives our daughter flexibility to develop different sides of her personality. And Chris, you know that you are one of the most important people in our lives, and we really wanted one of her older aunts to have a special bond with her.

3. Coincidence with Ben. Ben, to me and Geneva you are truly a brother-from-another-mother. It’s great that Sydney will know that she has a special link to you and your family, especially Elia and Kim. Even though we don’t live close by, I know that we’ll always be best friends. This only cements that. (Syd, Ben's middle name is Sidney like Crosby, from his dad who has the same name).

4. Yes, Alias. Ok Jono, it’s true. Everyone knows that Geve and I were huge Alias fans. But it wasn’t until a series of horrible movies that I realized that I really didn’t like Jennifer Garner (re: Electra, Daredevil, 13 Going on 30), but I loved the Sydney Bristow character from Alias. However, I have no aspirations for our Sydney to be a secret agent (though dad’s secret super-hero childhood training techniques could bare resemblance to Jack Bristow).

5. Geneva liked it (really, point 5 is all that matters).

Gar-Wai is Chinese, and “wai” means “wisdom.” Gar” is the pre-fix that Geneva’s mom and dad used for all of their children’s Chinese names. Obviously, being the first grandchild, we wanted to ensure that a part of the Chinese family name continued on through Sydney. And of course, it was important to have a Chinese name that tied into Kirby and Sabrina. Gar-Wai was a name chosen by Po-po & Gong-gong to respect family lineage, and Sydney will always know that.

Huynh is one of my middle names and my mother’s maiden name. Geneva was the one that ultimately said that we should include a Vietnamese name. The selection of Huynh was pay respect to not only my mother’s entire side of the family, but also to 1) my mom who was an oldest sister of five and 2) my Uncle Lam who was the single male of the family. Unc, you were the older brother that I never had, and I hope to be as good a dad as you are. And Jade, I hope that Sydney learns from you how to be a great oldest sister as well (you’re the only oldest sister on my mom’s side of the family). And of course, Huynh means “yellow” which is perfect for Uncle Ian, the only person in the world whose favourite colour is yellow (hey Kath, this is the one time that’s ok). Sorry dad, no “Long Dang” this time for a middle name.

Well, that was long-winded but accurate and hopefully interesting. The second request is easier: more pictures please (including ones with dad taken by mom).

Love you all,
Sydney, Geneva & David

P.S. Geneva’s email is gevandave@hotmail.com. It’s best to email there if you are trying to reach us in the future.

P.P.S. Special thanks to Yvonne & Sonny, and Rob & Tanya for visiting in the hospital and being great about bringing food and knowing how long to stay (i.e. not too long but long enough).

P.P.P.S. Sydney would like to thank Ong Ba Noi for the car seat (see pics). Send food with Po-po. :)