Now I am in my kampung Tuaran Labuaya. I have a cousin. His name is also Eric Ribuan and Eric noel is my name. He is 11 years old. I have my PS2 in the kampung. He doesn’t have a video game. His daddy doesn’t buy for him.

My recent periodic checkup to the OBGYN finally revealed the sex of my baby. He finally showed his healthy “turtle” form during the scan. I would have included the ultrasound picture here if not for the fact that I’m too lazy to scan the printout.

So, scrap my baby girl names. Off I went looking for the right name that matches Eric’s and Joel’s, and I tell you it wasn’t an easy for me to find a name that matches the “oel” in their middle names.

I think I’m going for either Ewan (”young warrior”) or Ezra (”helper”), and Roel or Yoel. I like the fact that Yoel means “the Lord is God” and it goes with the religious themes of the rest of my boys’ middle name, but it sounds too much like Joel. Roel sounds catchy, though the meaning “famous country” doesn’t mix well with my taste.

What do you think? Can you help me decide?

There are only a few sites I visit that I would absolutely recommend to every expectant moms and the already-mommies. I found these web sites when I was expecting Eric, and have been using the information in these sites ever since.

Although nothing could prepare you emotionally and physically for the actual thing, doing some reading might help you to mentally prepare and expect fewer surprises. Also, take all the advice and knowledge you gained with a grain of salt. Always, if in doubt, consult your doctor. He or she will be more than happy to help you.

BabyCenter.com and its sister site, ParentsCenter.com. I have been a faithful subscriber of its newsletter since 2001. I wish I had used the info in this site earlier. The site is much more understanding when it comes to breastfeeding and doesn’t leave you feeling guilty if you are one of those people who can’t breastfeed successfully, like me. I love the personalized info and weekly e-mails on the progress of your pregnancy as well as some parenting tips.

ParentsPlace.com. An iVillage sub-site, what I liked most about this site is the Q&A column on a wide variety of subjects related to pregnancy and parenthood. This site is very much pro-breastfeeding, though, so much so that it could leave those who couldn’t breastfeed well (like myself) feeling depressed.

Oxygen.com. A wonderful site for women. The chat rooms and forums are especially useful, so do go ahead and find a support group for pregnancy or for advice on baby care and breastfeeding. The chat groups are very supportive groups and helped me go through my first weeks of postpartum while I was home-bound.

Due to my husband’s insistence on having similar names for our children, here are a few choices I liked from the baby name finder tool in ParentPlace.com:

1. Edra, a 2-syllable girl’s name of Hebrew/Anglo-Saxon origin, means: Power; powerful.
2. Edel, a 2-syllable unisex name of Hebrew/Germanic origin, means: Gentle; brave; noble.
3. Enid, a 2-syllable girl’s name of Celtic origin, means: Fair; pure; purity.
4. Esme, a 2-syllable girl’s name of French/Spanish origin, means: Beloved protector; emerald. Nicknames for Esme are Esma and Esmee.

Now I need to look for my little girl’s name, which is going to be a nightmare, because my husband would like it to sound similar to Eric and Joel’s middle name that spells *oel, as in Noel and Joel.