social commentary Sunday . . . 'do you have child-naming regret??'

Greetings all,

How important is your name to you??  My parents named me Jennie, not Jennifer as that would be shortened to Jenny/ Jenni/ Jennie anyway, i'm quite happy with the name my parents gave me.  My middle name is after my mother's sister.  My sister & brothers all have regular names too, as do our collective 14 children.
I remember my best gal pal saying "wouldn't it be fun to be named Daisy, but have a back up sensible name for job interviews & legal paperwork".  Ok, so she grew up to be a lawyer but i get it.  Do you want to be Dr Pixie Smith??  Nowadays anything goes i guess, i try not to judge people by their names, but when i won a free photography session for my first born & the photographer was named Bambi, i kept thinking 'it's her parent's fault'.
On our first date, my husband & i agreed on a baby boy's name (he started the conversation, i wasn't some desperate crazy OMG-marry-me & this-is-our-whole-future-together after one dinner).  Anyway, we adjusted it to suit a girl as after 3 daughters we were wondering if we'd ever get to use a boy's name??  
Every new school year i scan the class lists for names, doing little fist pumps in the air that no one has the same names as my guys.  They don't have whacky or made up combination names, they have traditional Celtic & Gaelic names to suit our heritage, they're old fashioned, you've heard them before, but they are still the only children in their schools with the names.  I do feel quite chuffed with our choices & i really believe the names suit our children.  They like their names too.  We also skipped choosing names with same first initial as ours & double checked their initials didn't spell out anything silly like BUM.
Growing up, if there was a crazy name on the news like Zipperty DoDah Jones, my conservative anglo parents would say "oh that's a made up American name".  Class rooms are filled with unisex names like Jordan, Taylor & Bailey, all lovely names, but if they're new & you have birthday invitations from them, you might not know if they are a boy or a girl.  I don't have to read the list of most-popular-names to know they are Jack, Ella, Henry, Emma, Lachlan, Grace, William, Ruby, Ethan, Harry & Ava - they're all friends with my children. 

I just wonder, do parents ever think "oh i wish i didn't name my child Chrystal-Sherrilyn & combine our surnames of Worthington-Barringhausenwaite as it takes so long to fill in forms" or "naming my twins Amie & Jamie now sounds a bit dumb".  Oh hello mums with multiples - do we have some bad twin duo names out there??!!  Have you met my twins "Samson & Delilah", "Elvis & Priscilla", Romeo & Juliet" . . . not kidding.  I think people should get silly names out of their system on their pets - or God help us, they'd be an over supply of children named after Star Wars & comic book characters.
Did you go for fail safe names with regular spelling, the popular names of the time, or the totally awesome names you dreamt up when you were a teenager, like Ripley, Fallon & Blaze??  Are your children named after your favourite movie stars, sports heroes & appliance brands?? 

I'd LOVE to know if you told your girlfriends your future-children-dream-names & . . . they stole them!!  You remember that episode of Sex&theCity when their pregnant friend stole Charlotte's dream name of "Sheila" & Samantha screamed "you bitch" across the Baby Shower?? 

I know 3 cousins, ALL with the same name, born in the same year, as their parents all said the name was theirs.  Poor grandparents - 3 grandchildren with the same name & age??  Then again, doesn't world champion boxer George Foreman have 8 children called George, Georgina, Georgia, Georgie & Georges 2, 3, 4 & 5??  In his defence, his brain has been knocked around, but what were the mother's agreeing to?? 

Did you give in to a traditional family name??  Did your husband insist on a name & you couldn't say "noooo, it's my exboyfriend's name"??  Do you know anyone who changed their name as it was just too awful to keep??  I remember one baby name book i read while pregnant with my first baby in 1998 recommending not to call your child Adolph, Sadam or Gay.
Have fabulous week's everyone, i'm doing creative clubs/ class craft - i scored French Knitting with my son's professional ice hockey teacher - should be interesting.  Love Posie
. . . last day to enter my paper packaging, sticker & twine giveaway today, 6 prizes, good luck, will announce mid week . . .

i'm grateful for 'ace teachers'

Greetings all,

Ah school . . . when you hand over your precious beloved children into the hands of teachers each new school year, it can be a lottery that you get a great one (& preferably not a pregnant one).  A teacher who understands your child, let's them be quirky & guides them positively. 

My 4 children have scored ace teachers on a regular basis.  Also LOTS of male teachers, double yay, extra handy for my children who have a daddy living interstate & overseas for 3 years!!  Not going to say sorry for the pregnant teacher comment, yes, congratulations teacher you're pregnant, great for your personal life, NOT so great for an undisrupted year of teaching for my child (making that a triple yay for male teachers who aren't stay at home dads - i've lost one that way too before).  Teachers, please don't have a personal life outside of school holidays, JUST teach my children 40 weeks of the year, it's all i ask.

This week i'm grateful for 'ace teachers' . . . thanks for asking Maxabella Loves. 

 Having issues, again, with downloading images, so here is a shot of my big girl & little boy last week in the pool.  LOVE Summer holidays, the freedom, swimming, sunshine & pyjama days.  Below is a shot of our twins from when they were 4 at preschool (5 years ago) now THEY are children with personalities & are always very popular with their teachers.  Not sure if they have bigger personalities than regular children or that because they are twins, it's enhanced as they are so different??  Either way, it's an excuse to use a cute photo from the archives.

Ace teachers this year include . . . for year 7 (at my eldest daughter's ladies college, la de da) a French chef (male); a Canadian Maths/ Science teacher (male); a Japanese teacher (female, funnily enough, teaching Japanese); a PE teacher (male); a young female teacher for Humanities & a 'mature' female home room teacher.  Great mix!!  She is LOVING high school & so far has happily kissed me in the car park, outside her home room & told me i must have a Uni degree in "awesome" - i know, soaking it up while it lasts.  She's given me her locker combination, i've met her new friends & waves when she walks off into the sea of girls in the morning.  Success & for now, i'm still cool. 
For year 4 - ah yes, haven't followed up on how my twins reacted when they realised they were in the same class this year (due to small numbers there's only one year 4 class & they've spent 3 years in seperate classes) - let's just say, gasps, hugs, kisses between them & all the parents went "ah, how sweet".  I had tears in my eyes, too adorable & sorry, not photos as requested, the day before one of them dropped the old little digital camera, which is now broken with the lens fully extended open. 

With the girls in the same class, it's handy as one is super efficient & the other would leave her head behind in the classroom with her weekend homework on a Friday afternoon.  One is the SRC/ class captain for the semester (terms 1&2) . . . i asked if they went up against each other, to which they replied "no, she'll be SRC next semester".  Oh dear, a McClelland monopoly on year 4??  I never thought of this before, but what do twins do when it comes to house/ school captain when they're both qualified, gulp.  Anyway, they have a joint teacher collective, a nice mummy teacher 2 days + a more experienced lady for the other 3 days.  As they said "we'll always be fresh", hmmm, am i fresh on a Monday morning or do i get stale?? 
Finally, my boy in year 2 - well he has inherited our middle girl's teacher from years 1 & 2, so i know him well.  If you ever needed a positive, fun, active & engaging male influence in your child's classroom (particularly a son) imagine . . . a professional ice hockey player for a teacher.  Yep, awesome & gorgeous too, poor man, this is the 3rd year out of 4 in his teaching career he's had to put up with me as a class mother.  Again, small numbers in the class (our primary school averages class sizes 20 students or less) & my son is in there with his complete harem of girlfriends.  He's also the SRC/ class captain, no doubt thanks to the female vote in his class. 
Just realised each of my children are the SRC representative every other term - i should remember, i'm always paying $8 to replace the lost badges!!  Anyway, my son & his girlfriends were sitting in a group in the hall anxiously waiting to hear their names called out for the class with the action man teacher . . . one by one they all stood up & realised they were in the cool class, together, there were hugs, squeals & high 5s. 
So i'm completely exhausted as the 1st week is over, a new school route to master, P&C fundraisers to plan, new school rules to learn, day shifts at Shop Handmade, Zumba classes & sewing for the Handmade market next weekend . . . but we're back & we're loving it.  Thank you ace teachers, you make for a wonderful school experience, love Posie