My Prime 5 baby names

With a new Princess in town there is lots of talk about baby names. It reminds me of that precious time when I had a tiny newborn that I had to give a name to, that they would be stuck with for the rest of their lives. I am always doing that thing of imagining another baby in the family and thinking of what I would call it, although I do not have any intention of extending our family, there is no harm in dreaming!

So here are my list of the top 5 boys and girls names I would consider for my own little Prince or Princess

Boys names

1. Taylor

2. Blake

3. Jenson

4. Harrison

5. Elijah

Girls names

1. Sienna

2. Rosa-Mae

3. Isla-Louise

4. Amelia

5. Ella

I tend to go with pretty names that may be classed as trendy but I believe would still sound nice into adulthood. My own children's names are a mix from different regions and so far they are all quite happy with the choice I made!

What type of baby names did/would you choose for your own little cherubs? Traditional, Vintage, popular or cute?

Come and link up below with your own list of baby names #myprime5

Shaking Head Syndrome

I am not sure if Shaking Head Syndrome an actual condition but my son has recently developed a tic where he keeps shaking his head.

During half term Kieron was complaining that his head hurt, this is not unusual because he has complained on other occasions that he has a headache, having mentioned it to the doctor in the past he did not seem worried and said it was normal for children to get headaches from time to time. Over half term however he seemed to have a headache everyday and on one occasion slept through the afternoon and vomited as he woke up. This was particularly worrying as he had no other symptoms other than a headache. He also started shaking his head from side to side every few minutes, as well as being really annoying I thought this was probably making matters worse and I repeatedly told him to stop as I didn't know what else to do about it. He said he was doing it because his head was hurting and he couldn't help it...it just happened.

We went back to the doctor who checked him over and spoke to him about where it hurt in his head, he said it sounded as if he was suffering from a mixture of tension headaches and migraines but was reluctant to give him migraine medication as he is only 10yrs old. He also said that when he got back into a routine at school he shouldn't get them so much but did not seem too bothered about him shaking his head.

Thankfully his headaches have seemed to appear less frequent now he is back at school but the head shaking has continued. Apparently (according to Google research) developing tics at this age is not uncommon but having worked in a primary school for nearly ten years I have never heard or seen this before. He has mentioned that kids in his class have started asking him about it and are even copying him but I am sure they will soon get bored of that.

I know every individual health case is different but I was wondering if anybody else's children have developed an unusual habit and how long it is expected to last?

Siblings - June

Having one child that loves the camera and three others that try to avoid it at all costs means it's a very rare occasion that I get any nice photos of them together.

The two youngest normally fight like cat and dog, so as I managed to get a picture of them both together and smiling I just had to share. Hopefully at some point I can get one of all four of them in the same shot but I can't promise that they will all be happy!

This post is linked up to Dear Beautiful's family portrait project on the link below.

Positive pic of the week #10

This weeks positive pic is of my 15 year old Jasmin and 9 year old Kieron.

Last weekend we went to watch 2 of my friends run the Race for life at Clapham common. It was a lovely day, luckily not too hot for the runners but warm enough for us standing around waiting to cheer.

I took lots of photos of my friends warming up and running through the finish line but while we were waiting Jasmin was asking me to take her picture. What I love about this shot is that it shows her poser side but it also shows Kieron's cheeky side, he doesn't usually like having his picture taken but whenever I was taking one of Jasmin he was trying to creep in behind without her noticing...typical annoying little brother!

Have you got a picture that puts a smile on your face?
Come and link up below

Positive pic of the week #5

This weeks positive pic is of Kieron enjoying the zip wire at a local park.

Although the weather hasn't been fantastic it has been bright and sunny and it's nice to be able to get outside and take in some fresh air. The kids are still at an age where they can have fun at the park, I like the fact that they are free and the kids are old enough to roam around on there own without me following behind so I can find a bench to sit on a read a book.

What simple pleasures have you had this week? If you have a photo feel free to add to the link below!

Word of the week - Crescive

Another week and another word I've never heard of, have you?

This week has been the school holidays and without all the hustle and bustle of daily life I have been able to take in just how grown up my children are getting, like really grown up, I mean my son has a moustache AND a beard... when did that happen?

At the beginning of the week I started to feel ill (typical) and my kids were so understanding , they didn't expect anything of me instead they would ask if I needed anything and happily get on with chores around the house (I have taught them well)

Its really lovely that they are growing and becoming independent but there are certain things I miss about them being small, as well as seeing all the milestones and having lots of cuddles the thing I think I miss the most is being the cleverest person in the world!

You know when kids go through that 'but why?' stage and they just want to know everything about the world, well I always had an answer... Okay sometimes it was a made up answer but to them I knew everything!

I remember a girl in primary school asking my daughter if she knew the words to a certain song and she proudly replied "I don't know the words but my mum does, because she knows the words to every song in the world!" It's true, any song that came on the radio or TV, I just had to sing along to it and I still do now. I love music from all eras and genres so she got it into her head that I knew every song and who was I to burst her bubble?

Now sadly times have changed, I find myself asking my children how to spell certain words and random facts, well my son knows them all, he's like a walking encyclopedia.
I am know in awe of them, how clever, polite, funny and beautiful they have become... but then I suppose I did teach them everything they know!

For your information the word crescive comes from 1560-70 Latin word cresc meaning; increasing or growing.

This post is linked up to #wotw over at The Reading residence.

Park life

Summer holidays can be a very expensive time of the year and the kids are always pestering me to take them out. One of my favorite places to go is the park; its local, free and there are so many things you can do there.

I'm very lucky that my local park is Dulwich park, it never seems overly packed like other large parks can get as soon as the sun comes out, it is clean and safe and it has a great play area for all aged children.

Today we bought the scooter and badminton rackets to keep the kids occupied.

Kieron doesn't get to use his scooter very often as he is quite clumsy and after going on it down a hill and not being able to stop I've been worried about him going on the roads with it, however the park is mostly even and he was riding on the grass so there wasn't much chance of him doing any damage!

 

It was a pretty windy day so the game of badminton didn't go quite to plan. Kyra spent most of the time standing around bored as the shuttlecock was blowing everywhere except in her direction.

When the kids finished in the normal swings and slide park they decided to use the exercise equipment. These are very popular with the kids,I suppose they feel grown up using all the types of keep fit equipment and its good for them so I think they should put these in all parks!

We finished off our trip to the park with the old fashioned pastime of climbing trees, oh and not forgetting posing for pictures.

Half term happiness

I do love half term but then again I would - I work term time only!
For the children its a break from school and a chance to have fun and let me entertain them but for me its a week off work and I like to spend it doing absolutely nothing. This means we have to come to some sort of compromise.

This week hasn't been too strenuous, here are a few things I've been up too..

 

I dyed my hair, not for a fresh new look but to cover up those white streaks that seem to appear right at the front of  my head where everyone can see them! Unfortunately it didn't quite work and most of them are still there but if you just look at me from the back it doesn't seem too bad a job.

We also took a trip to the cinema, myself and the 4 children went to see Wreck it Ralph which I found to be a pretty good movie, particularly if your children are into computer games as all of mine are.

 

I'm not much of a baker but I do like eating freshly made goodies so I'm lucky that my girls have a keen interest in cooking. Not only did they bake these delicious cookies but they found out what ingredients they needed and went to buy them all from the shop too.

As I wanted to do a car boot sale this weekend it was a good opportunity to have a good clear out, I do like to keep a good routine in the week so thought I would wait until a school holiday came up before pulling out all the cupboards and stressing myself out. The car boot sale wasn't exactly a great success but I've passed on everything I had to my brother so I didn't need to bring any junk back with me. My brother doesn't have a particular interest in my junk but he intends to sell it on himself doing his own boot sales! 

Sadly half term is now over but I will work hard for the next 7 weeks (hopefully with a bit of sunshine) until the next holiday and instead of the 1 week break we will have 6 whole weeks of fun to enjoy!! I cant wait.

Offspring of the month

I took my daughter (miss14) shopping the other day, she's been hounding me for weeks to go and buy summer clothes but as there was no sign of the sun and not a lot of money in the bank I resisted until I couldn't take the nagging anymore.

So we went to the local shopping centre. It was a miserable day but the shops were still packed with optimistic customers buying all their summer gear.

Having 4 children that never stop growing (I'm sure there's some sort of growth hormone added to food nowadays) I thought it was best to get a few bits for all of them, just incase it did suddenly get hot...unlikely!

Filling my basket with t-shirts, shorts, dresses, swimwear and sunglasses for miss10 and mr8 I was forgetting all about the child with me and she wasn't too impressed. Miss14 got a maxi skirt with a vest top and a dress but when I said it's time to go to the till and pay she started sulking. I explained that I would have to endure that embarrassing moment of telling the cashier to take some things off because I don't have enough money to pay for it, but kids don't seem to care where the money comes from when they want things!

After getting home and still with a long list of stuff she wanted, miss14 decided that her dad and I should choose an 'Offspring of the month'.
The idea is whoever does the most chores, makes hot drinks, keeps their room clean and is the best behaved should be treated to something they want, ie a shopping trip or a computer game. And with the mention of a computer game mr8 comes running in the room with an inquisitive look on his face asking who's getting a new computer game?

Now she knows being the eldest daughter of the house (as was I) that it's only inevitable that you are going to do the most in the house, it's always the way, isn't it? So this is her way of getting new clothes every month.

I personally think all my children get their fair share of things they want (they would probably disagree) and they all have to earn it in their own way, but if I were to adopt this reward system my poor sons would never get anything!
Miss14 may just have to wait a while for her next shopping spree.

Another sleepover?

You have children and they take over your life, it's all part of parenthood. Sleepless nights, dirty nappies, cold dinners after spending ages spoon feeding the baby. Then they get bigger, becoming more independent, able to make their own breakfast in the morning and bath themselves at night and lead you to believe you are finally going to get some 'me' time, that is until they make friends!

Don't get me wrong it's very important that your children do have friends, you wouldn't want them to be loners or outcasts and I'm very grateful that all my children have lovely social groups with parents that I'm able to get on with.

This weekend was like many, the daughter had 2 of her friends over for a sleepover and if it's not at my house they will arrange it at one of the other friends house. Both the mums of her friends work in the same school as me (which is the school they attend) and the girls plot with each other in the playground arranging to play after school or sleepover on the weekends and then they put us on the spot!
Now maybe if it was just 1 child it wouldn't be too bad but when there is 4 of them all plotting their social lives it means that I kinda don't have a social life of my own.

It's not just sleepovers but birthday parties! Now these can be even worse. I remember at one point there was a party like EVERY weekend and what type of bad parent would you be if you said 'no you can't go' and everybody else was. Now it's nice to have popular kids that get invited to parties but sometimes they are quite a distance away, sometimes they are fancy dress (which means going to buy a specific outfit for the occasion because I wouldn't know where to start to make one!) And it always means buying a gift. Being as organised as I am this means running around an hour before the party trying to find something appropriate.

Now I've just got to prepare myself to cope with what's coming next, when the children turn into young adults and want to attend house parties or clubs and drink alcohol with the opposite sex... hmmm maybe I don't really mind sleepovers after all!