BeccaL

Recently read Brooklyn by Colm Toibin which is excellent - very readable and compelling. Also would back anything by Maggie O'Farrell - she's a fantastic writer.

@jim the chin - thanks for the heads up - we'll try and get there early. @felt-tip - good luck - we'll be doing lots of cheering so can hopefully spur you on too - good luck!

My husband's running this and so we're going to be there supporting him. Anyone else doing it? If so, we'll look out for you! Good luck to all.

Good luck - hope you get it sorted x

Hi Yorkie I'm a full time working mum and my husband was a stay at home dad since our daughter was 5 months old. It is tough, but you need to make sure you look after yourself. Agree that your hubbie should definitely bring baby to you at night, although I also agree that if you could reduce the night feeds to one (or none) that might be better. Can you go to bed earlier as well - difficult I know because you also need/want a bit of time just with your husband when baby is in bed - but you sound like a load of sleep would really help, and if you're not going to bed until after the midnight feed, no wonder you're tired. You and hubbie definitely need to look at home-related chores and agree who is going to what, how often. I'm lucky/lazy enough to afford a cleaner and definitely the best money spent every week as it means we don't argue about cleaning or spend all weekend cleaning. You both need a good think about what really needs doing when - if the bathroom floor is only mopped once a month, for example, is that OK? I'm quite lax about household things, so things being cleaned less often doesn't bother me that much! I also took the attitude that as hubbie was working at home at the same time, that looking after her, feeding her (and us) and working were probably enough for him to do during the day. Also how much cooking/food shopping does your husband do? One massive benefit of a stay at home dad is the feedback you'll get about what your daughter is doing and how she's developing which you don't get in the same way when they are in child care - make sure you get the feedback from him, especially when she's still young. Hope this helps - feel free to PM if you want or have any questions? Becca x

Ann, thank you for that post - most reassuring. Our daughter is 5 and when I was pregnant I was fed up of people asking me if we were going to move out of London... It's where we live and work - why should a baby change that. I grew up in the country and was so dependent on parents or friends to go anywhere it was a nightmare (quite how i'll feel about the level of freedom that will give my daughter when she's older remains to be seen...). I love that we can jump on the bus or train and in to galleries, museums, theatres, etc. In ED we're so lucky to have the parks and all the green space as well. I can't imagine living anywhere else...

You can park on the road outside but make sure you buy a parking ticket as there are a lot of traffic wardens around there.

That's horrible - hope they're ok. Not sure if connected but saw a 176 going along east dulwich grove about the same time.

No idea - was busy 30 mins ago on underhill rd being diverted

sorry, was thinking of somewhere else much smaller and nearer - I think it's called South Norwood Lake. Have driven through the one you mention and it's much bigger - agree looks like a good place to run/cycle!

It's been moved to the Lounge

Is that the one the other side of Crystal Palace with the lake? If so, we stumbled upon it once - quite nice - would probably be good for a run.

Get some Huggies Bed sheets (I think they're called) - they go under the sheets so bed still comfy but absorbs any leakage and keeps mattress dry. We found them great. Don't know what to advise re starting - ours didn't do this til 4, at which point it was pretty quick, though she still occasionally wakes up with slightly wet pants (now 5.5 yrs). Mean parents that we are, she now just changes her own pants and PJ bottoms and puts herself back to bed unless the sheet is wet too - I do not deal well with night-time waking and can't now understand how I managed when breast-feeding!!

Don't let the pigeon stay up late and others by Mo Willems are great and as from the US might be less likely to have them already

Go elephant hunting around London - google 'elephant parade' and go and find some amazing painted elephants. Haven't seen the green park or hyde park ones yet but could combine those with a picnic.

Brockwell Park has been filled - looked lovely on Wednesday.

I got cover for 2 weeks in the US when I was about 26 weeks preg with direct line - can't remember price but was about ?60 ish - didn't think too bad given the peace of mind.

Goodrich don't have a breakfast club but they do have an after school club on site run by Gumboots. The settling in period takes (I think) 2 weeks where they start off only doing mornings, then do lunch, then do full days. If you need to know, phone the school office - they're pretty good at that sort of thing.

Apparently Richard Armitage was about, looking sulky (husband's phrase - I'm sure he meant sultry) and there were lots of swooning mums on the school run to Goodrich this morning - typical that I did the school run every day last week and none this :-(

At that age it's much easier for someone other than mummy to do it. Had to get ours onto bottles at that age and it took my husband 3 days of trying until she worked it out... I had gone back to work so she was still breast fed outside working hours so wasn't going to starve. She wouldn't take a drop on day 1, took about 1oz per bottle on day 2 then sussed it on day 3. It was hellish at the time but soon forgotten. Good luck with it - keep trying, and if you can get someone else's help do.

Don't assume that Southwark will do anything automatically - we went through this last year and Lewisham were streets ahead of Southwark in terms of organisation and communication. I know it doesn't help now, as I wouldn't wish what we went through last year on my worst enemy, but we have seen children leave reception as their families have moved during the year, so places do come up. I know that doesn't help you now however. Hope it all sorts out soon...

Gas leak.

I'm on Overhill rd. Happy to come and collect from you - let me know by pm when you've got a load.

Bea, where are you and where in Brixton do they need to go? I have a car and work in Herne Hill so could easily drop stuff over for you/them.

Gumtree apparently has lots of stolen bikes - a colleague of mine was offered one supposedly being sold by a pregnant woman because she couldn't ride it any more, except the frame would have been much too big for her to be able to ride - my colleague didn't buy it...