ryedalema

Does anyone know how Denmark Hill to City trains may be faring tomorrow?

clux Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Re: the distances of last allocated place printed > in the Southwark/Lewisham brochures > > From what I can work out these distances seem to > be the distance of the last place allocated during > the FIRST round of results. We got into a school > via the waiting list but the following year > Lewisham still showed the distance as being under > 300m whereas I know I live nearly 500m away. They > don't seem to update their figures so I think in > some cases catchment area is not as small as the > info says it is. Obviously as a guide its > incredibly useful but don't be put off if you live > a bit further away than the distance given for > last years applicants. Oh no I'm v confused now - is this for Horniman? I'm not sure how far we are from Horniman but it's at least our second closest (Goodrich being first). Do you think I should put Horniman down as #1 (it's currently charting at #2)?

Also - I'm confused about the Faith school non -demoninational spaces. Our nearest is arguably the Catholic school at the top of Forest Hill Road. Do they do non-denom places or is it just C of E places that do that? And how do you know whether you are in with a chance of getting a space in a Faith school, based on location and so should put that first? Head aching now!

Otherwise - tea trays and bin bags! Not glamorous but i spent a lot of time using these when I was a littl'un. I think I probably still have the bruises to prove it!

I remember this time last year, giving birth in the snow being among my worst fears. As it turned out our planned home birth turned into a last minute ambulance dash through the icy roads to Kings. The ambulance men were absolutely brilliant - they helped me (bare foot) across the ice and the ride was really quick and not scary at all (I should say not weather-related scary anyway). I just wanted to allay any fears that any expectant winter Mums might have - you will be in very very good hands if/when your time comes.

DIY stores on the corner of P. Rye sold out in a day apparently - 80 of them. He's taking reservations for more stock coming in this weekend though if it helps. Hope the snow lasts that long!

Ugh - we have the same problem with a nearly one year old and a 3.5 year old. Littlest moved into her sister's room at about 3 months and luckily is quite a good sleeper. So we can put her down at 6ish and she's in a deep sleep by the time her sister goes down - and eldest gets read a story if she behaves and isn't noisy. All eldest's pyjama dressing is done in another room. It doesn't always work though and is a nightmare if one of them wakes the other up and I'm usually the one bedhopping. Last night for instance I slept in the bunk bed while eldest slept in 'our' bed. The bad bit for us I think is when one of them is sick - it usually ends up being a lesson/negotiation in mitigating cross contamination. So if OH and eldest have a cold etc they sleep together and endless combos after that. I sometimes think we should do away with all beds and had a foam floor for one of the rooms (plus loads of blankets), then we can all bundle in together.

PS - Is anyone else's 'back to top of page' not working since admin did their maintenance work or is it just me? Very possible that OH has been 'improving' the laptop again. If it's other people too I'll let admin know.

There's one on Lordship lane a bit further down (past the Mag I think). I get most of my stuff either at John Lewis or online. I use this shop as it's around the corner from our Horsham office and really well stocked and helpful. They will obv deliver anything and are really helpful on the phone if you need advice. Hope that helps - and totally agree about the costume book, I'll get onto that today after I've finished making dd#1's Christmas tree costume for her nursery show (am going to put real chocolate decs and candy canes on it so she becomes a human piniata {sp}). Haha she'll so hate me when she's older!

Oh wonderful - I'll have a mooch around Herne Hill this week. Beware Magic Circle - malcoordinated stressed out mummy coming your way...(I hope they have Fez's!).

I actually kept eldest daughter in full time while littlest was getting to know the world. The main reason was that my mat leave wasn't especially long (6 months) and I was told that the nursery wouldn't be able to guarantee a f/t place at the end of it if we did reduce her days. That would be what I would watch out for and specifically ask - will you get your original days (or the days you need) back when/if you return to work and need them? I'm guessing the nursery may also have preferences about which days you take and may only have space for certain combinations of days. Might not be the case and you could get exactly what you ask for - but just putting that one in the pot.. But while eldest was in f/t we did take shorter days and it was a lovely time with both of them.

I recently took eldest dd to a friend's birthday party and the Dad had watched a load of You Tube videos and taught himself how to make balloon animals - he was the star of the show and it made me think, instead of my usual New Year 'wine tasting' or 'beginner's Welsh' courses that I usually sign up to and then give up after 3 weeks, maybe I could do something kiddie-centred so I can be a 'fun mum' and have all the kids entertained at parties/sleepovers/play dates. It'd also probably save us a fortune at birthday party time. Does anyone know where you can do courses on things like: - balloon animals - beginner's magic (I'm thinking coins behind ears etc) - birthday cakes in weird and wonderful shapes - sewing costumes (made quite a decent dragon for Halloween so would really like to do more) - face painting - party games and dances in general. I don't really think the local technical college would do that sort of thing (could be completely wrong) but think there could be a real gap in the market for training courses - or am i alone in wanting to be the 'clown'? (shudders as it reminds me of my old school reports now). ;-) Edited to add - if anyone is an expert in any of these and fancies doing some tuition, I'd gladly take you up on it!

Just read a good tip in Good Housekeeping (promise not my usual read!). Write the Christmas chores (that you'd be comfortable with someone else doing) on scraps of paper and put them in a hat. Each guest has to pick a chore out of a hat. Bit of a game and it keeps them busy/useful. Think I'll def. be trying that one!

Hi Ruth - I have the same problem. Little C is one on 23 December. I reckon we're going to have a shin dig at the Herne in January when everyone is in need of a good party and we're not competing with Christmas. It has a room at the back that you can hire and the bigger kids can go on the outdoor climbing stuff if it's dry. (Plus it's staggering distance from us for me after one babycham too much) :)

Sorry smiler meant to say well done on picking up the ww after dd2 (exactly what I did). If you want a motivator when/if things get tough please just holler!! You can do it!!

Aw thanks all. Yes I agree it does seem healthier, some of my slimming world friends used to say that the reason they plumped for that plan was for the fruit/veg freedom, so it's good that this is now part of ww. Like you Smiler I've not been using my activity points - and now 60 mins of aerobics equals 4 points when before it was 2 (I have to tell myself that I haven't actually done more activity - it's just calculating as more). Yes Pickle I'm doing the online thing - but cannot seem to find the healthy weight range calculators. I plumped for the larger end of my healthy weight range when I first started - but at a quite daunting 3 stones ago that seemed like a big enough target. Now I'm wondering whether I should go a little lower so I'm dead in the middle of the weight range or whether I've strained my body enough for now. (and then will I pick up the gauntlet again at a later date or will the momentum be lost). I have listened to you all with your fab suggestions about getting exercise into your hectic days. I cycled to London Bridge the other day, and it wasn't that bad. Got totally lost around burgess park on the way back though and got a bit spooked by all the gangs of boys hanging about (probably doing very innocent things). But as I'm terrified I'll get mashed around the E&C roundabout I'm trying alternatives so that I can totally avoid that nightmare. Anyone got any good routes to Farringdon area avoiding all the more hairy bits of London's roads??

Mmmm - I had this. Pretty uncomfy for a while. The doc gave me some quite strong painkillers (which I was too nervous to take admittedly) but they did die down after a short while. littleEDfamily Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just to add my two bob worth and say you ladies > are amazing having endured what you have. > > The one thing no one told me about breastfeeding > was that in the days straight after the birth you > might get some quite powerful contractions (like > labour!) when feeding. Apparently it gets worse > with each baby as the uterus has to work harder to > shrink back down. Although I am one of the > fortunate ones with regards to b'feeding, I wasn't > prepared for this and was really disappointed by > how little I enjoyed it initially because of this. > (but in grand scheme of things, this sounds > minor!)

Morning - I know, I know I should be posting this on a weight watchers board. But I know some of you do weight watchers (and some are experts!), also I feel like I know you guys and won't be talking to 'strangers'. Is anyone else doing weight watchers now and is confused by the whole new programme thing? As far as I can make out fruit and veg are all now no point and you can't carry over points from day to day? But what do you do about activity points? I'm less than 2lbs from my goal and it's all now changed - and I'm so near.. aagh. Yes I know this is totally minor in the scheme of topics we talk about here but does anyone have any sage words? (Or words about sage - yumm!) Also - I'm not sure I had the right 'goal' to start with - but can't find any advice online to help with this. I know I should probably go to a meeting - but that's easier said than done with kiddies pulling at your trouser legs at the most crucial times. Any thoughts or advice would be really appreciated.

Hmmm - trouble is our dd is a budding 'House' (her favourite toy is her doctor's kit) so she thinks medicine is 'dead cool' and wants it regardless of what is wrong. Could it be growing pains? DD #1 regulaly talks about pains in her legs (holding out the dressing gown cord 'bandages') but I don't know enough to know whether it's a plea for a doctors and nurses game, or whether something is actually wrong. Anyone know anything about growing pains at all??

Aw thanks for the suggestions (and I promise we're not actually entertaining the idea of a mermaid etc - or their Barbie/Bratz etc counterparts) and I know she won't really notice. I think it's the '2nd kid guilts' as it's so easy to get eldest daughter new stuff (as it's new for us too) and littlest one seems to get the cast offs. Also eldest daughter needs (another) course in sharing as her cast off toys are still 'hers' in her eyes (although she got bored of them yonks ago). I'll look up the Wow stuff - indestructible = v. good here too.

Having watched far too much Nick junior I'm already getting myself in knots about what to buy both DDs this Christmas. Eldest seems to be easy - she wants: - a mermaid - a pony - a fairy - and a princess (ahem - easy peasy I say in my best Veronica Salt's Mum's voice!!) But smallest daughter will be 1 on the 23rd December and I've no idea what to buy her as, poor little hand-me-down kid that she is, she has more than enough of her sister's old toys. Has anyone got any good ideas for what to get her? The age appropriateness thing is a bit negotiable right now as she's eating all her older sister's toys anyway, but not too many small bits and I'm trying (and failing miserably) to steer clear of the blatant branded/plastic offerings. We've got jigsaws/walkers/trampolines/instruments - so really don't 'need' anything - but we can't not give her something for her birthday and Christmas - can we? Yes I know the box will be the main attraction - but any good ideas on what to put inside it? Your idea always very very welcome. And sorry in advance for bringing up the 'C h r i s t m a s' word so soon in the year :) x

How are you feeling Ruth - do you reckon you'll be able to make it? I'm hoping to go and am in negotiations with him indoors at the mo. Fngers crossed.

We've just come home with a bucketful - seriously 3.5 year old's sugar rush will last us into next week. Thank you all! (Although possibly too many Palma violets for my taste).(And of course they are for her!);-)

I bet if pushed (and presented with a plan of our house) I could map out every single squeaky floorboard and tell you exactly how much pressure you can exert on each one before the hideous 'eeeeekk' noise results! It's quite a skill don't you know. As for combat rolls - oh yes. But I can do one better. Now I know I'm a bit vertically challenged (5'2") but I've actually slept in the cot* with the little one. *we don't have regular cot but a floor 'nest' made of one of those three part mattresses from Ikea and a blanket box (Cos being vertically challenged I used to have to drop her the last couple of inches). Still pretty squishy though with two of us in it :)

Hi Ruth - I just wanted to say that that Doctor was horrid making you feel like that. About this time last year we bought bunk beds and put Big C on the top bunk - naively thinking the guard rails were high enough and her mature enough, but lo and behold she stage dived off the top bunk and broke her arm. Buggie actually, and all at Kings looked after us marvellously - but it was also followed up by a visit from a health worker who made me feel the way you did/do - like we'd done this on purpose. That the house was an accident waiting to happen etc etc. It made me feel so so bad. Someone shortly afterwards told me that they have to make you feel that way so that they can judge that actually you are a good mother and not someone uncaring or irresponsible. I guess a lot of the people they meet fall into that other category and they have to be really sure that the child is and will be ok. Don't feel bad - accidents are exactly what they say. Baby Seb is a lovely bonny boy and he'll more than likely know nothing about this as he grows up with you xx