ryedalema

Has anyone tried Discovery Planet at Surrey Quays? It's open (according to the website) but we've never been. We usually go to Gambado - but likewise am shuddering at the noise/crowds. Any Discovery Planet reviews gratefully received.

We're trying to potty train our 2.5 year old. We've taken it pretty easy so far as she's gone through a lot of change - new nursery, broken arm (now mended), new baby sister (now 5 days old), but are thinking about cranking up the process again as we've mutual time off (maternity and paternity leave) and she seems quite unfazed and happy about our new arrival. Thing is she doesn't seem fazed to be either wet or dirty. I put her in pretty knickers this morning with express instructions to 'tell Mummy if you need to wee or poo' and placed potties around the house for quick access. She then weed and pooed (sorry for the graphic imagery) in her clothes and was quite happy to walk around like that. I asked her if she needed the toilet, or if she had already 'gone', and she said 'no'. How do i get past this? Is she 'going feral'? :-)

Well - i did get my ambulance dash in the end. Little Cassie arrived at 3pm Wednesday afternoon amidst much drama as I was rushed through A&E - hello Senior Nurse Jenny btw - the third time we've met in a month (what a family eh?). What an incredible experience - those ambulance drivers should be doing F1! I just wanted to thank all the midwives at The Lanes - especially Becky, Mary, Sophie, Erica and Vanessa (and Steffi - welcome back!) You all do an incredible job and I know we all (and especially Cassie) thank you for getting her into the world safely. And of course all the staff at Kings - who unceasingly care for us nightmare drama queens while keeping calm, professional and dignified (my dignity went to the four winds as I was sprinted through A&E with my tush in the air shouting 'the head's out' etc). Sorry for all who got an eye full! And thank you to the lady who got shoved out of her room as Cassie was propelled across the delivery room approximately a minute after we got in there. I hope you eventually got your breach sorted you poor thing! And thank you to my husband who was obviously shaken (not stirred) but kept it together enough to ask the ambulance people to untrap my fingers from the gurney - I'm glad I still have those, that's a bonus. And last but not least thank you to our neighbours who looked after 2.5 year old as all plans for childcare fell on their a**e. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! I'm now going to put my feet up (being marvellously guest-free this year) and get p**sed! Ho Ho Ho! (PS - Santa's been!)

Eww - my Dad did the same with our first, on day three. We didn't have a spare bed as my husband and I were sharing the spare room so that one of us could get some sleep. He really grumbled when we got out the inflatable bed for the living room (although he chose it when we went to buy it and it was top of the range). He also refused to wear pyjamas and woke up every time I did (wee hours of the morning) asking whether he could have a cup of tea at 3, 4, 5am! I also found lots of toothpaste smears on my towel in the bathroom - which definitely weren't there when I did my teeth (when I actually got to the bathroom by myself). Yeucch!

Wow - good luck with that one. My husband's from Adelaide and we've had various mercy trips to Oz for both parents when they were sick. The first, likewise at about three months, was a breeze. Especially with the addition of Calpol night (minus parenting points - but it was before they put the age limit up). And I think we've had a couple since she was a year + - i'm afraid it gets harder and harder (not much succour I know). But at least they are weaned so no 'boiling hot milks from clueless cabin staff'. I tend to rely on the magazines you get - you know CBeebies etc - as they are pretty cheap and disposable and you can keep the element of surprise. The other good toys were the Nintendo DS and the Ipod - which we loaded up with Peppa Pig etc. At least they aren't two yet - then you need to get them their own seat, which gets seriously expensive! We're looking to emigrate out there in about 18 months (a year after I get back from mat leave) and are seriously considering sending my husband out first to get set up - find houses, schools, jobs and then I'll be out with the kids after a few months - that would make me doing what you are with a 4 year old and an 18 month old - so let me know how you get on!!!

Why do we do it eh? In our working lives we're empowered, emancipated ladies - being assertive, multitasking wonders. Then when we get back to our families (more extended than immediate) we become 1950's housewives again. Of course I don't mind it when looking after the little ones - but how do the grown ups get me doing it? I've still no clue.

OMG - that sounds so similar to us. My Dad and brother were due to come down, but after a disastrous babysitting experience in late November (on our anniversary) where Dad went seriously 'victorian dad' and locked our daughter in her room as she was having a tantrum - then was totally unrepentant when we said that we didn't discipline that way saying he knew best as he was the 'patriarch' and had dealt with 'dysfunctional kids' before - we've 'suggested' that we delay Christmas until Feb/March. Our 2.5 year old still shakes when we mention his name - great! And yes - they completely expect us to wait on them hand and foot and I'm sure they deliberately leave trails of teabag juice and sugar all over the kitchen if they have to get their own cups of tea! Sigh - do you think there's a website where you can swap them for new ones? (Rellies that is).

Hmmm - just when i thought the organisation around births around Christmas couldn't be any more logistically difficult, what with: - what do you do with 2.5 year old daughter? - how do you prevent hurt feelings from relatives you've asked not to visit this year (way too much hassle from rellies expecting waitress service) - probably not having the midwife I've been seeing as she's on Christmas leave now.. the weather turns bad/treacherous. I know we should have foreseen this, but as existing monster was a July baby we don't have a bad weather contingency plan. Has anyone else got one? Or have any tips on how to get places quickly if necessary?

We chose the name for our new daughter (due anytime now) quite early on too and told our two year old daughter. I think it's really helped her to understand a bit better by telling her that 'Cassie's in there'. She's started saying 'careful mummy, look out for Cassie', and 'when's Cassie coming?'. I'm hoping it'll ease the transition from single daughter to shared limelight - but who knows.

following on with the theme, I would like (and I hope my hisband's reading this): - sleep ( a couple of weeks or the equivalent of a bear's hibernation will do) - like others, a short/sweet labour with our new daugheter - as far before Christmas as poss please! - the body I had when I was at university straight afterwards (will settle on a month or so to avoid foldy skin issues) - my extended family to get along with my immediate family - not an easy one with all alpha males! - my 2 year old never to break any bones again - aagh, so horrible. - kiddie antibiotics that doesn't taste like earwax and put my eldest off all her favourite foods - someone to come and potty train and dissuade my eldest daugher from her dummy is one easy session - some kind of permament waxing solution so I never have to do eyebrows, legs, bikini again - a safe, non-orange permanent and all over tanning solution so I don't permanently have to look like i was the main attraction on britain's most haunted - my hair to decide if it's gloriously curly or sleekly straight - one or other will do (minus frizz) I think that'll do for starters - too much to ask? :-)

I'd suggest you book pampering stuff - then he/she is bound to turn up just before it and scupper your plans. I'm 36.5 weeks now and my 2 year old daughter turned up at 37.5 weeks - on the first day of my maternity leave and the day before my 'all over wax' and mum-to-be pampering beauty package - grrr. It might have had something to do with the work's independence day party i organised for my last day and my line dancing late into the evening. Goodness knows what would've happened if i'd have tried the bucking bronco! If i'm 36.5 weeks now and it works like last time i only have a week to go (some hope) but I'm not due to leave work for a fortnight and have booked my pampering package for the 21st - so all the 's*d's law' is there. Plus I've done noooo christmas shopping. My husband could have his hands full - hahaha.

Nancy - I'm deffo going to try and come. Could I pay when I get there just in case though? My first daughter was born at 37.5 weeks and I'm at 36.5 weeks now, so other factors may take precedence :)

Budur - does that mean 'me too - you're in the family way?' Looking forward to seeing you all on the 12th - hope we manage to get a table what with it being Christmas party season and all!

Thanks for the tip re. Asda. I'm off to Kingston tomorrow which has a huge store - hopefully it's far enough from ED that all the costumes haven't gone. Are quite a lot of nurseries doing 'elves' then?

Is anyone with a huge bump going? I'll only get dead jealous of all your Cosmo (etc) drinking if i don't have a 'lime and soda' partner. I'd love to join you but might join you for a January one otherwise - then I can have a drink or two and let my hair down more.

Our two year old is starring in her first Christmas concert on 14th/15th and is an Elf - my husband suggested that Asda is really good for costumes, so will be heading there at the weekend. I don't feel the least bit guilty about buying said item - more time to spend with madam learning the words to jingle bells :-) (Plus less bleeding fingers/thumbs as I feed them through the sewing machine!) There was something on TV this morning about parents spending up to 150 quid on costumes - serious! I'm so looking forward to seeing her perform - so loved being in my school plays - with my dad filming the whole thing (he was a TV cameraman so you can imagine what a performance he made of it). Really sad 'indictment on today's society' thing is that we've had to sign something from the nursery saying that we can't take any photos or film :-(

Sorry I've lost the plot with this thread (and in general!). Is anyone else hugely preggers coming? I don't want to be the only one with on board ballast. It's Claire btw x

My daughter will be pretty much exactly 2.5 when Cassie comes along - and I'm kind of dreading the sibling rivalry. My brother and I were/are 19 months apart and sometimes we were close and at others fought like the proverbial furry animals. Does it matter what the age gap is? Or is it down to personalities do you think? I've heard some horror stories about children my daughter's age treating the newborn like a dolly and dragging the new baby around - I guess it's constant vigilance in any case isn't it?

Oh where to start...my 2 yr 4 month year old daughter still has a dummie and we need advice on how to get rid of it. We used it originally as it was the only way she'd accept medicine (one of those hollow ones) and teething gel - and now she's addicted. She doesn't use it at nursery, or while we are out, but demands it at home, during car journeys and while sleeping. She's got a lot of change that she's going through at the moment. We changed nurseries last month and on her third day there she broke her arm (she's still in a cast for two more weeks)in an accident at home. And she's got a little sister coming anytime now (in the next four to six weeks anyway). Her back molars are also coming through and she's chewing the life out of the d*mned things, piercing them with her teeth - then handing them back saying 'it's broken'. We were thinking that perhaps Father Christmas could exchange them for presents - but is this too much change to go through? We're also trying to potty train her but taking that one quite slowly/calmly so as not to traumatise Madam during this period of upheaval. All help gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm at 35 weeks and have lower back pain too. I bought a 3M maternity belt from Mothercare World in Purley Way for the princely sum of 35 quid, but is definitely worth it. It sounds a bit like the white one described above - a highly glamourous item (not) with two parts - one which goes around you and under the bump, and one what goes around and above. It literally lifts your bump up and gives you a bit of relief. It's pretty industrial looking - Brunel would have been proud to call it one of his own, and you need to get it just right. Too low and the velcro rubs against your groin - not nice, and too high and it actually pushes your bump down. The other thing to do is to make sure that your workplace gives you a desk assessment and you get some decent lumbar support at work. Beware of lying on your back on the sofa as you approach 36 weeks. Apparently that could have contributed to my first daughter being back-to-back (more painful during labour as they scrape spines with you on the way out). She turned around incidentally before birth after a a couple of weeks of sitting on a gym ball. The only other succour I can give is that literally instantly, as soon as you give birth, it's gone. Such a relief - and the being able to bend again thing is wonderful! Hope that helps.

I'm 36 (I think) and 11pm seems really late to me. I aspire to that. Mind you I'm 34 weeks 'gone' but I'm currently going to sleep at the same time as my two year old daughter - how sad is that?! I'm only thankful that my husband beats me in the old fogey stakes. Although he goes to bed in the small hours - after hours and hours of 'surfing' and watching sci-fi (did I marry a teenage geek? sometimes I wonder) he has this pair of slippers (Mocassins - sp?)that are 18 years old and he won't give them up! He cites heritage - he's from Adelaide and doesn't think our sheep are made of the same stuff as those hardy Aussie beasts. But I'm sure if I left the front door open they'd walk away of their own accord. It's our leather (3 year) anniversary this Friday and I was trying to swing a new pair of slippers as the 'leather' item - but yet again it's a no-go area. Also - he's organised an evening 'surprise' for the big day - I only hope I can keep my eyes open for long enough - I must be such a disappointment?!

My daughter is Charlie and Lola obsessed too (and it seems Jojo Maman Bebe is feeding that addiction) but I've recently bought a C&L video which has (obviously) a leaflet telling you where you can buy more stuff. Try www.puffin.co.uk they have 40 books on offer when you type them into the search engine. Some books that we've got imply it - the one about Sizzles getting lost, the one about Charlie's best rocket getting broken,the one about Lola wanting to win everything - you can tell I've read them a few times can't you?! Good luck in your quest.

Fair play to her (Colleen), but I'm guessing she might have some full time help enabling her to be a bit more 'free'. What I can't compute is the physical side of leaving a baby for the evening at that age. My boobs would have felt like concrete if I'd tried to do that. Plus the sleep deprivation and resulting energy trough stuff wouldn't exactly have made me the life and soul etc. I went out for the first time with Madame at 2-3 days old, to the breastfeeding cafe on Barry road, but only because I was worried that I wasn't feeding her enough. I remember my husband dropping me off outside and me carrying her in the car seat - I felt soooo vulnerable, like someone was going to grab her from me and run off with her. Then three weeks later we made a family trip to France for a week's holiday. What a nightmare! Unless you've experienced motorised expressing under a muslin in the front seat of the family car while your husband races up the French freeway for the ferry (for which we were very late) you've not experienced degradation on my book! :) I know celebs have to maintain a profile to keep the money rollng in etc but, y'know, sometimes you can let finances take a back seat can't you? I don't expect they are very near the breadline!?

Well we've just spent a fairly sleepless night at Kings after my daughter (2 yrs 4 months) dived off her top bunk bed and broke her arm. The poor thing now has pins in her arm and a cast for the next four weeks. I'm thinking of ways in which I can reduce the bunk beds to firewood. The reason for my posting was to say how lovely the staff at Kings were - without exception they pulled out all the stops to make her (and my husband and I) really comfortable. Thankfully (as I'm a little hospital phobic after being on the wrong end of cancer with mine and my husband's mothers) I never made it to hospital to have my daughter, and this is the first time we've had to visit A&E with her (I'd love to say the last, oh how I'd love to say that!). Thank you, thank you, thank you to all staff at Kings in the kiddies sections (A&E and Lion ward and theatre) - you guys do a fantastic job!

I used the Lilypads for one day - which was a whole day when I went to be interviewed for my current job (I was on maternity leave at the time). They worked well in that I think they 'fit' much better than the disposable or material ones (which I always felt left you with a noticeable ring around your boob through clothing). The only drawback I found was that they got sweaty/milky inside (obviously no absorbtion) and my boobs were really painful afterwards - but that could have been becasue I was not breastfeeding for a whole day in the first place. Through clothing though they work really well and no 'rims' around your boobs.