Pickle

There's a house on Underhill (between Friern and Upland) that is lit up every year

Excellent, what an exciting few weeks you two have ahead of you. Your wedding might end up like Honey & Billy's on Eastenders... I think she went into labour during their ceremony ;-) Hope you enjoyed your Christmas x

Absolutely brilliant, and what a great story! Merry xmas to you all, and welcome to the world little Cassie (lovely name). Enjoy your xmas drinks, you deserve them!!

This is the first year in our household that there's stuff being left out for Santa as our eldest is almost starting to understand (nearly 3). So Santa will be mainly dining on Quality Street chocolates and washing it down with lager. And there's a carrot for the reindeer. What's the accepted carrot etiquette? Snap a bit off, or bite it?

I was there earlier this afternoon and it wasn't as bad as I had expected - carpark was busy but fine if you were willing to walk from the far side and not fight for a park right by the entrance. I got some interesting advice from the lady behind me in the queue regarding saving money by buying a turkey from Iceland and using a combination of all purpose seasoning and meat tenderiser (applied a week before xmas). Maybe next year!

:)) Ha ha, top tip there Helen!

*chinks glass of champagne*... thank you Scotland for the snow - despite having spent the best part of the day at the airport with grumpy children I'm in a very good mood as we are safely back in East Dulwich following a delayed, then cancelled flight (we were actually on a plane at one point, but offloaded) and not attempting the journey tomorrow. Here's to a Christmas without the mother-in-law >:D

Very true Knackered Cow, I do always try to remember I'll never see the people again! I asked my GP before our last trip and she recommended Medised over something like Phenergen, which also has the sedative effect and is often used by parents travelling. She said to simply follow the recommended dosage for Medised, apparently Phenergen requires more of a trial and error approach (the wrong dose can result in a hyper child - can you imagine!!). The benefit of Medised on flights is the decongestant - I find I often get really stuffed up on long haul flights so it's good for assisting kids if they get the same problem. That said, I do only use it if absolutely necessary, and it doesn't really have much of an effect on my daughter anyway - so with her it's the tried and true running up and down the aisles approach!

9 months, that'll be easy Keef! Lots of snacks, little toys, books, and if all else fails... Medised (just don't tell the pharmacist the true age of your baby, add 6 years or so - it used to licensed for 6m + and is now 6 years, but I've still got an old box with the infant dosage ;-) )

My goodness, I couldn't have coped with them being round so early after the birth of my first child! I had a strict "nobody to stay in the first 2 weeks" rule, so they came for a day when he was about a week old (they were staying with my sister in law just North of London) but that was it. It would have stressed me out too much! When they did come to visit they bought my nephew, who was 3, and tore round the house like a lunatic (as a bored 3 year old tends to do, we had no suitable toys at that stage) wetting himself every time he set foot on our carpet. Lovely.

We've flown to NZ and back 4 times with the kids, I did the trip by myself when my son was 10 months. At 14 months you will still get use from a sky cot (especially if you fly Singapore Airlines, as their bassinets are large), even if you don't use it make sure you request one as it means you get bulkhead seats and a lot more room to deal with your child. You may find you can put your baby in it once he/she is asleep and it will give you valuable hands-free time! Personally I would feel fine about flying alone with a 14 month old, just prepare yourself for being very tired (although they physically have to sleep at some stage during the journey, so do your best to grab some sleep yourself at that point). We're making the journey to NZ in Feb with a 3 year old and an 18 month old, it will be a challenge but we work on the basis that it's only a day out of your life, how bad can it be ;-) Good luck x

My in-laws leave teaspoons all over the kitchen, it drives me MAD! They're very good at getting their own cups of tea (albeit generally moaning about "the lack of service in this hotel" as they do it) but will never offer to get one for me. Classic moments from last Christmas for me were: - at that crucial gravy making, bread sauce making, serving up stage of xmas dinner my MIL came into the kitchen. To help? No, "I just wanted to let you know there's no toilet paper left in the upstairs toilet". - just as I finally sit down at the table to eat dinner (baby on my knee) MIL points out she doesn't have a glass of water, and asks me to get her one from the kitchen! If I make it through the next 5 days sane and without telling MIL exactly where to go it will be a miracle. I will be relying heavily on my old friend cabernet savignon and a couple of conveniently timed migraines :)

I had my son in January and we hadn't even given a thought to bad weather (ignorance is bliss!)... thankfully it was fine, and I ended up booked for induction so no mad rush to hospital. I would say that when the time comes if it looks too dangerous to drive call an ambulance, they're better equipped to deal with the conditions and it would be better to be stuck in an ambulance in snow than in a car! Relatives are a bit of a nuisance at times aren't they?! My Christmas 3 years ago started with a stay in hospital the week before, in-laws moaning because we weren't going to see them (couldn't fly due to illness, and laughed in the face of their suggestion that we could drive to Edinburgh with me 8 months pregnant and unwell!). They came to stay with us last year (at which time I had a nearly 2 year old and a 6 month old baby) and sat on their backsides doing nothing to help the whole time - absolute nightmare when I had kids to deal with. They didn't even offer to help with the dinner, and sat making comments about how nice it was to have "time off" while Mr Pickle and I did all the cleaning up. Needless to say I was ready to kill someone by the end of it! We're supposed to be flying to Edinburgh tomorrow morning and I am quietly hopeful that our flight will be cancelled ;-)

I finally got a chance to watch this at lunchtime today, and really enjoyed it. I also admit to tears when the baby wasn't crying, how scary! I quite enjoyed Amanda Holden on it, am not her biggest fan but saw a different side to her which I liked. Thanks for the heads up on this Lorraine.

What fantastic news, congratulations to you all, and what a lovely name :) Enjoy your first Christmas with your little daughter x

My son continued to have that nap until he was 17 months old, which was crazy, but he really liked his sleep (and still does). Like you, I used to wait until he was down for his nap before showering, having breakfast etc. It was lovely! Daughter dropped it at 10 months and to be honest it made life easier, as with an older child to deal with I was finding we'd often need to be out the door earlier than 10am (when she generally slept till), so waiting around for her to wake up was a bit of a nuisance. These days I get up before the children to have a shower, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to fit it in! Thankfully they're pretty reliable at sleeping till around 7:30am, so I don't have to get up too early on these dark, cold mornings.

Peckhamrose (or is it a rhetorical question?)

Great news, a forum baby boom! Congratulations to all :)-D

Heh heh, Crystal7, start shoving that sponge and custard down her... and perhaps supplement it with some good old deep fried chips like they advised me to feed my son ;-) I'm truly shocked to hear that these people have "proper" qualifications. Although with my devil's hat on I do wonder whether they're the nurses and midwives that didn't quite make the grade.

Lots of people walking past my place on their way to Goodrich, so I'm assuming it's open too. The snow's not really that bad though (so far, I think it could be by the end of the day if it keeps snowing!).

Oh I'm intrigued, will watch this tomorrow!

Curlykaren, I feel the same. Two easy births with no pain relief despite being induced at 37 weeks both times - I had been told every induction related horror story known to woman! Dare I say I even enjoyed the experience :) But it's almost harder having found it fairly easy, as you don't want to tell people and get their hopes up in case it's not the same for them - whereas with a horror story at least you can go with the "nothing can be as bad as my experience" approach! R&A, good luck! Keep us posted.

Great news (although I was hoping the strike would save me from having to spend 4 days with my mother in law, so not such good news for me!)

Hi Rachel, and congratulations on the soon-to-be arrival! You should contact the NCT to be put into a "2nd time Mums" tea group - I did when I had my 2nd baby (my 1st was just under 17 months when no. 2 arrived) and the group of Mums I met were brilliant. Everyone had quite similar age gaps, and it was nice being able to go round to each others houses to chat knowing that your toddler would be catered for and that everyone was going through the same thing. I still meet up with some of them now and have made some very good friends. We didn't do NCT 2nd time round either, it all seemed just a little too fresh in my mind :) My kids are now 18 months and nearly 3, so not babies anymore :( but if you fancy coming for a cuppa to get a glimpse of what your life will be like in 18 months time feel free! Pippa

I would imagine it was the one on Goodrich just around the corner from Crystal Palace Road - it was there until quite recently (gone for maybe 18 months now, has been converted into residential accommodation). It was diagonally opposite the Castle Pub.