Pickle

Yes, don't worry, a plain top is absolutely fine.

I'm not sure what our Xmas plans are yet Moos, but will let you know if our house is available, you would be more than welcome!

Technically they need a PE kit, just basic shorts and a white t-shirt, however for reception I wouldn't worry too much about it - my son just wore his school tshirt, and daughter took some leggings on PE days. In reception they tend to do PE indoors in bare feet for most of the year. They have a set of spare kits in the class if you foret, so it's never a problem.

JDR, there are still quite a few in the really old part of the cemetery, down towards Forest Hill Rd on the left hand side (where all the old condemned graves are) :)

We looked into having Corian, then my inlaws had their kitchen done and used it, and I really didn't like how it looked. To me it looked cheap, despite being far from it. Theirs is very pale, just off white, against a white gloss kitchen. We ended up using quartz, it has been great.

Hard to say. If you went back to them straight away and arranged a time/day I wouldn't expect them to sell to anyone else until after the time you arranged to collect. If you hadn't gone back and communicated with them, fair enough for them to sell elsewhere.

I use a laundry marker and write on the labels too, so much quicker! Most school nurseries don't require the children to take their own beakers, but once again a marker pen would do the job.

We've got it in white, in our master bedroom, and it's brilliant. The white has a bit of a gloss finish (and is actually a bit off white), and looks great. We have matching side tables and dressing table.

I'm not really an ale drinker, so didn't take much notice of the range, sorry.

We went to the Herne last night with friends, and the new menu is lovely, we really enjoyed the food. Sharing plates are a good size and make nice starters, and our mains (steak, lamb, salmon and vege) were great. I had a quick look outside and I think the climbing frame has gone, but I couldn't really see whether the new play area was there yet. ?100 for 4 people, 3 courses and drinks, pretty good. As our closest pub I'm looking forward to going more often.

Mr Pickle plays for Tulse Hill & Dulwich, and says there are teams that play their home games at Kennington. London Wanderers (club is actually Battersea based) and London Wayfarers are two he can think of off the top of his head.

I'm not ashamed to admit to a bit of KFC loving. Zinger tower is my burger of choice, how does the new one compare?

Just wanted to give this thread a push back up, in case anyone out there needs activities to fill in the holidays. We went this morning to the farm birds session, the kids loved it. A mixture of teaching, hands on activities, and crafts as well as lots of information about the other animals too. Just ?1 a child, well worth it. There were only 5 kids taking part, which surprised me. Was quite entertaining watching the "community payback" boys reluctantly sweeping up goat poo too :)

Babies are like kittens, they grow up into big smelly creatures ;) I was very much like that when number 2 started getting independent and was due to start school nursery (and hubby too), so we decided to have a 3rd. At 18.5 months she is still very dependent as can't walk yet, which is partly lovely and partly annoying! As we have older kids I see every day just how cool it is to watch them grow up and discover things, and I can't wait for our little one to be part of their world. I still look at little babies and think they're cute, but no longer feel like I'd like to have one of my own. Well and truly stopping at 3 :)

Mine went to Magic Moments, and we ended up just keeping them there until they started school nursery as they loved it, and to me it didn't make sense to put them somewhere else for a relatively short time. I'm planning to do the same with my youngest too.

Great for adventurous 4 year olds! The flying fox is good fun. Fuschia, I'm the opposite, I find DKH the more stressful location!

Yes, it's open from 11am daily x

If you are planning to be in the area in the next few months I don't think you will be too late to apply for the state schools - I think it's January that applications are made. As far as independent schools go, I don't think there's any truth in the thinking that you enrol them as soon as they are born. Places are offered after assessments I think? I'm sure someone with experience in this will confirm.

Yes, on flights to NZ when our kids have been on one/two bottles of cows milk a day, the airline have been happy to oblige.

It sounds like a growth spurt to me. It's very normal for your breasts to loose that "full" feeling once feeding is established, and you shouldn't use what you get with a pump as an indicator of the milk you have, as baby will be getting much more than the pump does. Stress could have an impact as well, so do your best to drink lots of water and eat well. So sorry to hear of your bereavement :( If you can (assuming you don't have other children demanding your attention), take some time out to just lie in bed so your baby. Lots of skin to skin contact, relaxing, and feeding when he wants it. If its a growth spurt you will find things settle down again in a few days. P x

We waited as long as possible! Son was 3.5, daughter about 2.5 from memory. It can often signal the end of daytime napping, so it depends a bit on how old your little one is (and how likely they are to revel in the new found freedom!). If you use a Moses basket for the first few months it will buy you some time before you have to decide.

I still struggle with this, and my eldest is 6.5! If we go out in the evenings we put the kids to bed first (they are in bed by about 7:30pm). We first went out for a quick meal when our first baby was 5 or 6 months old and used a local babysitter (in her 30's) who we have used ever since... but in all that time she's never actually met the kids as they are always in bed! I recently used a friends nanny to look after my youngest in the park while I watched my older children in their school sports day - it was a good thing for me to have done as afterwards I could see she was perfectly happy and had a lovely time. Try doing some swaps with Mum friends, and ask around for babysitter recommendations, there are some great ones out there. A good option is to use an au pair who works locally, they are often keen to earn a bit of extra cash on their nights off.

Does the butcher by the Plough open on Mondays?

Great photos - I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I had no idea that structure was ever there, despite being a regular at the National Sports Centre and the park. I can't see it being rebuilt, no way of making it pay for itself in the long term, surely?

You certainly can do it exclusively, it's hard work but doable. I expressed full time for 8 weeks with my 1st who was tongue tied, then successfully switched back to breast feeding directly once he had his operation. At the time I used to take bottles out with me in just a standard Avent coolbag, but never expressed when I was out (was never far from home at that stage). With benefit of hindsight I wouldn't have struggled so much to try and provide 100% of his milk myself - I gave him the occasional formula top up and really felt guilty, which is just silly when I look back on it. It was the middle of winter, after feeding him expressed milk at 3am I used to put him back to bed then sit expressing for an hour. While it probably did help me keep my supply up, I really doubt I would do the same if I had my time again! Sorry for waffling - but even though I have breasted 3 kids, I just want to say that the most important thing is that both you and baby are happy. If that means breast feeding, great. If it means partially feeding with breast milk and supplementing with formula, great. If you decide life's too short to spend expressing and give him formula, great. Don't beat yourself up about it. Make sure you enjoy the lovely cuddles you can have with a baby so young - before you know it he will be at school! P x