Pickle

Agree with the poster above. The couple of times I tried to swim at Dulwich I found it crowded, and the pool is quite small. I switched to Crystal Palace, and at times had the whole Olympic sized pool to myself. It's deep and a bit daunting but much better if you're swimming to get decent exercise.

I've always gone in before lunchtime for my inductions!

Speaking as someone who has worked as a professional musician (flautist) I would agree that the amount of practise mentioned above is excessive! I remember doing a couple of hours a day in the lead up to doing my LTCL at age 17, but never that much in the earlier years, and I went on to be successful as a musician. I agree that around 6 or 7 is a good age to start.

I didn't know such a thing existed! I really must make more of an effort to keep in touch with my kiwi side. Sounds like a great idea.

I've been induced 3 times, all quite different, although all at 37 weeks for medical reasons: 1st - induction started on a Friday, they used prostin which was given 6 or 8 hourly, can't remember which. I had the maximum allowed number of doses and was about to be rested for 24 hours when my waters broke naturally. From there I was put on the drip, baby born 5 hours later using just a TENS machine for pain. The induction to birth process took 3 days. 2nd - one dose of prostin, they broke my waters a few hours later, baby arrived 2 hours later. Once again just TENS for pain. 3rd - in theory should just fall out?! Oh how wrong I was! Went into hospital and induction began on a Fri morning, she was finally born on Tues morning! Once again I had just a trusty TENS machine, but even though they broke my waters I was on the drip for over 12 hours and up to the maximum dose before I even went into labour! In fact labour started 5 mins after being told that if nothing happened within the next 3 hours I would be taken into theatre (I wish they'd threatened me with that 4 days earlier!) With all 3 I've found the actual established labour part to be quick, but very manageable and have never needed strong pain relief. I may have a high pain threshold though? Good luck! Take plenty of things in with you just in case it takes days!

From memory I started by reducing the morning bottle, which had the knock on effect of increasing their food intake. The mid afternoon bottle became redundant soon after, they seemed to naturally wean themselves from that one. I kept the big ol' bottle of milk before bedtime for as long as I could, wasn't brave enough to upset things at that time of day :) I found with both children that once we eliminated bottles (around 2ish) it meant they stopped having milk as a drink completely, neither have ever been willing to drink it from a cup. However they get plenty during the day on cereal, yoghurts etc. so I've never really worried about it.

We've also used a birth announcement type card as a thank you card for the birth of our most recent daughter. I figure that although most people see photos via social media or email there are still a few people of our parents generation who won't yet have seen a photo so it's nice for them to get something with the birth info and a picture. I got mine on Photobox, not expensive and very simple to do.

Beckenham Spa is another oprion, and possibly Bellingham Leisure Centre which is in the same group as Crystal Palace (assuming it has a pool that is, I have only been for soft play)

Anyone up for a 10am meet next week sometime? I think my "toddler" is a lot older than most of yours (she will be 4 in June) and afternoons are restricted due to having to pick Callum up at 3:30pm. I can be at a cafe mornings any time from 9:15ish once I've dropped the older two at school, so let me know if there are any other early birds around!

... and don't iron muslins, life's too short :-$

When you've got just one small baby don't be in a hurry to get out of bed in the mornings. Once you have more than one you don't get that luxury!

Brilliant, thanks for organising it. Mr Pickle has the date in his diary!

I can do the 8th, and the Mag sounds ideal

Yes definitely, count me in!

Yes, I agree with Fuschia, try to eat before you start the bedtime process if you're on your own. Since my kids were young I've cooked one meal that we all eat, so I have mine at 5:30ish with the children. At least that way you're not starving on top of the stress of bedtime. Would a reward chart or similar work with your toddler? P x

Oh yes, definitely. When Daddy is home it's chaos as they're all so excited to see him (well, maybe not baby, but certainly the other two). When it's just me I think they're as sick of me as I am of them and are pleased to get to bed ;-)

Hooray, congratulations Caroline, and welcome to the world Jacob (love the name, it was on our shortlist when we had Callum). 9lbs 13 - ouch, but how amazing that you managed it all at home! Look forward to meeting him once you're over the initial shock of parenthood. Pippa x

Ha ha Snowboarder, we cross posted. Different methods, but love the fact that we both specify a glass of wine at the end ;-)

Also, when son got a little bit older (2ish onwards) if I felt that the baby was getting too tired and needed settling first I used to put a DVD on for him on a little portable DVD player in his cot while I sat in his room feeding the baby. It meant everyone was nice and calm and my son thought it was a brilliant treat!

I remember the feeling of terror when I was first left to deal with bedtime by myself... at the time I had a newborn and a 17 month old who couldn't walk, so it was scary! For me the key was being super organised. When I had a spare moment during the day I would prepare dinner, sometimes that would be early in the morning. During the afternoon I would go upstairs and get all the bath stuff laid out ready, pj's out etc. While giving my toddler his dinner I would start feeding the baby (breastfed), and basically try to get as much milk into her as I could at that point. Baby was then generally quite happy to lie on a changing mat in the bathroom while I did toddlers bath, and sometimes she would get plonked in the bath too if I was feeling ambitious. While toddler was in the bath I would often give baby a bit more milk so that she was happy while I got my older boy dried/dressed. Sometimes I was then able to put her in her cot/moses basket while I did my son's stories etc., other times she would need to be with us - but I would try to feed her with as little fuss as possible so that my son didn't feel like she was taking his attention. Once he was settled into bed I would then finish off the baby's feed and put her to bed too. Then pour a BIG glass of wine. I think the key to coping with that time of day with more than one child is to stay as relaxed as possible, and don't expect it to go the same way twice! I'm now dealing with a newborn, 3.5 year old and 5 year old at bedtime and thought it would be hard - but actually it's a whole lot easier as the big kids are able to get dressed by themselves which is a huge help!

Someone sent me that as a suggestion for another product to add to my knitting business, made me laugh. Might make one for my baby :)

There is a nursery at Goodrich, and other local schools that offer nursery are Heber, Goose Green, Ivydale... I'm sure there are others. It works well for us getting the free school nursery place (5 mornings a week in our case), and seems a lot simpler than trying to use the subsidy privately. I guess a lot of private nurseries would rather have full time children as the demand is there - seems a shame!

We just got a cheap one from Mothercare, we found both children only used a potty for a couple of weeks before switching to using the toilet instead - much easier if you can do that early on.

Is Robert still around? The shop where he used to work from is now a barbers shop

Horniman Museum - it's our no fail way of entertaining the kids on cold days. We've been going there regularly for 4 years now and they still think it's brilliant.