sbain

We had the smae issue with our maclaren - the thing is I just can't adjust crotch strap (it looks as if it should be adjustable - so I might just be being incompetent). But if anyone knows the knack and could pass it on that would be great.

Hi - my nearly two year old loves franklins fish cakes served with frozen peas and has done since he was about 12 months old (which I give him almost entirely guilt free - surely that is a healthy meal). It's my go-to meal when I have forgotten to plan anything - 20 mins in the oven and done. He also loves baked beans with some cheddar cheese grated on top - I buy the reduced sugar and salt version to assuage the guilt (still not super healthy but not that bad). I also keep homemade fish fingers and chicken fingers in the freezer - slices of fish\chicken dipped in egg then flour then breadcrumbs. So although literally chicken nuggets I know exactly what has gone into them - served with veggies - he loves them. The final super easy meal that he really likes is tuna and bean salad - 1 tin of chickpeas, 1 tin of giant white beans, 1 tin of red kidney beans, 2 tins of tuna (in spring water rather than brine to keep down the salt content) lots of chopped parsley, olive oil and lemon juice served in a pita bread. All i have to do is open the tins and mix. I serve this a lot even when people are over - it looks like you have made an effort when really it takes 5 mins to make. Sbain

Hi, Are we still on for this Friday at Goose Green playground say 10AM? I would say by the swings but the chances of baby 1 being happy to sit and be swung for any length of time are unfortunately minimal! Hopefully I will make it to the plough on the 31st. S

Friday 23rd of March sounds great - it was lovely to meet you all! S.

9:30\10:00 on Friday 24th sounds great - see you there. I can't make the 10th of March (as we are off on our hols that day - trying to get in a holiday before I get too pregnant) but hopefully you will all have a fab time (I will be desperately trying to entertain a toddler on a 4-hour flight.) S.

Hi, I'm so sorry that I didn't make it on Sat - I wish I even had a proper excuse but I don't I just fell asleep after putting my toddler to bed and didn't wake up. Will keep looking on here though. Toddler and I would love to meet at Goose Green playground on Friday 24th - given that neither of the times mentioned are when he is asleep the chances of me having an impromtu nap are minimal! S.

We have one and used it when my son was very small as taking apart the buggy at the plane was a bit of a faff and he much preferred his sling anyway. It was much easier to check in the big buggy, pop him in his sling and not worry about it getting on the plane. However I believe that they are near to ?100 new (we got our bugaboo second hand so it came with the travel bag so to speak) and totally not worth it unless you will be taking an awful lot of flights in the first 6 months. Once he got beyond the pram bit we used a mclaren instead.

Hi All, I am due in early July with my second (I have a 21 month old boy). I would love to meet up on Sat for a coffee probably without the toddler in tow as he will hopefully be still asleep at that point. It will be lovely to meet some women locally who will be off on maternity at the same time. Currently I work a 4-day week so am available for Friday meet-ups as well as weekends - can't do the 17th though. S p.s. So sorry to hear about your diabetes Kirsty.

Turnip and swede is good to plant at this time of year - we've just taken up our early crop of spuds and planted some turnip and swede in their place. So we have a (small) glut of very yummy potatoes (already provided us with 3 dinners for myself, my husband and my son) if anyone would like to swap pm me.

I bought my niece\god-daughter a limited edition print of one the illustarions by Quentin Blake from "The BFG" BY Roald Dahl - I also included a copy of the book with a little message in it. Her parents loved it and hopefully she will have it for a long time to come. For a friends son I bought a Beatrix Potter print and the Beatrix Potter anthology - again much appreciated by parents although I guess the little boy will grow out of Beatrix Potter before too long.

Hi, I'm only a few months ahead of you - my son is now 10 months old and I returned to work when he was 9 months old. I work long hours generally leave the house at 7:30AM and struggle to get back for 7PM however I now do a 4-day week so have 3 full days of being a Mummy every week. 1. I do enjoy work, I quite like feeling involved with the world again (I need to follow markets and news as part of my job). I also feel like I am a more interesting person now - I was begining to only ever talk about my son and how he was doing - I now seem to have regained an interest in things other than motherhood\babies. I do not get to do things like shopping\gym at lunch hour - I don't really take lunch because I leave the office at 6PM which is a lot earlier than I used to. However I really miss my son and on the occasions that he sleeps past 6:30AM (pretty rare tbh) feel like waking him so that I get to see and play with him before I leave for work. Finally the guilt - the feel guilty about leaving my son, guilty about not working as hard as I used to, guilty about leaving the office "early" every day etc. etc. 2./3. As I mentioned I do a 4 day week - although obviosuly I only get 80% of my previous salary. As others have said I couldn't work at home while looking after my son (it's a full time job) however I do plan to see if I can work a day a fortnight from home - the nanny will still be there to look after my son but it will cut out my commute time and I could have breakfast, lunch and supper with him. 4. Retraining isn't really something I looked into - for me (just a personal choice) going back to something I knew where I was in my comfort zone was helpful. For a new role\career I would want to able to focus on that - at the moment my focus is really on ensuring that my son is happy with his nanny and is getting used to the idea of me not being there 4 days a week. 5. I really wouldn't say get over it and go back to work - I think the thing that I have kept in mind is that there is always a choice. I would say go back and give yourself a couple of months before making any big decisions. sbain

Hi, I have a 10 month old and we (well mostly him and his nanny now) go to Bea Baby Bop at Soup Dragon which he really enjoys - lots of younger babies go there too. It is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 3:30 to 4:30 and costs ?5 a session. He also goes swimming (waterbabies (www.waterbabies.co.uk) which he loves and he was only 3 months old when he started) and he has just started Tumble tots (but your son may be a little young for this yet). There is also Rhyme time at the library on Wednesday at 11 - but it gets really crowded so isn't brilliant. I would like him to go to a playgroup - not directed play just free play but can't seem to find one that suits. So if anyone had any recommendations I would really appreciate it. sbain

I am not sure how relevant this is to the specific question here, but I thought I put my two cents worth in anyway. I thought it was interesting to read about a scheme that was run in inner city Chicago in the 80's (I think althoug I could be wrong). It allowed the parents of kids who would otherwise be going to failing inner city schools to apply on a lottery basis to be bussed to more successful schools in suburbs. The progress of every child who applied was monitored (regardless as to whether they were accepted or not) as was the progress of a number of children who would have been eligible to apply but did not. The interesting thing was that acceptance onto the program was not the differentiating factor, applying for the program was. So when parents care enough about their childrens education to apply for the program and I suppose put up with their children going to school in a distant suburb rather than locally, then their children tend to perform better. The problem with failing schools is only very partialy driven by governement policy, at least in my view, it is mostly driven by parents who are just not that interested in education - and that is what needs to be addressed.

Hi, I am expecting my first child in April so haven't actually got any experience of nanny agencies as of yet. However a friend of mine recently started this agency http://allweatherchildcare.co.uk, she is great with babies and has given me some great advice during my pregnancy. The agency was also recently recommended by the Good Nanny Guide (which apparently is a big thing in the nanny agency world so could also be worth checking it out). As I say haven't used her myself but she's worked in the industry for years. Cheers, S.

Hi Sandy_Rose, The parentcraft classes are free classes for parents to be on at Dulwich hospital - my midwife suggested them to me and gave me a form to fill in - for questions about the classes it says to phone Sandra on 020 3299 9000. I haven't attended mine yet so not sure whether they are good or not - but I think any opportunity to meet local women who are due around the same time as me is a good idea. Hi Edanna - yeah I was really shaken when I fell to be honest - no harm done but it is really disconcerting - I'm 26 weeks now and seem to have developed extreme pregnancy clumsiness (tbh I'm pretty clumsy at the best of times so being you can imagine how bad I am with a bump). Hopefully the weather will return to some semblance of normality soon.

Hi, I just called JAGs and apparently you can just show up for the classes - it's ?8.50 per class. This is probably just me but do any other mums-to-be find is slightly annoying how many ante-natal classes assume that the mum-to-be dosn't work. My NCT classes and parentcraft classes are on during the day on weekdays - which makes them difficult for me to attend. The NCT even have a Saturday class "so that partners can attend" - why do they assume that I can make a mid-week class but my husband can't? I'm hoping to keep working for as long as possible before baby arrives (due in April) and to store up holidays to add to my maternity leave. However I'm finding that between mid-wife appointments and ante-natal classes I'm going to be taking a lot of time off - everyone at work is really nice about it. But I do wonder if anyone knows of classes geared more for mothers-to-be who work full-time and don't want to take too much time off. (Sorry for the long ranty post!) sbain

Hi, My first baby is due in April 2010 and I was terrified of getting the Swine Flu Vacine and also terrified of getting Swine Flu. I went so far as to make the appointment and cancel it. Eventually I spoke to a doctor friend of mine who happened to also be pregnant - she got it in very early pregnancy after talking to an expert in the field and really put my mind at rest. The expert she spoke to (a consultant of a type I don't recall but specialising in vacinations) siad that she really couldn't understand all the brou-ha-ha in the press. The vacine is the same as every other flu vacine with a new inactivated piece of flu DNA in it. They have been giving flu vacines to pregnant women in the US for years with no issues. Apparently the amount of mercury in the vacine is less than the amount in a can of tuna. I haven't checked this info - but really trust my doctor friend so I went ahead and got the vacine. So far as I can tell there has been no effect on bump and I luckily didn't have the dead arm problem - a bit sore for a day or so but that was all.