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Hi there, A few of us are thinking about getting together on a Thursday afternoon next week. Time and place to be confirmed, but tentatively 1:30pm at Green & Blue? Anyone else interested in joining us?

Good luck at your appt. I'm planning on being at The Plough today at 1:30 and I think so are a few others. Hope to see you there too!

I'm free during the week too! Shall we try to organize something?

If it's only a temporary trial, just avoid the usual suspects: wheat, barley, rye, oats, & spelt, that's usually found in breads, pastries, biscuits, and pastas. Instead of having gluten-based starches, substitute with rice, quinoa, corn, beans, potatoes, etc. If you find you miss oatmeal or muesli for breakfast, you can buy gluten-free oats. Oats are inherently gluten-free anyway, it's just that they get harvested/processed/packaged along with wheat products and sometimes get contaminated. Here's a short list of our go-to breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas: 1. Oatmeal with gluten-free oats 2. Natural yogurt with fruit 3. Quinoa salad 4. Chickpea salad 5. Rice/corn pasta with bolognese sauce 6. Gluten free sausages with mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes or mixed root vegetables) 7. Stir fry with rice (or rice noodles or bean thread noodles) Like the other poster said, gluten-free products can get pretty expensive, so only spring for them when you have a craving. If you're going to go gluten-free for the long haul and have a lot if time and patience, maybe try your hand at gluten-free baking. Good luck!

If you're looking for a quiet evening dinner, I thought Angel & Gypsies was pretty mellow. Maybe because we're old and eat very early nowadays! Because we went there last Saturday at 7pm and didn't even need a reservation. If you're looking for a satisfying meal though, the food at Crooked Well was much more impressive. I recall not being able to hear though, but I think that was cuz there was a Jazz band playing on a Sunday night. We like Number 67 for breakfast, will definitely have to try their dinners too.

I've used SquareSpace before and they have amazing customizable templates you can tweak to your hearts content. They offer a 14 day free trial.

Does anyone know of a couples' pregnancy yoga class that's held locally? I see several places offering pregnancy yoga classes which I can attend alone. But since my husband and I both practise yoga anyway, I thought it would be fun to attend a couples pregnancy yoga classes together. Any suggestions? Otherwise, we'll just sign up for one in Islington. Many thanks in advance!

I think there are some fake Ergos out there, here's the eBay guide on how to spot a counterfeit one: http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Spot-a-Counterfeit-Ergo-Baby-Carrier?ugid=10000000065082150

Ooh! Thanks for that. I'm an eBay-virgin...do I have to worry that it's a knock-off? Or is worrying just a mother-to-be side effect?

Thank you for all the replies. Now if I can just find an Ergo for sale around here. :) Might just have to spring for a new one.

Hi all, Seeing that the parents on this forum are quite knowledgable and helpful, I thought I would pose my question here. I'm in the market for an Ergo carrier. My friends in Hawaii swear by them, mostly because the company was started there. My question is, which model: the Original (100% cotton), Sport (35% cotton 65% polyester), or Performance (98% polyester), did you find was most suitable for the UK climate? I was told the cotton one made it too warm for both baby and parent...but this might be good for the winter weather here. So which model did you end up purchasing? And did you pick up the infant insert as well as the weather cover too? Many thanks in advance for your thoughts! PS And if you happen to have one for sale, please PM me as well.

I'm 34 and still in denial that I'm having a son. Go easy on the little guy! :) julia2009 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My son will be 3 in > May and is still in denial that he is having a > little brother!

Biddls, I was getting the lower back pains too. The squatting exercises that were recommended didn't really do anything for me. Unless I was doing them incorrectly? However, I did find that if I walked around in a low-heeled shoe, my back was happy. Also try avoid walking downhills.

Looking forward to meeting everyone in March! We find out the gender of our baby this week, and can hopefully start thinking about names. Is anyone else stalling with baby naming? Overall, I feel pretty good. Hope you all are too! No major aches or strange cravings last week. On the downside, I think I've discovered a new varicose vein on my calf. I can't really bend over to see it, so had my husband check and the eternal optimist in him said it's just a bruise.

Hope everyone is doing well this week! I'll stop by the playground after yoga class on the 24th and see if you guys are still around. Won't be toting a toddler though, hope that's okay. It'll be fun to meet at a pub in March. This week's cravings: nachos! And for some reason, I'm smelling a phantom smell of a chocolate cake baking in my house.

Hi ladies, It was great meeting you all this afternoon! And thanks for letting my husband join in at the end. Hope to see you again soon!

How to recognize me on Saturday...I'm Chinese, 5'8", have a sizable bump at 19 weeks and a slight waddle. If I'm trying to gain sympathy from other Cafe Nero customers so they give up their seat for me, I might let out a sigh or moan, support my poor back with both hands and look terribly uncomfortable. :) Kristymac, agave is marketed as a low glycemic product. But there's a bit of controversy over what it actually is and isn't. So best to ask the experts at the diabetes clinic. Keep us posted though.

I'm down for this Saturday. I hope to see you there, Julie. Kristymac1, do you know if you're allowed to have agave nectar as a sugar substitute? If so, there's a baking cookbook that has all sorts of chocolate recipes using agave, by Erin McKenna. You can probably google her name and the name of her bakery, Babycakes. Craving of the week: frosted flakes with whole milk

I don't think I had any biscuit cravings until I joined this thread! :) I figured this is the first time I'll get to eat almost anything I want without feeling guilty about my waistline. Would love to meet up for coffee if anyone else is up for it.

Congrats Julie on your first scan! It's definitely confirmation that you're really pregnant. We weren't really sure until we saw the head and arms move on the screen! Yay on having a boy, GemHeidi. We haven't checked the gender of ours yet. I think maybe in a month though.

Hello, I'm a first timer too and due on July 4th. It wasn't a planned pregnancy, but my husband and I weren't avoiding getting pregnant either. So we've gotten over the shock and the terrifying feeling of "oh dear what have we done?", and now we're starting to get excited. I'm reading as many books as I can to figure what to do. Looking forward to hearing more from others!

Hi, I'm not a mom, but would love to find someone to hang out with and go to galleries with. I'm not uncool and can be creative if needed. Do I qualify? I just moved here from California.