Hesmall1

We need a carpenter to replace / repair a shed roof and then treat and paint the shed. We live in ED, SE22. Please PM me if you are interested in this work.

On the corner of Barry Road and Lordship Lane near the library. Little man with brown hair, blue trousers and green vest with matching green boots. Being looked after by my 5 year old until claimed. Please PM me if yours and we are happy to reunite you.

Looking for a new Monday morning activity in ED. What time do most turn up? See it runs from 09:30. Are there certain times for certain ages? Thanks for any advice, Heidi

Darn it, will be in the U.S. next week, so will miss the get together. Like Lenster, pretty sure the Mag is no more. East Dulwich Tavern?

Longshot, but thought I'd ask. My daughter came home with just one shoe on this morning after stay and play at the Ivydale. It was lost somewhere between Ivydale and Friern Road, probably in / around Peckham Park. Pink Clarks size 4 with hearts. Please PM if found. Thanks!

Beatrice (16 months) and I will join after her nap. Look forward to meeting some other American MOMS!

We picked a used Mountain Buggy Terrain (there are numerous Mountain Buggy models, this is the only true running model) off the EDF late last year and love it. My husband is a distance runner and found it lightweight and sturdy and it collapses pretty easy when not being used. I've used it myself in Peckham Rye park and hubby gets strange looks from the other Mums whilst running in Dulwich Park, but doesn't care. Great exercise and our 16-month old loves riding in it. Good rain cover for the baby as well if you get caught out.

And another one here. April marked my 11th year in London and have been in fabulous ED for about 20 months now. I too am a working Mom with Fridays off (like Rebecca) and have an independent 16-month old daughter who loves playing in Dulwich or Peckham parks. Look forward to hearing more about an American Mommy meet-up!

Last week we were on holiday in Edinburgh. My husband, our 15-month old daughter and I are standing in the rain waiting for the bus into the city centre. Bus finally arrives, doors open and clear as day is a big sign that says "Exact Change Only." We are holding a ten pound note and have no coins. I say to the driver we have no change and that I suppose I'm going to have to walk to a shop or restaurant to find it. He stops the bus, asks the passengers if anyone has change for a tenner and fortunately, a couple on board does. "Get on board, its raining and you have a baby," they all say. Bless the driver and all the passengers digging in their purses and pockets to break a 10 pound note. Didn't expect that!

Just reconfirmed our booking with The Mag for tomorrow night. We've got some tables reserved from 19:30. The Mag is located at 211 Lordship Lane for those that don't know it. Look forward to catching up with everyone and meeting some new Mums.

Oh gosh, am I glad to see this thread. We are on day 3 of trying to wean our Small one off the bottle and onto a beaker without much success. She'll gladly drink water out of a beaker, but NOT her milk. This morning she took one look at the beaker, pinched the spout, threw it across the kitchen floor and then started crying. After several days of very little milk intake, I've given in. I put a normal teat on the bottle and she proceeded to drink the whole thing. So the advice seems to be "by one year toddlers should be using a beaker instead of a bottle," but I'm not so sure we'll be meeting this milestone any time soon. Any advice? Should I just relax about the whole thing?

Greetings All, I've booked us a few tables in the bar area of The Mag on Thursday, March 8th from 19:30PM under the name "Heidi". I'll give them a call closer to the date to reconfirm. See you then (well, if not in and around ED before)!

Gotta love busy, but decisive Mums. Will contact the Mag and revert to the thread.

Hi everyone. So I've seen only NOT Wednesday so far. How does a Tuesday or Thursday sound to everyone, say from 7:30 in a local establishment that serves some food for those that want nibbles or dinner as well as wine and other beverages? Does week commencing 05 March work for most of you? Gives notice for those who might need to pencil the night out and make sure other half is on baby/babies duty!

Hi Snowboarder! My LO is also 10 months. I've been working hard to shift the baby weight via a good diet and exercise when I can. I don't have 3 at home, but can relate to the tiredness at the end of the day. I've been going to the Fusion gym on CPR and use their fantastic creche to watch my LO. This gives me an hour twice a week of exercise and focus on me. Regarding diet, I haven't picked up a book or joined WW, but am simply keeping a food journal and watching my portions. I find writing EVERYTHING down makes me less likely to snack on unhealthy things. No magic pill for weight loss, I've had to cut the calories going in and increase my activity level (walking everywhere with the pram does count as exercise). A big difference for me has been stopping ALL of the cakes and coffees with Mums. I go along, but I bring a piece of fruit to eat and order a mint tea (or just drink my water). It is hard and I've asked my Mum friends to support me in this so they don't push it nor do they bring the treats to my house when we have playdates. Mr Small also helps me at home by not loading up my dinner plate and he helps me watch my portion control. No more seconds and I'm stopping once I feel full and pushing the plate away. Good luck to you and maybe see you out there walking!

Hi Yak and Hello Martin, Mr. Small is soon to be a SAHD from March, so will definitely be interested in joining. I've tagged the thread to follow, so will keep him in the loop (or better yet, he'll get on the Forum). Martin, there is always one "Organiser" in each of the Mum groups, the one who sends the emails and organises the events and get togethers or else they never happen, so looks like you just might be the ED SAHD "Organiser"! Best of luck! Yak, best we get the next drinks organised ;>

Agree with Reren, with mobile babes, the back room with the playmats, toys and room to move meant our LOs weren't wreaking havoc in the main cafe and potentially disturbing other patrons. My NCT friends and I have been going to The Gardens weekly for the past 6/7 months for lunches or afternoon coffees and cakes, so imagine our surprise when we turned up last Friday afternoon with a reservation for the backroom to find the deli relocated and the play area gone. We weren't advised of the change and faced two grumpy waitresses not very happy to make space for us on the couches in the main cafe. We'd been accepting the sometimes cold/grumpy service and average food because of the great space they had, but we'll now look to check out some new places in and around ED. Thanks for the recommendations! I'll be watching with interest what the local Councillor responds with.

Hi All, Weighing in on the discussion quite late, but Baby Small is now 10 months old and I decided to try to drop the morning nap per the advice of "the books" and other Mums, but mine still NEEDS that morning sleep. Used to be a full hour, but now just 30 minutes. Any more and it impacts her mid day sleep (about 90 mins). I can't get her to tea time however without a 20 to 30 minute nap around 16:00 and have decided all the increased activiity (crawling, cruising, trying to stand) is tiring her out. Again, got all worried she shouldn't be sleeping so much and tried to change her routine per the "sleep guidelines," but was to her detriment as I ended up with a cranky, overtired poor eater come tea time. I follow her cues (eye rubbing, yawning, ear pulling) in the morning and afternoon.

Thanks all. Glad it isn't just me surprised by the change. As an FYI, I had lunch at The Actress today and saw a huge group of Mums & newborns breastfeeding away with loads of prams. Staff seemed to be managing the crowd just fine. I got a table and highchair for my LO and two friends and there was another independent table with three adults, two highchairs and two prams all being happily served very fine pizza. Had used The Gardens for my own NCT group meets, had attended infant Health & Safety training there, and had always seen loads of prams, Mums and Dads there both weekdays and weekends, so just surprised by their latest business move. Please do share any other local family friendly hotspots. Will check out Bread of Life cafe (haven't heard of it) and agree with Womanofdulwich, the cafe in Peckham Park is great, especially when the weather is good.

Came back from holiday to find that the Gardens Cafe is no longer child friendly!?!? This used to be a great place for Mums and Dads to meet, have lunch, cake and coffee with a great space for our little ones to toddle around (the back room). Searched around the Forum to see if there were any threads about this, but only found one about a children's music class being ousted. Any idea what happened there?

I highly recommend Giulio Scala. I've been training with him twice a week for several months now and started about 5 1/2 months after my baby was born, wanting to shift baby weight and get back into shape after more than a year off of exercise. It was important to me to find a trainer that was knowledgable about post natal exercise and Giulio has been great, helping me to set realistic targets and teaching me modified abdominial work to target my stomach muscles and back. Three months later, I've lost more than half a stone, have gained muscle definition and strength and feel more motivated to keep exercising than ever before. I especially like the fact that Giulio puts up with my exercise protestations during the session ;-). He "listens," but stays tough pushing me to get through that third rep! Giulio has also given me good nutritional advice. We review my food journal, portion control and weight on a weekly basis and I love watching my weight decrease most weeks!