kapaxiana

Thank you for the lovely afternoon ladies, nice meeting you all and we should definitely put some dates down for a summer picnic :-)

2pm sounds great, I've never been to the RC but I am sure it is easy to find?

oh dear me I am gob smacked by this thread...obviously I wouldn't be pleased if someone parked a van outside my door but I would be mainly be worried about my family's security and not about who is who is not paying tax... especially living in a country where some work bloody hard and some decide to live on benefits ( not talking about the ones that really need help okay.Also like mentioned before no one knows what s really going on so why waste so much time talking about it, life is short let's be happy :-)

I guess I wont be able to decide until the last minute. The wedding is out of town so I thought we would get a room in a hotel close to the venue (wedding is at 2pm), watch the ceremony, then skip the meal go back to the hotel to spend some time with baby then back for drinks later on. My niece who is 20 will be staying at ours so I thought would ask her to come with us and stay at the hotel/ go for a walk with baby while we are out.

How soon did you feel like going anywhere after baby #1 was born ? My little one is due July 1st and a friend is getting married on July 23rd...Let's pretend baby does arrive on time or earlier, do you thing that in 20 something days I might feel like going to a wedding or will I just be so exhausted that it's a no no... sorry if my question is a silly, no idea what to expect as a first timer :-)

What time are we meeting on saturday? looking forward to meeting you all lovely ladies and bumps :-)

ryedalema Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Can anyone else not wait for the clocks to go > forwards? My two aren't sleeping past 5.45 now - > even with the black out blinds! > > Apart from that - bring on Summer! Yeyyyyyyyyyy! ditto!!!! bring on the summer!!

womanofdulwich Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > best one is a babysitter who will do your ironing > at the same time.......... I am sorry but I will have to disagree, no offence meant but to ME I would find that abusive unless you do pay the babysitter ?10/hr. Most mums I have met don't agree on paying more than ?7 to their babysitters because it is sitting and watching tv which it's fair enough however that changes once you ask them to do anything else. I consider babysitting when you only need short hours occasionally and the babysitter is an aupair or teenager for example.

I would like to add if I may that it goes with the area as well. I am a teacher and do occasional babysitting , I get paid ?10/hr for evening or daytime which is pretty much the going rate around Clapham where I work. I agree that it depends who you are using as a babysitter, if someone qualified like a professional nanny/teacher the going rate is pretty much ?10/hr. You can find babysitters for less but these will be aupairs ( some with only basic English), teenagers in the neighborhood etc.. there are pretty competent aupairs/youngsters out there but it is a risk you have to decide whether you are prepared to pay. Just a little story, when I moved to Uk I was an aupair and had a vast list of families for whom I babysat for. Back then I use to get ?5/hr. I had so many families asking me to babysit that sometimes I had to recommend friends and other aupairs I knew. I once recommended a friend who was older than me, gone to uni and I believed to be very responsible. To cut story short, it was day time babysitting an the mum was supposed to be back by 2pm, she was late and instead of calling the mum, my friend left the 1 y.o boy sleeping in his cot and left because once I had told her that most of the times I didn't even see mum but dad instead and my friend understood (her English wasn't that great) that if i didn't see the mum that meant i left before she arrived. Luckily as my friend walked out the mum was just arriving but imagine if something had happened and for whatever reason the mum didn't get home so soon... just a little food for thought because sometimes you get what you pay for. Now I do agree that cleaners work hard and ?10/hr is fair enough especially as they normally do 2 to 3 hours per job as many have mentioned. Cleaners normally do it for a living whilst babysitters do it for some extra pocket money. Childminders charge less because they normally look after many children at a time and most have their own child/children with them as well. They generally work from home and have no travel expenses etc. They play their day as they please being able to do some of their house chores as well i.e when children as having a nap. So all together very different jobs and in no means can be compared.

I am glad you are pleased with your news! Congrats whether blue or pink! Personally I would never be able to wait, expecting my first and had an elective scan as soon as I could to find out. It helped me bond with the baby and made it feel a lot more real :-)

Audrey thank you for organizing a place to meet up, I can't wait but I have to say that after being a nanny for 5 years and now being a teacher I still don't feel like I belong if you know what I mean! It will take a while to feel like I have jumped to the other side of the fence!! :-) btw do I have to be a member to attend classes at Jags? Gxx Nevermind I just rang them and one can just turn up and pay ?8.50 per class, will try it on tuesday!.

Hi All, I am expecting my first on July 1st and would also love to meet up with mums to be in ED, is there space for one more on the 2nd April? Gabi xx