muppet

I was induced by pessary with no 2. About 5 hours before contractions started then 1 and a half hours to birth. MUCH less stressful than natural birth with no 1 that took 24 hours and involved a great deal more pain. So it doesn't have to be a disaster! Good luck!

Our bin collections (Hillcourt Road) have been really good, to the point that if we forget to put the right bin on the street they will come into the front garden and collect it and then return it. No mess and always collected (although they did get out of sync at Christmas). I've been really impressed by them.

What annoys me about DMC is that even if you go in at 8am their emergency appts seem to have gone. Also, as someone who VERY rarely uses the doctor I find the hassle and inconvenience of actually seeing one far too great. Last summer I walked out at 9.20am as i had still not been seen for an 8.40am appt time. How can they run that late in only 40 minutes??? having said that, when my husband was really sick with pneumonia and pleurisy a couple of years ago they were brilliant and called more than once before and after he was in hospital to see how he was doing and check that he didn't need any more treatment.

You definitely will sleep, wear a nice pair of jeans etc again - it just takes a while! I had a 21 month gap and husband working all week in Manchester from time no 2 was born (we were in London). V hard but you just have to manage. Less washing, cleaning etc and strip to Sainsburys was the highlight of the day. Now they are 14 and 16 and its a whole new set of pressures....! cherish the baby/toddler stage when they don't want to tell you that you are the worst mother in the world, the most embarrassing mother in the world, the meanest mother in the world etc etc etc!

Get them something to share in the nursery for lunchtime - nice squashy cream cakes or something. It does the job of showing you appreciate what they do without going over the top.

Take Diflucan or a generic oral thrush treatment. You don't need to go back to the doctor, you can buy it over the counter.The pill clears any infection you might have in the anal passage which you could be passing back to yourself when you go to the loo. I speak as someone who has REPEATED thrush infections that are very resistant to treatment. Oh, and use canes tan thrush cream on yourself. It's stronger and more effective at reducing itching. I sincerely wish that this is the last time you experience this truly horrible infection.

Be glad you've got a blue wheelie bin. we got just one extra blue box AND they've taken the blue bag. Nothing like enough space for our recycling over two weeks. Repeated calls to the council have failed to produce a blue bin. And yes we do live in a house - the rest of the street (almost) have their ins, but not us, and a few other houses. Surely they calculated how many they would need....

Sometimes there are late developers, particularly boys who are young in their year, but kids that are bright and academically able at the beginning do tend to stay at or near the top.

I would not give an 8 year old Phillip Pullman even if they are a fantastic reader - totally spoils it for later when they can appreciate the very adult themes of the book. There are so many brilliant books for this age. Diana Wynn Jones is amazing. Julia Golding 'Diamond of Drury Lane', the Ingo books, anything by Cornelia Funke, Roman mystery series etc. I speak as someone who had a very precocious reader and as a teacher. Don't make them run before they can walk - even amazing readers need to read inside their age band. Older books normally have themes unsuitable, or difficult for younger children to relate to. I found the 8-10 age quite difficult in terms of this, but there are loads of books out there if you look hard enough.