Convex

We had 4 or 5 people on call. In the end I had my son around for the first bit and then was alone for a bit until a friend arrived to help but it was totally fine.

I would do fondant ready to roll, you still do a layer of buttercream though. I'd love to do a doll cake. Might do one for my own birthday!

I'd suggest you ask them for clarification?

I thought a deep frame would look nice?

i have a friend who's little girl was the same. completely toilet trained but would ask for a nappy for her poo as just wasn't happy to go on the toilet. the mum just offered a pull up, changed her back into pants afterwards and put no pressure on and in time she decided to start using the loo. so maybe offer him a nappy for poo, if he just lets you know when he needs it? also i've read that putting a nappy over the potty to poo into can help them transition. cant remember where i read that!

I don't know much about prem babies but we use hipp and it's fine. We switched to it as aptimal suddenly started coming back up. I still don't know if the milk was the issue or if it was something else. But we have continued with it for baby 2. You can also get donated breast milk while in hospital (if you want to - appreciate that's not what you were asking!) I have used both avent and nuk bottles. Both fine but nuk ones leak when they fall over unless an internal cap thing is on which is pretty irritating.

A friend loaned me 'potty training for boys' which I found very helpful. Basically started off doing sessions, eg doing a couple of hours nappy free and seeing how it went. Eventually he asked to wear pants like daddy and I jumped on it. It's been slow going but we just try and be really ok about any accidents 'oh never mind maybe we will get it into the potty next time' it's proabboy been 4-6 weeks and we have between 0-2 accidents a day. Interestingly he is the same whether in nappies or pants. Is even if he wears a nappy all day he rarely uses it. So you could just start with nappy instead of pants and encouraging sitting on the potty. But for us, being totally relaxed about it is working. Not always easy when he pees on the floor after sitting on the potty. But hey ho. Also I have tried to avoid the 'big boys wear pants, babies wear nappies' route. He will get it from other places eg nursery and grandparents, but I alwasy counteracted it when I could. Eg I often say something like 'everyone has to learn to use the toilet and it's okay if it takes longer and it's normal to have accidents' blah blah blah. Trying to not make him feel like he is a silly baby because he has accidents etc. But we are terribly soft.

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I know someone who stayed in a studio flat until she had her second, and even then they were in no rush to move!

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Hi, We had this. In the end my husband stuck his hand in and cleared it. You can also buy rods if you are squeamish or aren't sure what's down there (I mean sharp things) Do it quickly... Ours backed up and broke our dishwasher!!

i agree, you just manage. If you add up everything you spend on 'little luxuries' - bought lunches, coffees, takeaways, clothing and shoes (the ones you don't strictly need) new nail polish etc you might be surprised at how much you could divert to kid stuff. and yes buying things second hand save a fortune, especially things you aren't sure you will need or wont need for long or the big ticket items - pram, cot, etc. i have 2, and i get a bit despondent at how little i spend on myself sometimes but it wont be like this forever. having said that, i think that if you aren't under any pressure/burning desire to start trying straight away then there is no harm in spending a few years clearing debt, building up savings etc. Plus i loved that time just being married (we didn't have kids for several years) we dont have a lot of help either though i have to say friends have been brilliant in emergencies, so you can build your own network if family isnt able to help. also its worth discussing the parenting split before you have kids - ie do you expect to split things 50/50, are your expectations the same, etc. gives you a chance to discuss htings properly before its crunch time. eg we worked out that to continue in my line of work i wouldnt be able to do pick ups, and we planned accordingly. something someone said above resonated with me though - there is never a right time to have kids. hopefully that means there is never a wrong time either!

It's worth getting on any nursery lists that you like as well. You might not get a place straightaway but you might get offered a place in say a years time. Then you have the option of sticking with your existing childcare or not. Also, if your childcare disappears or you are unhappy then you always have options up your sleeve. I liked the childminders I visited, so don't panic, there are lots of lovely childminders out there! You could also look into a nanny share though this is more expensive than a nursery usually. Good luck!

I'd get onto the family room section! I did Nct and also the baby club on here (winter babies.... Etc) and I met some lovely people. Good luck !

I use nigella's recipe. Pretty easy!

If you are going to book her, I'd do it now rather than wait. good luck, and lots of sympathy!

I'm trying to avoid Thomas! we are suddenly and heavily into peppa pig now though - sigh. i went to the charity shop and they had a couple of the toys mentioned above so i bought them. can use the money saved to buy the letters and puzzles which appeal more to me to be honest! we already use so much technology it would be nice to be more basic...

Hi, I'm not familiar with the dash but phil and teds are really good about advising on their older prams (they call them legacy models)just email them via their website or FB page. Good luck!

My son is starting to show proper interest in his letters. We want to support this. Are there any toys that we could put on his xmas list? Eg a leap pad type thing? Anything you would recommend....

uncleglen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 3 hours ?10 you should double her/his wages I think she means ?10 per hour.

I'd say she felt intimidated (assuming you are a woman op?) You just don't know whether it will get worse. On the train the other day a woman asked a man next to her to not press up against her. It turned out she recognised him ie he had behaved this way before. He was verbally attacking her after that, really low level stuff but constant and she was visibly shaken up by it. Several people tried to intervene but he was horrible. Sometimes you have to make he best choice you can at the time balancing up your discomfort vs your safety. next time move up close to the driver, maybe?

Lucy sparkles?

Yes, you definitely can. It's actually something like 8 days to include amy weekend days in the middle of the absence. But if the absence is starting tomorrow then that would be day 1.

i would have vaccinated earlier if i had known that! as it is we did it approx 2yo. will look into getting my younger sone vaccinated earlier. thanks very much for posting.

chicken pox is only for 2 years and over (unless the rules have changed)