Convex

lucky you! you will have a great time. find some travel blogs of people who have done similar, would be my tip. we went to thailand and cambodia for a couple of weeks and found 1 blog which gave some priceless advice.

ah saffron must be dispiriting. its the reverse in our house, i.e. I'm the one who probably does less, but we have talked about it a lot and decided that we are broadly happy with the split, for a number of reasons. also i can't really cook so it makes sense for him to cook, when i cook its not very reliably edible, sadly. I'm excellent at laundry though!

sorry i didn't mean to add to your stress, just that you should get on with booking!

saffron that reminds me someone (fuchsia maybe?) told me once you only need to get your kid eating 5-10 meals which is the 5-10 meals you eat which made me laugh at the time but is pretty true and the cereal for dinner is funny, we do that when dinner is rejected, he often will go on to eat both the cereal and the (now cold) original dinner later also yes to the making double and having it a little later. we have a bread maker which we use to do pizza dough - sounds more work than it is - always goes down well

also pikelets / scotch pancakes are good as an emergency dinner, with savoury toppings (i don't really cook either so i have to keep it simple)

in the evenings we keep it pretty simple, pre-made chicken nuggets, scampi, meatballs etc with pasta and peas or sweetcorn have had success with grated carrot etc, most veges out of the freezer especially if slathered in butter both kids like rice, you can do a risotto in a slow cooker or you can do a baked risotto - baby led weaning cookbook has a recipe for a base on the batch cooking, can you do it as an activity? my elder son helps with the cooking so its time he and his dad spend together - having said that we don't tend to batch cook for the kids, its more for us. what else... soups are good. because they eat so much at nursery we aren't too worried, just get them sat down with apple or carrot or something while we cook something in the oven. its really quick to do sausages, nuggets, fish fingers etc with pasta and peas on the side and you can search out the healthier versions if you are worried about salt etc. even bits of steak or chops? sometimes they don't eat it or are more hungry and finish off with yoghurt or toast or whatever! so basically... freezer is our friend :-)

i have been doing hot cloth cleansing as part of an overall drive to reduce the products i use. so i basically wash with a flannel, it took a few days for my skin to rebalance but its fine now although i get hormonal spots around my cycle whereas i never did before. thinking is that your natural oils rebalance when you aren't stripping away with cleansers, appreciate it doesn't work for everyone though and i haven't had persistent spots like you describe. just thinking it might be worth spending a coupe of weeks using almost nothing before you try any new products just in case that works for you? i use plain jojoba oil but i think any oil works really, and yes i liked bio oil too, thats what got me started on reducing products!

you def need to get onto it, i have left it too late for a late november party and everywhere is booked! so we are DIYing it at home...

watching with interest...

hello, we didnt have extreme jealousy here but i found the book 'sibling rivalry' helpful. 2y3mo age gap. also partly bumping so hopefully someone with more experience will be along shortly x

hi goldilocks, that is our plan. we have a wooden balance bike but our son isn't that interested, as it converts from a trike and re really loves the trike. he is however very keen on having a proper bike and understands he has to get the hang of balancing first. we are planning to get him a bike for christmas and take the pedals off until he masters it as a balance bike. if you read the reviews on the islabike website it sounds like a few people have done that so I'm assuming it works!

yes, i have the one with the handbrake so you are right supernanny! but if you can only find the one with the autostop, just check its the new style - they have changed the design of it now.

i had to move mine as our nursery was closed. bearing in mind he was very upset to not be going back, a year or so on he is very happy at his new nursery. not really answering your question, but just to say that moving isnt a disaster! both mine took a while to settle but i always had the impression they were comforted. i often walk in to pick up or drop off and a nursery worker is cuddling an upset child, i almost never see one left to cry and when it is its for short periods (eg putting them down to prepare food etc)

the sessions at dulwich library are really nice. just stories and i didn't meet people there but it was a nice friendly smile-at-eachother atmosphere also i practically lived at anetos cafe, they are super friendly and its a good way to pass an hour if you haven't got anywhere else to go. (only works if you like cafes though!)

and this lady is giving one away - worth a look! http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?25,1589613

sorry i see you did say you were looking for second hand! misread that bit! if its a navigator v2 with autostop (the brake on the handle) just check it comes on and off easily. you should be able to push it along effortlessly. with mine, it was a pain to hold the brake on as you walked along which i now realise was a sign of the fault. hope that helps.

i would recommend a navigator. we had the dot but the newborn bit is smaller - in all the other models it drops down a bit giving more room for the feet. (the dot v2 might be different though?)i would steer clear of the dot to be honest!!! the older models are fine too but i find the narrower width is really good - even if its only 2cm narrower or whatever. if you buy second hand, put both kids in (or equivalent weight) and walk around the block with it, checking it pushes smoothly, don't rely on people being 100% truthful about condition. if you can afford it, buy new - generally p&ts are built like tanks but if you buy second hand they aren't covered by warranty and spare parts can add up. i got caught out by this on my current p&t - luckily they replaced the part free of charge as it was a recurring issue on that model (the auto stop brake, if anyone is interested - they have now changed the design) also the navigator has a lot of extra functionality e.g. the rear facing seat, auto stop brake, follow-the-sun hood etc. with all phil and teds models, most people reach a point where your baby is 3-6 months old where they are too big for the newborn bit but too small for the main seat. if you can cope with this until the baby is big enough for the main seat then i do recommend p&ts - i really struggled with it as my older son still napped in the pram at this stage and actually bought a different buggy. apart from this one thing i think they are great buggys!

thats so funny, i didnt spot that!

id recommend you ring acas and get advice. look at number of absences over number of days, and is there a pattern, eg always on a monday etc. if she is a good nanny, then it might be an recurring problem which is close to being sorted. also, think about how you would expect to be treated by your employer if you were unwell, and behave accordingly.

I've been washing his spots with bicarb solution (the ones around his mouth - I'm worried about infection) and its been really good. plus virasoothe has been a hit, he seems to like it and will sit relatively still. thanks for all the tips.

i'd buy a load from fig leaves - as long as you know your size then you can get 3 or 4 to try on. i think they do free returns.

thanks!

so far he is full of beans and usual happy self, just a few spots. i am wondering if its areaction to the immunisation but he is starting to get bigger ones around his mouth. what creams did you all use on face/mouth spots? he does use a dummy for naps if thats relevant.

thanks that's the one - i really appreciate it! we immunised, but too late as he had already been infected, hopefully it wont be a bad dose.

no advice on a specialist but if you need disposable syringes for medication please let me know as i have a load to give away.