wilko

Have sent a PM.

I?d like to add my positive feedback for Dave at McHow. I contacted him as an emergency when the heating and hot water stopped working. He managed to fit us in quickly. Great communication about dates and times. He was reliable and arrived early, quickly identified the problem and sorted it out there and then. Dave explained everything in a way I understood and I would definitely book him again. Many thanks.

Just to sound a word of caution, if you want to change the surname by which a child is known, you need permission from anyone with parental responsibility for the child. Otherwise you need permission from the court. This is dealt with in sections 8 and 13 of the Children Act 1989. As long as you have permission, it is straightforward. If you do the change through a solicitor, get certified copies of the deed as these will come in handy for future change of documents.

We had a similar experience with Rye Cars. The seats were in the boot on arrival (4am) and the driver didn't have a clue how to fit them. It was all fine in the end but I wished we had been out and checked the car seats before getting the children out of bed...

Sympathy here too. Our eldest (4) suffers with it. There is something especially gross about cleaning sick out of a car-seat buckle. Things that work for her: Snacking on dry/salty things in the car instead of eating a meal before travelling. It is better driving at night than during the day, maybe just because she sleeps more of the journey... Avoid milky food/drinks for a few hours before travelling. Open the window for short bursts every now and again. The smell of the air con when it first starts is a trigger for her for some weird reason. We found plastic bags too unwieldy for her to manage, but vital for the clean up job on the roadside, along with a change of clothes and wet wipes. The best option for us is empty plastic take away containers which you can put the lid on to contain the sick/smell until you can get out of the car and dump it. Plastic Christmas pudding bowls are even better for avoiding aim disasters, but aren't free...

I had chicken pox twice, once as a 4 year old (I remember it clearly, hot summer doused in calamine lotion) and again at 16. My friend's son has also had it twice (8 months apart) and diagnosed by the GP both times. Such bad luck. Hope it's over quickly for you all and this time is the last x

This may be a long shot, but I am hoping to find someone who has installed slide and pivot doors made by Sunseeker. I would really like to hear from anyone who has used the company and can tell me whether the mechanism of the doors works well. I like the look of them, but I'm worried they will be temperamental, and (as seems to be the case with most of the glazing companies), there is no showroom. Thank you.

In case it helps, here is a summary of the help available with childcare costs: http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/working-parents xx

I think I've already mentioned this in our PMs Hellosailor, but I just wanted to clarify the point simonethebeaver raised in case it applies to others. Spousal maintenance is only an option if you were married. The law is unequal in the way it treats married and unmarried couples on separation and it can be incredibly unfair to the parent left with the children. The child maintenance website is www.cmoptions.org and this will help people with issues like reductions in child maintenance for overnight contact and ex-partners going on to have more children, both of which significantly affect the maintenance calculation. I am sending you support and strength and crossing everything that you find a way forward in mediation.

I did this about a year ago. Bought the fireplace on the forum and used Blue Mantle on the Old Kent Rd to knock out the hole in the blocked up chimney and fit the Victorian fireplace. They have lots of original fireplaces for sale there too.

Little Kickers football in Dulwich or Nunhead (think you sign up for a course) Tiny Gym at Camberwell Leisure Centre run by Southwark Gymnastics (10.15am and 11.15am, drop in, ?4 per session) This website might help: http://www.edtots.co.uk/directory/saturday Hope you find something!

Just wanted to add to the recommendations for Martin. I have completed 6 months of training sessions and it has been a really positive experience. After 2 babies in close succession, I needed help to regain my core strength and I was lacking in confidence and motivation. Martin has worked with me to address all of these things and increased my fitness at a stage in my life when I felt it was impossible to find the time to exercise. We have trained in the park, in the garden and in my kitchen during my 1 year old's nap-times, and no two sessions have ever been the same. Martin is positive and motivating, he likes to see results, but he is also flexible, kind and realistic. I feel stronger, fitter and happier, so thank you!

I agree with what everyone has said about agreeing a gross rate for the contract. I did that too for the same reasons mentioned, in particular getting stuck with higher rate tax liabilities. However, the way we worked out the gross rate was by starting with ?10 per hr net (which is what the nanny was seeking)and plugging it into a calculator to establish roughly how much we'd need to pay 'gross' to give the nanny the take home pay she was looking for. The payroll company then applied her specific tax code to give us the exact gross figure to put in the contract. Kirsty - I found it all really confusing too, but it makes more sense if you think of it like PAYE where you are the employer so you pay the tax and NI to HMRC (quarterly) on behalf of the nanny, and then the nanny just receives her take home pay each month, like any other employer. Why nannies often still think in 'net' terms is a bit of a mystery to me!

I found this calculator really useful to work out the costs when we started a nanny share: http://www.nannytax.co.uk/calculators/net-to-total-cost Nannies usually quote their net rates, which is misleading on total cost because you have to add on their tax, their NI and employer's NI. I think going rates are around ?10-11 net per hr for 1 family or ?12-13 net per hr for a nanny share. So, for 3 days at 10 hrs a day at ?10 net per hr, you are looking at a gross cost of around ?380 per week or ?1670 per month for 1 child. If it is a share then obviously the increased overall cost is reduced per family, depending on how you split the share. We got nanny tax to sort out the tax for our nanny share as it wasn't a 50/50 split of days. I think it's easiest if both families use the same pay roll company and then they can work out the most tax efficient way to do it. There are also the added costs of food (our nanny always ate with the kids) and petty cash for activities, bus fares, snacks, emergency shopping etc. Hope that makes sense/helps.

We had a very similar experience. I found giving her a sippy cup of warm water did the trick. She only ever wanted about 30mls but I think she was just thirsty in the warmer weather. Might be worth a try if you haven't already? Hope you get it sorted. The early mornings are painful!

I used them for an 'uneven split' nanny share arrangement last year and I thought they were really good. They dealt with any queries/alterations quickly, without fuss. I would use them again and feel they were well worth it to take away the angst of dealing with HMRC. I didn't use it but I think they also include some help with contracts through their legal department if you need it.

The Aylesham team was re-formed in 2012 as a completely new team. They now offer 'all-through' care right up to the birth, whether it is in hospital or at home. I cannot praise them highly enough. My second baby was born at home with the Aylesham midwives 10 months ago. They operate a small team who I think are now based at The Grove Children's Centre. The same amazing midwife who booked me in was in charge of my care throughout, and she delivered my baby. She was the most supportive and empowering woman I could have asked to be with me. I still can't believe how lucky I was. In the last few weeks they visited me at home and ensured that I had met each of the midwives in the team in case my own midwife could not make it to the birth. I found that so reassuring as I knew in advance that two of the 6 women I had met would be there at the birth. No strange faces and no concerns over a midwife lottery. If I had gone to hospital they would have come with me and still delivered the baby on the labour ward. I would have been happy with any of the team being with me in labour. At 39 weeks I had a suspected infection and was sent up to MAU at Kings. My allocated midwife met me up there and did all the tests and examinations herself which was totally unexpected and so reassuring. She phoned me with the test results. Having that continuity was great. From my experience in the last few weeks and after the birth, the whole team that were in place at the time seemed professional, experienced, warm, kind, open and non-judgmental. After the birth, the team continued to be brilliant. They worked 7 days a week doing home visits at weekends. I really felt they went above and beyond the call of duty. I am not planning a third but if I was I would not go to anyone else! Good luck

I just wanted to say that I empathise so much with what you are going through. My second child has had reflux (first never had it) and it was a much bigger deal than I had ever imagined. Ranitidine and Domperidone controlled it, but we had to up the dose to keep apace with growth spurts. It peaked at 4 months and again at 6 months but improved hugely around 7-8 months. Weaning and sitting up both helped. Just wanted to say it WILL get better. Ours is now 9 months and we have weaned her off the medication (first attempt on consultant's advice to stop cold turkey at 6 months was a disaster and made the first weeks of weaning really hard work. We put her back on the meds and waited another 6 weeks then reduced it slowly. With hindsight, I would have waited until she was taking solids regularly and comfortably before reducing/stopping the medication). Am hoping we are now out the other side... There is light at the end of the tunnel but its a real slog whilst you are going through it. Hang in there x

Just wanted to add to the recommendations for Nick. Last night we had a leak through a bedroom wall from the outside of our house. It looked like it might be related to the down pipe/guttering. I called Nick first thing, he came round this afternoon, went up a ladder and fixed the problem there and then. He was friendly, efficient and reasonably priced - a fab service, especially on a Friday! Thank you for the recommendation.