Yak

Yep that's what we have. I am struggling to attach a pic - if you're curious, PM me an email address

We have parliament doors - open in summer/for parties, closed in winter. When we moved in, it was all open plan so we wanted to partition it off.

We're just starting our conversion and are going for the biggest picture window we can afford. Personally I never really "got" the point of a juilet balcony. But that is also I am lazy and didn't fancy having to clean anything on the outside, and wanted the flexibility of putting stuff below the window.

clicka, we played it safe in the end and went for fake slate with possibly a brick skin for the outrigger. A combination of budget, timing and planning constraints led us there. We haven't ruled out zinc if we ever do up another house and have the money/energy!

Jess, sleep will come at some point and so will improved skin (and life, and general wellbeing) - it WILL get better! I'd forgotten my super cheap top tip which is to use evening primrose oil. Buy the capsules but then use the oil at night time. Just prick a capsule and smear on face. It smells a bit but does result in lovely plumped up skin in the morning. Otherwise I am a convert to the Liz Earle routine and boringly early bedtimes at least twice a week.

I've had (moderate) success with Liz Earle's brightening face mask. I say moderate because nothing will work like decent, consistent good quality sleep in my opinion

Looks beautiful. Well done you! I love the detail about the scrunchy paper too. What a well thought out idea.

Pickle, Guernsey is very very small. If the weather is rubbish it is pretty tough going (though we only had one when we went and was in an "almost walking but not quite" phase which is different to your setup). I have only ever been to one soft play centre and that was on Guernsey and it occupies a special place of utter hell seared into my brain. Having said that, the beaches are great, and a boat trip to Harm is a lovely day trip. It's not cheap but buses are reliable and quite cute. Have you thought about Corsica? I think of it as Scotland in the Med, but with French people who love the English living there. Should be ok if you avoid August when it gets super busy / hot. Ditto Sardinia...

Sunlover00 is during the week an option for you? My 3 year old does level 1 on Weds at Camberwell.

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. I think I'd reached the same conclusion too via some haphazard googling. It does seem that the restrictions in Southwark mean that if you want your conversion to go through under permitted development rather than planning permission fake slate reigns supreme. We are still quite interested to see what a conversion with another material would look like, to help weigh up whether it's worth going through the risk of planning on staying safe with PD. It sounds from what you say Southwark might still turn us down on a full application. That's a good point about cleaning the corian. We were thinking of dark grey for precisely that reason, though that doesn't rule out bird muck I suppose... Do you have any views (Tradesman32 or others!) on elec underfloor heating in a loft? I'm attracted to it on the basis of maximising wall / storage space - but is there anything specific we should be looking out for?

We're thinking of doing a dormer plus outrigger loft conversion. Has anyone done one in a more interesting cladding than fake slate - like zinc or corian? If so I'd really like to ask you some questions! Recommendations for companies, builders, etc most definitely not wanted. Many thanks

I know Kirsty personally, otherwise I'd have volunteered myself. I suggested she posts here. She's lovely!

Another vote for first place. Also it's worth putting your baby's name down for the Villa for post 2 care, so you have that option down the line

In my view, you don't need to provide anything. You're inviting all your family and friends for a massive party, to celebrate your daughter being here and turning one, celebrating surviving the first year of parenthood, and to thank your family and friends for being part of your lives. Leave the party bags until she's old enough to care about them. The other kids will be so high on sugar anyway their parents will probably be relieved not to have them stuffing their faces with sweets on the way home. That might be controversial, I know, but you sound very generous and I honestly don't think you need to do anything more!

Done and shared online. This is much needed research. Good luck with it and look forward to seeing the results.

Some great ideas above. How about some biogs / autobiogs of inspiring women in fields she is interested in too?

Hi srisky I am skimming Raising Boys at the moment and on the whole it's a good and helpful read. I just wanted to flag up that pretty early on in the book he says that boys shouldn't go to nursery before they are 3. I resisted throwing the book across the room at this point, and muttered quite a few swear words (my son has been extraordinarily happy at nursery and outside it). It can be quite offputting and I thought it might be helpful for you to be forewarned as it sounds like your boy is at nursery too.Once you're over that bit, the rest is ok and has got some good tips. (I don't want to open up a big debate as to the rights or wrongs of that approach btw!)

crocus.co.uk is your friend

I am writing in haste so excuse bullet point ideas,but I wanted to share my thoughts (discard any which aren't helpful and excuse any typos!) - you are not alone. I defy anyone's three year old to be good all the time - perhaps she is trying extra hard to be "good" at nursery and so feels the need to kick back at home? - tiredness. My 3 year old is KNACKERED at the moment. He resists going to bed early too but can you have a super relaxed pyjama morning once in a while. Or even some time off together during the week with your OH too? - star charts. "No whinging / silly crying on the floor on way home from nursery" gets a sticker and huge amounts of praise in our house. This might be a bit odd but I also have a star chart to show how I am trying to do certain things better so we both get to do stars / no stars before bedtijme - hunger/ tiredness - you. The end of the day I am knackered too and more than likely crabby and being hungry doesn't help me handle my own emotions let alone a toddlers. So snack time and extra coffee with sugar before hitting bedtime routine. I don't know if that would help at all but I wanted to mention it because it sounds like you have very very little time just for you and you might be forgetting to look after your own needs.... - saying sorry occasionally. Sometimes if I have parented particularly badly I explain why how his behaviour made me angry / sad but that I am sorry that I snapped / shouted and that was the wrong action etc. I think if we are asking our kids to say sorry and acknowledge their own behaviour - without undermining the validity of the underlying emotions - we should do the same ourselves. (I am not in any way suggesting you don't already do this, but more of a reminder to myself...) EDITED TO ADD - you're doing wonderfully. You are keeping alive and thriving 2 small human beings with what sounds like little on hand support in the really hard parts of the day. That is a pretty awesome thing. xx

We went straight from a cot at 18 months to a queen bed (i.e. a 1.5 width of a single). Would do the same again in a shot. The wider the bed, the less room there is for them to fall out and the more room for you for those inevitable nights of sharing when they are ill. Yes he looks ginormous in it but the other upside it's dead easy for sleepoevers. We've had 4 kids in it before!

First place, Addington Square (north end of Camberwell) nursery is great. Core hours are 9-5 but they have after hours club open 8-9 and 5-6.

Both me and OH have a different surname to our son. Never occurred to bring his birth cert with us when we travel, but thinking we should do in future.

Simply Fabric, Atlantic Rd Brixton is very reasonable.

1st place, Addington Square, David. It's gives priority to parents / carers who live in SE5 or SE17, but some kids come from further away.

From memory I think there were short trips on buses and to the corner shop from about 2. Then longer trips out from about 3.