catgirl

My daughter hates tights and always wears leggings (blue, grey or black) which has never been a problem.

Sounds awful, poor you. Have you tried calling the leasehold advisory service? Is a govt funded body who advise on leasehold issues. I've used them before and found their advice very helpful. 0207 383 9800.

Harris girls on homestall road do parties. You get a big hall with bouncy castle and lots of bats and alls etc and a classroom for tea. Up to 30 children

Check the finish time of the PUmphouse - it may well have changed in the 10 years (!) since we looked at it for our wedding but seem to remember that we discarded it as the finish time was very early.

You could always have the ceremony and drinks / canapes at Horniman and then go elsewhere for meal / evening reception.

We've had 2 childminders and for both we've paid them half for their holiday (and of course full pay when they're working but we're away or don't use them for any other reason)

I did get through eventually but Had to try numerous times over the space of a few hours and it was ringing literally 60 or more times each time before I had to give up! Crap!

If anyone is going to forest hill road group practice today please ask them to check phone system. I can't get there today but need to speak to them and all the options (enquiries, appointments and prescriptions) are just ringing and ringing with no answer. Very frustrating! Alternatively if anyone has an email address for them would be much appreciated.

cafe rouge is pretty good - they do a children's menu for ?5 - 6 which is main course, pudding and drink and has some nice choices on. Lots of high chairs and they give the children all an activity booklet and pack of coloured pencils and usually a balloon too.

Science museum? Boat trip on the Thames? London eye?

We've had a couple there and they've been really good. Loads of space to run around and tunnels, bats and balls etc to play with as well as bouncy castle. Not sure about conact info, think I got number from website. Apparently the mars den road wildlife garden now do parties on Sundays which I think sounds great.

On here and other local forums. Think there are similar forums for west dulwich, herne hill, forest hill at least. Otherwise gumtree? Not sure what their property section is like. Your house sounds fabulous, I love the houses in Marmora road. If we had the money would be beating your door down for it!

Fry chopped garlic and some chilli flakes (to taste)in some olive oil. Add prawns, tin of tomatoes, bit of tomato pur?e and a splodge of tomato ketchup and black pepper until heated through. Serve with rice and green salad Takes 5-10 mins for the sauce, so easy and if you buy lazy cheat chopped garlic is no prep either. But super delicious, esp if you like it spicy.

If you want central then there's a lovely veggie place just off regent street. It has a huge buffet of amazing and varied food and has a play area for children downstairs. http://www.tibits.co.uk/e/about-us/

Starting at 7am? I was walking along there at 10am yesterday and although the traffic controls were already in place, the workmen were only just starting to set out the barriers and no work had actually started.

hi Juno I've had 3 sections. First was an emcs. Was hoping for vbac with the 2nd but ended up with an elcs when I got to 42 weeks and still showing no signs of going into labour anytime soon. 3rd was then automatically scheduled for an elcs at 39 weeks because of 2 previous sections. As Vanessa says, risk of scar rupture during labour is significantly increased when you've had 2 previous sections so the medical advice is to have an elcs (rather than after 1 previous section when advice is usually to try for vbac). My 3rd pregnancy and section recovery were completely fine. I found recovery from both the electives was a breeze in comparison to my emergency section the first time round. During my post birth contraception discussion with my midwife, she talked about a 4th child. I said I thought this would not be advised as I'd already had 3 sections and she said 'ah you'd be fine if you want one'. Am not planning on testing out this advice but thought it was interesting! Good luck whatever you decide.

We have driven to the Loire and Dordogne - leave early to get a ferry about 8 - 9am (chunnel is quicker but we like the change of scene and wandering around potential on the boat). Loire is then about ?4 hours from Calais and Dordogne more like 8. We have driven down straight to the Dordogne but also stayed overnight in Loire area. When we went to south of France we flew to Nice and hired a car there. Have never really thought about it but yes, I guess we've been more surrounded by French and Dutch when we book direct but we tend to spend a lot of the time at the pool / playground / other communal areas which is where the children make friends anyway. We've also not found any problem with the accommodation - the Castels site we went to in Loire (link above) had brand new mobiles which were fully equipped and amazing and we didn't have an inventory check or to do huge clean before we left. I've noticed the site we're going to this year offers end of stay cleaning as an extra so guess that implies they expect it to be left super clean in which case we'll just pay the 30euro for that which is still a saving of several hundred pounds from going with eurocamp to the same site. Also the chalet we're in has a covered terrace (quite a few sites own chalets have these) which is great for shade and also to enable eating outside even if raining! Have to say sites vary greatly on shade and is something I always worry about. We always request a shady emplacement and you do always get an umbrella and can usually request an extra one(with eurocamp or sites own) but does seem quite hit and miss. Will post later with site details

Actually snowboarder, I meant to reply to your glamping thread as well and suggest camping in a mobile home in France. In June you could get a cheap deal and lots of the mobiles / chalets have 3 bedrooms so you could have both children in their own room. We have stayed in both the Loire campsites and the Dordogne one in that article and are going to the Vendee one - La Garengoire this year after rave reviews from friends about it. We stayed here 3 years ago in Junewhen ours were aged 4 and just turned 1. Great facilities including a bouncy castle which both children spent ages on every day! We hired a 3 bed mobile home direct from the site. http://www.camping-castels.co.uk/camping-domaine-de-la-breche-id253-id_camping16.html

We've done it a few times and I think it's a brilliant family holiday. It's perfect for the children with great swimming pools, playgrounds and lots of other children to play with all on site. Lots of the sites have bike hire, horse riding and other activities too and restaurant / take away for when you can't be bothered to cook / bbq and don't want to eat out. It's fab being outside in the fresh air all the time and we find it a really relaxing and fun way to holiday. We book direct with the campsite - all the big sites have their own chalet / mobile homes for hire and is usually about 2/3 of the price of a Eurocamp mobile on the same site. Some sites also have their own tents for hire if you'd rather that than a mobile home. The Eurocamp website is useful for choosing campsites though and if you're looking at France then the 'Castels' chain of campsites are all apparently excellent (we've stayed in 2 of them, both fab) We've stayed in several sites in the Dordogne - all fab including St Avit Loisir recommended above which was lovely. Also a few in the Loire and a lovely one near Nice - let me know if you want more specifics. Another tip on price is that the French schools go back mid august so the last week or 2 of the UK summer holidays are usually much cheaper if you are booking direct with the French site (very possibly the same case for other european countries but am not sure).

Deptford are strict on ratios. Have been told by them we'd need 3 adults to take our 3 there (aged 7,3,1) But we take all 3 to dulwich no problem and called to check the first time and they said it was fine. Maybe as one of them is over 5? Was also told at beckenham that 2:1 was fine as long as any non swimmers under5 had sone kind of flotation device on.

Gosh you poor thing. I've got a copy of the no cry sleep solution and a Millpond clinic sleep book that you're welcome to borrow although you're probably too tired to read them! I guess initially you need to try and work out why he's waking so often - you say he's only being fed 2ce a night so presume is not waking for the comfort of feeding or could that be it? How do you settle him when he does wake? When you put him down initially at night do you put him down awake or asleep? I know from bits I have read and my own and others' experience that is much better to put them down awake so he learns to get himself off to sleep and thus more likely to be able to settle himself back to sleep when he does wake up later on. I know this is easier said than done but I've found it easier to deal with helping them settle at 7.30pm than at 2am!

There's a diddi dance class at the bread of life on Barry road on Friday mornings.

I doubt if many people ask for presents based on income of the giver but more what they want within what is historically the value of presents exchanged between them, providing the giver can afford. For whatever reason, I guess your in laws think ?50 - 60 for a present for a big anniversary is what you'd be planning to spend and so have asked for a present accordingly. Maybe they also felt they didn't want you buying them something for all that money which maybe not exactly what they want so better to ask for something specific so money is well spent. Also, I know my parents are more and more keen to be given things like meals out, cinema vouchers etc rather than endless 'stuff' which they already have lots of. As you say, it depends on different families and the way they do things - I guess in their family it is normal / expected to give a big present on such occasions so wouldn't seem greedy or out of the ordinary to them although may seem so to others who have different traditions.

Ah fair enough, indeed an expensive and strange choice to go to cp if only one baby between you!

I do get the feeling that your in laws can't do anything right. You're complaining that they chose a trip to center parcs for a previous celebration, a place which is totally geared around families and children and having fun and presumably chosen with the children in mind rather than them. I know a few people who have gone to CP with grandparents for a family celebration - birthdays etc and all seemed to think it was a great idea. Of course I get that if you don't get on with them, it's not going to be your ideal holiday but then, short of not seeing them, what would you suggest? The anniversary meal does sound a bit of a chore but it's obviously a big deal for them and of course they want their family there. If it's such a slog to do the journey both ways in one day can you not make a weekend of it and stay over somewhere? and it may not be ideal for your daughters usual routine but surely you can work around it for one day? After all, lunchtime is a pretty usual and reasonable time to have a meal. Presumably if they'd chosen an evening meal instead that would be even more of a problem as your daughter would be in bed. I do think the prsent request is a bit over the top though. Could you pretend to misunderstand which War Horse they meant and get them odeon vouchers?!