tarafitness

Please see my recommendation for our lovely cleaner Kate. She tidies as well as cleans... which is just as well as I'm far from neat!

P.P.S. our NCT classes start on Monday 28th October x

Hello ladies! Did anyone make it to the nearly new sale? I had every intention of going but we were out quite late at a comedy gig on saturday and I enjoyed a much needed lie-in/sunday papers and breakfast in bed before venturing out to shoot arrows at targets! Would love to meet up. Can't do the 28th as (rather excitingly) we've got a 4D scan booked! I'll be exactly 28 weeks that day :-) Can do the 6th though. Not been to either of those places you've suggested so I'm easy. Tara x P.S. I went for my 15 week midwife appointment at The Gardens Surgery and saw the most wonderful Midwife. She's called Claire and I just wish she could be there to deliver my child! She was lovely to talk to and very knowledgeable. I discussed hypnobirthing, delayed cord clamping and my reluctance to get a vaccine (whooping cough) that's not as yet been tested on pregnant women and she was able to help with all of my questions and offer advice.

Sunday afternoon is always a nice time I tend to use the weekend mornings for catching up on sleep, pregnancy really takes it out of me and it doesn't help that I work full time! Tara

I'll be at the sale, looking forward to it :-) Does anyone here do the pregnancy yoga class on Fridays at Push? Tara x

We use Dulwich Ironing, very good, friendly and prompt service, free pick-up and delivery. Have used them for well over a year now, the lady who runs it Maiza(sp?) is lovely :-)

I disagree with some of this article, but it's quite an interesting read and it did make me think. This paragraph in particular annoyed me though: I think this is untrue, but I only have my own experience to draw from I suppose? I was fairly strict with my son while he was growing up, friends used to remark on it (but the same friends who'd bribe their children with sweets, and at 17, my son has never had a filling), but also everyone would agree that my son had lovely manners and was a joy to be around as he was always smiling and pleasant. He did as he was told, but that didn't make him an obedient puppy, and there were times when he rebelled during his teens. The only real teenage rebellion kicked in last year when he turned 16. This was, mercifully, short lived. My son's secondary school was fairly rough in comparison to the schools we have in East Dulwich (after we moved out of the area he decided that he didn't want to leave the school), but he never adapted his accent to match his peers, or limited his vocabulary in any way. He's never been into fashion labels, never followed the crowd, has very eclectic music tastes, thinks for himself and is very imaginative and confident around adults as well as his own age group. As he's got older I've given him more freedom and responsibility. But when he was a lot younger I made all the decisions for him (I don't believe in letting young children make decisions as I think it's unfair to put that much pressure on them... they should be allowed to be free from having to make choices and just enjoy being children and letting adults decide where they go, what they eat... etc...). At home he helps out, he has his own chores (unpacking and repacking dishwasher, cat litter, hoovering up, washing his clothes, collecting the vegetable bag etc...), that doesn't make him 'obedient', he's just playing his part in the family. I have another child on the way, due in a few months and I'm not sure how I'll be this time round parenting-wise. I suspect I'll be more laid back, but then again I'm really happy with how my son has turned out! As I had my son so young my parenting style was very similar to that of my parents... but with more compassion and a focus on honesty and talking things through. We do a lot of talking. My son and I are we're extremely close - to the point that I have to remind him that I'm his mother and don't need to know *all* the details of the fun he's had with his girlfriend! Anyway, have rambled on here a bit. I just think that the 'obedient' label in itself a bit insulting, especially in the context of this article. A child doing what its parent tells it to (most of the time) doesn't imply that it lacks imagination or drive, or that it'll go through life thoughtlessly following the herd. Instead it's rather that it recognises there are rules and boundaries in place, most of which are set out for their own protection. Tara

we got our kittens from the RSPCA, they keep cats and kittens for adoption in Brockwell Vets amongst other places. Also, Celia Hammond Animal Trust are overrun with cats and kittens. Friends of ours are adopting a kitten from Battersea Dogs and Cats home. Please consider rehoming a rescued kitten (or better still, a pair) as there are so many that are just abandoned every year Tara x

we have this one, from Samsung, bought it from John Lewis and have had it for over 3 years... it's fantastic! I really like Chuff's model, what a great idea to have that little hatch!

haha, brilliant :-)

Thanks for the heads-up on the peekaboo nearly new sale, UlStED. Went to the one in June and bought some lovely clothes :-)

I'm also 5 months pregnant and had a few days last week when I felt like I was back in the 1st trimester again! The reason? I hadn't taken my pregnancy vitamins for a few days. As soon as I started them again, my energy returns. It might be a good idea to investigate taking some yourself? Don't forget that you're not really taking them for baby, it's more for you as baby will take from you what it needs... you just need to ensure it doesn't leave you deficient in anything. I've been taking Pregnacare Max, you can get them at quite a good price from Amazon. I'd also echo Saffron's comment about the protein, and also add that fats are very important while pregnant, particularly for baby's brain development as well as energy. My partner and I were away recently on holiday and really induldged when it came to breakfast, lunch.. and pretty much all times... we had a lot of bread and stodgy carbs. When I got back I had a couple of quite large sugar crashes because my body was still used to primarily burning sugar as an energy source. After a week of eating normally for me - lots of veg, protein, fat and not a massive amount of carbohydrate (I'm not 'low carb' or anything like that though), my energy levels picked back up and I feel a lot better for it (less cravings for chocolate and stodge!) x

Hello everyone! Lovely to see so many new names on here, welcome and many congratulations on your pregnancies. We went away on a 'Babymoon' for almost 2 weeks. It was fantastic. We went Euro city/town hopping and managed to see quite a few of our family in various places - Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki & Porvoo in Finland, and then Zurich and Ch?teau-d'Oex in Switzerland. Because we visited so many places it really made the holiday feel longer than it actually was. The travelling was a little tiring, but not much more than it would be if I wasn't pregnant. The most tiring was on the last day when we decided to walk up a mountain - had to have a little nap afterwards! If anyone of you were considering travelling during your 2nd trimester I can thoroughly recommend it. It's a really nice time to take a holiday as you're over the initial 1st trimester bone-crippling fatigue, have loads more energy and are not too large that you can't enjoy yourself. I think if I'd attempted such a trip in a month or two it would have been far less enjoyable! I'm filling in my maternity leave form and was thrilled to discover that not only do I get to tag my holiday leave on the end of my mat leave... I also get to do the same with bank holidays that I've missed. All in all I'll have about 14 months off work, very exciting! Bluedark, how did your GP appointment go, was it with Dr Addo? I saw him when I first joined the surgery and he rushed through my 12 week scan as was already overdue for it, very nice personable fellow. Have also seen Dr Cliffe, she's fantastic, found baby's heartbeat with doppler within a few seconds - quite unlike the experiences that some of my pregnant friends are having with their own GPs! I found this link and thought it might be useful for everyone: Antenatal Groups and Breastfeeding workshops in Southwark All the best Tara x

Thanks Hollie, that's hugely helpful! Do you by any chance know if they'd permit you to take your own with you as there are places you can hire from.

hello and welcome to the winter babies thread! :-) my scan went well, they took over an hour, very thorough! we're having a boy, 'nub theory' appears to be correct ;-) Delia... was going to book on the October Sunday hypnobirthing course but, although there was a space yesterday, it's gone today! :-( typical! will have a look at the other dates and get a deposit down, thanks for the link info, OH agrees that weekends are better x

Thank you very much... me too! :-) x

Thanks! That's a lot cheaper... though there are half the number of sessions.. mind you, they do run for the whole day. Food for thought! At least you can put a deposit down, it's a shame you can't with Hollie's class, OH balked at the thought of parting with all the money straight away... especially as we've just paid for the NCT classes! My scan was also going to be at 22 weeks, but I rang up the Harris Birthright centre and brought it forward to tomorrow (I'll be 19+6) as we're going away on holiday and I wouldn't be able to enjoy my holiday properly until I knew that everything was okay... will also be fun to (hopefully) find out the gender! x

Hiya, how strange, was just about to type and this message came up! I'm also booked on the NCT course starting 28th October, really looking forward to it. I was thinking of doing Hollie's hypnobirthing course (if I can persuade my OH!) in November but it'll actually run parallel to the NCT course and might be a bit much to have them both in the same week. Soooo... if I can persuade him that we really want to part with the best part of ?300, and there are still spaces, I might try and book on the October course. I really think it would be worthwhile, it's just a shame he doesn't! Delia - do you have any details of the hypnobirthing course at St Thomas' you could send me? So how is everyone getting on? I have my 20 week anomaly scan tomorrow, very excited to see baby again, but worried they'll identify something wrong. It's all a bit fraught this pregnancy malarky! Tara x

Delia - I'm planning to have baby at King's. By a strange twist of fate I actually had my son there (even though I lived in Chelsea at the time) back in 1996, so I have a soft spot for the place. When I had my 12 week scan I was very impressed with information they were able to give me, almost immediately, when other mothers-to-be I know have had to wait up to two weeks for the results of blood tests. I'm hoping to have a water birth, from what I've read it really helps with the pain during labour. I know that the hospital have their own (I'm going to go along to one of their talks one day!), but they're available on a first come first served basis and I'd hate to find they were all in use! So I might end up hiring a 'birth pool in a box', provided the hospital allows it. I haven't signed up to the NCT courses yet, must do that! Will probably be doing the Monday evening course as our weekends tend to be quite busy.. and no doubt we'll be wanting to fit in even more while we still can before baby arrives! Kristine - hello and congratulations! We're due within a day of each other :-) The Lanes Midwives sound amazing, can anyone see them or are they just for patients registered at DMC? I'd considered a home birth, but we're hoping to have some fairly substantial work carried out to our house so might actually not be living in our house come December! I'm also interested in hypnobirthing and there's a lady called Hollie who has been recommended a number of times on here. The courses aren't cheap though, so will need to convince OH that it's worth the cost - in addition to NCT classes - fingers crossed! There are two spaces left on the October course (see her page here), and three on the November one. apparently there's a group discount of 10% available so if the three of us signed up to the November one we'd save a few ??s x

Me'mate'Dave Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wouldn't call The Ritzy an excellent reaxing > place to watch a movie, it's nothing but chaos in > there whenever i've been, never had a pleasant > experience in there to be honest. The Greenwich > picture house, now there's a nice relaxing place > to watch a movie, so much better in everyway. we go to the Ritzy at least once a month, the service is never that fast and it's always busy... but still, on the whole I find the experience rather chilled... maybe it's the nice atmosphere, the friendly staff, the comfy seats, the fact you can take your drinks in... or a combination of all of those factors? I've been to the Greenwhich Picturehouse, it's lovely, quite large. Saw 'Side Effects' on the small screen in the basement... we had our own bar, it was great!

Hi Privatebanking, congratulations on your pregnancy! Apart from backache, I'm really enjoying this pregnancy, even the weather doesn't bother me but that's probably due to not being that large right now - feel very sorry for women who are a lot further along! I went to see the lovely Dr Cliffe at the Gardens Surgery who explained that the reason they don't have 16 week appointments with the midwife is to ensure that when you really need to see her - at say 34 weeks+ - she is available and you're not prevented from seeing her by 16 week pregnant ladies taking up the appointment slots! Sensible I reckon, and I have no problem with it, I was just confused because the lady at my booking in appt at Midwives House said that I'd be seeing one, even wrote it in my notes. Tbh there's nothing more that a midwife would have done differently to my GP so makes sense to see her instead. Also, I do question seeing a 'surgery GP' who won't be delivering my child... it does feel strange! x

The Ritzy is one of the main things I miss about living in Herne Hill (that and Brockwell Park, the gym, lido etc), obviously it's a mere 37 bus ride away but it's a pity it's not closer. I'd love to have another Picturehouse in the area, I've been to quite a few and they're always excellent relaxing places to go and see a movie :-)

Thanks :-) Like you said, I hope he never has to use what he's learnt, it's a horrible thought for any parent to have.

I'm not translating it into anything else, this is what you appear to be doing. > Just don't assume that automatically being able to fight is one of the benefits The sessions aren't teaching him how to fight, they're teaching him how to get out of a situation and run away, it's quite the opposite of what you are saying.

KidKruger, the classes my son attends are far from theoretical as they deal with real-life situations (grabbing, strangling, pinning down, etc). The emphasis is always on how to get out of a situation and run away, that's the main thing that's taught, there is no 'fighting back' or learning how to do a roundhouse kick. So are you suggesting that my son doesn't take these classes which are making him stronger, faster and more likely to be able to get out of a dangerous situation? None of this has changed the fact that he'd still hand his phone/wallet over if challenged, it just means that if someone came up behind him and took him by surprise then hopefully his instinct, strength and muscle memory from repetitive exercises aimed at safely getting out of a situation would assist in him not getting seriously hurt or worse. Sorry, but your argument sounds similar to someone who'd say you shouldn't exercise to be healthy as you might die from cancer anyway...