Mellors

Also interested in this, as thinking of doing exactly the same thing soon. Also does anyone have a recomendation of spmebody to do it?

Thirded for Puddleducks. My three all love(d) it.

Laughing at ????. Camp Bestival is *full* of SE22 families. As is Latitude. They even have organic porridge stalls FFS. Hardly thrash metal and Class A drugs :)

I leave mine all three of mine bickering in the back whilst I get petrol/pop in for milk. I am rather hoping somebody is foolish enough to takes them ;)

Three kids and a massive variety of buggies later and I'm all about the Bee. I love it - it was cheap second hand from Ebay and I've hammered mine for three years and it is still going strong. Its done endless back of car/pushing up hills and going to school and back through the woods trips. Its all about the easiness to fold, chuck in the car and the manouverability with one hand for me (other hand always holding another child etc). Its saved me having to swap from a big buggy to a Maclaren at a later stage. I almost always used the car seat clipped on (with rain cover) when he was a baby although did use the cocoon for a while.

Surely a beer tent is essential (for the parents of the small children?) I love it - take my three to Latitude (Suffolk) every year and its a great experience, v kid friendly. Kids not allowed at some though e.g. V Festival, and for me Glastonbury is too big/too much sclepping about. Pick carefully and you'll be fine.

I wonder if Peckham Plex pay the LLW?

We use Oilatum in the bath (and don't bath all that frequently - certainly not every day), Aveeno cream on prescription for general maintenance, and hydrocortisone cream for flare ups. It does seem to have got a bit better as my son has got older (he is now 7, and was awful as a baby) - now its just the backs of his knees and the crooks of his arms mostly.

I love camping! Home comforts/things to make it easier for me: - cafetiere and decent coffee - a decent knife - duvet/nice pillows rather than sleeping bags for me & OH (if taking car so space not an issue) - Kindle/books - pack of cards - booze. A quite surprising amount of it. - easy food. Beans, pasta sauces (or, ideally, a good local chippy/pizza place!)

I'm afraid I am on the kneeling up on a grown up chair too - its too short a phase I think to faff about with (yet more) stuff. Or, when the weather is glorious as it has been lately, we have a lot of "picnics" in the back garden (and sometimes in the front room when its pouring) and all sit on the picnic rug for e.g lunch - solves the problem and you can just shake the mess off outisde after :D

Wells Park not on yet.

I have three (3, 5, 7) and, as my youngest would say, we "luffs" it. Hectic, beyond tiring (getting slowly better), an organisational Everest every day and financially crippling but I would have it no other way. I am like a proud mother duck trailing my three ducklings with me wherever I go - I feel blessed. Two was never going to be enough for me - I knew as soon as I'd had the second and I put the baby things in the loft. Interestingly the minute I pushed out No 3 my first words were "I am NEVER doing that again" and I passed on the baby stuff asap. Go figure.

Henry all the way.

Gosh, I wish I had known about this years ago! My husband only has one arm (motorbike accident), and we have had nightmare over the years with buggys that are useable with one hand. After a number of false starts, we ended up with a Bugaboo Bee, and a P&T Vibe double. Expensive options. Thankfully our buggy pushing days are (hopefully) almost at an end now the youngest is nearly three, but I think its a marvellous invention.

I can't comment on Goodrich, but our head (of a local primary school) is available almost every morning and afternoon in the playgrounds, takes the school tours, assemblies etc and emailed me the same day with a choice of dates/times when I asked or organise a joint meeting with her, the SENCO and the class teacher re a learning difficulty. Brilliant, and to be honest, what we should all expect I think?

Yes, yes to PTA! I had to stop doing so much with them once I went back to work full time. Now I provide cakes for cake sales (thankfully Ocado is fine for ours rather than handmade), and help out with weekend activities a couple of times a year. I can't be on the committee or be class rep though. This is a benefit of working full time, I think ;) Also yes to hot weather/cold weather boxes. I have one massive box by the back door full of wellies. I have another by the front door full of hats/gloves/scarves in winter. Ideally millions of the same type so any kid can pick up any. I have a "kit" of sunscreen and hats for summer. A new one I learnt recently .......have sets of spare house and car keys. *somebody* (yes - you baby child) managed to lose mine the other day. Cue massive pre-work disaster/panic. Also keep spare things at work - chargers for phone/kindle e.g., stash of food in desk in case you miss lunch, your chequebook in case you can't pay a bill online.

I'm not linked to them, but I also really rate them. I've found work through them, and subsequently recruited excellent people through them as well. I've given their info to quite a few people on both sides of the recruitment market. Recommended.

No such thing as a live out au pair. The whole point is that they live in, as part of your family, and that you give them free board and lodgings, take them on trips, speak English with them etc. Kind of like a big sister?

Hi Fuschia you knew I would pop up in this thread! I'm in the same boat (although I only have three kids). My top tips: 1. meal planning service. I use menusformums.co.uk - tell you what to make for dinner each week day night. All simple, easy and cost effctive. Easily swapped for veggie etc. Takes the brain power out of it and comes with a shopping list you can directly import into online shopping. On Sunday I prep Monday/Tuesday. Wednesday au pair cooks for everyone, and I make Thursday/Friday the easiest nights e.g. pasta/pesto/veg. Breakfast - everyone has porridge. Which brings me on to... 2. Online shopping. Ocado monthly pass all the way. Order the day before for next day delivery. Automatically add everything you normally use into basket and then just shuffle through to add/subtract things based on the weeks meal plans. Get it delivered when au pair is at home so its one less job for you. 3. Get kids to have school lunches, or get au pair to do the night before if not. All coats, book bags, PE kit, ballet stuff blah blah done night before and put by front door/in the car. 4. Use Ocado for e.g. birthday cards, stamps, presents, shampoo, emergency gin. 5. Amazon Prime next day delivery for everything else other than basic kids clothes etc which I M&S. This way you literally never need to go in a shop. 6. Have a cleaner. Non-negotiable. Make kids tidy up every evening and everyone has to pitch in with dishwasher etc. The only way I keep sane is by having a tidy house in the evening. Cleaner changes all sheets once a week and au pair does all laundry, and puts away all kids stuff (with their help). She dumps our clean things on our bed and I put it away as soon as I get home. 8. Deal with life admin immediately so it doesn't get lost - I put all forms from school, party invites, bills etc in my bag, take it to work and deal with it the following day before I start work. School forms get delivered by the au pair the next day. I also have a massive wall calender in the kitchen with everything immediately gets written into. If its not in (yes, husband, I mean you and your random cycling events then you shouldn't expect to go). 8. Spend spare bits of time on train/lunch etc reading/doing something for you, not working - its one rare bit of downtime I get as a working mum. 9. Make partner (if any) pull their weight. You have to be a team. 10. Finally - try to spend weekends doing fun things, or you will all go mad/feel life is nothing but work. Will see if I think of any more :)

> They have increased the Right to Buy ?discount? to > ?75,000 or 60% of a houses value (70% for a flat). > A year ago the maximum discount in London was > increased to ?100,000. This is true, although very few social tenants qualify for Right to Buy - you basically have to have been in there for a very long time indeed (since the 1980s/1990s or before). Most people are eligible for Right to Acquire instead which gives a discount of between ?9k and ?16k.

Massive recommendation from me as well. My 5 year old daughter went to one of the parties recently, and loved it :)

I am so thrilled! You've made my day, thanks :D xx

I have children at the school. We were told last Friday that there would be no bulge for 2014, no reason given.

Never bothered after the first child, too many people going up and down all the time ot faf with stair gates. Just spent a few days when Nos 2 and 3 started going upstairs teaching them to come down safely backwards.

First prosecutions announced: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26681364 At last!