alieh

Hmmm...no idea why via the M25. That was our friends suggestion. But I take it that, regardless, we should either go late Friday or early Sat. Thank you!

[Posted in Family Room section as well but adding here for more views] We are going to Devon this weekend and trying to decide whether to leave Friday straight from school or early Saturday AM. Does anyone have any sense of how long it will take to get to the M25 if we leave on Friday around 3:30/4:00 pm? And would you imagine it will be worse this weekend with the start of the school holidays, or just standard Friday hellishness?

For e.g. this: http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/greece/GR4508.htm The pool is shared but it is also walking distance to the beach...might be easier to get a good deal because of the shared pool.

Not a Family Room topic strictly, but we have 3 children (including a 3 month old that won't take a dummy and isn't used to sleeping in the car) so you will understand my acute need to suss out the traffic situation! We are going to Devon this weekend and trying to decide whether to leave Friday straight from school or early Saturday AM. Does anyone have any sense of how long it will take to get to the M25 if we leave on Friday around 3:30/4:00 pm? And would you imagine it will be worse this weekend with the start of the holidays, or just standard Friday hellishness?

I would lock in the flights to Athens personally - there are loads of options in the Peloponnese region, including those listed above or a short ferry ride away. We stayed here (http://www.prettygreekvillas.com/greekvillas-villa-Jacaranda.html) a couple of years ago for within that budget and it was amazing! But we went in June so they did us a deal for 10 days. Looks more pricey in August. But I'm sure through Owner's Direct you could find something.

We have the Maxi Cosi Rodi, Graco Nautilus, and Maxi Cosi Cabriofix across the back of a Ford Focus. Not ideal as the 5 year old has to climb in under the seatbelt as there isn't space to buckle and unbuckle it. But it works! We only use the car a couple of times a week though. Would be quite annoying if we were using it several times a day. Your 3 year old may be too small for the Rodi but if not it is very narrow.

I've done quite a bit of reading on Mumsnet and other places about this in trying to decide what to put in our garden as space is tight. A number of people suggested that playhouses didn't get as much play value as other large garden toys. People seemed to find climbing frames, swing sets and trampolines got more use. We're going to go for a small-ish trampoline and swing set I think. Not sure if you've already considered these other options. I've been looking at the Active Toy Company.

I've done bathrooms in two houses through Bells on Lordship Lane and about to do a few more bathrooms for our new house. I find them very helpful and they seem to do good discounts on the overall quote once you figure out what you like. If you have your measurements and floorplan you can just go in and give them an idea of your budget range and style and they'll start pulling out catalogues from different brands to give you some ideas. I find it very complicated to choose bathroom products based on factors like whether you have cavity walls thick enough for concealed taps, enough water pressure for certain fittings, etc so find it much easier to talk it through with somone in person.

The formula is Neocate not Nutramigen. See the last page of the recent discussion on the Reflux in Infants thread as there is lots of info on cow's milk protein allergy there. If your baby has congestion, fussiness, bad sleep, dodgy nappies, excema, etc (or even some of the above) it is definitely worth looking into.

If you really want to continue BFing and want advice about how to go dairy free, let me know. I had to do this for my son and once I got used to it and figured out the best alternatives it wasn't that bad. But I can also fully understand if you choose to switch to Neocate instead!

Hi Jenny...with those symptoms I would definitely investigate a dairy allergy or sensitivity. If a full allergy it would come up on blood test but if not it could still be a sensitivity causing major tummy discomfort. I was breastfeeding so able to do an elimination diet and add stuff back in to see what was causing the problem. In my case, all dairy (including goat) and soya. After he was 8 months or so I was able to eat soya and dairy in baking, etc., then a couple of months after all dairy seemed fine. For him once he weaned he ate no dairy or soya until about 12 months. Then soya formula/yoghurt seemed fine. Then about 15 mths all dairy seemed fine. He has no trouble now aged 3. I just kept testing the foods every few weeks and if all was not well the screaming, bad sleep and mucousy nappies would return! For formula feeding, I think many people use a non-dairy/non-soya formula to test if there is an issue. Nutramigen or something? The problem is it tastes and smells pretty ick so baby might reject it! There are also soya based formulas, but many babies with cow's milk protein allergies can't tolerate soya either. I would see your GP to discuss and maybe also start a thread about cow's milk protein allergies to see if any other formula feeders have experience?

Have you already investigated cow's milk protein/soy allergy/sensitivity? Congestion is a common symptom, as well as bad sleep, fussiness, etc. In addition, my son had beyond terrible cradle cap that evolved into excema and mucous in his nappies.

Not BUPA but we had no problem doing this through AXA PPP.

Anthropologie but only the sale section! Also a Danish brand called Monki which I think is now available in the UK.

Bellingham closed, FYI. So annoying! Nothing on their website or phone to suggest it would be.

We're trying Bellingham Little Rascals soft play this morning. Nothing online to suggest they're closed but I can't get through on the phone to check. Fingers crossed it is open from 9:30 as normal! Makes a nice change from Peckham.

We did this for a bit younger party and it was totally fine. One thing we did that worked well was to have popcorn and a movie to chew up some time in a quietish way. We used one of those projector things onto a big wall so it was more exciting than just a movie on TV screen. I did individual bags of popcorn and had them decorate the bags on arrival (before filling obviously!). The movie helped to break up the time between wild-ish playing and games and the tea/food part.

I think ours does that too but not a problem as we also have white noise playing. Many vices in the name of sleep!

Old Maid, if card games count. Candy Land is good too but might be hard to get here. Any of the memory/missing match ups games go down well here too. Someone bought us a card game called BrainBox that is good and also one called Elephant's Trunk that is simple enough for 2.5 year old to play too.

We did the oil-filled radiator as well and it made a big difference. I would turn it on when we went to bed. I felt that the electricity costs were justified by the extra sleep! Now that he's bigger his sleep is not as sensitive to the temperature, so it was really only one or two winters that we needed it.

Fairlawn's is this Saturday Dec 7th 12-3 pm!

Hi, I couldn't find it before either but that link just worked for me so I've sent a request to join too!

We dropped off an early entry yesterday. Good luck with the show!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plan-Toys-6227-Parking-Garage/dp/B0001VV1GK We have this one. I don't really rate it, or maybe it is just that my boys aren't keen. The lift is pretty much useless and we had to glue the ramps down as otherwise they just kept falling off. Luckily we didn't buy it new as it is also very pricey! It does seem pretty robust though so maybe it is just that mine aren't garage fans.

The Ebrington Arms was about ?90/night including breakfast (and that was a weekend just before Xmas) and the Charlton House about ?100 but that included dinner, bed and breakfast. So might be good deals to be had mid-week in January. But was a few years ago so maybe both more expensive now!