GinaG3

Ohhhh I didn't think they existed - duh! Is Jags chlorine free? My daughter needs to try swimming in a Chlorine free pool. Sorry for the off topic post!

My daughter is just going as a pirate (this half terms theme at school too). Black jeans, stripe tshirt, pirate hat from the dressing up box and a scarf tied through her belt loops with some ribbon bits and beads 'dreadlock' style in her hair. I suggest looking on Pinterest under the search term 'DIY kids fancy dress' or some such phrase. Some brilliant things from stuff you would normally have in the house anyway.

Try rebooting in safe mode if your running 10.6.8. Make sure your computer is shut down, press the power button, immediately on hearing the start up chime hold down the shift key, continue to hold it down until you see the apple logo. You should see a progress bar, this is your computer forcing a check on its startup disk, just as you would via first aid in disk utility. After the reboot is finished you can exit by shutting down again and restarting the regular way.

These boys were causing a nuisance around the hand car wash and Sainsbury's car park on Friday last week riding full size trial/dirt bikes. Nearly hit a pedestrian with child on the crossing between Dulwich Hamlet and Sainsbury's while thundering up and down doing wheelies. Revving constantly, not wearing any protective head gear and all sporting full face balaclavas and hoods. Definitely the same boys, there was 3 or 4 of them when I saw them. Definitely needs police attention before they hurt someone or themselves. Very foolish!

The midwifes and trained volunteers, sometimes health visitors too will work around the room. Generally they find out the problem, watch a feed, talk to you about how you've been getting on and then advise you one on one. Tea and biscuits too, usually. They can check for other issues such a tongue tie and can then refer on if necessary. Its a very informal drop in group. To get the best from the session try and get there as early as possible, it can get very busy some weeks! It's on the 5th floor in one of the pods.

Strawbs, I wholeheartedly recommend Peckham Cafe (Thursdays 10-11.30, but get there early as possible). I wouldn't of carried on breastfeeding if it hadn't of been for the midwives there! Highly professional, knowledgable and sympathetic. I struggled for 2 months with a baby that fed constantly but was never content or latching well, being seen by midwives at home who recommended against breastfeeding any longer. Finding out about Peckham cafe in particular changed our lives, and breastfeeding became easier and more relaxed from the first time we attended. I continued to go until my daughter was 6 months old and then I trained for Southwark PCT as a volunteer and went on to give my time to both Peckham and Dulwich cafes. Its a brilliant resource, we are lucky to have it so close!

We cant even do that. I've checked everything. Based on income we could only get a loan of 42,000 maximum. That would mean buying at 62,000 or part buying, even then its more than we can afford with shared ownership. Will have to carry on renting, lining the pockets of landlords with more properties than they can manage and gaining no position for ourselves on the property market.

We have just heard our landlord is selling her whole property portfolio. Rentals are on a high, property prices are right if your selling but not buying. I feel stuck in this situation especially as the market is booming. I've looked in to buying with the help of parents. We could possibly put up 10% deposit on 250k. Mortgage quotes over 35-40 years are then 1600pcm. We would need it to be about 500pcm. My partner works FULL time on more than minimum wage and only earns ?990 after tax. There is no way we could afford it, even outside of the SE22 postcode. No-one will rent to us and no-one will let us buy, council wont house us either as we're not priority. Where does this leaving working families who are still struggling?

My daughters most played with toy during this age was her tea sets, she had a china one and a tin one. Never failed to amuse!

I walked past this morning. Forgive me for feeling blinded! Who chose that colour?!

They are changing the bus stop right outside ED station to one of the new designs and resurfacing the bus stop. They have just done this on Lordship Lane to the Crystal Palace Road bus stop and the road was partially closed for around 2 weeks. Nightmare getting to school in this, having to avoid Lordship Lane from Townley downwards, big traffic backlogs. Shouldn't be too long, weather may make it longer though. They never seem to be doing much on site, as per usual!

Snap! H&M good for tops though, I've got some in size 10! *Happy dance*

I've had Yumi stuff before Pickle. I wouldn't buy it again. I'm a 14 and mostly order 16s because I like looser fits on top. I ordered a couple bits from Yumi a long time ago, couldn't even get my arms in. Their size 16 is like a UK size 10, totally wrong. I found the materials really artificial and cheap too. Others might have different experiences from me but thats my pennies worth. I shop everywhere. Topshop & H&M mainly. No trousers from H&M though, I come up like 3 sizes bigger than I am. I don't like that! H&M for tops though, oh yes and if you shop online you can get away with voucher codes giving ?5 off every order AND either 10% off your whole order or 25% off the highest prices item. Like to get my moneys worth. Haha.

We get all the leaflets regarding the site as we are neighbours. I believe from a few sources that Dulwich Estate want it's usage to stay the same, bar and grill or very similar. The rumours of Tesco and McDonalds we have all heard are just never going to happen.. Dulwich Estate will just sit on it until something they like comes along, I'm sure. It is getting a bit of an eyesore though, and I keep seeing people in the car park at 1am loitering round. What happened to the security that were always parked outside? Put there just after they boarded up after removing squatters last year..

We've got the Ikea Kura, I've reversed the panels to make it white not blue, much nicer! Took me 6 hours to build it by myself, in 38 degree summer heat last year. Well worth it though. Daughter is 5 very soon. She originally had it as a mid sleeper, with Trofast stepped unit running down the end. She would go up the ladder and come down the stairs. After a fall from the top she became a little worried so requested it got flipped over. Its not a 'four poster' style bed, using the ladder as shelving for a drink at night and nightlight. She has a thin silk curtain tacked along the top that can be used as a overhead canopy or folded down to make a curtain across the face of the bed. She loves it, plenty of space to stash a bit underneath even in 'four poster' mode. Very happy with it. Easily pick on up on eBay for ?50 in good condition, or new they are ?120 without mattress. Very solid, I was surprised actually. I've slept in it with her in both modes.

In the last week I too have seen people go straight through a red light on this crossing, albeit not around a bus! Very dangerous, especially when I'm crossing with a 4 year old...

Good on them, quite an apt place to squat too if you ask me. During such a housing crisis and a time where the market is completely unaffordable even to the working population I'm all for it. On the condition that they don't wreck the places they squat in, I'm for people taking over vacant buildings and putting them in to use.

I've seen more than once men going through the bins on Lordship Lane estate. Because the bins are stored in gated high wall bin cupboards you wouldn't necessarily know they are in there doing so. They carry big backpacks to fill up with whatever they find!

To me its like a free for all after the process to get my daughter in a school this year. Most definitely go on YOUR preferences but think about proximity too. We had local schools, within 0.5 miles at the top of our list but we ordered them as such that our choice on preference were given too. We would of been really happy with number 1 but also would of been happy with number 6, but number 1 went top because we would of been happy and it was within the most reasonable distance. We were in this years trouble zone and didn't end up getting a place at any of our desired schools. We applied late for a school with a large catchment, but a brilliant school too. It wasn't originally on our list because we didn't realise how large the catchment was, and didn't want to travel that far to school every morning. We waited on lists with all of them for 3 months, and ended up getting a offer the day the kids broke up for summer holidays. We were offered our 7th choice! Although I would still rather be at a school we can walk to I wouldn't change where we are at all. My daughter loves it and so do I. The our atmosphere of the school is brilliant and our daughter is thriving there. To think I didn't put it on my list originally!

Haha, definitely not 2008, no. It was 1998. Was typing fast to get out on the school run, either that or memories of frozen placenta flooded my thoughts. Love that Kings were like that hellosailor! If there's a next time for me and I can afford to do it I'm totally considering it.

I've always been interested in this too. I've looked in to the costs and a fair bit of research but am left with a feeling of not being able to trust someone not to poison me. Its a big thing for me to allow someone 'unqualified' to make up a batch of capsules in their kitchen, where your unaware of the cleanliness etc. We are a long way off there being a service that is covered by rules, regulation and training. Then again, maybe I'm just a control freak? My partner thinks I'm mad for even considering but I have health issues that I believe it would help, that outweighs the squeamishness of it for me. My mum kept her placenta in the freezer for about a year after the birth of my brother in 2008, then one day she planted it in the garden in the spot her was born and planted a tree in the same spot. I'll never forget any of it, from the birth, to the placenta filled freezer, to digging the hole. All felt very strange as a 10 year old!

I'm a 'browse property sites for fun' sort of person, I get left completely disheartened each and every time. We moved in to our private rented 2 bed SE22 flat with 1x3m balcony (oh joy!) in 2009, at the grand old cost of ?1,050pcm. Pretty reasonable by current standards. Now, if only everything with the property was in order and up to standard. We've been looking for a new property for upwards of 2 years, but we just cannot afford it. I'm hard pushed to move with my partners job or further away from our daughters school which is already proving to be a ridiculous journey in itself. I'm trying to get closer to the Herne hill end of Dulwich but its just out of the question money wise. We are currently on the border of Forest hill, just about. I've seen squats, quite literally, renting at ?1,600pcm. Our budget is dictated by the council as is our room allowance although I've sometimes seen 3 beds cheaper than 2 beds (this is against the rules as a tenant on LHA). FYI, within southwark this amount of ?241pw maximum. Another thing that gets me about the London market. There is such a plethora of professionals that landlords know they can outright refuse tenants in receipt of benefits, your completely stuck. We are a full time working household, pulling in enough to cover half our rent and all of our council tax and all our expenses but we need help. This automatically deems us as DSS tenants, therefore no-one will house us. Sick of finding a flat, just within our price range or slightly above but works for us and then the bottom of the ad displays NO DSS. Being in this situation makes it double difficult. To come away from the situation and solely be able to take responsibility for our rent we would have to be taking ?2,500 a month in wages. For us a ?13 per hour pay rise is needed. While the markets are growing we are working on it, by which point the rent on a 2 bed without a garden will probably be ?2k a month. Your definitely covering your mortgage with that, even a buy to let.

Your girl is totally cool!!! Petit bateau do some in their baby section, 36 months so just 3 years in size. 94cm height. Pricey though, as usual. Try ebay.. best bet for everything, especially as she may want them now but not want them in 3 wears, thats what 3 year olds do huh?! http://www.petit-bateau.co.uk/e-shop/product/34561/6K2/baby-boy-ribbed-stretch-corduroy-dungarees.html

I suffered really badly with my daughter, she was a very vicious biter. I continued for 2 years, with a near full set of teeth, she understood after a while. Agree with canela, as a trained breastfeeding counsellor myself this is the method I practiced with my own daughter and advised mothers to use to deter either biting or laziness at the breast. Your little finger slipped in at the corner of the babies mouth will cause the least impact on the breast and break the seal formed by your baby. Don't be tempted to just pull. Good luck. x

It's always in pretty much the same spot there. Was quite substantial when I came back on the school run. Can drivers please be aware of the water too. So many purposely (yes, purposely) drive through it causing massive splashes when people are walking out of LL estate. This is illegal and totally uncalled for, there is plenty of space in the road there to not hit the surface water.