ludoscotts

hi what about a voucher for a keepsake for after the baby's birth, for a photo shoot, or a hand/foot casting session. We were bought vouchers for both of these and love looking at the pics and how small our baby was when born. There is many things like this available, you can get kits to take imprints of your babies finger prints to be made into cufflinks, necklaces, charm bracelets etc. Kits for making canvases of your babies foot etc...

our friend had hers stolen from landells road last month too, she had then in a bike shed chained to the shed, they picked the whole lot up and took them attached to the shed!!!

hi my daughter goes to dulwich village pre-school and loves it! we turned down 2 school nursery places and kept her at dv pre-school as she is so happy and content there. the teachers are great, loads of feedback for parents, lovely garden to play in and setting(in amongst trees and fields) and generally good feeling about the place. cant recommend it high enough.

hi Ive just had a phone call from my mother-in-law. She is head of a nursery unit up in Rugby in the midlands. They were given a letter by their local authority today to give out to all children about a measles epidemic. Apparently there is an epidemic in france at the moment and they are advising in this letter for people to avoid conact with people who have been to france if you are not immune to measles. Also saying make sure your children have had the second mmr injection. They have to have had the second injection by the time they are 5 but they can have it once they are past 3 so it may be worth bringing the injection forward and having the booster sooner before people are starting to travel for the summer holidays. We havent heard anything from our nursery so far so thought it might be worth mentioning.

they got the weight of mine exactly right.

we just went through it too, found after 2 days the itching stopped on our 3.5 year old. best to keep them cool then theu get less spots, and calamine cream from boots was better than lotion, our 6 week old baby got it too 2 weeks after our daughter but he ended up with slight temp and only 6 spots prob because I was breastfeeding so fingers crossed your baby will have mild dose too if they get it.

hi dulwich village pre-school is good, its based in the old alleynian rugby club house, has a big garden with climbing frame, pirate ship, veg patch sand tables etc. Also it has the veranda with big gates that they lock at either end do even if its raining they can be outside. even in winter they would have outdoor time just wrapped up warm with hats and scalves and coats. lovely nursery with lots of activities. they even hatched some chicks before easter.

hi for those interested in the concrete house on lordship lane it was on the tv today. A programme called Britains empty homes on bbc 1. I just watched on iplayer and only brief but really interesting, shows pics of how it used to look and the plans for how it is going to be developed.

hi my hubby had it done recently. recovered in one day. think he said prices from ?395 we had to pay a lot more as my husband wasnt straight forward but are paying it off monthly interest free. he went with optical express. we keep getting vouchers to reccommend people to go for a consultation and you get ?150 off the price. send me a pm zeban if you want a consultation and i can give you some vouchers.

hi we had our second baby 4 weeks ago and when he was 2 weeks old we travelled to nottingham for a friends wedding anniversary party. As we wernt sure how we would feel and if we could def go or not we booked a hotel that would let you cancel right up to the day you arrive without loosing your money. That way if we decided on the day that we wernt up to it we wernt going to loose money. for us it was fine, the next day I was tired but like someone else said it was lovely to get all of that set of friends seeing him in one go and when he was that little. I only actually saw him for a feed as he spent all night being passed around our friends giving me the chance to be arms free to enjoy talking to my friends. for me it was lovely to have the chance to dress up and feel human again. if you go think about cancelable hotels, your clothes make sure you are in something comfy that you can feed easily in. it would be worth taking the pram if possible as I found ours a godsend as I put the changing mat in there to change his nappies so that I wasnt looking around for places to change him and it means you dont have to worry about taking a travel cot etc. see how you feel but I am so glad I went. and good luck with the birth, leanne

I used the saline spray for your nose which flushes the pollen out. and try putting vasaline around the edges of your nostril. its a pain having to keep putting it on/in but it does work catching the pollen so you dont breath it in.

hi for all those that asked to be kept posted baby ludoscotts has arrived. I know this wont interest a lot of you but there was many of you who I did alterations/making for whilst I was pregnant that asked to be told once it arrived so for those who wanted to know Baby Scott arrived on Thursday evening at home with the wonderful lanes midwives. We are both doing well. thanks for all those who have enquired as to how I was doing. Hopefully see some of you again when Im back to work in the summer/autumn leanne

hi until they are really steady on their feet the traditional ones are best as the back pack ones tend to ride up if they fall over. the ones from boots are great as they come with adapters which we used to use a lot. You can put the adapters on chairs and fasten them to the reins which works as a highchair harness if there is none available. once our little one got to 2 we switched to a back pack as it only has a restraining strap that clips on the back so she felt she was carrying her toys snacks etc in a bag rather than being put on reins. the wrist strap didnt work for us either, after 5 mins she had undone it and it was just hanging there as she was running off to the other side of the shop we were in!

hi we havent been into the sports centre but if its the one im thinking of in the park.the easiest way is on the bus. The 176 runs the length of lordship lane, stay on it until the bus turns left from lawrie park road on to the high street(there is a bus stop just after the turn) cross the road and there is an entrance to the park there. Its a 5 min walk through the park to the sports centre from that end of the park. It takes approx 10 mins on the bus for us to the park from near the harvester so very quick easy journey.

hi I can second the boots soltan suncreams, im very fair skinned and burn easily but normally get prickly heat on hol too, used boots soltan last year and no burning and no prickly heat-brilliant. We bought the kids version for our then 2 year old and she was fine all hol no burning and she spent most of the hol in and out of the pool or sea so very impressed with it. When she was very small we used a mosi band from mothercare on her buggy handle and aloe first spray. Can highly recommend getting a bottle of aloe first spray, its completely natural ingredients, works as a mosi repellant, cools and sooths burn, cools you down when too hot, and calms things like prickly heat, nettle stings etc. it comes in a huge bottle so we keep a bottle of it on the kitchen window sill and when we go away we decant some of it into little travel spray bottles. if you do order some aloe first order some aloe jelly too as its also fab. its pure aloe vera in a gel, its great on nappy rash and to put on burns etc, also one application normally clears up a break out of eczema. and lastly I always keep a stick of the aloe lip balm in my bag. The best lip balm ive ever used and again because its pure aloe vera it means that if you are out and about and get a cut or bite you can put this on there and it soothes and protects so first aid in a stick fab. link to website below link for lip balm link to aloe first spray link to aloe jelly and in reply to mammamia we personally hired a carseat at the other end, we were told that if you want to use carseat on flight you have to buy a seat for the baby. other wise because of size of them they have to be checked in and when you see the way they throw the luggage around I wouldnt like to risk how bumped and bashed around it would be by the time it arrived. same really for your pram, we have took a smaller umbrella style buggy when we went away and was so glad when I saw them literally throwing the buggies on to the plane. Would seriously take a sling with you too in your hand luggage. You are allowed to take buggies up to plane door when you get on the plane but 9 times out of 10 you wont get it back until the luggage carousel with your suitcase. so could be a long time of holding your little one before you get the buggy plus juggling baby, hand luggage passport controletc with them in your arms is tiring! can also recommend buying a popup sun shade from jojomaman bebe. will put link below. They are brilliant, its an oval sunshade that folds down to a side plate size so really compact to slip in your change bag. it has little bulldog clips on it which means it can clip on to any buggy, or car seat of high chair etc making it very versitile. going to go out and get another one for this summer for our new arrival due this fri! as ours is past its best after 3 years of being constantly used. link to sunshade have a fab holiday

this is a great idea, few fail safes for our house is home made ish pizza buy garlic and herb naan bread, spread on some chopped tomatoes mixed with some puree to thicken and more dried herbs if you like, then let the kids go crazy with whatever they want, onions,sweetcorn, tuna, ham chorizo, peppers etc you can get creative and make faces etc but a great one for kids to get involved in. sprinkle on some crated cheese and put in oven at 200 for 10mins. home made burgers again my little ones loves making these, good quality mince, 1 tsp (or more in adult ones)of wholegrain mustard,chopped spring onions(approx 1 per person) crushed or puree garlic little bit to taste. mix together in a bowl pull apart and shape in to burgers(approx 500g will make 6 ) grill on med for approx 15mins stuffed chicken really easy and soooo tasty! chicken breasts, cut an upside down T into them (so you can stuff down and to the sides of the breast) line the breast with a couple of slices of chorizo. fill with salsa(for this I mix chopped tomatoes, garlic, herbs, tom puree and spring onions) another layer of chorizo on top. grated cheese on top then pop in oven at 200 for 20 mins. leftovers pasta, I always keep some cheese and a tub of creme fraiche in the fridge or long life cream then see what we have in the fridge, fry up what you have onions, courgettes, peppers, bacon, garlic etc once everything has softened and browned off add in the cream to heat then stir in some grated cheese, keep adding until it suits your taste. Very quick and tasty and great way to use up bits in fridge. tasty mash(great for weaning) boil up some potatoes, add in some leeks to soften and for last 5mins some spinach. Mash together with some milk and butter. great way to get spinach into little ones. will add some more as I think of them.

If he is in private childcare before he starts reception(i.e a nursery where you pay monthly fees) you will get money off the fees to the equivalent of 15 hrs per week. Think its around ?395 3 times a year. the money will be paid direct to your nursery and it will be knocked off the fees. some nurseries take throughout the year. my daughter goes to dulwichvillage pre-school. they take children from 2 years old, its only open term time but they take children throughout the year when then have spaces so jan, after easter, after summer and half terms. you pay fees until the beginning of the term after they turn 3. At that point they will get 15 hrs paid for and anything over the 15 hrs you will be invoiced for by the nursery. so if you didnt want to wait until he was almost 4 you could think about one of these types of nurseries. If has the principals as school nurseries, hours and the holidays are all the same so your child can get used to the way a school would run but you wont have to wait until they are nearly 4. We sent our daughter for 2 afternoons a week to let her get used to it and she just started for 3 full days this week. We felt going from totally being with me to going to 3 full days which hard on her and this has worked perfectly. She turned 3 at the end of nov so we paid for 1 term of 2 sessions a week(which cost ?212) and now that she is 3 she gets 6 sessions paid for by the government which is perfect.She has 3 days at nursery and 4 days off and by the time she goes to school and moves up to 5 full days she will fine. well worth considering doing something along these lines as she has slotted straight into 3 full days this week and seemed to be loving it.

hi my little one is now 3 and is always dancing and singing, I was wondering if anyone knows of any ballet or dance classes in Dulwich. Really looking for something local as we dont have a car so would have to be fairly easy to get to by bus or walking. thanks leanne

I havent heard of anything but we started tying a cloth into the corner or the cot in a pouch shape and would leave a couple of spare dummies in there. when our daughter lost hers inthe night we would move her hand for her to feel for another dummy herself. after a couple of nights she stopped waking us up and would just get it out of the pouch herself.

to you too xxx

thank you for all of your comments. Im not worried about the labour being at home as such the thing that was freaking me out was that my first daughter wasnt breathing when she was born and had to be taken away to be worked on. The thought of this happening at home was what was scaring me. But ive been assured that they will have the same equiptment with them that they would use in the hospital so I shouldnt worry. So after talking to the midwife and hearing your comments we are going to plan for a home birth with a bag packed incase we need to transfer to hosp at the last moment. will keep you posted on his arrival. Happy new year everyone x

hi my second baby is due in 6 weeks and my midwife this morning was trying to persuade me towards a home birth. My first birth was very quick, Less than 3 hours from first pain to birth. Only just got to the hospital in time. My midwife thinks that as the first was so quick there may not be time to get to hospital so is suggesting a planned home birth with the option of moving to hosp if it dosent happen as quickly and I freak out. has anyone had a hospital and home birth that can offer some advice on the pro's and con's of both? thanks leanne

hi loro parque is def a must we went about 4 years ago and it was brilliant. also bit out of date but when we were there the sugar and spice restaurant was lovely. its towards the las americas end of cristianos. we ended up eating there a few times as it was so good. have a great time.

huge congrats, sorry I didnt get back in time to get ball to you!, hope you get lots of tlc now you are home x

hi zeban I just wanted to say think its lovely what you are doing. there is quite often help given to elderly in these circumstances but others who may find it difficult seem to have know-one to turn to. Im 8 months pregnant with a toddler so have found it impossible to leave the house for the last couple of days as I cant carry my little one anymore and snow too thick for her to wade through. im lucky that ive had friends texting asking if I need help and Hubby has had to pick things up on way home but there must be so many people like me with know-one to help them. Well done, once again the forum has provided a lovely sense of community spirit.