veryseriousgirl

My daughter's favorite present for her 1st birthday was her scuttlebug - she adored it and still (at nearly 3) rides it around the house, though she is now a little bit big for it! http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3677179.htm

I'm an American expat, so I mostly use facebook to keep up with friencs back home, since I only get to see them once or twice a year. On twitter, I mostly follow funny writers and witty regular people, so I read it when I need a bit of humour to see me through a trying day.

We use Nanny Penny too and she's fantastic for both our 2 1/2 year old and baby - she's on the forum (username Nanny Penny)

Hi James, I live next to a council owned property, 31 Shawbury Road, which has been abandoned for at least the last five years (since we moved in next door). Last month, the council kicked out squatters and covered all the entrances with metal sheeting. This has unfortunately attracted lots of flytippers, and has made it really unpleasant to live next door to the house. Incidentally, we are also trying to sell our house as we need to move out of London, but no one will touch ours with a ten foot pole while there is a dump in the front garden next door. The street cleaning team have stated that they can't clear the rubbish as the front garden is private property and have said that they will contact the south housing team for assistance. It would be really great if I could understand who is actually responsible for cleaning up the rubbish in the garden, and if the council could regularly check the garden for more rubbish - since the council put up the sheeting that makes it clear that the house is abandoned, thus encouraging the unscrupulous to dump their rubbish there. Additionally, it would be great to understand what the council plans to do with the house. Both our house and the neighbour on the other side have been impacted by the decay of the property and it would be comforting to know when we can expect the house to be repaired and occupied. Thanks and regards Victoria

Our main criteria for toys is that they don't seem like they'll break into pieces and they don't specify how they're supposed to be played with (V-tech really fails on this one!). The WOW plastic toys are great and my daughter has all sorts of imaginative play with them (some of her overheard instructions to the toys are hilarious) and they're very sturdy. We also mix and match sometimes - my stepmother gave my daughter a real plastic-fantastic pink dollhouse but we've introduced some wooden furniture when I've bought additions to it.

Would definitely be interested - have a 6 month old who still wakes at night a lot!

We like the vital baby cups that you can get through ocado/waitrose/john lewis. Choice of tops for level of drinkers "skill". We use them for our 6 month old and our 2 1/2 year old.

Bugsbgone - I saw your house on the way home yesterday and wondered what happened (we live down the road from you). Unbelievable!

We did 2 weeks in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize - spent the first week climbing around Mayan ruins, then a week on the beach sunning ourselves and snorkling on Ambergris Caye. No, I'm not married to El Pibe. :)

I love my Rose and Rebellion sling and occasionally wear my 32 lb 2 1/2 year old in it - still v comfy.

If you have it on Tue or Thu, we'd love to come. I imagine Aisling will love it too!

Wow Duchess, I am drooling over your mom's house - we are thinking of moving to Canterbury but a little worried about my husband's commute (he works in Westminster so St Pancras not terribly handy). Does anyone have tips about best / quickest ways to get from Canterbury to Whitehall? Also considering Tunbridge Wells - does anyone know what it's like to actually live there? Snowboarder, what's Orpington like? I have been so spoiled living off Lordship Lane that I'm slightly terrified of moving to a less "villagey" place, but I really, really want to stay home with the kids for a few years and leaving ED is the only way to do it... :(

Hi Notesink, I'm an American expat mom, originally from Dallas, but have been here 11 years now, with a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old - I'd love to meet up sometime and let the girls play together.

We're toying with the idea of moving to Kent - same reasons as Carbonara - bigger house, 1/2 the mortgage...

Great workout last week (with both toddler and baby in double pram). Looking forward to tomorrow in the (hopefully enduring) beautiful sunshine and hearing more about Grace's adventures!

I went again last Sat and really enjoyed it - lovely fun workout and friendly group!

Anna & Littlemoo - definitely see you tomorrow at 11. Vx

Hi Missmack, definitely fancy a coffee on fri at 11 if you are up for it. Baby Cillian arrived on 1 Feb after a very quick induction - he was born on the antenatal ward as the night midwife didn't believe that I could possibly be in labour yet! Looking forward to catching up with everyone now that we're beginning to feel a bit more human again.

I will try to trundle along with bump tomorrow morning (assuming seriousbaby doesn't make an appearance tonight after 3 sweeps in 3 days) - am booked for induction on Tue morning, so may be one of my last peaceful mornings for a while!

We travel back and forth between London and Boston or Dallas (and even Hawaii once!) a few times a year. My daughter was on a pretty regular routine at that age - we found that if we adopted the view that once we were on the plane, we pretended we were in the destination time zone, it was pretty easy to adjust routines. We normally fly a daytime flight to the US and the overnight coming back which has worked well for us. It means you get an extra feed / nap on the way out and a compressed day on the way back. As stated above, my daughter normally struggles a bit more with the return to London, but it has never been so bad that we've abandoned travelling.

Congratulations Ruth!

Congrats Pippa! Really pleased to hear!

Ruth - did use it but baby was just being a tease (even my midwife was convinced he was on his way). Everything died down around 2 am and no sign of him since. Perhaps he just wanted to make sure I had my hospital bag packed!

Pickle - are you in for your induction? Good luck and hope things start moving along for you!

Ha - I had some really terrifying Braxton Hicks contractions while making Christmas dinner. I spent about 2 hours convinced that our boy was on his way, but fortunately things calmed down. I did insist that we get the moses basked down from the loft that night, though! Second scariest was not having a real plan about what to do with our daughter if I had actually been in labour. We have some vague plans - what have others (who have no family in the area) done with older siblings? Ruth, I've PMd you re: TENS machine - would love to take it off you if you still have it. Vx