hmt1979

Hi there, I am currently trying to declutter our house and realise just how many "congratulations on your baby" cards and subsequent child birthday cards we have! Do people keep these or throw them out? I find myself feeling guilty about my desire to put most of them in the bin! I would be interested to hear about what other people do. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. We did go to Beckenham place park which had lots of bluebells and was a lovely park to stroll around. Think we will have to check out Lesnes Abbey Woods also though, it sounds great!

I would love to take some photos of my little ones with bluebells at this time of the year, does anyone know of somewhere local that has lots? Thanks!

Thank you Gemo for your message and apologies for sounding so sorry for myself!! I hope that your baby starts to sleep a bit more overnight, two hourly feeds are hard. We wanted a short age gap between our two and as you say it will be lovely for them ( and us!!) When they can entertain each other a bit better!! X

I just started attending Hummy Mummies this term with my toddler and newborn and am really enjoying it - the group are so welcoming, my toddler is enthralled by the singing and it gives us all something to enjoy on a Friday afternoon! Cant recommend it highly enough!

We got a voucher for a family portrait for my brother in law after the birth of their second child, managed to find a local deal which included a CD of images so they didn't end up paying a fortune for prints, they really liked it. Another idea is a manicure/pedicure for your sister in law - can take baby along once she feels up to it. What about a voucher for a baby massage course if she has some childcare for her firstborn? Depends on budget of present also...

Congratulations GlamourBug, we were in the same situation as you, I posted the same question a few months ago - here is the link to the thread http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1370143,1370143#msg-1370143 I was really worried about this as we had no family closeby. As my due date drew closer, people who I did not think of to ask were offering their help - a neighbour, our childminder and a work colleague of mine. i agree with the above posting, everyone who offered help were mothers themselves with more than one child and as labour is a once-off favour, I really don't think that people who offer help would mind being called in the middle of the night if necessary. In the end, I called my sister who works in north London (but lives in Hertfordshire) to come and stay when I was in early labour - luckily it saved 2am phonecalls! Best of luck with it!

Hi have a newborn and an almost 2 year old. Unfortunately for a few reasons, my newborn is a really slow feeder and can take up to an hour to feed him. My toddler has to date been in front of the TV but even she is getting a bit sick of this but is not great at playing by herself. Does anyone have any tips or entertainment suggestions to get the toddler away from the TV? All advice appreciated!!

Hi there, just to say that we recently had family photos taken by a photographer who has recently moved to East Dulwich called Sandra. She was fantastic with our 18 month old daughter and was so patient in getting some beautiful shots of her, both alone and with us. She came to our home so got lots of relaxed family photos and also has a portable studio and lights so got some really fantastic professional studio-style shots in our 2 bedroom flat. She was really accommodating to a time that suited us and did a really great deal on a CD of all of the images ( a mixture of colour and black and white photos). She also prints photos if requested but we really just wanted the CD of all the images as have found it difficult with other photographers previously in choosing photos to purchase. We will definitely have some photos taken by her again in the future and would recommend her to anyone looking for some family portrait photos. Her contact details are http://asuare.co.uk/ and e mail address is [email protected]

Hi there, we have taken so many short videos of our now toddler since she was born and they all just sit on our phones at the moment. I would really like to edit them and string them all together, does anyone know of any useful/ user friendly apps or computer software to do this with? Thank you!!

Thanks Etta166 for your reply, ultimately there are people we could call if we had to, I was just wondering f anyone had come up with another solution to this problem. Not brave enough for a home birth this time round....

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone had come up with novel solutions to childcare for a toddler while in labour/ hospital with number 2? We are relatively new to the area and have no family closeby. We do obviously have some friends /childminder we can call upon if I need to go to hospital at a civilized hour but my concern (and hope in some ways!) is a fast labour overnight and need to go to hospital in the middle of the night and needing to call someone at 03.00 on a weeknight. I was wondering if anyone knows of any professional local "night nanny"-type options or other solutions that people in a similar situation have come up with? Thanks!

have sent a PM

Hi there, we are expecting our second baby this Autumn and would like to consider co-sleeping this time around. Does anybody have any recomendations about which one to get? Thanks! X

Hello everyone, I am expecting number 2 on October 5th - my daughter will be 20 months then - good to see other mums on the page in a similar situation! I was not living in the area when I was pregnant with my first, I was wondering if anyone has found a local drop-in pregnancy yoga class? I am reluctant to pay for a 6-8 week block of classes at the moment as I have a few different things coming up over the next few months and know I will miss some of the classes. I really enjoyed pregnancy yoga in my first pregnancy and would love to get back to it! I have PM'd my e mail address and looking forward to meeting up in the coming weeks hopefully! Thanks, Helen x