alib

Mine are two years and two weeks apart. We kept things pretty low key until the final days when we started asking our eldest if she wanted a baby (a risky strategy but she'll say yes to most things if you make them sound exciting) We then kept referring to the imminent arrival as something that was coming for her. A brother. Wow. Lucky girl etc. When I went into labour we had time to ask her if she was really, really sure she wanted a brother and if she was going to be a good girl, then we said okay, we'll go and get you a baby. The next morning she was an absolute angel and has been ever since (about her brother, she can be a bloody nightmare about most other things)

Service washes changed my life. We use the laundrette on Bellenden Road.

Six weeks after the birth of my firstborn it was Xmas and I believe in Santa again because he brought me Spanx pants. Apparently Mel B did 200 sit ups a day to get back into shape. Ha ha ha ha ha ha... p.s. 41 weeks pregnant (again) as I type this and eating Quality Street like there's no tomorrow.

I love the phil and ted's recommended above. My best buy. You can go to wagamama to try it out if you like, the one by London Bridge definitely uses them.

My ideas would fall more into the trash category, because I was glued to the likes of Sweet Dreams and Sweet Valley High when I was your daughter's age. I don't think it scarred me, I love reading everything nowadays. And I make my living working with books. I think the 2009 equivalent (US based glamorous escapism) would be... Meg Cabot's Airhead trilogy (and Meg Cabot generally) Cecily Von Ziegaser - Gossip Girl (As seen on TV!) Twilight (though she must know it and if she hasn't asked...) I wonder what her friends are reading? Books that have been made into films she might have liked? The Devil Wears Prada, The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice. I'd also suggest non-fiction, biographies, perhaps no more taxing than Ant n Dec, Girls Aloud,Simon Cowell, or the inside story of Mamma Mia for example, and plenty of books on how to be an actress. I do love most of the books above that people have recommended but I think I might have rolled my eyes and claimed they were boring when I was 13 and climbed back under the duvet with my secret copy of Lace.

http://www.parkfarmcamping.co.uk I love this campsite in East Sussex. It's rough and ready, but great for kids as they can run wild without bothering anyone. It stays pretty boisterous until nighttime but tends to quiet down eventually and there is plenty of space. There is a very basic playground too. Campfires galore.

I'm chewing through this site at the moment, it's quite good, but cruelly would perhaps be best digested with a stiff drink. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018869

Does anyone know what happens to my maternity allowance if I receive and cash late payments during my claim period for work done months ago? Must I declare it? (will I get into trouble if I don't?!)

I took an overseas friend and her five year old boy to the barber inside Rye Lane indoor market yesterday for a walk-in and feel like I really lucked out with my choice. Incredibly nice guy (young owner) who gave our boy a great cut (best ever said mum), plenty of chatter and a lollipop for six pounds. Charlie loved the whole barber shop experience. Highly recommend for boys.

I'm starting to think about schools for my little girl and I find this thread alarming. I had to go back up more than once and read the original post. FCD is very, very happy at her school (not just one very! Two!) and has similarly able peers. FC is 'absolutely sure' that the school will endeavour to respond to the Ofsted report. I would be delighted to be in your position two years down the line. It sounds like FC and FCD both have a good relationship with the school and so it would be such a shame to take a potentially G&T child out of the school when you trust it will be trying its best to improve. Isn't the desertion of such pupils part of the state school "problem"? FCD could have a brilliant future there. I agree with the poster who said there is plenty you can do at home to augment learning you fear could be deficient (I don't mean extra-tutoring, but pets, travel, community action etc). I too felt that school was a doddle, and though I know I still feel the impact of that attitude today (why else would I be on the internet when I should be working??) I believe that was less to do with the school and more to do with my unengaged parents.

HAL9000 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There's a good English > fishmonger just off Rye Lane at 26 Choumert Road > (if he?s still in business). The market stalls > there about offer good quality fruit and veg at > very low prices. > He is still there, well-stocked and helpful, never disappoints. Oddly he also sells 2nd hand books. The shop opposite him has excellent fresh fruit and veg at giddy prices that make Sainsbury's in particular look like a fool's choice.

I make moussaka at least once a week since I found out how easy it is. The cinnamon is key to tempting those tricky toddler tastebuds, I think. Fry onion and dried oregano, add minced lamb, add tin of tomotoes and cinnamon stick. Wander off for an hour while it simmers. (can easily do this bit in advance and leave to cool until later) Fry 5mm slices of aubergine in olive oil a minute or so a side, to cover bottom of your chosen dish in overlapping layer. Pile on fragrant tomatoey lamb. Cover in cheese sauce (Rick Stein, from whom this recipe is bastardised makes fancy bechemal but frankly, who cares?) Bake at 180 for about 30 minutes until yummy looking.

first mate Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Can anyone explain why pubs in the evening are a > good place to take toddlers? What do they get out > of it, especially on lovely sunny evenings? > Wouldn't they be better off in the garden or in > the park or playing at home? Chances are a lovely sunny evening has been preceded by a lovely sunny day in which case the garden and the park options were exhausted by lunch, and "playing at home" is what you've mostly been doing every long long day since you were born. It's a change of scene, a bit of atmosphere, a chance to connect with the outside world and see more than the same old face. You understand I'm not talking about the benefit to the parent here but the child. Why? What do you get out of it? What makes your needs more valid please?

So do any yummy mummies/dishy daddies want to arrange to go to the pub and get on people's nerves? This thread is making me thirsty...