alieh

This is the dragon we have: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playmobil-3327-Red-Dragon/dp/B0002HZO70 I think I get more excited about Playmobil than my kids!

I just chuck all of the Playmobil in Ikea Trofast bins. I don't even attempt to keep different sets together and accept that tiny bits go into the hoover each time! Sometimes time can be killed by trying to find all the pirate bits together, all the knight bits, etc. Arts and crafts, we have a chest/tambour cabinet that has lots of shelves close together inside which has evolved as an arts and crafts area and is perfect. In our next house we're hoping to reclaim it for adult use as it is quite a nice piece. At that point I'll probably use the Trofast again with a mix of shelves and bins.

Oh, forgot to say that there was a big red dragon included with the castle, which is a favourite. It is probably 15-20 cm long and had a big amulet type necklace. So I would look out on eBay for a Playmobil dragon for your castle too!

My parents in law got the second hand Playmobil knights castle and pirate ship at some crazy garage sale in Canada and both came with loads of figures, horses, other bits and bobs. I think you can get lots of knights and other bits on eBay. Mine really enjoy having the knights with horses, and the horses all came with lots of saddle, battle, decoration-type bits that they like taking on and off.

Same ages here Snowboarder, as you know! My strategy is that I let them ask Santa Claus for 1-2 thing/s (pre-discussions required to ensure said thing actually exists - last year was a "walking talking dinosaur", which I did manage to find in the end!). This thing can be as plastic and tacky and horrible as they like. Then I do stockings with a mix of useful (drawing stuff, new pants, etc) and plastic tat stuff (little Lego/Playmobil figures, glowsticks, torch lights, etc.). Then I might buy another thing that they won't care about on opening, but that I know will get used. This year I've bought superhero bedding and wall stickers for their rooms when we move to our new house. Other years this might have been a scooter or bike type toy that will get loads of use. I think the reality is that kids who play independently with toys will play with loads of different things. My #2 is like this and plays with all the "normal" toys - lego, trains, puzzles, etc. - for ages. My #1 pretty much only does drawing on his own....otherwise lurks around trying to get someone to entertain him, asks to play on the iPad or watch something, or plays with random household products like a broom. Now that he's in school it matters less as there's much less time to fill! We ration the iPad/screen time to just weekends mostly, but you could give in to this a bit and buy some fun educational apps and maybe one of those iPad drawing pen things if you have an iPad? The toy garage has not been a big success for us. Neither of them really bother. Same with wooden train sets, very sadly, as I love building train tracks! A few ideas for toys that do get played with by both: -Fancy dress stuff -Playmobil knights castle and pirate ship with lots of figures and animals -Puzzles -Loads of dinosaurs, all sizes -Play-doh -Arts and crafts/drawing stuff (loads of coloured paper, scissors, glue, marker pens, etc.)

I work full time, but fairly reasonable hours so don't leave until 8:30 in the morning and am back by 5:45 usually. I am lucky that I have a good annual leave amount built up after a number of years with the same organisation, but at a minimum you would get 4-5 weeks leave, no? I usually take 3 weeks in the summer, 2 weeks at Xmas (loads of public holiday within this so don't need to use up too much annual leave), and one of the half term weeks. If you take a bit less in the summer you could save days to take a couple during each half term, even if you had to work 5 days/week. I didn't like working 4 days/week because it meant that I ending up doing essentially a full time job whilst only being paid 80% and found those 4 days quite stressful. But that could just be the nature of my job rather than a common experience!

There are quite a few at Tommy's on Rye Lane (near Peckham Rye station) if you want somewhere nearer to ED.

We've put 3 Ikea kitchens in previous houses and think they are brilliant value for money. The downside of the cost savings are that it can be a bit of a nightmare to get all the right pieces - usually the initial order process is fine and everything gets delivered, but in our experience you end up realising you need one thing a bit different or one extra little thing which involves a trip to Croydon to search for it in the warehouse. But this might just be because we're disorganised! Ikea kitchens can look very high end if you have a good joiner work on the finishing touches, and spend more money on worktops, taps, lighting, etc.. The basic fitting is not very hard at all. I would probably source taps, sinks, and appliances elsewhere personally. Just be sure to spend lots of time thinking about the layout and the interior fittings of all the cupboards to make the space and storage work well for you. If budget is very tight you can go with inexpensive worktops, cupboard fronts, etc. which are very easy to upgrade a few years down the line.

Would the nanny have to do the school and pre-school run with all 4 children on those days? That sounds very challenging! I have to say I would be worried about those ratios with one nanny, more so than the salary/pay issue. Moneywise, my instinct is that if you had a sole-charge nanny for your family and added a sibling, that would be one thing. But adding a sibling to a complicated share like that would seem a bit more like a childminder situation and I think the nanny would be reasonable to expect more money.

I've had this in all 3 pregnancies. In my first pregnancy I had much the same experience as you and just suffered. Midwives seemed unaware of the problem and/or indifferent. In my second pregnancy I got fed up and found a chiropractor. Within 2 treatments my symptoms were almost gone (still had to be careful when rolling over in bed, but otherwise almost totally normal). In my 3rd pregnancy I went to the chiropractor at 20 some-odd weeks at first sign of symptoms and had 2 or 3 treatments and then have been seen once a month since. I am still angry that I suffered for no reason in my first pregnancy. I recommend Daniel at the chiropractor on Crystal Palace Rd. I hope you get some relief somehow!

I have had this problem/opportunity before! Didn't come up with anything on the hotel front, but did look for day spas that had relaxation/rest rooms which worked just fine.

We've hired two really great nannies over the years just through Simply Childcare, which I think costs about ?30/yr to join. On costs, we found ?10/hr net was pretty standard for an experienced nanny. You can look on Nanny Tax calculators online to estimate total costs but it works out to about 40% on top, so ?13 or ?14/hr overall. What hours are you looking for? I know my friend had a lot of trouble finding someone who would work the 7 am - 7 pm hours they wanted (both parents work very long hours). We were looking for about 8:30-5:30 and didn't have any trouble.

It definitely can't hurt to ask, but based on this year....Horniman told us in January they were very likely to bulge (didn't) and Fairlawn said they definitely weren't going to bulge (did). Argh!

There were also some very late bulge classes announced this year, for e.g., Fairlawn was July or August? So not something you can plan around unfortunately!

Also missed the part from your post that you're not in ED anymore....I think assessing the support you have around you is very important. I was with the Lanes and they were so supportive of my VBAC decision that it gave me lots of confidence. Without this it would have been more difficult I think. Are your midwives supportive where you are now? If not and you decide you want a VBAC you could look into a doula with VBAC experience?

I had a VBAC after having a ceasarean for breech the first time. I much, much preferred the VBAC experience, but everyone has different perspectives. My first c-section recovery was hideously painful and I hated the hospital stay; my son was very big and also breech so not sure if that made the "removal" more aggressive and therefore more painful? I also had a terrible chest cold and the coughing hurt the scar so much. I also generally don't like hospitals. So my hatred of my c-section might have coloured my plans for the next time more than it would for others who had a smoother recovery (it seems like there are lots of people with very easy c-section recovery). I would really recommend studying the NICE guidelines on VBAC very closely as it is easy to distracted with loads of different information out there and I found these concise and clear. My understanding was that for women who had their first c-section because of reasons like breech presentation, their chances of a successful vaginal birth are almost the same as for any first time labour. And that the risks to baby were very marginally higher for VBAC (but I think that is the case for all vaginal births over c-section?) but the risks to mother higher for c-section. I may be wrong here, but that is my memory. Ultimately you have to try to assess what option makes you feel less anxious, regardless of what anyone else thinks. If no one else were ever going to know which approach you chose, would it change your decision? I'm about to go for VBAC #2 in December! Good luck with your difficult decision.

Definitely go and look at them. I had virtually decided on the Select too based on online research, until I went to look at it! You'd be welcome to look at our Adventure Buggy if you really want a Phil and Ted's alternative.

It is highly frustrating yes! But if you put in your house number, road, SE22 or whatever it should find it better. Sometimes works better than others!

In Lewisham we had to provide the proof of address with application, but this seems different than Southwark.

The thick woven wrap slings would definitely be supportive enough for a 2 year old. The thick ones are a bit harder to get the hang of tying, but much more comfortable once you get them on. There are thinner gauzy type ones that I don't think would feel very good with the weight of a 2 year old for very long.

They do check that you don't have a second property, but if you showed you had rented out your existing property with proof of a rental agreement for at least a year and had your own long-term rental agreement on a new house, I would imagine that would have to suffice? They can withdraw the offer if it is found to have been made based on fraudulent information, but if both of the rental agreements are genuine and for at least 12 months I think that would be fine? One thing to keep in mind is that if you're planning to move back to your original house at some point down the line and then commute to the school then this would become obvious to other people in the class (play dates, etc.) and it may be frowned upon if people know neighbours, etc. who live very near but didn't get a place in the school. Just something to bear in mind.

I couldn't get the hang of back carries with the Ergo, which is similar to the Beko - it always felt like he was too low with his head squished against my back. The best one for me is a wrap sling - I have a Didymos. That way I can tie him higher up so he can see over my shoulder. It does take some practice and you look like an absolute loon if you try to tie it in public but once you get the hang of it they are great!

Yes that's true about London living wage being ?8 gross but I've never seen a full time nanny in this area asking ?8 gross. In fact I haven't seen many at less than ?10 net per hour! Maybe just me though!

Just make sure you account for the employers taxes, NI on top of that, which you remit direct to government. It's about another 40%! There are many nanny tax calculators online that will tell you this amount.

You could check if Tommy's on Rye Lane near Peckham Rye station have them? They have lots of prams. The City Select is really huge/long unfortunately and I found the seats tiny for a toddler (my older son was very big for his age). None of the side by sides would fit in my front door, so I ended up with an Adventure Buggy with a second seat up high near the handlebars. This meant that it was easy to take the second seat off when my older son was at nursery and just use it as a single buggy. I also liked that both seats fully reclined as I often had both napping at the same time.