h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hiya,
Think we've met on the Parent group before now. How's it going?

Just wanted to reply to your message about rude waiters in the Stuff Blokes do for Girls thread, but I've been rambling on in there far too much already.
So thought I'd send ya a personal one. I hope that's ok.

I detest rude waiters, when they act all superior like. After all, you are the one paying thier wages and giving them tips, they are there to take your order to the chef, and bring back your grub. i.e. servants!
Why do they get all snooty and toff like? Especially in posh resaurants!
Seems the more you pay for a meal, the more rudeness you get from the staff. I hope you didn't leave him a tip!

The other thing I find amusing is all the pomp and ceremony of tasting a bottle of wine. Like anyone from this country is going to have the nerve to complain if it did taste bad lol.
I think someone already mentioned how bad it is that waiters always offer the bottle to the man, not the woman. I make a point of ignoring the waiter and passing the glass to my wife. Gets right up thier nose that does

So how's things with the kid? sleepless nights and nappies still? or getting easier? If you fancy a natter about kiddies or babies, please reply.

Good luck

STSS

Hello,
You still on h2g2?

Hi Simon

Sorry for the excessively long delay in replying! I realise that July was a long time ago but it unfortunately coincided with a redundancy and a bit of a medical scare. However, back in the land of the living I'm still up to my armpits in nappies and mushed up food, and would love to chat about all things baby (or now toddler) related or indeed anything else!

I hope fatherhood is still as good as ever.

MrsTW

Hello again
Yup, Fatherhood is as good as ever, in fact, if it's possible, it gets better by the day.

I must confess I have forgotten how old your kid/kids are, so please fill me in again if you don't mind.
If they are toddling, mashing up food and still in nappies, I'm guessing around the 1 year mark now? Goes quickly doesn't it.

We have one son, who is 3 in December and is such a character. He has me and his mum in stiches at times.
And we have a little girl, who is just under 6 months old. Trying desperately to crawl now, think she's frustrated seeing her brother run around and have all the fun.
She's got a few bottom teeth on the way already, so the peaceful nights have stopped But she's still pretty good.

So have you had any new run ins with sexist waiters lately? Or like us, now the sprogs have entered your lives, your posh restaurant days are on hold. At least until the kids are old enough to enjoy caviar

Hello again - I've replied a bit faster this time!

We have just the one rugrat, she's called Charlotte and she is 15 months old now. She toddling well, and moves at quite a rate of knotts but her favourite passtime is climbing - she scales any precipice (sp?) available and has me in a state of high anxiety as she seems utterly fearless (I blame her father, he's a bit of an action man type).

Teeth started appearing relatively late, and to date we have managed 6; 4 on top and 2 below, but with only a few sleepless nights to date thankfully. Of course now I've said that we will probably never sleep again!

We have managed to go out (as a couple) at least 6 times since she was born though not to anywhere with ghastly waiters thankfully - so I think we are doing rather well. Most of the time we just mooch over to see other chums with sprogs of their own like every other set of parents.

So do you recommend more than one? is it easier to cope or far harder ?

Anyway, I'm off now to see if Charlotte wants caviar with her rice cakes or cheese spread

Wow, less than a day before a reply, I nearly fell off my chair!

Ahh I love the name Charlotte, It was our first choice for a girl, but Charlie came first, and a Charlie and a charlotte seemed a bit too close, so we used it for his sisters middle name. Grace Charlotte.

Charlie is quite a sensible lad, he's not the reckless sort at all, will ask you to hold his hand to go down a two inch step. Not sure where he got his sense of danger from, but we encourage him to be as bold as he can, and are secretly happy he wont do silly things.
Saying that, he fell down our stairs last week, worried us sick, but he was thankfully unhurt.

Glad you are getting a good nights sleep, our two are normally sound sleepers, and it makes life so much easier when you have the energy to play with your kids.

I totally recommend more than one, we thought it might be hard when Charlie was still quite young and needs attention himslef, but it's been great. No jealousy at all, the routines all seemed to fit perfectly and we haven't regretted it once.
You do sometimes feel guilty that the second baby isn't getting as much attention as you gave the first, but that will be true whatever age you have them. But then the first child doesn't have a sibling to amuse her during the early years, so I guess it balances out.

You thinking of trying for rugrat number 2 then? I think an age gap of 2-4 years is about perfect. Any more and they wont have enough in common, and less and you will have too much to handle.

What did Charlotte think of the caviar then?

Hello, a bit tardier this time!

Charlotte plumped for the cheese spread, honestly the youth of today have so little sense of adventure when it comes to food...

Grace Charlotte is a lovely name and in some ways you are lucky that Charlie came along first and took the name. When we registered the names Charlotte Jane, we were told that Charlotte was the most popular in our borough in 2001. I now have nightmares of calling her name in a public place and hundreds of little girls turning around! But it gets worse, one of the staff at the hospital I was in recently said "Oh! Charlotte Jane, did you call her that so you could nickname her CJ then?" We were mortified!

Charlie sounds like a sweetie, I'm glad he's OK after his fall, and Grace is no doubt gorgeous too, but at only six months she can't really be much else! Charlotte climbed a bookshelf (yes really) and got to a container of sea salt crystals which she promptly poured over the sofa and proceeded to eat. A call to NHS Direct then a race to A&E followed. Several hours later she was (thankfully) fine, but it still entailed a level of anxiety I never thought possible. It's a nightmare when they hurt themselves isn't it? Just be grateful Charlie is as sensible as he is, Charlotte seems bent on self destruction and it is really scarey at times. She is confident that she can do anything.

We were thinking of adding to our rugrat collection but it is all really rather dependent on my health. I am awaiting more test results at the moment so watch this space! If we were to go ahead it would have to be sooner rather than later as I am what they describe as a geriatric mother (I'm now 38!) and obviously well past my sell by date (the medical profession are so good at making you feel really good about yourself). But having said that, Charlotte would be between 2 and 3 before sproglet two came along which may well be an ideal gap... ho hum.

Ooops, it's me being tardy now. It must be contagious.
I was away for a short holiday with Clare and the Kids.

Cheese spread is yummy, honestly, it beats fancy food hands down.
We are quite liberal with what we let Charlie eat. Curry, Fish, Fancy veg (couldn't tell you what it was called lol). He'll try anything once. Got that lovely habit of spitting it all out in his hand and giving it back to me if he doesn't like it though lol.
He has got a bit fussier in the last few weeks, hearing 'I dont like that' a bit more often, but I think he's just finished a growth spurt and we are over-feeding him a bit.
Grace is eating all sorts now proper roast dinner with meat yesterday, she even had a suck on a yorkshire pud to keep her quiet while we ate ours.

Girls seem alot braver than boys, We know two girls Charlie's age and two boys, both the girls are over confident and don't see the danger, whereas one of the boys wont leave his mums leg for love nor money(or sweets). I'm happy we have a nice medium with Charlie, he's confident but cautious, a nice mixture.

Sorry to hear about your health, can I ask what the problem was? nothing too serious I trust.
Being 38 is no biggie, you got a good few years left in you yet, the Doctors just like to scare the pants off everyone.
I know certain risks are higher as you get older, but having a child at any age is chancey. Don't pay much attention to their numbers, do what feels right for you.

Hello again!

I hope you and the family enjoyed the break - it's lovely to have some proper time with them rather than the snatched minutes at the end of an ordinary working day.

Charlotte seems to like most things we chuck at her. Even when laden with garlic, onions or any other strong flavour, she'll wolf it down, but as she doesn't have that many teeth yet we have to mush it up. Chewy things get sucked and gnawed at until they admit defeat and proceed down the gullet.

She also loves roast dinners with yorkshire pud and she'll eat pureed (sp?) chicken but doesn't seem too keen on it when she actually has to chew it. We are actually veggie at this end, but I give Charlotte chicken and fish etc as I feel she needs the balance to grow properly. Usually she eats the same as us, but strangely enough she dislikes peas and baked beans - as do I - I think its a texture thing.

I don't mind you asking about the health thing at all - it's just I don't like to bore all and sundry... however you asked so that's OK

Basically I am waiting to hear whether I have multiple sclerosis or not. One consultant says yes, another one (that we went to see today) says maybe not, so fingers crossed on that one. Initially they were looking at a genetic disorder as well as MS (it's the one featured in the film 'Lorenzo's Oil' that seriously affects only boys). I have never been more grateful that we had Charlotte than when I was told this possibility, if we were to produce a son, chances are he wouldn't live beyond 12. Fortunately that was discounted today.

My symptoms are my real problem - my right arm and both legs go numb from time to time and my right leg gives way which is rather a pain and a bit hair-raising when it comes to carting Charlotte around.

I have to admit that my real anxiety in having another baby would be that I may not be physically able to look after him/her - I couldn't bear for someone else to provide the care that I should be able to. Still, if given a clean bill of health we may just go for it as soon as possible. As far as the problems with my age, I've had one happy, healthy little girl - hopefully any additions will be the same.

Anyway, enough of all this depressing stuff and back to the interesting topics - what sort of break did you have and did you all have fun?

Hello Mrs,

I thoroughly enjoyed the little break we had. We went to stay with some good friends in Norfolk, and I do feel rather guilty because I didn't actually get to spend all that much time with the wife and kids.
It was a fishing holiday, so us blokes went out fishing at 5 am every morning, while the girls and kiddies all went shopping or to the beach or just pottered around at home. I would have liked to take Charlie fishing with me, he normally loves tagging along, but two year olds and small boats don't realy mix.
We were home by about 6 PM each day, so still got to see them, but I'd have prefered to have more time with them, my mates don't seem quite as dependant on seeing there kids as I am, I'm addicted to it!

I am actually quite lucky during normal weekdays, I start work early (7 AM) and I'm always home before 6PM, the kids both go to sleep about 8-8.30 so I get a fair amount of time with them. I never saw much of my dad when I was young cos he worked long hours, and I don't want my children to miss our at all.
What kind of hours dous your good man do?

That's very commendable that you are all veggies but you give C meat. It is important they get a good balanced diet. lol about the peas and beans, she probably just sees the look on your face when you feed her them, and decides they must be nasty if they make mum cringe

So sorry to hear about the suspected MS, My wife's uncle suffers with that That's a relief about the boy thing, even if thats been ruled out now, you would have been worried sick!
Even with the symptoms you describe, there is nothing stopping you giving your kids all the love and care they need. You just have to be a little careful and think ahead, but it wont stop you being the best mum they could ever wish for! So stop worrying yourself.
Do you get any indication when your arms or legs are going to go?
At least it's only one leg, even if you are carrying your baby you will be able to balance yourself.
There is only one thing you need to be able to care for a baby, and that is love, anything else can be overcome. No one will take your child away.
Glad the age thing doesn't concern you, you aren't ancient yet, it's nice to see the doctors havent brainwashed you. The even put the wind up me and Clare, and she was about 25 at the time lol.

Talking about your medical problem isn't depressing, it must be a big concern for you. It's good that you don't go bleating it out to everyone, it's clear you aren't after sympathy, but you shouldn't have to bottle it in. Please let me know if there is any news from the docs, I hope it turns out to be nothing serious.

Hi Simon

It sounds like you all had a good time in Norfolk. I remember doing similar things when I was little. My dad would disappear off with the boys and my mum and I would go and do interesting things with the other mums and sprogs. I remember it as a very happy time - except once when dad had been sea fishing and bought home a huge plaice or some other flat fish that was served up for dinner with it's head on... I'm still scarred by that - yuk! Charlotte will be OK though, her fish comes skinned and boned by a nice chap on the Waitrose fresh fish counter or breaded in fingers by Captain Birdseye - he's a helpful chappie isn't he?

Your working hours sound good as far as being able to see the kids, and by having a reasonable bedtime for them you get even longer. The husband of a friend of mine often misses their son as he is tucked up with lights out at 7.30 religiously. Two minutes late and there's a crisis!

My husband starts work at 9am and finishes at 6pm. It takes him around 40-45 minutes to get home (depending on whether South West Trains are on strike or if there are leaves on the line etc) so if we had an early bedtime for Charlotte he'd never see her. Instead, she has her supper with us at 7pm (ish) and then a bath at 10pm (ish) followed by bed. He tucks her in and gives her her night time bottle so we have several hours together and then they have some private time without me on the scene which is nice for them both. The bonus of this is that she sleeps though until 7.30/8am, has a bottle and then sleeps through again until 10.30/11am. She also has an afternoon nap, so I don't feel we are doing her any great harm at this stage.

Going back to the illness thing - you are right - we were worried sick about the genetic thing. It's funny, I wasn't half as phased by MS as I was by the prospect of anthing that may harm Charlotte (my dad has MS really badly, and lives in a delightfully named 'Home for Incurables' so I realise the implications of the disease). Until you have a child I don't think you can ever anticipate just how much you will love them and want to keep them safe. A friend said to me that she is utterly in love with her son and I totally understand what she means. The downside to all this however is that my Mum is going through the anxiety on my behalf that I felt for Charlotte. Apparently that feeling never fades, it changes over time but apparently you are always in love with your children!

I hope you don't mind me asking, but is your wife a full time mum? It must be very hard work for her with two children so close in age. It's funny, there are some women that can really 'have it all' sustaining a successful high flying career alongside bringing up a brood of children - especially in the city it seems... you may even know some!

I'm afraid I am a lesser mortal, if it wasn't for the fact that we have a mortgage to pay I would dearly love to be a full-time mum, but as the next best thing, I have switched to freelance work so I can fit my hours around looking after Charlotte. Believe it or not even if I wanted to, I can't afford to pay for full-time childcare - one local nursery I enquired about would have cost me £20k p.a. for a full-time place. I think I'm in the wrong business!

Oh what a lovely long post, you've raised so many great points I want to talk about I can se our replies escalating until we are both up there permanently as longest posters on the h2g2 info page

Yes we did have a really good time up in Norfolk, so nice we even considered moving up there lol, but the commute to work is a bit of a NoNo. Takes me just under an hour now, and that's long enough.

Thankfully all the fish we caught we put back unharmed, despite being freshwater fish, apparent;y they don't taste too fresh if you try and eat them. I'll stick to Mr Birdseye myself, much easier.

Our bedtime routine with the kids sounds pretty similar to yours really, the kids always eat with us at 6.30-7.00, then a bit of a play, then a bath, then a last feed, or hot chocolate for Charlie, then bed. They both sleep like angels. Charlie goes from 8 pm till 8 or 9 am, and still has a 2 hour kip in the afternoons, so don't worry that Charlotte's nice routine is tempory! And it does them no harm at all, a well rested kid is much better behaved and happy. Plus you get more time to yourself, which is important. It may feel a little selfish, but providing you put every ounce of effort in when the kids are awake, it all balances out.
Grace does the same as Charlotte, wakes for a feed around 6 AM, but will go back till 9 or 10. Gives mum some 1 on 1 time with her brother, so that's cool. Also means I can let mum have a lay in until that time at the weekends, which she is very grateful for.

Sorry to hear your father suffers fom MS too, I suppose it must take some of the anxiety away when you know what you might expect, but it must still be as scarey as hell. Nice that you recognice what your mum must be feeling. Your whole persective on being a parent changes once you have kids doesn't it.
Mind you, it hasn't done much to help the relationship I have with my parents, but that's more of a bloke thing. Mums never want their sons to grow up.

I don't mind you asking about Clare's job at all. Before we had Charlie, she had a great career in advertising, actually earned more than me at the time. She loved her job so much, and we both assumed she'd be going back afterwards. But once he arrived, she turned from super career woman into super mum in an instant. It was amazing to see To quote her " Whats the point of having children, if someone else is going to get all the fun stuff like first smiles and first steps?" And she's right. I do know alot of women that have kids and are back at work full time a week later. And I must say thier kids are a nightmare. Why have children if you don't want to spend time with them. There is the money issue, not everyone can afford to stay at home, but you've seen for yourself that full time childcare costs as much as anyone earns, so you aren't saving any money. Unless you have a grandparent to do it, I think it's totally illogical.
So thankfully we can just about afford to let Clare be a full time mum, we made some sacrifices and she has a part time job for pin money, but we wouldnt change a thing. Unless I could give up work too that is. I am well jealous of the time she gets with them both.

Clare will no doubt find a new job once both kids are at school/nursery, she's too independent to do nothing then, and she misses the social interation of working, but she is so happy being a mum, and what a great one she is, just like I can tell you are.

Juggling home and work is pretty tough isn't it? Your job sounds as if it must be pretty stressful - mind you anything in the City is stressful these days - I was mighty relieved when I left the huge law firm I used to work for in EC4 and opted for a job in the leafy suburbs.

As I already mentioned, my husband has a pretty long working day plus a commute and so is very envious of the time I have with Charlotte. When we originally talked about having a family we kind of thought he may be the one to stay at home as I had the more speedily progressing career and salary prospects. When it came to the crunch though 'I'd rather live int cardboard box int middle o' t'road' than miss out on all this!

Similar to you and Clare, even when I was pregnant we thought I'd pup and six months later return to work, drop Charlotte off at the nursery/childminder and carry on as 'normal' no tears shed. When she arrived I realised that I'd rather stick pins in my eyes (to coin a phrase) than return to work and miss out on all of those special moments.

As it happens I did go back but only lasted three months as they had a restructure/restaffing from the CEO down while I was on leave and I was in effect demoted. That was bad enough but they also wanted to go back on the agreement that was in place that I could work from home for three days per week with only two spent in the office.

The NUJ got involved (my union) as we obviously had a greivance, however I was offered a redundancy package which I accepted as with my health worries I really couldn't cope with much else. However, this has had a silver lining as I had to finally go freelance (something I'd been threatening for years) so as I mentioned before, my working hours fit around the baby.

God, don't I sound like a drama queen? It's beginning to sound like my life is a bad plot from EastEnders!

Lol, real life is alot more amusing and dramatic than any soap script could ever be. You aren't a drama queen at all.

I am based in EC4 too, it is quite nice working in the hustle and bustle of the city, but I do crave for the quiet life sometimes. I am a country lad at heart. Stress ? Pah, you must be kidding. My job is very stressful, but I'm not the kind of bloke to ever get worked up over anything. It rarely does any good,so I just don't bother. I stay as laid back and calm as I can, and it seems to work

Clare was also offered redundancy from her old job, due to a merger, and that was a bit of a deciding factor, I mean you don't turn down ten grand when you don't really wanna go back to work do you
Sorry that your old work got cruddy, they shouldn't have gone back on the working from home agreement. I hope you got weighed out properly when you left.
And it sounds like the freelancing is working a treat too Blessing in disguise.

Had a terrible night with the kids last night, they both have really bad colds. Charlie coughed himself sick, and Grace was too bunged up to such her dummy. So I think between us Clare and I got anbout 10 minutes sleep. We've had it lucky for the last 3 years though, so not going to grumble about that, just hope the kids get well soon. Breaks my heart to hear them cough.

Poor little tykes! I hope that they are feeling better. I also hope you and Clare get a bit more sleep... mind you, you only have to survive Friday and then it's the weekend.

Strangely enough Charlotte was a bit poorly last night too - also with a cough but hers doesn't seem to be very cold related as otherwise she seems fine - not sure quite sure what happened, but she was awake, crying and coughing for most of the night so I do empathise.

Having said that, I've just finished a project so I only had to look after Charlotte today, rather than cope with work on no sleep or two poorly cherubs!

Any plans for the weekend? We will be pottering about, taking a walk along the river into the town centre and contemplating the start of christmas shopping .

I know it's early but once you get into November the queues on the roads to get into town go back for miles as they advertise our leafy little town centre as if it was Bluewater or somewhere. Park and rides from the M25 virtually... it's hell!

Oh well, have a lovely weekend and once again, I hope the little ones are feeling better soon.

Morning, nope, still no improvement from the littl'uns. All coughing and sneezing. Clare's comming down with it two, so looks like I'll be playing this weekend

Keeping them all dosed up on calpol and that smelly stuff in capsules you drip on the pillow to help you breathe. Seems to help a little.
Terrible nights sleep again, but thankfull Clare and I both went to bed a 8pm, knowing it was going to be a rough one, so we don't feel that bad today, and as you say it's FRIDAY

How can you say you 'only' had to look after Charlotte, that's more than a job in itself. I got so much respect for you mums, as much as I adore spending time with my kids, after a day I am shattered, I do go a bit mad and give it my all, horsie rides around the house etc, I'd probably learn to pace myself a bit if I was there 24/7. I just miss 'em so much I can't sstop myself sometimes.

No plans for us this weekend, other than getting better. Grace's christening next week, so better start thinking about what we need for that.
Shuttup about your lovely little country town with its river. You know I'm dead jealous!
Have yourself a great time too, hope Charlotte sleeps better tonight.
Speak Monday

Simon

How are you all? still very snuffly or on the road to recovery? I hope the latter as (and I don't care how 'common' they may be) colds are really the pits. If you have flu you feel so bad that you don't beat yourself up for doing nothing but feel sorry for yourself, but somehow with a cold you always feel that you ought to carry on regardless!

We did brave the shops on Saturday by the way, and as predicted, it was heaving... I, as usual, became akin to an axe wielding maniac. I seem to become almost psychotic while shopping at times, it really grates on me when people use an aisle to stand yapping in, yet get ratty when you politely ask them to let you pass! But when it comes to lifts... .

Why is it all children's shops and/or departments are on the first floor or above? It means that you have to queue for hours for the one or two lifts available which are then not big enough for more than a couple of buggies and accompanying parents. When eventually one arrives it is full of hormonally charged, spotty youths who (despite escalators at every turn) use the lifts to meet their mates? They have legs, they are not in wheelchairs aaaargh!

I asserted myself on Saturday I'm proud to say. As two of the brat's went to push in front of us, I put my arm across (barring their way) and ushered Charlotte and Tony (my husband) in along with another couple with a buggy. I explained my actions to the now rather sheepish duo and they apologised and beat a hasty retreat. I felt I had done a service for parents everywhere!

That's one good thing about where we live, the hormonally charged element are all really quite nice kids on the whole. I feel I may have misled you slightly as to how idyllic our location is however, we are not country folks... the river in question is The Thames

We are close enough to London to be a commuters paradise, but far enough out to still retain a nice environment. The best bit for us is the river being only a short stroll away with parkland on the opposite bank so I guess we really are pretty lucky, if not rustic!

Anyway, I'm off to cook Sunday dinner!

How was the Sunday Roast?
Clare cooked one too, and through the sniffles and sneezes it was scrumlicious

We are all still very under the weather, but battling on and not letting it get to us too much. I took both the kids up the swing park on saturday, while Clare 'popped to the shops quickly' (5 hours clothes shopping!!!!) We had the run of the park to ourselves, think the wind kept everyone else away, and we did all get some nice rosy cheeks by the time we got home, but the fresh air did us the world of good.

Ohh I know just how you feel about shops. I avoid them like the plague or go ten minutes before they close so I get them all to myself.
Luckily, Clare loves nothing more than shopping (as saturdays excursion prooved lol) so I'm grateful she doesn't ever ask me to go with her. In my book that is a very good deal.

Well done for standing up to the spotty oiks, they can be thoughless at times, but isn't that what being a teenager is about? Glad they weren't abusive. The level of respect in youngsters these days is appaling, but you do sometimes get a heart warming reminder that some of them are partly human

Hmmm I'm very confused about where you live now, I also live right on the Thames, within easy commute to London, but it still feels like I live in a big dirty city. I am gonna guess that you are West and I am East??? Otherwise I can't think where on earth you could be.
It's nice living close to such a historic river, but there's no treelined romantic walkable bits down here, all concrete and expensive riverside flats.
I'm wondering how long before some bright spark decides to develop property in the river! The prices they charge just for being able to see it scare the pants off me.

I had a great time with the kiddies this weekend, didn't let the colds stop that. Charlie was so well behaved, and Grace is now sitting up unaided (surrounded by pillows or with me ready to catch her of course) She's also doing her very best to start talking.
I was making waa waa noises like a red indian with my hand on her mouth, and I think she took a liking to making lots of noise, she hasnt shut up since!
I'm just chuffed I was home to see it

Sounds like you had an excellent weekend despite everyones colds, and blimey wasn't it windy? We have a huge oak tree in the garden of one of the big edwardian houses behind us (where the posh folk live) and I have to admit to getting a bit anxious watching it stand up to the elements!

I'm glad Clare was feeling well enough to shop, it's amazing how much better us girls can feel with a bit of retail therapy.

So Grace is sitting now? isn't it lovely when they start doing all of these things, every milestone is so exciting. We were worried that Charlotte would never roll over or sit up as she seemed so disinterested, then all of a sudden, she was doing it all!
I suppose that you already have an inkling of what Grace will do next from what Charlie was up to at the relevant age, but then Grace has Charlie to aspire to. My next door neighbour has three and the youngest (and only girl) has been way ahead of her peers as she is so desperate to do the same things as her older brothers!

You guessed right, we are in West London, verging on Surrey hence the green leafy bits - lots of victorian and edwardian houses, quite pretty really. However we are also surrounded by 'luxury developments' as Thames Water and anyone else with a square foot that can be developed are doing just that.

Still, at least all this means that house prices are soaring around here meaning lots of positive equity, the downside is that Charlotte will still be living with us when she is 50 (not that I'd mind) as house prices are so ridiculous that first time buyers need to be millionaires! Mind you, it's not as if she'll ever get married and leave home with her father refusing to let her talk to boys... ever (he says)

We did not brave the great outdoors on Sunday, just battoned down the hatches and dug in with a cosy afternoon playing with Charlotte, watching telly and eating - yum! Still, off to the swings tomorrow, we'll burn off the calories there.

Glad you did the sensible thing and stayed indoors on Sunday, it was a little blustery to say the least.

I think all women have the ability to shop no matter what condition they are in, she could be in labour or have her legs amputated and it wouldn't stop Clare shopping. Thankfully she is an excellent bargain hunter, so it never dents the bank account too much, and she's always bringing home nice surprises for me and the kids. Can't say fairer than that can you

It is so great to see every milestone in your childs development, and just as rewarding the second time around as it was the first. I remember Charlie being a little slow to do some things, but they all get there at their own speed, no point rushing them is there.
After the sitting up comes the mobility, this is when things really start to change! stair gates go up, the whole house has to be made baby safe, and you need to grow a few extra pairs of eyes to keep tabs on the little devils. But that's also when they become more than a cuddly little bundle, they are so much more fun to play with. You are so lucky to have all this to come, treasure every moment of it I know I am.

You are very right about her doing stuff quicker trying to emulate her brother, she already gets frustrated that she can't run around the house after him. It's sweet to see her cry when he leaves a room and burst into a smile when he returns. Bet that wont last until they both grow up lol.

West London sounds very posh , doubt I could afford to live in such a nice area, mucky old East London will do for me. We are trying to move at the moment, but finding somewhere is prooving a total nightmare.
Know what you mean about first time buyers, it's rediculous that they can't get on the property ladder, but prices still seem to be soaring.

Lol at Charlottes dad not letting her talk to boys, I know the feeling, but I'm going to try and overcome it and be a 'cool' dad.
Any guy that makes her happy is good enough for me. They will all be made welcome. (hoping reverse psychology works lol)

Have fun at the swings, I really love going out on these fresh but dry days, something magical about them isn't there.