Our childminder is on holiday for two weeks so my husband is off this week looking after her. I went downstairs (I work from home) about two hours ago and he'd made a big football goal out of every bit of play dough in the house, lined up all of our daughter's soft toys and animals as goalies and made her try to kick…

I revel in small acts of revenge.

FWIW the chicken pox vaccine isn't given as routine in the UK, but they will give it if someone in the household is immunocompromised. Our daughter gets all routine vaccinations but I'm totally fine with her not having the chicken pox vax. As it turned out she got it at 10 months anyway so done and dusted for now. …

My husband hates when these kinds of ads are on TV (for OKCupid, Match.com etc). He says things like, 'Who wants to be with someone just like themselves? Who wants their partner to be their best friend? Really, you want to fuck your best friend?' I know what he's saying and I get the gist of what he means. The…

Wish I could do that, I used to go several blocks out of my way 'round Leeds City Centre to avoid them.

Yes there is still a 'Grope Lane' in Shrewsbury but we all knew what it was, really.

I was coming on here to write the same thing - we would watch The Exorcist on regular broadcast TV so it was always cut out, then I read the book and I thought 'right... so that's what he was saying', I'd never heard cunting used before and now when I hear it I immediately think of that horrible head-spinning scene.

Thanks! Last time after the birth they drew me a bath and gave me a giant roast pork dinner with all the trimmings. Got nothing but love for the NHS. Makes me fume when I read stories about maternity care back home!

If your doctor friend wants the link, for them it's $4k.

That sound you heard is the collective thud of my and all of my neighbours' jaws hitting the floor - circumcision isn't really done around here anyway so don't know how much it would normally be but 8k seems, well, a bit extreme. Did the insurance company manage to haggle it down or anything?

The NHS hospital I gave birth at (and will do so again this summer) has an online virtual tour of everything from 'Oh shit I'm in line at the grocery store and I think my water just broke' to 'Have fun with your new baby'. They show you every step of the way what's likely to happen, what all the birthing rooms look…

I'm due with my second in August and you know what I am dreading more than labour, more than insomnia that makes you want to die and more than a wrecked undercarriage? This whole BFing vs bottle feeding insanity war. I was so guilt-ridden that my daughter was losing an alarming amount of weight (not getting enough…

Thanks for responding - writing letters with pictures is a really good idea. We've got an almost two-year old and another due in August so I dread having to have to do some last-minute trip back home but being unable to do so. My stepmom keeps reminding me it's usually slow to progress and we've got lots of time to…

Ugh, can't bring myself to watch this - my father's just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is starting Aricept this week. He was an athlete for most of his life, is in fabulous condition, eats healthily and is still super active and this is just devastating. I live 4,500 miles away so my stepmom is going to have to…

Thanks for this - I have a wonderful little girl and just found out that our next is going to be a boy. I was all 'ugh, boys... new genitals to learn and I know fuck-all about being a boy'. Was really kind of bummed (gender disappointment I think it's called, but as soon as he's here all of that will be out the…

Thank you for this article - I am having to start over at 40, in the last five years I've been through redundancy and a shitty divorce which left me with absolutely nothing. Now I have a wonderful husband, a gorgeous child (and another on the way) and a job that I love but I am consumed with jealousy about the fact…

Love this thread - expecting my second in August, I did the whole unmedicated vaginal birth first time 'round and not for lack of trying to get the drugs (damn birth plan, I even said in it 'don't give me drugs even if I'm begging for them' - rookie mistake, they actually listened). Open to everything this time and…

I live in a rural setting in the UK so lots of stuff bought from local butchers, farmers markets, etc. I went back home to the States to visit with my almost 2-year old about two months ago and she wouldn't eat a thing while we were there. I made all her usual favourites and she'd eat one bite and then push it away…

I lived a full life in my 20s and 30s, experienced what was at the time rapturous highs and lows. I never thought about kids, wasn't terribly bothered. I met 'the one' at 37, had a kid at 39 (and am expecting another at 41). Freaking love it (she's a good sleeper now). I do have rapturous highs and lows as a…

Aww, makes me sad the statistic that having kids makes 2/3 of couples experience a drop in marital satisfaction. Would hate for this to be someone's deciding factor. Would be curious to know a) how old the couple was when they had the kid(s) and b) how long they'd been together. I had my first at 39 and my husband…