All Right! ::claps hands:: Gather Round!!

[TeeTsarina]

I'm am determined to make the Belfast Local Boards (and Co Antrim, where I also Tsarina!) more active!

Who is up for a conversation about living in Belfast and the absolute lack of child friendly places to go?!

Seriously, anyone about?

Hey I'm in Belfast also, expecting baby no3 and am surprised the Belfast board is so quiet!!

HEY! ::ridiculously excited::

There used to be a group of us who met up and everything and then it just sort of died. So I am trying to breathe some life into it!

When you are you due? Can I stalk you so I can have baby snuggles when it's born as I am done?

Lol, this is my last for def! Can't wait for cuddles. Due at the end of June! The antennal groups on mumsnet are massive, hard to keep track! How mny kids have you got then? I've 2 6 yr olds ( Irish twins!)

Just one. He's nearly 2.6. But I'm old so he'll be my only.

No. He's nearly 2.7!

Hello! Can I join in? I live in Downpatrick but don't think any one has posted on the Co Down board for years!

I'm from England but moved over here with my fiance a couple of years ago. Currently pregnant with baby no 1 so it would be great to meet some other mums and mums to be x

Ps. Baby due in June!

Hello folks, from Co Down too but to say it's quiet on that board is an understatement.

Like Emblosion (Hi Emblosion) I'm due in June but with my second. DD is 2.2 and great craic.

It would be lovely to get chatting with folks closer to home (as much as I love the main boards too!)

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Whoot!

All Nord Ironers welcome! I don't have a car so tend to keep to the greater Belfast area.

Hello folks.

I'm in Belfast and also due in June with my first baby.

I am utterly clueless in all things child related so some local knowledge would be marvellous.

My goodness lots due in June. My son was born in June!

Anything specific, AnEcumenical?

Everything!

I have no idea about finding childcare for when I return to work. Or activities like mother and baby groups and the like. Not to mention what I need to buy and where to buy it

Okay, first of all, don't sweat childcare yet. You have about 6 months 'til your baby will even be here, so stop worrying about returning to work!!

Can't help you with baby groups as I avoided them like the plague!

I personally bought our things from Ikea (nursery) and Samuel Johnston's with a few bits and bobs from Mothercare. I personally wouldn't use Mothercare or Mama's and Papas for any large purchases as their customer service is horrid. We bought our pram from Samuel Johnston's and their service before, during and after has been fantastic.

As for what...go have a look around the shops! See what you like!

Hello everyone,

emblosion I'm also English lured over here by DH 4 years ago.

I'm in Belfast with an 8 month old DS.

I can recommend The Baby Shop they have shops in Belfast (Newtownards Road) Lisburn and somewhere else that I can't remember off hand. The one in Belfast looks really shabby outside but they have some great stuff and the staff really know what they are talking about when it comes to stuff like car seats.

Hi folks

Another Norn Irn lass here. From Bangor and have 2 kids nearly 6yo DD & 7yo DS.

Tee, do you know if there's going to be a meet up at some point this year?

Hi, thanks Tee for linking to this from the AIBU thread, otherwise I prob wouldn't have even looked for a NI thread.

Guess what? I'm pregnant again! DC2 due in August :) You can snuggle my newborn.... or mind DS for me! He will be pretty much exactly 2 and a half when this other DC is born :)

What do you mean about the lack of child-friendly places? You mean cafes and bars which don't glare at kids? Or do you mean soft play places etc specifically for kids?

Hooray! Hello locals :)

Congratulations to all the pregnant ladies! Am especially Excited to meet others due in June (hi ecumenical and fubble) have you guys decided where to have your babies yet? Am going for the midwife led unit in the Downe, all being well....

And a fellow English! Waves at theFurryone good tips about the baby shops, I was going to ask about good places to go and look at baby things, especially prams, have only been in mothercare and mamas and papas so far (and I too have heard bad things about their customer service).

Tee I was wondering about getting cot/furniture from IKEA, would you recommend their stuff?

I'm also totally clueless about what I actually need to buy..... Moses baskets, cot, carry cot, travel cot, cot bed - head explodes-

Whoot! It worked! People are talking! ::wipes brow::

Avenged I would love to start having meet ups! As I've said, I don't have a car so somewhere I can get to by bus is preferable to me. If with kids, it will have to be Tues or Thurs as my son is in day care on M,W F so I can work. If without kids, I'm pretty flexible since I work for myself!

needles I thought you might be based on something you said somewhere else! Congratulations! I'm already to snuggle whenever necessary!!! And I do mean places to take children. There is no soft play within Belfast that I know of now that the one at Connswater closed. So all there really is is W5, which is expensive and Ulster Museum. Oh and the zoo. Am I missing any?

Emblosion I got my son's cot at Ikea and a tall storage cupboard thing. The cot has now been sold but it was just as solid and lovely as anything at Mamas and Papas or Mothercare for 3x the price. The tall storage cupboard is still in use. Unfortunately they don't make it any more so I can't link to it.

Okay...need to buy...less than you think to start. Car seat, moses basket, some onsies, nappies, wipes, basic baby first aide (i.e. snot sucker , ear thermometer), some towels and flannels. Jumpers/cardis. Blankets. That's really about it! Muslins!! Lots and lots of those! I still use them around my son's room for wiping up spills and such.

With regards to muslins it really is subjective. I bought a stack of them when DS was born... and never ever used them. In the end I gave them away to a friend. Some things people see as essentials other people will be happy to do without.

Tee there is a soft play place beside Abbeycentre (in Newtownabbey) which is really good, but it could be a bit of bus trek for some people. There are 2 more I know of in Glengormley, but I wouldn't expect people to drive or bus it over to there if it was far from them.

Ulster Museum is good with one or two kids, but don't know if I'd have the stamina for walking round it with my DS and lots of other toddler. Could result in broken things!

W5 is good fun though and designed for having kids running around it.

The zoo is one mile away from my house.... so I really recommend we have a meet up there in the good weather :)

emblosion if you're happy to use second hand things you could try the Gumtree Belfast site (do a Google search for it). I got some good bargains there when DS was a baby.

Wow can't believe how much this board has grown, well done tee tsarina!.

I think there myst b a baby boom at the minute, i know so many people who r pregnant!! In terms of baby stuff, i got my pram in the baby shop on the newtownards road, 7 years ago! yes it does look like a dump from the outside but they have loads of prams, especially, inside! Aparently there's a place in Bangor that is really gd, but not sure what its called, any suggestions??

emblosion the Moses basket is great for lettin baby sleep downstairs and bringing upstairs at night without disturbing baby! Baby will prob only get about 8 wks out of it tho! You will get longer out of a cotbed as opposed to the cot, as obviously the baby grows wit it and it converts into a bed. We found baby monitors useful also, saves running up end downstairs all night (altho paranoid we did so anyway!!)

Tee there are actually a fewcplaces in and around Belfast to take the kids- indianaland and mookie world (dundonald ice bowl direction). Also there's a place opened at abbey centre, can't remember the name of it tho!

Wo, this post is massive!

Those places are pretty far out, scampbell. I want something near me!!! (Again, no car. )

Scampbell that place near Abbeycentre is called Funky Monkeys, I take DS there quite a bit and he loves it.

Here is a link to Funky Monkey's for you all to see. There are quite a few scattered around NI, and before Easter there is a new one opening at Yorkgate, which is near to Belfast centre. Funky Monkeys

Needles I just thought about lunar land at yorkgate! Is it being done up or is this a different place?? I'm always stuck for ideas of where to take my 6 and 7 year old! Any suggestions welcome!

Munson to be, where are you having our babies?? I had my boys at the royal but this time I'm goin to the ulster. Sort of panicking now tho as hearing mixed reports! The ulster is handier for me tho!

See, now Yorkgate is doable. I assume they are taking some of the Big W's old space!

We could do a meet up there.

What's everyone else's availability in terms of days of the week?

Although I like the sound of the zoo on a nice day. I've been meaning to take my son there anyway and a bus goes right past.

tee that's what I was hoping to hear about IKEA cots, was shocked at the price of some of the ones I've seen so far (ha ha, now I sound like a total skinflint, I promise I'm not!) - will sec check out gumtree too!

I wondered if I got a pram with a good carry cot and suitable mattress that might do instead of a moses basket and then baby could go into a cot at night?

scampbell I know a couple of girls that have had babies at the Ulster recently and both gave good reports (well to me anyway!)it's hard to know what to go on when deciding isn't it?

I love the zoo! Id definitely be up for going when weather better (i am a big child, ha ha)...