Oh, Fiona! Look at the pretty humans you made.

Happy birthday, Clara!

There's no way she's four! How did this happen? They're adorable, Fiona.

They're both adorable, Fiona. Not surprising given their lineage.

Yeah, those kids are too big to be Clara and Benno. Where are your REAL kids, huh?

My real kids are teeny tiny babies who never cry and sleep ALL DAY. I have them stashed in cupboard upstairs.

Thank you for all your nice comments!

Fiona, they're beautiful!

So beautiful big kiddoes!

Oh, my, Fiona, they're so adorable! I love how they look like siblings, but still, they have each his or her own fatures and beauty. Thank you so much for sharing this!

Let me know if you want advice on where to start flat-hunting!

Quoting from Seska in Bitches. I brought it in here 'cause it's a wee bit easier, and I'm assuming Seska reads this thread...

And I say - I will take all and every bit of advice you can give. We've been looking at Gumtree for places, but there's so many boroughs, and I don't know which ones are good! We've got friends in Putney and Camden, and some in East London, but I guess I won't know what places are like until I get over there. To sum up - eep!

I will take all and every bit of advice you can give. We've been looking at Gumtree for places, but there's so many boroughs, and I don't know which ones are good! We've got friends in Putney and Camden, and some in East London, but I guess I won't know what places are like until I get over there. To sum up - eep!

OK - I am a lifelong Londoner and have lived in a number of boroughs, so I can offer a bit of help, although of course it's skewed towards my own preferences...

I grew up in the outer suburbs, mainly Enfield - [link] . Dull dull dull. Unless you're moving right out into commuter land, i.e. out to Kent or Hertfordshire, which have some lovely areas, then I suggest not bothering with the real suburbs. There's more than enough city to be getting along with.

Areas that are expensive, but accordingly very nice, include much of North West London: Hampstead [link] , Islington [link] (which has some slightly scary parts very close to some beautiful parts - my g/f moved out of there when homophobic attacks started happening on the Holloway side - but the Islington proper side is gorgeous) etc. Some of these places are quite dull, e.g. I'd never actually live in Hampstead, as it's full of private school kids and utterly enormous houses that freak me out. Camden [link] , where we live now, is much more varied and interesting. Again, there are good parts and bad, all side-by-side, but it's a fun borough with some interesting stuff going on (you must visit Camden market once for the experience, and the live music scene in Camden Town and Kentish Town is just fantastic). I've also lived in the Finchley Road/Kilburn area [link] just down the road, which isn't bad.

Then there's North East London. Some parts of the NE are worth avoiding - Tottenham, Dalston come to mind - not particularly safe (although I know people who disagree, and say these are some of the more interesting parts of London). Around Hackney you've got some fun areas, including Stoke Newington [link] and Clapton [link] , which have some parts that are worth checking out.

However, north of the river is usually a lot more expensive than south of it, and I personally prefer South London to North - I was dragged up here because my g/f likes it, more than anything. I lived in Battersea [link] for years and loved it - on your doorstep you've got a huge park, the delightful Clapham and Balham with their bars and restaurants, and you're right on the river with Chelsea just over the bridge. It's awesome. There's a lot of other interesting places down South, too, from the lovely Putney (continued...)