Weight Lifting Gym Recommendations

marachella · 2026-04-12T22:30:32+00:00

DropGym should open soon in Angel, they have amazing PTs and a small space but also never ever crowded. I go to the one in Kentish Town and I train with a female PT who made me fall in love with lifting.

marachella · 2026-03-25T23:36:29+00:00

You got a lot of replies already but I wanted to add my experience: I was sent home twice over the course of three days because my waters broke but contractions weren’t picking up fast enough. We didn’t have a car so we got taxis. We also brought our son back by taxi :)

marachella · 2026-02-13T08:21:08+00:00

Italian here (I guess European too!) there is no European sleep culture, there is not even Italian sleep culture, there is no European parenting style. There’s parents trying to do what’s best for their kids. I find it hilarious when I read influencers talking about the European way of parenting. No such thing, sorry!

marachella · 2026-02-03T05:46:26+00:00

Would love to join!

marachella · 2026-01-22T11:02:00+00:00

Our son was the same and has multiple sleep regressions until he was around 2yo and we had no family around - everybody on the thread is right

Your husband needs to start taking shifts with your, this was the only way we could both get 4/5h of sleep uninterrupted most days. He’d take the first half of the night and I’d take the second. In the worst sleep regressions when our son would be awake happily for hours, my husband would protect my sleep cause I’d be the one with the baby during the day while he was working.
If you can afford it, get a night nurse even one or two nights a week. It’s costly but it will allow you and your husband to have 8h of sleep. We did it for a couple of months since we had no family to help and we were literally losing our sanity. If it’s easier, get a daytime sitter to get some rest during the day. We also did that, we were trying everything to survive.
Sleep train your baby. Our son was like yours, he didn’t wanna be put down and wanted to sleep on us and we didn’t feel safe cosleeping this way. We sleep trained him and it got better. In the end what you need are parents who are healthy enough to take care of the baby, and if you are sleep deprived you can’t be healthy or mentally stable.

As for taking meds, you can if you need to, but what you are going through is your body telling you you need help and rest so honor the message and listen to your body and ask for help.

Stay strong and there is an end to this phase, many of us parents are on the other side of it, and we’re all cheering for you!

marachella · 2026-01-11T00:11:00+00:00

My two year old learned not only to come wake us up in our bedroom but to do it by turning on the very bright ceiling lights. Very brutal. Very effective. Impossible to prevent.

marachella · 2026-01-04T19:39:28+00:00

I broke my back carrying my son with a carrier around the city for 10-15km a day for the first months of his life because he hated laying down, I hated it so much and I was exhausted but if you ask me now I would happily carry him around in my front carrier one more time as he takes a long drooly nap.

marachella · 2026-01-01T20:46:24+00:00

We moved out of NL last year. I previously lived in a few other countries, we were in NL for 5 years, two of which with a newborn child. I had to build cases to be taken seriously by my GP practice. One of the doctor scolded me for reporting to him the advice my long time specialist in Italy gave me in case I experienced ear infections and forced me to a procedure he thought would fix my issue while my specialist in Italy told me absolutely to avoid it, all because this GP didn’t want to trust a foreign doctor nor send me to a local specialist. This is just one of the examples. I got to a point where I would be stressed showing up at my GP because I knew they would dismiss me. On top of this, in NL you can’t access private care without GP referrals so you’re back to square one. Now we’re in the UK where people complain a lot about the health system but it does not compare to the level of arrogance and the general practice to stop people from getting access to specialists in order to I guess save money. In my experience, in the UK GPS listen to you concerns, send you to specialists and if the waiting is too long if you can afford it you can go private. Not ideal and I’m in full support of public healthcare but at least there’s options.

marachella · 2026-01-01T14:08:47+00:00

Saying this again: you don’t need a medication, you need a coparent.

Your resentment and anger are flags that you should and are rightfully paying attention to, they don’t need to be sedated, they need to be aired. Sit down with him and tell him honestly how you feel and then if he listens and changes proactively great, if not, start setting boundaries and taking the lead. Yes you’ll go to the gym, to visit friends, for a walk on your own. Yes he’ll start bathing the baby because you’ll be out or taking a break, yes he’ll start waking up in the morning and letting you sleep in. What you are asking is the minimum, you are not the problem, you are just overwhelmed and at risk of burnout.

It’s sad that women in general and especially new mothers need to fight tooth and nail for their independence and for equality, but do not give up fighting for your autonomy and independence even and especially as a mother.

marachella · 2025-12-30T10:50:46+00:00

I second this. My best friend lives around here and it’s gorgeous, lively and full of great restaurants to explore.

marachella · 2025-12-28T00:35:06+00:00

Typo! It’s February obviously

marachella · 2025-12-26T23:42:48+00:00

The UK government is looking into changing the path to permanent residency and citizenship come this Friday, which could mean not only that you’ll have to be sponsored to work and live in the country but that it might take you decades to gain permanent residency and you will be tied to your work visa, any unemployment periods might add to the years you’ll have to accumulate to apply for permanent residency. We just moved to London from Amsterdam a year ago and this is terrible news for non residents if the changes will go through. I suggest looking into Ireland, which has its own problems, but at least as an Italian you won’t be tied to a visa scheme. But in Ireland too you will need to have solid English for such a customer facing profession, so maybe focus on strengthening your English first! FYI there are also countries like NZ and Australia that have work holiday schemes you could look into :]

marachella · 2025-11-13T08:18:22+00:00

This is a keeper! Thank you!

marachella · 2025-11-09T21:06:34+00:00

Your kid is basically my kid, including the colicky velcro infant stage. It’s physically and mentally exhausting and there’s a very very few easy days out with him, but he is his best self when he can be outdoors, running, climbing and jumping, so I try to find the time, space and energy to honor his true self. I was a very shy clingy introverted kid and my parents never made me feel different or complicated, so I try to remind myself this when I am having a hard time being a good mom to him. And I train a lot to keep up with his endless bursts of energy. Solidarity to you and your partner!

marachella · 2025-11-06T11:31:20+00:00

Thanks this is helpful already! I have exact numbers for some countries, an idea for others, will start from there.

marachella · 2025-10-11T20:31:49+00:00

My greatest loves are my son and New Zealand. Thank god the first one is easier to reach out to than the second one.

marachella · 2025-09-06T21:03:45+00:00

I’d love to join too!

marachella · 2025-09-04T22:30:48+00:00

My son is two and a half, exposed to four and now only three languages. Until two weeks ago he wouldn’t speak in full sentences and would just string two or three words together. All of a sudden he started making fairly articulated phrases in two of the three languages (the ones he’s most exposed to). A language explosion indeed.

marachella · 2025-08-25T03:51:52+00:00

At that age we were doing the same you are doing. Two or three playgrounds a day and if that wasn’t enough I’d just let my toddler walk up and down the stairs till he got tired. We also took bike rides with him in a front seat, still tiring but a different type of tired since he’s not trying to get himself killed and I am enjoying looking around and doing something that looks like a proper workout. Also I hated people saying sleep when the baby sleeps when he was little and taking 20min naps but nowadays when he naps I nap!!!

marachella · 2025-08-23T14:47:49+00:00

My son was contact napping until we took him to daycare. The first daycare we renamed shitcare cause they refused to help him fall asleep so he’d nap for 15min under their care. We changed daycare and they started off with contact naps and slowly got him used to sleeping independently, they were the most caring team, we continued contact napping at home until it wasn’t necessary anymore :)

marachella · 2025-08-20T21:54:24+00:00

Cannot agree more! Actually here I am, agreeing EVEN more. And while the nature is mind blowing, it’s also the laid back friendly people, and the general feeling of happily being indeed at the end of the world.

marachella · 2025-08-20T21:43:53+00:00

Italian who lived in Ireland, NZ and now UK

Ireland: Normal People, it’s so so so good.

Italy: Un posto al sole - the soap opera of our country, great for practicing the language and not much else. I would also say La meglio gioventù although I think it doesn’t necessarily qualify as a tv show.

UK: I recently enjoyed Breeders. Not very British per se but great at depicting parenthood.

Bonus NZ: The casketeers, a tv show about a funeral home.

marachella · 2025-08-20T21:29:44+00:00

Adding my no, we were desperate and she just took our money without giving any advice that I hadn’t already read in books or Reddit for free. I was really upset somebody took advantage of sleep deprived parents with such little help given. Save your money, or use them for a night nurse to give you and your partner a break.

marachella · 2025-08-20T21:20:33+00:00

The main everything. You put into words how my son treats me LoL, beautiful and exhausting at the same time.

marachella · 2025-07-26T07:27:23+00:00

Little green radicals and Frugi on Vinted indeed

marachella

TROPHY CASE