Monday, and another bout of infection..can I go back to bed?

The weekend was wonderful, until about half way through yesterday…

It started so well! On Saturday morning I did a training course run by Clare county childcare committee on manual handling. The course was well run and useful and it was, as these courses always are, a great chance to meet other childminders. The fact that I had to be at a course early Saturday morning and go straight on to the christening and then west clare meant that I had to buy, shop and pack for the whole weekend on Friday, leaving a detailed instruction list out for hubby.

Packing stage one – double buggy and fleeces for chilly coast walks

Packing stage 2 – first of two weekend bags!

Packing stage 3 – laid out kids clothes for Saturday morning, just in case hubby took them to the christening naked!

All of this went to plan anyway and we made it to the christening of our friend’s lovely little girl and the day, from weather right through to food and craic was wonderful. We found it hard to tear ourselves away, the children were all enjoying each others company in the garden while the parents were enjoying the food and the chance to catch up but we had yet another invite for that day!

We travelled across to the west coast to stay with friends who were renting a house in a small village called Liscannor by the Atlantic ocean. The next morning was another glorious one and though we now numbered 4 adults, 2 children and 2 babies, we attempted to load the car up for a day of sightseeing – and managed to get moving before night fall!

We started with a visit to the Cliffs of Moher.We all found it strange to be there when it wasn’t lashing rain and we got some wonderful photographs though it was exhausting pushing the double buggy up and down the sides of the cliffs.

Another slight drawback to the long steep paths became aparent after a laborious trundle up the summit on one side to see the viewing tower. After  we got to the tower, the three year old decided she needed to pee and I was informed that we needed to go back down the side of the cliff to the visitors centre at the bottom! I left the baba and buggy with my friends and set off down the cliff with herself in tow building quickly to a wail that almost came bouncing back off the cliffs on the other side! I thought we’d never make it to the bathrooms but make it we did. We then headed back up to the summit to rejoin the others, enjoying a relaxing gaze out at the view but isn’t it worth it? The 12 year old got his pics of the cave which was used for filming an episode of Harry Potter and we decided to pack up and head for the beach.

It was around this stage that it began to become apparent that something was up with the baba. He was off-colour and irritable and I soon realised that he had another ear infection building. We stopped back to the house, had lunch and relaxed there for awhile, after a dose of pain relief he perked up and we decided it was best to get him out in the fresh air so we went on to the nearest town, Lahinch, and spent some time on the beach. We had dinner in a little cafe there and got to take some wonderful photos on the beach against the sunset before hitting for home.

A lovely weekend, but the baba’s temperature stayed slightly elevated today and he was still off colour and thrown down so it was stressful, worrying and hard to get any unpacking or tidying done. He brightened significantly by bedtime so hopefully he will be out of it tomorrow.