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Week in Review #19 - Claire Moran Designs
I’m a little late publishing my weekly round-up this week, I think the Bank Holiday weekend, the shorter week and packing for Spain has thrown me a little. So this week I’m writing a little more than I would usually, as we have been pretty busy. Visit to Cheshire We started the Bank Holiday weekend by travelling to Cheshire to stay with my husband’s parents. My husband had taken the Friday off work so that we could travel up to Cheshire to make for a longer weekend. Our little one decided that she would be sick just a few miles after leaving home. For those that have been reading my previous posts will know that my little girl has been suffering from motion sickness, pretty much every time we go in the car. We managed to make it to the services, although carrying a baby into the services covered in Weetabix sick, wee and poo was not my finest moment of the weekend, but she was perfectly happy. 5 and half hours later we arrived and we spent the afternoon relaxing, popped out for a walk to the shops, followed by a nice beer in the sunshine in the garden. We had a really late night that night enjoying a Chinese meal, drinking red wine and rum (straight rum I must add) until 1am, the latest I have stayed up since having my little girl. Visit to Erdigg Having rested our tired heads overnight, we decided to use our National Trust membership and visit Erdigg which is just over the border into Wales just outside Wrexham. I have to say that this is probably the best National Trust property I have been to. It’s a lovely old house set in amazing grounds with huge ornate gardens and swooping valleys. We decided not to visit the house as we had the buggy with us, plus it was such a beautiful sunny day – so all the better to spend it outside. We enjoyed lunch in their restaurant to start with, who wouldn’t say no to food. The food was really good, and the restaurant was quiet making it easy to enjoy lunch with my in-laws and little girl. I’ve been to a few National Trust restaurants and often there are long queues for food, fortunately there was no queue so we were able to eat quickly giving us more time to enjoy the gardens . The gardens are beautiful, and I mean beautiful. Containing sculptured hedges as cones, lakes, large open lawns, and lime trees that have been pleached. What I mean by this is that their branches have been made to grow along wires, creating a fence like look. We also enjoyed walking through the wolf’s den, which is a fab outdoor adventure children’s play area. Erdigg makes for a brilliant day out for all ages, that I would thoroughly recommend it. Two BBQ’s I managed to consume my body-weight in meat on Bank Holiday Sunday going to two BBQ’s in one day. The first BBQ we enjoyed with friends, catching up having not seen each other for a while, and seeing their babies. Our little girl really enjoyed playing with different toys and seeing the other babies. Having seen another baby eat with his hands, she is also doing more of the same. The second BBQ later that day was spent with family. It was the first time that my husband’s parents had all 5 of their grandchildren together at the same time. This time last year they only had 2 grandchildren, now they have 5 (3 girls and 2 boys). We all had a lovely afternoon, eating delicious BBQ food, drinking champagne, bouncing on the trampoline, and seeing my little girl playing with her cousins. Catch up with the NCT ladies It felt like a while since I had seen my NCT ladies, so this week we popped to a local pub for lunch with the babies. It was nice to have a catch up over lunch, chatting about how the babies are getting on, and our short time left on maternity leave before we all go back to work. The pub has a pet dog, a puppy, who was really enjoying the baby food dropped on the floor. The babies were quite excited having a little dog running around beneath their feet. Mum & Sister visited My sister is now back from 8 months of travelling around Asia and South America, and was eager to see my little girl. My Mum and Sister popped down to London from Cambridge for the day, and it was so lovely to see them both. The last time my Sister saw my little girl was in February, when she could only just sit up. Now she is crawling, babbling and pulling herself up – a huge difference to when she last saw her. Of course lunch was eaten out, it was a horrible day weather wise, and I couldn’t face being cooped up in our flat all day. We headed to a local restaurant, where I had a delicious steak served with side salad and fries, plus a beer too. Whenever my Mum comes to visit she always brings us treats, and we were treated to some gorgeous chocolates from their recent trip to Bruges, and some new clothes for our little girl – thank you Mum. I also got a new pair of Havainas all the way from Brazil from my sister. Work Kid’s Party Every year my work place throws a kid’s party which is a lovely gesture for all parents. This is the first kid’s party that I have been to as a parent, and I must say it was a great afternoon but pretty overwhelming – with lights, music, kid’s entertainer, soft play, and loads of food for the children (cake, crisps, sandwiches etc…). I spent most of the time trying to stop my little one from eating shoes, and crawling off as I was worried that one of the older children would step on her. It was also a good opportunity for a catch-up with colleagues. I’m so amazed by how many parent’s there are at work, this can only be a good thing, and makes me feel better about going back to work in 4 weeks time! Festival A highlight of this weekend has been a trip to our local park with our NCT friends for a bit of a festival celebrating the local area. There was live music, street food vendors, and two of the local pubs had set up shop. We set up camp in the middle of all the atmosphere, and enjoyed a lovely fun afternoon, whilst the babies crawled around. It was great for the boys to catch up, as they hadn’t seen each other for months. House sorting and holiday packing We are off to Spain on Sunday (tomorrow) and I feel that I have spent so much time this week trying to sort the house out, and pack. It’s quite difficult trying to pack with a 10-month old, as all she wants to do is unpack. I think that I am nearly there with the packing, there will be a few last minute items thrown in tonight and tomorrow morning. We have an early start to get to Gatwick for 6.30am – I think I will be up at 4.30am. Hope you enjoyed reading, have a lovely week! Claire x