The Best Laid Plans

Nathan was off work today, and once again, it was absolutely gorgeous outside. I decided that it was the perfect day to take Annabel down to the trail near our house. She always loves our morning walks, so I thought a family stroll on the trail, full of walkers, bikers, and runners would be just up her alley.

I was wrong.

She started fussing almost immediately once we got to the trail {about a five minute walk from our house}. I had brought along snacks and water for her, so I handed them over and that helped for about two minutes. Then she was back to whining. We kept her in the stroller until she had turned her entire body around and was staring up at us crying. Not exactly the nice, long, leisurely walk that I had imagined. This trail goes on forever and about 15-20 minutes of walking will land you at a park and playground where we had planned to let Annabel get out and stretch her legs for a bit. But we didn’t even make it there before we got her out of the stroller. And then of course, she wasn’t content to be carried. She wanted to walk. But not on the trail of course.

The upside to all of this? Well, we got some cute pictures.

And if you were only seeing these pictures, you’d think we had the best time ever. But truthfully, this was the only period of time when Annabel was happy. Once we decided to head home, we tried to put her back in the stroller, but yet again, she wasn’t having it. And since she has Nathan wrapped around her little finger, he rescued her from the wretched stroller and carried her all the way home.

Definitely not our most successful outing. {Though I will say that even with the meltdowns, I still loved being out in the gorgeous weather!}

Anyway.

Being a mother teaches you a lot of things, but one of the most difficult lessons for me is accepting that from here on out, more often than not, things are not going to go according to my plan. And the sooner I can just accept that and let go, the happier I’ll be.

Sometimes, my plans for a beautiful family walk will go awry and we’ll just have to make the best of it. But I know that other times, veering off the path and letting go of “plans” will lead us on some pretty spectacular adventures. Ones that I never could have planned for or anticipated. And that can be pretty great too.

Category : Baby, Family, Life, motherhood, parenting, Photography, toddler