The New Parent's Guide to Carpe Diem

With a two month old baby and an almost two year old in tow, spontanaiety can go out the window. My husband and I always insisted that babies would never cramp our style.  However the reality is - that it does. So rather than delight at the prospect of an unplanned getaway when my husband suggested it, I became bogged down with trying to manage what were in my mind - the overwhelming details: trying to imagine how I would ever get everything packed while the baby fussed and my two-year old destroyed my house, traveling without the baby crying, running around town after my toddler (nicknamed "the maniac") were the  thoughts that occupied my mind.
Eventually I insisted that we simply call it off; my husband disagreed reminding me that we hadn't done anything or gone anywhere since the baby was born. Feeling slightly resentful at the insinuation I had been such boring company, but reluctantly acknowledging its truth, I agreed to the trip with reservations, secretly thinking that at the very least I would get the satisfaction of an "I told you so," when the babie's cries prevented us from travelling one km. further on the trans-Canada, leaving us stranded on the side of the road.
While we did not have our former freedom to browse stores or spend the afternoon on the patio of Earl's, what an incredible weekend we enjoying toodling around town with our new family in tow. Yes there were the moments I grew frustrated: feeding my daughter, getting her strapped into her carrier and my son into his stroller, making it only two blocks before having to return to the car to feed her again because she was fussing, trying to change her in the front seat of our Ford Focus (purchased for its great gas mileage, we didn't have the foresight to imagine how it would accomodate our future family). But these moments were momentary, and definetely worth the small frustrations.
The trip made me realize how I had made a prisoner of myself in my home, with my own fears and doubts about the potential behavoir of my family. Rather than taking us out to experience the world, I had been keeping us hostage inside the house where I could experience an element of control over my new-found chaotic existence, with my vibrating chairs, cribs and changing table readily available.
At the hot springs (a logistics nightmare for my former fearful self), me and my two-month old daughter took a dip together as I noticed another new Mom quarelling with her husband. He wanted her to take her daughter in for a dip, but she refused probably fearing the consequences of deviating from the sidelines. Her husband gestured over to where I relaxed with Juno. While my heart went out to the Mom, I marvelled that in simply a weekend I had transformed myself from a captive in my own home, into Auralea the poster-child for adventurous Moms everywhere....
When we returned home after an amazing trip, my husband lamented the fact we had paid so much for what was truly mediocre accomodation....
I smiled to myself as I called to him in the other room: "Really? I thought it was worth every penny."

My son "the maniac" destroying himself with a slush.