Best Laid Plans

We all have the best intentions when making plans. We try to be organised, to maximise our time, to keep things in order. But as most parents know, things rarely go as planned.

This week I needed to go to B&Q to get some 12mm and 18mm plywood for a shoe storage bench, a toy storage unit and a floating shelf. I thought the best day would be a Wednesday when Noah was at school, one less munchkin meant 1 less distraction. Also heading straight there after drop-off would reduce travel time. To top it off we combined the trip with picking up some clothes from Facebook, and planned to do some shopping in the nearby stores So we got ready, loaded in the car and set off.

300yrds from school, Isla starts screaming, a not normal cry that put me on alert. As we pull into the school, she projectile vomits all over herself and the car seat. I jump out and whipped her out of the car. Thank goodness my sister was dropping her daughter off! She looked after Isla and Noah while I scrubbed and cleaned the car seat and got Isla stripped. So plans were delayed. I drop Noah into school and get Isla back in the car then head home to get her changed and clean the car.

After everything is cleaned we get back in the car and head to York. Isla falls asleep, bless her heart, and we make it to B&Q without incident... And I forgot the carrier. As those who frequent builders merchants may know, their timber trollies do not have baby seats. Great. So we grab a normal trolley for now and head in. A side note, I had checked online to make sure this B&Q had timber cutting available, which they did, as only the larger B&Q's do. We head to the timber section, and there is no 12mm or 18mm plywood. Damn. We have a walk around to pick up the other bits we needed and they don't have half of it. Fine. Isla finds a singing penguin so she's happy. We pay, get in the car and head to Tesco.

Quick trip round the supermarket and get in line at the till to pay, we have 15 mins before I need to leave to collect the clothes, awesome we're turning this around. It takes 20 minutes to pay! We collect the clothes, apologising repeatedly for being late and head to the final store.

At this point Isla refuses to be in a trolley so she's walking. We head into B&M and pick up a few things before heading towards the toys. Big mistake! Isla wants every toy, especially every baby doll! We have numerous meltdowns and I admit I resulted to bribery to get us out of there. Isla was perfectly happy then clutching her chocolate Santa. She even made sure that we bought one for Noah and me which did make my heart melt a little.

Back in the car we go, we need lunch and Isla is settled so I thought, drive through Taco Bell! A rare treat. Again my plans are foiled, it doesn't open for an hour. Bugger. At this point I give up and just head home.

So here I'm sat, with a grumpy tired baby, a mug of tea and planning our next trip to buy the wood. And to be honest, I really don't mind when things don't work out as you'd hoped, as today it means I'm having an afternoon cuddling my daughter, snuggled up with our dogs and buying new tools online. Life could be worse.