Today’s post is by my friend Deanna from Everything and Nothing from Essex. She has a daughter, Addison, and a boy, Carter and another boy on the way. Addison has Down syndrome and is the most expressive child I think I’ve ever seen.  Every time I get on Instagram, I scroll scroll scroll to see the what Deanna’s posted for the day.  Her blog is one of my favorites as she writes clearly, is down to earth and so honest.  I’ve asked her to tell you about this cool thing she’s been doing on Instagram- and I want you guys to join the fun.

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About a month ago, I was sitting in my disaster of a house, overrun by toddlers, nauseous from unborn baby #3 trying to kill me, and feeling immensely sorry for myself. On Instagram everyone was going on exotic vacations. On Facebook, the world was checking in on incredible adventures. On Pinterest, people were redecorating, gourmet cooking, pithy saying, marathon running. My big accomplishment for the day was changing two poopy diapers without losing my last meal.

I was feeling less than fabulous. The four walls of my house were shrinking in closer and closer until suffocation surely wasn’t far away. My children were making messes I couldn’t clean up, and I wasn’t providing any sort of activities for them that gave me the “awesome mom buzz” after they were asleep contentedly in their beds.

The summer ahead of me looked bleak.

I posted (of course) an awkward, feel-so-sorry-for-me blog post and then sat back to wait for a better life…or death…whichever came first, really.

It then occurred to me- what if I could somehow get us out of the house at least once a day? What if I could plan something that would give them a good afternoon and force me to ignore morning sickness even for just an hour?

That’s when #creatingtoddleradventures was created.

Even though I wasn’t feeling my best- I wanted to take the small amount of energy I did have and spend it where it mattered- on the laundry. Totally kidding. I meant on my kids. You know, the ones wearing the dirty clothes.

I committed to 30 days, doing SOMETHING new and adventurous once a day (according to the toddler definition.) Some days this meant going to the local aquarium, some days it meant something as simple taking our dinner out onto the front deck and making it a picnic.

The truly awesome thing is, toddlers think that pretty much everything is an adventure. So I threw grocery shopping and Lowes exploring into the mix as well.

I have been documenting our adventures on Instagram under #creatingtoddleradventures, and I have loved seeing others jump on board with their own toddler adventures. #creatingtoddleradventures really could be just about anything. The purpose behind it- creating purposeful, new experience for our kids- that’s what’s really driving that hashtag.

The truth is- as corny and silly as this might sound- it’s just what I needed to stop sitting around feeling sorry for myself and creating our OWN adventure no matter how small it might appear compared to those exotic vacations on Instagram. It’s filled me with a new sense of daily purpose, and it’s given me the push to introduce my kids to new things that have been on my list forever for “someday.”

Being intentional about adventure- being intentional about spending time with my kids and throwing away all guilt about everything that is not getting done- this has saved our summer.

Because of some pregnancy stuff, I haven’t been able to do every single day of the 30 days, so we’re going to continue a bit longer. #creatingtoddleradventure is too much fun to stop now. Plus, there’s that whole motherhood sanity thing to consider…

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Add your pictures to the fun on Instagram with the hashtag: #creatingtoddleradventures

To read more from Deanna (and you should be seeking out superior blogs to this one…), please visit: Everything and Nothing from Essex

To follow Deanna on Instgram, go here.

To follow ME on Instagram, go here.

As always, feel free to share!