Such Potential

This past weekend had such potential.

Friday evening we decided we would take our little family of three out for dinner at one of the many restaurants at the Rockwall Harbor.  The weather was perfect, the patios are abundant and their are numerous fountains to entertain our little man.  It had actually been awhile since we had gone out to eat the three of us mainly due to weighing the pros & cons of taking a toddler to dinner.  It isn’t that he is so terrible always but he obviously doesn’t want to sit forever and when you spend a lot of your mealtime giving him things to eat and making sure he sees the things that will entertain him you lose that whole “isn’t it relaxing to just talk & not worry about cooking/cleaning ourselves” feeling.  However, we lucked out.  He was thrilled. (Patios are a must with him.)  He happily ate what we gave him, drank our water with the “big boy straws” and was content seeing the fountains and people watching (aren’t we all).  I drooled over my husband’s margarita but was content watching our little family enjoy the evening.

After dinner Caden ran and ran and ran around the harbor, grass, and fountains so pleased to have open space and two doting parents watching him.  For the first time in this pregnancy believe it or not I found myself realizing how our days as a family of three are numbered and it was just so pleasant to witness us all together on what did feel like a perfect fall evening.  It was one of the best evenings I had in awhile and the perfect start to our weekend.

Being this pregnant…and my” this pregnant” I mean that strangers get nervous around me now as if I might go into labor right then instead of thinking its cute I was fortunate enough to enjoy a Saturday morning/afternoon to myself thanks to my hair appointment backing up to my usual Saturday morning yoga class.  I do miss my boys and family time on the weekend when I am not with them but I know it is nice for them to play without me hovering too.  So I spent Saturday continuing to be excited for Sunday.  Why Sunday?  I decided that it would be nice to have some “final family of three” pictures of taken prior to Baby Kaz II’s arrival to mark this period in our life and document both for Caden and Baby Kaz II what this family looked like right before he came.  Since I very well can’t take and be in the pictures at the same time I enlisted some help.

A sweet, sweet former dance team-mate and friend from high school has recently been working to kick off her photography business and while I love supporting those that are trying something new as I have done that for myself I thought it was a perfect match.  She so kindly worked out with me doing two separate sessions, one now and then one after the baby comes to mark our new family of four.  Fortunately we live pretty close to each other and made all of the arrangements to meet.  As you can tell from the pictures you often see Caden isn’t particularly camera shy and loves being outside.  What could go wrong?

Toddlers.

He slept in…he ate a great breakfast…and we left for the pictures so pleased that we were having a good morning because he was going to be SO happy to be outside.  Something must have gone terribly wrong in his head in the car on the way to pictures because about 30 seconds after we got out of the car and started pictures he started crying…and whining…and screaming…and throwing himself around…and running away…and having none of it. NONE. OF. IT.

Maybe it was the location we thought.  In the middle of some adorable shops & scenery was maybe too much for him to look at and want to get to right?  (We were going with any reason.) So, we went ahead and moved to our second location – the park.  I mean come on…it’s a park.  We live at the park. He loves the park.

So, he was furious the whole way to the park and as we were getting out I then realized that on the drive to the park his sippy cup had been steadily leaking all down the side of my jeans.  Awesome.  Colter said it would keep me cool.  I said people were going to think my water had broke.  Caden didn’t care.  Sweet Ashley (yes I said sweet again) who is pregnant with her first baby (who I am sure we were traumatizing) even brought Caden a little pumpkin to hold and play with.  Sweet right?  He threw it.  We stood by a great fence with a gorgeous field where he would typically love to stand/sit on the fence as we were trying.  He just wanted to crawl under it – while screaming.  Then he high-tailed it for the pond.

The best part?  Hubs and I look like complete morons.  We were at a total loss.  Having never seen him react quite like this to well…nothing we had nothing in our arsenal of ideas of how to cure him.  The usual distractions?  Could have cared less.  Snack? Sure…for the ground.  Us holding him (a for sure win)? He hit is. HIT US!  There is Ashley trying to get some “final family of three” pictures and we look like we should never have had one kid let along about to have another.

I will say this.  Maybe pictures of a cranky for no reason kiddo with his confused parents desperate to please and survive the outing is exactly the documentation of this time that we need.  We called it quits exhausted and disappointed that of all mornings to have a colossal toddler meltdown it was picture morning and for once we had nothing (teeth/hungry/didn’t sleep/needs nap) to blame it on except his age and frustration.  We tried.  He tried.  Then we all cried and went home.  Okay, Caden cried.

The weekend started off with such potential and ended with a morning that wiped us out for the day.
The little man didn’t want to do anything with anything or anyone and that was that.
At least he is decisive.

Thanks Ashley for being so patient with us and still managing to pull out some memorable pictures!
(I’m sure the really cranky pictures & outtakes are even more memorable for everyone)