Photo Shoot Mishaps

Three years ago I took my new baby girl (Julia was 1 month old) and Isaac (then 2 years old) to JcPenney to have Julia's pictures taken. Still trying to figure out this "two kid" business, I came well prepared. Isaac was strapped into a stroller with a snack while Julia's pictures were being taken. All went well...... for awhile. Children that young can only last so long!!

By the time I needed to look at the pictures and order them, Isaac had escaped from the stoller and Julia was tired and HUNGRY!!! This was about the age she started her screaming episodes. So there I was consoling a tired and hungry infant, trying to look at the pictures and actually hear the lady speaking to me, while watching my 2 year old playing behind some couches in the waiting room. Finally get done and I go to fetch Isaac. You will never believe what I found. Isaac was so content behind the couches because he was doing his "business" if you know what I mean. He was potty trained at that time but had reverted some after Julia was born. We all know how messy the big Number 2 can be in underwear. What made it worse is that he didn't want to be dirty and had decided to take his pants off. I found him half nude with you know what smeared all over his legs and a pile of nasties on the floor. EMBARRASSING!!

That was quite an initiation into the Motherhood of Two club. Funny thing is, I was able to clean up the mess and my son, console my daughter, and get out of there without the photographer even taking notice of our little predicament. One of those stories I can look back at now and just laugh.

So yesterday I took Julia and Isaac to get their pictures taken at Target. All was going well for the most part. I won't even tell you about my grumpy 5 year old throwing temper tantrums and refusing to cooperate. That would only make this story more amusing!! ;) So anyway, all was going well until I hear a faint little whisper from Julia....."I need to go potty Mommy" We were in the middle of a pose, about to snap the picture, so I said, "I'll take you right after this picture. Can you hold it?" Her unspoken answer was "NOPE" She made a little pee puddle right there in the middle of the studio. She NEVER has accidents and can usually hold it until we get to a bathroom. I knew she didn't mean to do it, but I was horribly embarrassed. I whisked her off, cleaned her up, and we moved on. Thankfully the photographer was very understanding!

The rest of the photo shoot was spent dealing with my defiant little boy. He ended up sitting in time-out. Julia on the other hand, loved the attention from the photographer and hammed it up for the camera. It was fun watching her be such a little girl and posing right on cue.

I have more horrifying stories of photo shoots gone bad - like the one when Isaac was 18 months old and DID NOT WANT HIS PICTURE TAKEN!! He got upset and threw a toy tractor across the room narrowly missing the photographers head. I couldn't apologize enough...the lady was not so happy with me that day. She ended up snapping a shot of Isaac sitting on a stool. He looks to be smiling but he was actually getting ready to scream. That was the only picture we got of him that day. I still giggle when I see that picture.

Lesson learned in all of this...... horrifying, embarrassing situations just described may simply be horrifying and embarrassing at the moment. Given time.... we (including me) can laugh our silly little heads off about it all.

I will post the pictures from yesterday in a few days.

Can You Guess?

Take a look at these pictures and try to guess what my lovely children were playing. Leave me your guesses in the comment section.

(sorry the pictures are so dark.... I don't feel like correcting them right now)

Wide Open Spaces

I, like some of you out there, have been extremely cautious this last week since this swine flu mess showed its ugly face in my own neck of the woods. Not fun living in a community where there have been numerous swine flu cases. Oh, and to top it off I am 22 weeks pregnant and urged to be "extra careful". So to fight the boredom, we have found ways to get out and about.... in the wide open spaces.

Last Saturday Gabe, the kids and I joined a fellow FUSION member, Mr. Clint Huth for a day on the river. This was the first time for the kids to go tubing. Oh, how I wish I had had a camera with me. We bought this little inflatable boat for them to share, tied it off to our tubes, and set sail so to speak. They had SO MUCH FUN!!!It felt marvelous to get out of the house and do something fun. A little "staycation" after a week of staying home. We felt relatively safe being outside and even though there were people on the river, it wasn't overly crowded at all. Isaac (with life jacket on) spent a large majority of the time "swimming" along side us. At one point, I was holding onto Isaac (sitting on the boat) when we went down a fairly small "waterfall" for a lack of a better word. Isaac was shouting with glee all the way down the bumpy ride, getting splashed and loving it. When we were finished he said, "YOU ROCK, MOM!!!" Awww..... music to my ears!! My five year old son thinks I rock, what can be better than that?! Hee hee!!So just imagine this big bellied, 22 week pregnant woman fitting herself on her tube and maneuvering the river. Quite a sight!! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be except for the fact that my tube was HUGE and I had to use those well buried ab muscles to try and hold myself up. I eventually swapped places with Isaac and got in the boat! Julia was as cute as ever and even braved a topple into the water head first. She too had a life jacket on and Gabe pulled her out immediately, but she did not even whimper. She of course didn't like the water in her nose and was a little shocked, but totally handled like it was no big deal. She was even spouting off how brave she was later in the day. She just doesn't let stuff like that bother her. One of the things I love about Julia. We ended our day with snow cones then headed back to our house to cook fajitas and relax. What a fun day!!

Today we went to McAllister Park and walked the trails. Well I walked and the kids rode their riding vehicle of choice.... Julia on her tricycle and Isaac on his bike (no training wheels!!!). Julia pedaled her little heart out and felt "so big". I was impressed that Isaac did so well on his bike. He still needs help starting, but once he is off he does fantastic. After a few wrong turns on the trail we ended up going the absolute longest way around McAllister. Both handled it fairly well, but Julia's little legs did get tired from pedaling her little trike. I think we were on the trail for over an hour. This prego Momma was EXHAUSTED!!!!! But alas we survived and enjoyed the fresh air and time away from the house.


So now I need to come up with some other outdoor, away from large crowds of people activities to do this week. We did break out the slip and slide which has kept them pretty busy. I am going to have to get creative fast, or we will all die from boredom. Forget swine flu, boredom is going to get us first!! :)