Isn’t this what life is all about?

Well, my daughter had been complaining about not feeling good for two days.  She’s not normally a complainer, but I dismissed it as emotions drained by her daddy being away for the last 3+ weeks.

Oops.  I took her temp.  No, it wasn’t through the roof, but it was 100F.

She told me later that at school every time she took a step her head felt dizzy and she thought she was going to fall.

Can we say, “Mom Fail”?

I can.

To top it off, my son…my wonderfully jovial son…only had a 1-hour-nap because I went and got my nails and toes done.  You know—so I could look pretty for my husband’s return.

Can we say, “Mom Fail”?

I can.

But, by golly, we were going to make it to the portrait studio to take photos as a surprise for Richie’s return.

Problem.

Adelyne doesn’t get out of school until well after 4 on Thursdays because she is in an awesome club for writing/theater.

So, I scooped her up, dragged her home.  She’s complaining the entire way she doesn’t feel well and she’s freezing—ummm…It’s like 105F, girl.  Get a grip!

As soon as we get home, she climbs under the covers.

I succumb and take her temp.  Oops.  Low grade.  That’s okay, I’ll Motrin her up, baby!

Max—he hasn’t slept at all (well, an hour is not much for him).  He’s crying.  Trying to get an outfit on him is pure torture, and his hair…For crying out loud, his hair was like the end of the world!

But I finally got his Mohawk.

I threw my daughter in a dress and pulled her messy school hair in a bun…Poor girl had to scarf down cheesy crackers while I tried non-gallantly to pull my hair back.

Thankfully my mom was there to help and drove so that I could apply make-up in the car.

On the way, Max slept.  Adelyne played my phone—a HUGE deal because we don’t do electronics during the school week.

I was certain the photo shoot was going to be glorious.

At the studio, both children were now calm and happy.  And I was so proud to see my 15-month-old playing at the Lego table with his sister.  What a big boy!  How he’s grown.  Look at him play.

I didn’t realize that same table would also become the enemy.  As soon as the photographer called our names, we picked Maxwell up to take the photos and all Lego Hell broke loose.  He started screaming.  He started crying.  He started throwing himself on the floor.

We tried bribing him with Legos on the floor.  Adelyne and I could do the posing.  But no…

He EVEN fell off a chair trying to clamber on it in hopes of chaining himself to the Lego table.

I used to be a Lego fan…

Well, now we have a bruise on his forehead and his eye and a screaming kid.  If only we can get ONE picture.  Just one.

Miraculously, one photo was snapped where he was physically drained and clasped my finger and put his head against my leg.  That was it.  It was as if his 15-month-old brain said, “You got your one…I’m outta here.”

And we never got him back.  We lost him to Legos.

All was well, Adelyne, Belly Josephine, and I had fun the rest of the shoot—80 photos worth!

80 photos and only 1 decent one with my son…BUT…1 priceless one with his desperate attempt at escape.  See him crawling on the floor to get away from us?

Of course, as soon as the session was over, it was as if the Lego table did not exist.  He ran around with a giant grin that stretched from ear to ear.  He gave me High 5 and his Nana kisses.

Max was back.

But Life…Ahhh, Life.  Isn’t it really like this?  Never as you envision or expect.

Life.  Full of disastrous surprises that sometimes make for picture-perfect reminders of a little thing called Reality.

Just like this photo.

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In case you missed the original photos, here they are: http://wp.me/p3Bh9m-gp