A Day at the Park, Right?

We were supposed to go to Babies R Us to get Jayden a potty chair, but when Esteban came home, he said he wanted to go fishing. So I packed Jayden’s baby bag and we were on our way to the lake in Downtown Clermont. On the way there, I asked Esteban if he had packed a chair for me to sit in and he didn’t. So instead, he went on to the pier to fish and I took Jayden in the stroller for a walk. The pier is on an exercise trail that stretches for miles and I remembered that down the trail, there was a playground area so off we go.

As I look back now, I’m thinking it must have been about a mile to the playground, but at the time, I thought it was doable. Jayden was fidgeting because of course he wants to run all over the park, but I am in no condition to chase him on such a long walk so I leave him in the stroller. Then we came up on the area where the carnival is setting up for this weekend’s Pig on a Pond. Jayden was completely still during this time as he looked and listened to the all the men setting up the rides. Finally, we made it to the playground.

It’s so beautiful there. There’s a beach area, two swings, a playground and a basketball court and it’s directly in front of the lake. I sat Jayden in the swing facing the lake. There was another couple there with their son and while he was in the swing, his parents were tossing a football around. Jayden was completely entertained. He was even cheering them on. I pushed him on that swing until I was too tired to go on. Plus, the sun was starting to set so now came the fun part.

I have to remove Jayden from the swing. He screamed his head off. I could not console him and could barley get him into his stroller. He didn’t want his blanket, but I put it on him anyway because the temperature was dropping. He didn’t want his bottle either. He cried for a good 10 – 15 minutes. I had already started the trek back, but I was so tired by now. I could see people passing me by. They were walking, running, rollerblading, skateboarding, etc. Some of them passed me up several times. But that’s ok ‘cause I wasn’t racing.

I started to get a lot of Braxton Hick’s contractions, but I was trying to be discreet so I would pretend to stop the stroller and check on Jayden so I could rub my belly. It was starting to get darker and there were a ton of bugs out. Where was my husband? Wasn’t he worried? I couldn’t’ believe he hadn’t come looking for us yet. I was trying to push ahead, but the more tired I got, the slower I walked. Soon, it was completely dark out and the light posts were on. I could see the pier up ahead, but it seemed so far away. I could make it, I told myself. Finally, I see my husband almost running toward us. Apparently he had finished fishing, packed up the car and sat down to wait on us. When he saw that we were no where in sight, he decided to come out and look for us. We lost all track of time. That’s what happens when you don’t carry your cell phone, right? Well, he grabbed the stroller from me and it was amazing how that gave me the strength to keep moving. That was definitely a much longer walk than I should have taken by myself. What was I thinking?