Blended Family

[justagirl4fun]

Natalie was all too happy to oblige. "Come on Jax, let's go get some din-din," she said as she unbuckled him and placed him on her hip.

[grandmaster342]

Joey and Isla walked inside with Natalie and Jax close behind.

"Table for 4 please." He told the greeter and was lead to a booth in the far corner.

Joey slid into the seat and sat the little girl by him.

[justagirl4fun]

Natalie waited for the greeter to bring a high chair and got him strapped in before sitting down next to him.

[grandmaster342]

"Hi, my name's Clara and I will be your server this evening. What are you all drinking tonight?" She asked.

Joey looked at her. "I'll have a coke, and that little guy will have water." He said before asking. "Isla, what would you like?"

[justagirl4fun]

"Milk please," Isla said politely.

"And I'd like a diet coke, please," Natalie added.

[grandmaster342]

The server left briefly, and then came back with everyone's drinks. "Alright guys, so have we looked and figured out what we want?" Clara asked.

"Yes, we need a large spaghetti and meatballs as well as a kids size. Natalie will be having the chicken parmigiana, and," He turned to his girlfriend, "What does Isla want?"

[justagirl4fun]

"I want the rav-lee-olis" Isla piped up.

Natalie laughed. "Yes, she'll have raviolis, please."

[grandmaster342]

"Alright, give me about 10-15 minutes for the food." She said before leaving again.

Jaxon sat amusing himself with his fingers.

[justagirl4fun]

Isla started squirming in her seat, being bored, while Natalie turned her attention to Jaxon. "Hey buddy, do you know how to the the itsy bitsy spider?" she asked.

[grandmaster342]

"Wat dat?" Jaxon asked curiously.

Joey turned to Isla. "What's wrong?"

[justagirl4fun]

"This is boring," Isla whined. Usually when they went out to eat the waitress brought crayons so she could color while she waited for her food.

Natalie sang the itsy bitsy spider song and went through the hand motions slowly. "Now you do it with me!" she said and started from the beginning.

[grandmaster342]

"I brought along so crayons and paper for you." Joey said as he laid them in front of her.

Jaxon began mimicking what Natalie was doing. Well, he was attempting to.

[justagirl4fun]

"Good job!" Natalie clapped and praised Jaxon's efforts. "Such a smart boy!"

Isla took the crayons and started drawing a picture of their new family.

[grandmaster342]

Joey grinned watching the artist get to work.

Jaxon clapped after he was complimented.

[justagirl4fun]

Isla knelt on the seat and focused on her work, her tongue sticking out in concentration. Soon she had the four of them standing in a line under a rainbow and a great big yellow sun, then added some green scribbles along the bottom of the page.

[grandmaster342]

"So, what did you draw sweetheart?" He asked Isla.

The food got brought out a little later.

[justagirl4fun]

"That's you and mommy," Isla said, pointing to the two tallest stick figures that were standing in the middle holding hands. "And that's me," she pointed to a smaller stick figure with wild orange curls, "and that's Jaxon." She'd drawn the smallest stick figure in Natalie's arms. "Mommy's holding him 'cause I think she likes him a lot."

[grandmaster342]

Joey helped get everyone the right plates.

"Your mommy does love him, as do I. We both love you just as equally." He said.

He looked over at Natalie. "Be warned, Jax can be a pretty messy eater if he chooses."

[justagirl4fun]

Isla smiled. She wasn't warming up to Joey quite as easily as Jaxon took to Natalie, but he seemed pretty nice and she liked him so far.

"Oh, I've eaten with a two-year-old before. You can't scare me," Natalie said with a laugh.

[grandmaster342]

Once everyone had their food, Joey began eating.

"You like your food Isla?" He asked. Joey could tell that she was feeling a bit jealous that someone new was taking her mom's attention.

Jaxon started grabbing noodles and sauce with his hands.

[justagirl4fun]

"Yeah, these are my favorite," the girl declared as she shoved a ravioli in her mouth.

[grandmaster342]

Joey couldn't help but smile. The little girl was literally a smaller version of her mother.

Jaxon grabbed the fork and examined it. "Don't know how." He said.

[justagirl4fun]

Natalie wrapped her hand around Jaxon's and scooped up some spaghetti before maneuvering it towards the boy's mouth. "Like this! Can you try it?"

[grandmaster342]

Jaxon did as he was shown, and scooped some spaghetti into his mouth. "Wike dat mama?"

[justagirl4fun]

"Yes, just like that! Good boy!" Natalie leaned over to smother the boy's chubby cheek with kisses.

"Look mama, I'm using my fork too," Isla said, growing tired of the endless praise her mother was heaping on this new kid.

"Isla, you've been using a fork for years," Natalie said with a slight eye roll. "He's just a baby."

Isla looked down at her plate and finished eating in a sullen silence. Maybe this whole having a brother thing wasn't going to be as great as she'd thought it would.