A young single mother who took her young son on his first date has revealed how it all went wrong – but the chaos didn’t scare away her potential new suitor.
In 2013, Chelsie Dort, from Sandy, Utah, was looking for love again after going through a painful divorce.
But as a 22-year-old single mother of a two-year-old boy named Jaxden, she was having a hard time finding anything long-term.
“They fooled me as soon as I suggested they meet Jaxden,” Chelsie, now 35, told the Today show recently.
‘The reality of being with someone who has children was too much for them. “It got to the point where I thought, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore.'”
A young single mother who took her young son on his first date has revealed how it all went wrong – but the chaos didn’t scare away her potential new suitor.
Chelsie was about to give up when she connected with a man named Bedford on Tinder.
The two decided to meet for their first date at a local restaurant, and Chelsie expected the worst when she told him she was bringing her young son with her.
But Bedford did not object and the three headed to the restaurant for breakfast.
Unfortunately, Jaxden was particularly rowdy that morning, as most little boys can be, and soon began wreaking havoc on their date.
The young man refused to eat, put his hands in the food and continued crawling under the table.
“Jax was sticking his fingers in jam packets and kept crawling under the table,” she recalled.
He then refused to eat the food Bedford had ordered. He said, “No, no! I don’t like it.” And I thought, “I’ll never hear from this guy again.”
Despite the chaos, Bedford did not defer and the two continued to see each other.
In 2013, Chelsie Dort, from Utah, matched with a man named Bedford on Tinder and brought her two-year-old son Jaxden with her when they met at a local restaurant. He is seen during the appointment.
“Jax was sticking his fingers in jam packets and kept crawling under the table,” Chelsie recalled on the Today show. “Then he refused to eat the food.” Bedford is seen with Jaxden
Six months later, he got down on one knee and proposed, and they have now been happily married for over a decade.
But Bedford did not let himself be put off and they have been happily married for more than a decade. They are seen at the restaurant where they had their first date.
Reflecting on the first abnormal encounter, Bedford told Today that he became nervous when Chelsie told him she was bringing her son with her, but only because she thought he wouldn’t be a good ‘father figure.’
“I remember thinking, ‘This is going to be something unique. We’d go out and that would be it.”
“(I) wasn’t in a position to be a father figure,” he shared.
But she praised Chelsie for making it known she was a mother “from the beginning.”
“I’ve never known anything other than Chelsie with a child. We’ve always had Jaxden.
“That’s how our relationship was built,” he added.
The couple has since welcomed four children – Ryker, 10, Mya, seven, Naomi, five, and Sloane, three – and of course, they are parents to Jaxden, now 13.
Every year on their anniversary, Chelsie and Bedford return to the restaurant where they had their first date.
The couple has since welcomed four children – Ryker, 10, Mya, seven, Naomi, five, and Sloane, three – and of course, they are parents to Jaxden, now 13.
‘We are a blended family navigating the ins and outs of co-parenting with my ex-husband’s now wife.
“We don’t use the term, step or half, we are just family,” he wrote in his website.
Every year on their anniversary, Chelsie and Bedford return to the restaurant where they had their first date.
“It’s surreal to go back there with this beautiful family that we created together,” the mother of five gushed.
‘I look forward to that breakfast every year. It is a reminder of where we started and what we have built since then.”