My Little Sister

Exactly one year ago today, my wonderful (and very pregnant) sister was bending, crouching, squatting and generally splaying herself across my back lawn in order to take these pictures for me and my new business…

I didn't get a picture of her then, but I bet she looked something like this, only more pregnant…


(Jenny helping trace characters on Joey's walls a couple of months earlier. Please ignore the messy closet.)

Less than 24 hours after the backyard photoshoot, she went into labor. A very hard and very long labor. The birth of my daughter was relatively easy, as was the three other deliveries that I had been lucky enough to attend.

When Jenny was in labor with Kam, though, it was different. That boy did not want out. I know that every woman in labor works hard, but I'm still amazed at Jenny's strength. At one point, the midwife was very worried and basically gave her one or two pushes to get him out. As soon as Jenny understood that her baby was in trouble, you could see the look on her face change from that far away, zoned-out labor thing, to complete and utter determination. And then she did it. And Kam was born. And we all cried.



In the past year I've seen that same determination in how lovingly and consistently she parents. Kam is one lucky little man to have such an amazing mother. Oh yah, and Brad's cool too.

I think one of the reasons for the difficult labor is the fact that my sister is a very skinny person; she's just naturally thin. And let me just say this about her old man... Brad has a huge head. Huge. And, despite the many promises from Jenny's mother-in-law that Brad was not that way at birth, their son (as it turns out) also has an enormous head.

Hmmm, actually it's the perfect shape to design my next watermelon/pumpkin carving project...