Auntie

The logistics of having a second child are a bit more complicated than a first. When Cole was born, we just had to have some friends on call that could let our dogs out. With little sister, we need friends who can watch the dogs and Cole. When we learned that the Swens, the family Cole is most comfortable with, would be out of town from August 22 until September 8, we decided we needed a backup plan. While we had an outpouring of volunteers willing to be "on call" to watch Cole, we knew the easist thing would be to have a specific and stable plan. So my sister, Kelsey, came to town.

Kelsey works from home so it was hardly any trouble for her to head South for a couple of weeks ready to watch Cole in the event that sister made her appearance. Kelsey was with us from August 27 until September 7. Cole loved every minute of it!

While we made sure to give Kelsey time to work, we also gave her a glimpse into our lives here in Memphis. We went swimming and to a birthday celebration with friends. We ventured to Jerry's, the fair, Gibson's, the Peabody splash pad, and the zoo. So we kept her busy. Aunt Kelsey introduced Cole to her new favorite song, which has essentially been on repeat since the first time Cole heard it. While sister didn't debut during Kelsey's visit, Cole got to spend lots of quality time with her auntie.

Before she left, Kelsey got Cole an amazing princess castle. Our child is enamored.

We were all sad to see Aunt Kelsey go, especially Cole. There were tears all the way home from the airport. Hopefully Kelsey will be back soon to visit Cole and meet little sister. 

Gettin' Real Real

Knowing that baby sister will be joining our gang by the end of the month (or I hope and pray sooner!), I am anticipating a return to straight-up survival mode. At least for the fall. Newborns are tough whether they are only children or not. I'm aware that two under two will present unique challenges but I'm a firm believer that those challenges are just different from the challenges presented when siblings are further apart in age. Ultimately the goal with a newborn is just the general survival of the family. Am I wrong?

I will admit, saying a return to survival mode is a bit funny because with Cole we constantly live in a state of survival. Cole is a climber in the most gifted sort of way. She loves to practice balancing on various surfaces and climbing as high as she can as often as she can. It's come to the point where bystanders may not know if I'm speaking to my dog or child as I command: off, down, sit, and no.

Because her climbing is so mind-boggling, I've been known to snap a picture before returning her to a less precarious position. For what it's worth, she does have a very good balance and is quite resilient after a fall. 

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we had some family pictures taken. Since I'm extremely pregnant, we're counting them as maternity pictures too. On the recommendation of my friend Cameron, we used Jennifer from Pea Pie Photography for the session. She was a breeze to work with! The pictures of our family turned out to be some of the best of the year and the images of Cole really capture her personality.